Gooster, Our appliance budget is high... it kind of snowballed. We were originally going to keep some of the appliances since they work perfectly (15 years old, most are Whirlpool Gold). When we started looking into things the Viking Cooktop and double oven wasn't that much more, the Sub Zero beverage center wasn't that much more, etc so we decided to get new appliances.The real budget buster was the Sub Zero French Door refrigerator which is about $10K. We have a 1 year old counter depth French door Samsung fridge and we weren't planning to replace it. However I did not realize these larger refrigerators (36" x 84") require different cabinetry so we started designing it to fit the Sub Zero (for the future) and then just decided to replace the Samsung and bite the bullet. (We have a 2nd kitchen in our basement that we will use the fridge in). My husband is still boggled by the $10K fridge, lol. He keeps asking what else it does besides keep food cold, lol.

Big question, what stuff is going where? I don't need an answer at all, it's something for you to plan out if you haven't already. Like I don't see an obvious silverware drawer or an easy place to stand next to the dishwasher and put dishes away unless you're putting them on the shelves (my cats are hooligans, open shelves are a recipe for crashing noises at 5am, and/or grossness). I think we're just through the worst of a DIY Ikea remodel (famous last words though, right?). It took right at 3 months to get all of our boxes, including a high cabinet. I don't know if we just lucked into a return/unclaimed reservation from the spring production run or what, but we did find one, and when we went to get forgotten cover panels, we were talking with the associate and she made a joke about being old when you get excited about a cabinet box. She didn't seem shocked or impressed that we got one. I feel like it might be a little harder for the motivated to get boxes than it was when the store was getting stock, but it also sounds like the distribution center is significantly better stocked. Big thing- go to the store, avoid doing things online as much as you can. Also ask about availability- we changed from cutting down 2 36" cabinets to 30" to instead doing one 24, one 36. So what's going on on the style? It looks like one very divergent style on the perimeter and the Voxtorp on the island. Those don't go together at all. Also, the single three drawer cabinet makes my eye twitch. A mix is ok, or all three or all two, but all two except one lone tiny cabinet is just out of place. Three is my preference. Two looks better, but drawer behind drawer is one of those tiny irritations- why put in all this effort to be mildly inconvenienced every time you need in the silverware drawer? On the sink wall, I would combine the 2 18" lower cabinets into a single 3 drawer 36" cabinet. Per drawer, you lose 5" in width on the very bottom, tapering to about 3" an inch up, and it's over $100 cheaper. That isn't a huge amount in the scheme of a remodel, but it's both more functional AND cheaper. If you need separation, there are always drawer dividers. Size-wise, only some of my baking pans stored on their sides in an organizer, a couple of pan lids upright in a basket with feet, my Instant Pot, big Dutch oven and 8+ quart pots are too tall for the 10" drawers, but small enough to go into a 15", and I assume those are going in the lazy susan. Do be careful with your door choice if you modify the trash cabinet- I know the Bodbyn has seams that make it look funny turned 90* (not that that's stopping us, although we went with a Klearvue 9" cabinet rather than hacking- we really, really did not want to modify a cabinet), and anything with an integrated handle or a grain won't look quite right. Basically, you get Axstad, Bodarp, the new beige slab door, or Lerhyttan Gray (I highly, highly suggest testing whatever door you go with- the Axstad Blue door I tested looked worse in 2 days than our Bodbyn off white tape-handled cabinets I haven't cleaned in a month do now, and the Axstad smudges would not come off). Or you could offset the sink cabinet 2", still centering the faucet on the window, and slide things down the wall a tiny bit and not modify anything (that would be my choice). The island will block the straight-on view, so it won't be a blaring "Asymmetry" sign. I would also swap the open shelves to the left of the window and get rid of all of the uppers on the stove wall. I would put in a 30" (or 36") upper on the right of the window for dish storage, so you can stand to the right of the dishwasher and put them away without moving. You're only losing the 12" cabinet and 3" from the set of 2, 10+" of which would be in the back corner and super hard to reach anyway. That also takes out almost all of your soffits (less fiddly effort!), and since those are gone, the over fridge cabinet can now be at least 15" high, AKA tall enough for things like baking trays or that giant pot you use once a year. Do you have plans for the drawers on the pantry? Unless you have something specific that's tall that you plan to store in there, the top drawer is wasting a lot of prime (mid thigh to about eye level) space. In 4 more inches than the two drawers, we have several inches for cookie sheets and cooling racks, and 4 pull outs that comfortably house our food.

I have a vintage-y/quirky kitchen, almost the same layout as the one RTHawk linked. I built a box for the inexpensive countertop MW, to make it look like an old-fashioned bread box. The counters on that side of the kitchen are three inches deeper than normal, and I re-used a cabinet door to make a drop-down landing area, lined with sheet metal, so it can double as extra landing space for hot items from the range/oven. Here's a pic during remodel, and another in action--I eventually painted the MW cabinet to match the base cabs: MW cab with door closed. (New cabs to left of range, old kitchen to the right.)

Thank you all again, so much. I genuinely appreciate the time everyone has put in to help me (and my family) come up with a solution that will improve our living situation!! Some overall thoughts... I hate to just stone wall any suggestions, because I'll take it all and you never know what will stick - but some things that are probably hard limits for us are: The sectional has to stay. Blah. It has to stay together, all in one piece. Also blah, I know, but although it's a relatively small thing, we actually sorely need the arms on all ends with two toddlers literally bouncing around on it all day. We DO use our fireplace! Only in the winter months, but I admit I love it (more than my husband, who is in charge of log chopping/lugging/fire building/cleaning XD) and having a fireplace was a big sell for me in getting this house. So I would be heartbroken to cover up the fireplace. I can't find the exact measurements of our living room, but... we probably have about 5 inches of squeeze through space between the sectional and the walls. It's awful!!! I know, I know. We learned our lesson big time. However... @rrah Hello, you have blown my mind. WHOA!!!!!!!!! I am thrilled to share that you've inspired a huge paradigm shift in how we look at our entire house. SO the update is: We are measuring and brainstorming and seriously trying to move our entire living area - blessed sectional included! - into our sunroom! Which up until now has been a playroom/dirty living room where the animals hang out. We are measuring and trying to see how to move our entire dining room into the living room! I may even get a new kitchen table out of this! Woohoo! Maybe best news of all - this shift will leave our dining room empty, and in a spontaneous moment, my husband half-jokingly suggested that it could be my craft room aaaaaaaand the idea has taken root and will not budge and now I may have a ground floor craft room (easy for me to work on my many many projects AND cook and keep an eye on the kids) and my husband will have his home office back without getting wrapped up in yarn and thread every step he takes! I'm SO excited! Wow! I never would have thought I could have every single thing I wanted in a house from this house and I was okay with that, but now I'm actually maybe going to get so many things! Now what's best practice going forward? Everyone's help here has been invaluable! When people ask a design question here, is it customary to start a new discussion for every new question? Shall I just keep adding new questions here? I feel like as we embark on this whole shift I will need more advice! Thank you so much everyone!