Any reason you don’t have sink on perimeter on left?

Can you post your floor plan?

cpartist, the reason we decided not to put the sink on the side wall is that 1) the only place for the dishwasher would have been right next to the front door which seemed weird and 2) the sink and range would have been too close together for me.

Here is the floorpan, the only thing I've changed is that I moved the island back 5" as I wanted to be sure I could have the drawers on the back wall open and not have them interfere with the dishwasher on the island and I wanted at least 36" between the corner of the island and the fridge (if I keep our standard depth fridge, I'm seriously considering getting a counter-depth).

Since the view is hidden by the island, I wouldn't worry about the cabinets being the same size and give myself more room in the pot/pan drawers. I have, and used all the room inside, 36" drawer bases.

I'm curious, what are you storing in the run on the left wall?

I would make the two cabinets equal with double drawers over the single large drawers.

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Personally i would relocate both the sink and range to better locations.

alex9179, My plan is to store larger items like crockpot, instant, etc in the corner super susan, Baking items like mixing bowls, casserole dishes, mixer, and storage containers in the two 24" base drawers, and coffee items and other miscellaneous items in the 30" at the end.

Creative Design Cabinetry So each cabinet would have two shallow drawers at the top with two large drawers underneath? I had been thinking of this, its makes a lot of sense. As for the floorpan, it's too late now, at least for the sink, it is in. However, I have been banging my head against the wall for 2 years and I just don't believe there is a better location, mainly because there is no place for the refrigerator, its currently in that little corner on the bottom right of my floorpan. It won't fit any place else due to doors and windows, they are everywhere. and moving them isn't in the budget.. I've had designers try to put it in all kinds of places that seem to make sense on paper but are totally unreasonable in our actual layout. Where its at gives me the most usable space but doesn't give me other options for the range and sink. This is definitely not an ideal layout, but I think its the best I can get given my our situation. Personally I'm excited about the layout, I can perfectly envision how it would work for me. My current situation is completely dysfunction so this is a huge step up!

Is that a lazy/super susan in the corner? My old kitchen had a lazy susan next to the range, and it was not very functional. The things I want near the range include cooking utensils, potholders, spices, pots and pans - and neither the lazy susan or the angled upper cabinet are very conducive to storing those things (except pots and pans, except you already plan to put those in a drawer).

Before you go any further, carefully plan out where you will store things in the new kitchen - and don't fall into the trap of putting something where it was before, unless it really is the most efficient place for it.

I'm not crazy about the layout either, but the windows do tend to limit your options.

Annkh, yes a super susan. I just thought it would be more usable than a blind corner. I could put my puts there but then I'm not sure where I'd put my crockpot and instapot. I don't see them fitting in drawers. There are shallow cabinets on the backside of the island. If they would fit in the end one then that wouldn't be too bad I'll have to check when I get home. A part of me would like to keep canned goods close to the stove. I'm a last minute cooker so that kind of stuff is often added last minute by me. So a couple shallower drawers for canned goods and spices might work.

You will lose a lot of space with double drawers on the top. They would end up only being about 15" wide and less on the inside. A larger drawer is more flexible and easier to customize. I like to store my skillets vertically to avoid nesting which also saves space, so I made the two drawers under my range top two different depths. The bottom drawer holds the tallest stockpots and upright skillets in a pan holder. The drawer above is shallower and handles the other sauce pans.

Wilson, I was just wondering about doing it that way and wondering how large that drawer would have to be. I do realize you'd lose space by dividing the drawer but was wondering If it might be worth it to avoid having to open a large drawer when you only want one thing (say a knife) and potentially having to move out of the way to do it.

CPArtist is right...

Unless that island is wider than it looks, you don't have enough space for prepping on the non-DW side of the sink. The recommended bare minimum is 36" of straight, uninterrupted counter space, with 42" or more much better.

The most logical place for prepping is right next to the sink. So, that means on the limited space you have on the island.

