Thank you @backtowork, I think you've crystalized in words what my gut has been telling me. As an alternative approach to achieving the "open" feeling, I've been thinking about going with white cabinets above the cooktop and along the fridge/pantry wall while keeping the wood lower cabinets elsewhere. Would love to get your thoughts on two-tone cabinetry and whether this is a trend that will date the kitchen to 2020 or if it'll age well over time.

The tight walkway with the peninsula is right where the refrigerator doors open. No way would I put in the peninsula. You will have as much usable space along the wall next to the sink without it.

That is tight. There will be no baking with your kids because there is no room for more than one person to bounce around the space like a pinball macine.

Are these totally custom cabinets? You do know that a counter depth refrigerator is not actually 24" deep.

For a kitchen that size I would not consider a separate cooktop, wall oven and microwave oven. I'd select a slide in range with a dual oven option below and microwave on a shelf. That would provide 30" more of counter space.

If you want the peninsula (and I would), I agree that you should swap the cooktop and wall oven for a range. Then move the pantry to the end where you have the refrigerator and the refrigerator, which means it will open into the center of the kitchen, rather than against the end of the peninsula. That will help relieve the tight spot with the refrigerator and peninsula and also resolve the doors opening all the way issue. I would do a microwave drawer on the peninsula.

Thank you all for your feedback. It's super helpful hear other people's perspectives and potential solutions.

@calidesign That's exactly the argument that my architects have made, but I really want to make the peninsula work. Had originally wanted an island but the width of the kitchen is too small for that.

@Kristin S Yes, I would be willing to sacrifice the wall oven and swap the pantry and refrigerator location if it means keeping the peninsula. I actually had a discussion with the architects yesterday about potential changes to the kitchen layout which is what inspired this thread and they are waiting for me to make a final decision about all of these various elements. For what it's worth, they also suggested a range rather than having a separate cooktop and wall oven.

@BeverlyFLADeziner These will be custom cabinets. I assume the architects are aware that spacers are necessary in the corners but I agree with you that the short wall next to the fridge is problematic. I'm assuming this would no longer be an issue if we put the pantry at the kitchen entrance instead of the fridge. What would you recommend as the optimal width of the kitchen entrance after swapping the pantry and fridge?

Since there will not be any upper cabinets on the sink wall, I was originally planning to store everyday dishes in the peninsula drawers that could be accessible from both sides. Would there be enough room for both a microwave drawer and dish storage in a small peninsula?

And question about dishwasher placement--my sister suggested swapping the dishwasher and trash pull out location, but if I did that I would have to find another location for my everyday dishes because it doesn't look like there's enough room to open both the dishwasher and the peninsula drawers simultaneously. My architects were saying that if we get rid of the peninsula, we could swap the dishwasher and trash locations and have a tall dish storage cabinet located right next to the dining room. Would it be ok to leave the dishwasher and trash where they are currently located despite the crossed prep and clean up zones?

I don't know how big the dining area is, but if the peninsula could angle into it on a 45 into the dining space, you'd gain more square footage inside the kitchen, and maybe the peninsula could be a bit larger.

I agree with previous Houzzers.
That is a tight squeeze.
I would use a range and put the microwave on a shelf.
I would also get rid of the pantry altogether. That will give you two choices. One is more counter space or the other is to slide the refrigerator inwards so it is not opposite the peninsula.
Okay, now you are asking what about my lost storage?
Well, gone are the days before dishwashers when we spent hours of our day at the kitchen sink washing dishes.
And gone are the days before electrical appliances when we prepped and whipped and chopped every little thing for a zillion people by hand for hours.
We don’t need those big picture windows in the kitchen to prevent us from going stir-crazy any more!
Your window can be smaller and you can put storage cabinets on that wall to the right and left of the sink and still have a window but just not such a huge one.

