on p1 there's a thread showing some storage spaces - on the far right and down to row 13 (might be off by 1 row) it shows a drop down door front used as a 'desk' for a laptop. To the right of that pic is another that shows a file cabinet drawer. Or for the computer/laptop space it could be a slide out like used in the past on computer desks. There are options to think about. You could then still have a window over it with a cabinet on either side (with glass if you'd want that). Even if the view isn't so wonderful, the natural light is wonderful to have. Especially if you live where it is drab, dreary at times of the yr. Some people have had a window etched or frosted. I've seen pics of a window with a stained glass piece hung in front of it. Or even a sheer to fade the view but still let in light. I'd put the fridge on the run with the sink in it - for ice, water, stone, fire to flow. Just be sure there is plenty of space for opening the door(s) and a body to stand there - and not be in the way of the cook. I think on the back wall it'd be more likely to put someone behind the island.

divingcardinal, they have these things made out of cloth called "curtains". You pull them closed when things get too shiny. Or this other weird thing called a "blind" that goes straight up and down. Also very effective at blocking the light sometimes while letting it stream in unimpeded at others. To the OP - while the idea of enclosing the porch isn't horrible, it really doesn't look all that wide, enough to make it practical as a laundry room, unless you could put stacked units at the far end. Not sure where that is in relation to the window, which I absolutely WOULD NOT want to lose in the kitchen. However a better solution seems to me to be to fix the basement stairs. If they are SO narrow and/or shallow that a young person such as yourself wouldn't feel safe going up and down them with a basket of laundry, they're too narrow/shallow to be safe in any case. I would rather invest the reno money in fixing those stairs, give them a landing and a turn if necessary. I don't know what kind of space you have down there but if the stairs are as bad as you seem to imply, you won't use that space much, if at all. Plus I would worry about little kids and steep/narrow stairs. I'm 60 and if I had a basement that is where I would want the laundry area to be. Preferably with a built in floor drain. That would give me the space to have an actual laundry tub for the washer to drain into instead of those stupid little plastic bins they mount behind the drywall these days. Plus, laundry tubs are SOOOO useful for so many reasons. Even if they are in the basement.

Thank you everyone for your time and great feedback. Let me try to answer some of your questions and clarify a few things… The kitchen and current dining space combined is 11’5” deep by 23’8” wide. Our budget is around 20K and we could and are willing to do some plumbing or move a gas line for our oven/stove. We recently replaced our dishwasher and oven/stove. Our fridge is still fine but could be replaced if necessary (but we don’t want to spend 6-10K on a new counterdepth fridge). So the budget would be primarily for cabinets, countertops, any plumbing or gas line work, etc. We are one of the largest houses in the neighborhood so we aren’t wanting to spend a ton on the kitchen and overprice the house for the area, but for the size of our house our current kitchen is not working (we only have one drawer for silverware and then a small 12” drawer for utensils…it’s just not very user friendly or functional) and needs redone. We tinkered with flipping the current kitchen and dining space but run into some problems. 1) The large 72” wide picture window in the dining space is only 29” up from the floor, so it would be below the cabinet and countertop. The smaller 36”x36” above the current sink would likely need to be altered to fit the space more appropriately. We have stucco so it is a lot more involved and costly to change window sizes or placement leaving us pretty much stuck with the present windows. 2) We have soffits above our current kitchen cabinets that we were hoping to be able to open up but we realized the one along the top wall over the sink is filled with plumbing from our 2nd floor main bathroom as well as HVAC. Too costly to move for our budget so it would have to stay and look out of place all alone over there without cabinets or something else to help camouflage it. The one along the shorter wall can be taken out and we plan to do so in order to have taller cabinets on that wall. There was a wall between the kitchen and current dining room that we took out (only a small 30” deep stud wall remains next to the fridge). We have a standard fridge and would like to try to decrease the amount of space it takes and projects from the wall. We realized there is a double wall on the right wall in-between the kitchen and bathroom. We have decided to move the fridge there because we can recess it back 3-4” making it appear closer to a counterdepth fridge. Our current “living room” acts more like a family room for us, but we also just refinished our basement in the last year and that area serves more as our present family room. Since it is a large room, it would be a bit awkward to put our kitchen table there and have some extra space in the living room that leaves us wondering how it would be used. Our current “family room” with the fireplace is a room we don’t use because our fireplace isn’t functioning. It is merely a room we walk through in order to access our backyard and why we thought taking some space from the room for a mudroom might be a good option. Our current kitchen table is large (40x72) with a bench and 4 tall/high back chairs. It takes up a lot of space in the current “dining room” space and why we were tinkering with a smaller table for the kitchen and moving the larger table to a new dining room in the back. However, it does make sense that we would likely no longer use that second table and would be a wasted space. @emilyam819 Yes, we will be removing the small stud wall by the current fridge to allow more freedom in the design. Please see note above about the wall removal and possible fridge relocation. @latifolia Our current dining area is the left part of the open space in front of the large picture window. We are considering putting a smaller table there so we can still have a place to eat yet have more room for cabinets and then moving our large kitchen table to the back room with the fireplace. It currently is an unused space as the fireplace is nonfunctional and why we are considering making a mudroom back there as well. But we understand dining rooms often go unused so maybe that area is better served as a den or office space like you suggested.Our laundry room is in the basement as we have a laundry chute and don’t have the room to put it on the 1st or 2nd floors. @Cherie “Too bad you can't remove the walls.”—I know, right!?! It’s so frustrating! But we have sulked about it too long and need to accept it and move on, but it is such a bummer in our books!

Overall nice plan, and excellent solution for the fridge and angled wall--you did your research :). Symmetry seems important to you, but there are areas of concern. To improve the function, I would move the sink and DW to the right (you'll need a return panel for the DW, to support the counter top), and store dishes in the tall cabinet on the angled wall. That move will give you a wider prep area. Storing dishes in the tall cabinet will allow a helpers to unload the DW, or gather dishes to set the table, without entering the prep zone. Put a trash pull-out on the end toward the cooktop, where it will be convenient to all zones. Other concerns: I wonder if there is enough step-back space in front of the ovens, so your backside is not up against the cabinets across the aisle when an oven door is open. Assuming the lockers are in the entry space, what is to the left? Will that be a busy traffic aisle? You will have a lot of countertop on the cooktop wall, which will basically be wasted space, and probably a drop zone. Maybe moving the oven to that end would be better--you'd have the space you need to open the oven doors, and it wouldn't be in the entry to the left. Put an appliance garage or other tall cabinet where the ovens are drawn. Then make the drawers on each side of the cooktop wider, for storage of pots and pans and other bakeware. Cabinets sizes might need to be adjusted to those available in your cabinet manufacturer's line. I'm not sure I understand the 12" and 18" overhangs for the island. The NKBA recommends a minimum of 15" for comfort at counter height, so your island can be shallower, or you can include another row of shallow cabinets. The cabs on the ends could be pull-outs for easier access: NKBA guidelines New to Kitchens? Read me first.