Right now, you have all three primary work zones crammed into one small space with a lot of empty/wasted space along the window wall.

I suggest putting a prep sink along the wall next to or under the window. That will provide you with a decent amount of prep space and, hopefully, cut down on the congestion that is probably going to result b/w the range and island.

My kitchen is very tiny, so I can't really relate to having so many cabinet and drawer choices. But I will tell you that one of my favorite drawers is devoted strictly to food wrapping -- foil, plastic wrap, parchment, ziplocs, etc. It's so convenient.

If you haven't already purchased your sink, you might want to think about a sink that can hold a cutting board especially if you are not planning on a second sink. I have one and it is my favorite thing in the kitchen. I never use a cutting board on the counter anymore because it is so much cleaner to do the messy work over the sink. For knives and utensils I used this pullout from Rev a Shelf which takes up 15". I have another 30" top drawer for items that don't fit in this pullout like my rolling pin, various tongs, apple cutter, lemon/lime squeezer, can opener, etc. The other wide drawer next to that one holds all wraps and foils. In the old kitchen they took up three narrow 15" drawers which wasn't very efficient.

https://www.build.com/rev-a-shelf-448kb-bcsc-11c/s1098450?uid=2628786#reviews

I might have come up with an improvement on the layout problem. What if you put the fridge between the windows on the left side, and put the range where the fridge is shown? The you can put a prep sink where the range is shown.

You would lose the pantry, but the function - especially around the range - would be SO much better.

Buehl, I actually imagined doing most of my prep between the range and the refrigerator, the sink would be right behind me for cleaning. It's also close enough that if you were working on the counter along the side you could also easily reach over and use it from the side. Where you meaning a prep sink on the side counter? I hadn't thought of one there. I had considered it under the back window, especially because the plumbing is already there but didn't want to lose the cabinet space there. I'll think about that a bit. DH would probably kill me if I mention it to him...lol, he just plumbed the main sink and isn't too fond of plumbing at the moment. I will give that some thought though. I wasn't ready for DH to start on these back cabinets yet, he'd led me to believe he was going to complete the island 100% first, so now I'm rushing because once he decides to start he does not backtrack. It's part of the reason I hadn't wanted him to DIY. He's very competent but impatient once he decides to start something.

Jupidupi, while technically my kitchen area is decent size I can relate to working without much space. This is what I've been working with the past couple of years (sorry for the super messy photo, it's the only one I had on me of the space!). I'm so looking forward to having countertop space and a stove that isn't right by the back door and some coat lockers (going to put them where the fridge currently is) to catch all the outside mess that ends up all over the floor and chairs right now. I had mapped out where I thought I'd put everything when I was first considering buying these particular cabinets and I think I planned for one of the 24" drawers to have the food wrapping. I'll have to look for that, I know I saved it, I think my ideas have changed somewhat of what I'd put where but it probably would help me think through it some more.

Wilson, I do have the sink already, it's a single basin, apron front and undermount,so not sure if a cutting board would work. I am going to do a positive reveal so I'll look for one though. I have been thinking really hard about your suggestion of storing the skillets on their side. I really like the idea.

Great idea on the sink. I have found several off the shelf cutting boards that fit our sink ledges. Here's an old thread which discusses your idea.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2518526/farmhouse-sink-cutting-board#n=11

As far as the skillets, it is not a very high tech solution but it works. I used this expandable holder from Ikea. I like this holder because the slots are adjustable. I also use this for my various sizes of pie plates.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70154800/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7r_Rz7u85AIVlYnICh2IKQcvEAQYASABEgLJHvD_BwE

I got the idea from this photo, but didn't want to give up the flexibility with permanent dividers.

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My drawer.

Thanks for the link! I bet my DH could make me a cutting board if I needed. That is the good side of having a guy who can work with wood!

That's a pretty neat divider, it looked like your skillets are just floating there!

Very lucky you are! I admire people that have those skills.

