Can you move the powder bath to underneath the stairs (yes I've seen this before) then use the powder bath space as a cubbies room? You all will likely most often enter through the garage correct? So your kids/you will have to go into the laundry room if you put them there. Honestly though an entry that makes guests go through your laundry room is going to be more of an eyesore than some haphazard cubbies. At least in my experience there's often laundry waiting to go in the machine, or in a basket right by it, or stacked on top of it, whatever. If you don't know when people are going to drop by and use that entry you're either going to have them stepping over piles of clothes or always have to keep your laundry room clean.

I guess it was really for looks. I typically have 2 cases on hand (reds only) and just store them in in unused bedroom actually. I'm not that particular nor a collector. I open a a bottle or two a week. I thought a vertical shelf would just add a little something to break up the upper cabinets. I agree on the over-the-frig thing being wrong. I am seeing it more and more in magazines or books. I dont cook much, house is 200 yrs old, I plan on some shade of white shaker inserts cabs, a couple glass cabinets for some great pottery i keep on open shelves now, character grade hickory floor (stained, not natural). Maybe I will just go with one vertical rack and skip the second and use it for something more practical (like a bigger caibinet). Thanks.

We've done both the mesh files (6 years?) and the cubbies (past 2 years). I vote cubbies. They're more versatile, more cleanable, more clean OUT - able, and they do look nicer, even behind doors. The mesh were never big enough - especially around Christmas. If you go with shallow ones, the taller papers may droop over, and if you go with deeper ones, little scraps of paper (babysitter's phone number, plumber's business card) get lost in the bottom. Any more than 1" thickness gets unmanageable, but there are times you can't get to the pile when it needs to be thinned out. Cubbies are awesome. You can build a stack of paper 4-5" high if you need to (say, if you're collecting tile samples, paint chips, multi-page quotes for major renos). You can keep non-mail items like the spare keys, chapstick, pens, or half-used seed packets (yes, that's what's in one of my cubbies right now), and they don't get lost in the bottom of the folder. My recommendation is unequivocally cubbies. Give serious thought to how many you need. We are a family of 3, and we have 5 cubbies: one for each person, one for household stuff, and one for "junk" (business cards, keys, pens, the aforementioned seed packets). One more may have been a good idea, but we bought an Ikea wine cubby, which only has 5 openings. You may want an extra cubby for longer-term storage of kids papers (until you can sort/save properly), or for catalogs you actually want to keep. Our recycling is just below our cubbies, so junk mail never even makes it to a counter. Also - if you have space, opt for 10-12" wide. Those large mailers are much bigger than a standard piece of paper, and the only thing I dislike about our tiny cubbies is that large items have to be curved to fit. I considered our mesh folders to be a great system, even though occasionally a counter pile would start growing. I am continually amazed at how much better the cubby system is working for us. I wish I had done cubbies in the last house.

Not uncommon to box off that corner area. All the more common since cabinets went from being custom site built to prefabricated boxes. You could utilize the space if you have access room on the back side. I would remove the pony wall--gaining a bit more space, cover the back of the existing cabinets and custom build a face frame cabinet to fit in that empty space. That approach would maximize the available space. Alternatively you could slide a 24" wide prefab cabinet into the space and use fillers. Keep in mind that if the counter extends beyond the wall (like a breakfast bar), accessing the new cabinet will be a bit more of a head banging challenge. Since you are spending for quart$ counters, I would do the cabinet properly.