@tonoplast In my opinion, since you asked, I think the two-tone scheme you have in mind would be lovely. It is somewhat of a trend that is past its peak, but I can see it working well in your kitchen. If you really want to lighten up the space, you could keep your wood tone cabinetry and just add glass fronts to the uppers on the back wall. That's generally the way people get a more airy, open-feeling space in the uppers unless you went to shelving which is also on the wane due to maintenance issues. Your cabinetry design is more modern, but you can still get uppers with frosted glass. I'm thinking of something I've seen in the Poggenpohl showroom in Dallas where the uppers were all frosted glass on one display area, and it was simply beautiful. Most companies would offer something similar.

I love windows and would never recommend doing less. I have a tiny kitchen right now with huge windows all around it, and I love it. It depends on your personal aesthetic. Having windows brings in a lot of natural lighting so that I rarely need to have lights on during the day for cooking.

As for the comments saying the kitchen is too small for multiple cooks, I've personally have several families among my extended family relatives who have kitchens smaller than that where multiple people manage to cook together on a regular basis, so not to worry if this is the layout that you're tied into, which it sounds as though you are already.

There have also been a few comments about the gap between the refrigerator and end of the peninsula. I have the exact same scenario in my current kitchen with less space there than you would have, and it works fine for a two-adult household. You have to shuffle to get past if someone has the refrigerator door open, but it's not an unworkable situation if you have no other design layout options. Your walkway there looks to be 40" which is more than decent. Mine is less than 30", and I have a side-by-side refrigerator, and it still works fine for us to have it that tight. We will not be reducing the peninsula in our current remodel because we cannot afford to lose the storage space.

Don't assume your designers are leaving enough corner clearance. The drawers should open with a minimum of 1/2" clearance to each other, as another poster pictured above. You would not believe the number of times we hear about in-home installations or even see in kitchen showrooms drawers that won't open due to negligence on the part of the designer. Double-check that before your cabinetry is ordered.

Do not assume anything.

Thank you all for your helpful feedback! I went and measured the distance between the refrigerator (single door with bottom freezer) and end of cabinet run in our current kitchen entrance and it's actually 48" with the door closed! When the door is open 90 degrees, the opening drops to 22", which is manageable but not super convenient. This means that in the proposed layout, where the opening measures 40", we would be losing another 8" with the fridge we have now, which I agree is too tight. I know a french door fridge would probably help ease the pinch a little bit but I think you all are right that I'm better off swapping the fridge and pantry, which solves several problems at once.

@decoenthusiaste Unfortunately, we have the opposite of an open floor plan in our home and the dining room shape won't allow us to angle the peninsula further into the room. The dining table will actually be positioned pretty close to the new peninsula when all is said and done, which is one reason I'm not adding a counter overhang since it's just as easy to sit at the dining table proper and still be close to the action.

@Aglitter Thank you for sharing your thoughts re: the cabinets and the windows. Yes, I've been thinking about this layout for quite a while but I still was not certain if I could commit to the floorplan I posted above bc of the various issues you all have pointed out.

@loobab our house is a typical San Francisco Doelger home so we do not have any windows on the sides of our house because our neighbors' homes are immediately adjacent. In order to maximize the light coming in from from the interior lightwell as much as possible, we decided not to include any upper cabinets on the sink wall.

I think the last thing I'm still not certain about is if we should slide the sink closer to the stove in order to swap the dishwasher and trash pull out. Would it look funny to not have the sink centered on the window? I keep telling myself that at the end of the day, this new kitchen will be a dramatic improvement over my current dysfunctional 1939 layout (it even has the original built-in ironing board in a shallow cabinet opposite the sink!) so these are all minor details at this point. But given what this remodel will end up costing us, I want to make sure we get it right on the first try!

If it was my kitchen, I’d get rid of the peninsula, especially after describing the dining area. I think dishwasher and trash should switch (oven door will be an issue), and if it’s possible, shift the sink over, add a tall cabinet near the dining that would allow you to store what was supposed to go in the peninsula. You won’t have lost space in the corner of the peninsula. I still think the refrigerator needs to shift. Consider a counter depth, or if budget allows, an integrated fridge.