Ok, is this crazy? I was thinking about doing the two cabinets equal length (31.5"), determined that my dishes and skillets/sauce pans would just fit, but felt like the other drawers maybe wouldn't be the best for glassware and perhaps spices/canned goods, and I'd be wasting really good space. I thought of doing two 12" undercounted pullouts instead, one next to the range for spices and canned goods and one next to the fridge for drinking glasses, then doing one large 39" drawer base in the middle, with two shallow drawers at the top for silverware and knives, the dishes would go in the wide middle drawer and the pans in the wide bottom. To me it makes sense for what I want there. DH said I'd be losing space because I was adding a cabinet (and therefore losing more to sides and slides). I just don't know, I'm chasing my tail at this point, but feel like bigger drawers for dishes and pans would be good. I tried to sketch it up real quick. This is rough and hopefully you can make it out:

And by pull-out I mean this sort of thing:

I have a stack of pullouts next to my oven. The one I use the most is the middle, because the lower isn't as easy to access with the bending, and I'm too short for the upper. I don't think you'd like below counter pullouts for everyday items. Drawers would give you easier access.

If you could reduce the size of your pantry and use a pullout instead, you could move the refrigerator further to the right and have an upper to the right of your window for your glassware. That would also give you another foot or so of undercounter space.

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Alex, your pullout is the tall pantry style? I did kind of think it would be a pain to have to bend to see what was on there, but I also think that I could get the main stuff I use on the top two shelves. I would have more space with drawers, but feel like is end up with a bunch of random stuff together. I'm going to think more about how I could organize those drawers.

Wilson, that's not a bad idea, though I'm balking at the idea of anymore major changes! DH and I had discussed a full pullout before and decided that since it was against a wall that you'd be in the same situation as looking in at fixed shelves so we wanted to avoid it. It would be nice to move that fridge farther from the window, but I think losing the space in the pantry wouldn't be worth it. I wonder if keeping the glasses in the pantry is doable? Though they wouldn't be as easily assessable from the sink. We don't usually drink from the sink directly though.

Sort of. Ikea doesn't have one tall one so I stacked 3, 30" boxes. The one I access every day holds parchment paper and foil. The upper has vases and various infrequently used items. The lower has DH's grill stuff. This stack is my over-flow area :)
One thing to consider when reducing drawer sizes is that you're losing storage inches here and there. In a smaller kitchen, I'd pick an extra inch over worrying about if the things being stored "go together". If they are in their Point of Use area, I'm happy. I have a large kitchen and chose 36" drawer bases throughout.

Oh interesting! I kind of like that they pull-out separately better than one large one anyway. I think I am leaning away from the pull-outs, just because I actually don't like the idea of having to bend down to find spices/canned goods. Guess I'm getting older, lol. However, I'm messing around with the drawers in the current kitchen and decided that I do not want to keep cans in drawers! Haha. I've been trying to hold DH off on committing to having upper cabinets as with the fridge and pantry we really only have room for a couple and I kind of like the idea of nothing just to make the kitchen feel more open and to maybe brighten it up by doing the whole upper wall in reflective tile. I'm cramming a lot into the footprint so that is desirable to me. Originally I'd wanted to do white cabinets to help with that, but when DH decided to do it himself I changed to natural wood because I don't trust the longevity of a DIY paint finish and we plan this to be our forever home (or at least until our kids graduate home, which is quite a ways out.) However, he seems so determined to do them, and to do them all the way to our nearly 10ft ceiling so I should probably just resign myself to having them and keep the canned goods in the little 12" cabinet to the top left of the range. I like canned goods on shelves, you can stack liked kinds together and see them easily. I'm investigating spices in drawers right now, to see if it's workable without having to do all the matching spice jars, I like the idea but know it's not happening at this point in my life.

For glasses, cutlery and dishes I would use the upper and lower cabinets that are on the end of the left wall. Although not optimal for unloading the DW, it would allow someone to grab a glass or set the table without getting into your prep and cooking zone. The drawers to the right of the range could be used for pot holders, spices, prep tools, cooking utensils, colanders, mixing bowls, pots, pans and baking sheets. The top level could be separated into three nice sized drawers if you are afraid that two drawers might be too big. To optimize and organize my drawer space I used hidden drawers in some of the deep drawers. I like the extra level of storage without committing to a four-drawer stack and they are easily removable if needs change. Another favorite of mine is the deep 12" wide drawer/pullout for baking sheets and cooling racks.

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Thank you both for the pictures! This helped a lot. I have decided to go with two identical drawers. So the cabinets will be 31.5" wide, and depending on whether we decide to go with undermount or side-mount slides drawer themselves should be about 28"-28.5" wide. I'm going to go with a shallow top drawer, the drawers in my current kitchen are 3.5" deep and that is more than sufficient for silverware/knives/cooking utensils and then I can make the other two as deep as possible, which just doing some quick calculations I'm estimating to be around 10"-11".

Alex, I love that spice drawer! Mine are currently in one of those deep corner cabinets and I can never find what I'm looking for. I do need canned goods close by my range because I'm a last minute, seat-of-my-pants cooker and often spontaneously add things.

Wilson, I think you are right and having the deep drawers with the option to divide them if necessary is probably the best way to go. I don't know if I'll keep the dishes and glasses in that corner cabinet or not, I may see about dividing the middle drawer closest to the fridge and doing the most used plates/bowls in one half and the most used drinking glasses on the right side and put the rest of each on the bottom drawer (for some reason I don't like the idea of having to reach into a bottom drawer for a glass). Either way, I'll have some options. That photo showing the casserole dishes in the the drawer, is that yours? I'm curious how wide that drawer is, it looks like the perfect size!

AnnKH - I'm so sorry, I'm just seeing your comment about moving the fridge! I completely missed it before, I wasn't ignoring you, promise. If you're talking about moving the fridge to that side wall, that is actually not a window on the left, it's an exterior door:

While technically the fridge would fit there, I ruled it out because it would block a lot of light from the window (and the room is already starved for natural light), the switches would need relocated and I'm not sure where I'd put them, and it would just be odd to me to have a big hulking fridge right there when you come in the door. We are currently using this for our main entrance, though I would like to change this at some point. We actually have 4 front doors to this house! The others are old and not insulated well though so we don't use them. Eventually we will upgrade one of them. I doubt I'll ever want to get rid of this door though, it is nice having access to the front porch from the kitchen at times. It absolutely is a workable solution and I do think for some people it would be the preferable one, but it wasn't for me.

Good decision on going with the wider stacks. Yes that is my drawer with the hidden pullout. Inside measurement is about 24.75". Pullout is 3" deep, 2.5" deep on the inside. Six Pyrex dishes live upstairs. I had considered storing the Pyrex vertically in a deep drawer but it took up too much room. They're only stacked two deep so its easy to grab the 9 x 13's.

For context, dishes and cutlery drawers are 32" on the inside with three bowl sizes, three plate sizes plus the napkin holder. There is a lot of room between the stacks so could've been narrower. Cutlery drawer has rev a shelf inserts which are cut to fit. The bottom drawer in this stack is two-tiers for picnic and seasonal plates and napkins.

So nicely organized Wilson! That drawer caught my eye because I have most of the same Pyrex and casserole dishes! I've actually been thinking more about your suggestion of moving the fridge right a bit. 12" would be too much, but I started thinking about 6-ish inches and putting in one of those filler pull-outs, just wide enough for glasses. I don't know. I'm getting tired of all the planning and tweaks and at some point you just have to quit tweaking and move forward! I'll have to ask DH what he thinks, the problem is he just wants me to decide and he'll build it, but he's also ready to go NOW, lol. If I didn't have this forum I wouldn't have anyone to bounce these thoughts off!