Our condo was built in 1999 and had the typical galley layout with buyer's grade cabinets, and a previous owner had updated the counters to granite that looked like someone had thrown up all over them. The total useable counter space was shy of 4' in length. It also had terrible lighting so I always thought my vision was getting bad, which it IS, but not THAT bad. The laundry space was at the end of the kitchen behind folding closet doors, with room for a storage shelf.

I tried to get a designer to help me out, but no luck in these renovation boom times and with the budget I had (well under $50k), so I took it upon myself. I also was the project manager in partnership with my contractor who had all the subcontractors at hand. I knew my goals, which were 1. expand the counter space, 2. quiet and soften the space, 3. get a Scandinavian vibe back into my kitchen with a blue/white/yellow/red color scheme, which I have had in every kitchen I have owned, and 4. create a dedicated baking station, as I bake a lot of bread and do a lot of cooking. My overall theme was "Scandinavian semi-professional kitchen."

The results are below. I opted to go with under-counter, ventless washer/dryer set to maximize my counter space (still waiting on the dryer - damn you, Covid supply-chain issues), which succeeded as I gained over 10 feet in useable counter space.

Before - from the entrance.

After, from the same location. The flooring is cork so it was easier on my feet when standing for long periods. It is super durable, easy to maintain, inexpensive, and works exactly as I had hoped.

The custom stainless countertop with built in sink/drain pan, manufactured by Stainless Supply, who are in South Carolina. You may find them at stainlesssupply.com. They were excellent and easy to work with. I can't recommend them enough. It is a full 130" long and was like an episode of "Grand Design" getting it into the freight elevator, as 1/2" longer and it would not have fit. Lots of sleep lost on this, but SO worth it! The stainless is a dream to work on and keep clean, and it looks fantastic.

Before demolition looking in from the livingroom.

After from the same location. I opted to go with a simple nougat quartz for all other counters, as I didn't want stainless everywhere. The quartz counters and cabinets are all IKEA.

Below is where the dryer used to sit inside the closet. The wall was removed (obviously), to create this space, which is my baking center. It's great not having to drag my mixer back and forth from a closet every time I want to use it.

Below is the other side of the old laundry closet. I opted for open shelving and the pegboard to make it easier to grab bowls and pans as I needed them, rather than behind doors. It has proven to work exactly as I envisioned and I love the ease of it.

The bump out in the counter is a result of the wall being 2" out to accommodate water and drain pipes behind for the washing machine. The baking center side had the same issue but with no pipes/wiring behind it, so our contractor set the wall back to make it the same depth down the entire length.

Sources:

Contractor: Nico Salvetierre of Varilko. He is out of Atlanta, GA where I live. He was a fantastic partner in this project, and with his dedicated crew, we managed to get it finished in three months from start to finish.

Cabinets (Axstadt), pegboard, baking center shelving, and quartz countertops: IKEA with their subcontractors for cabinet installation and quartz manufacturing. Their cabinet installers were fantastic. The quartz countertop folks, not so much.

Stainless Shelving on back wall - ULine (Uline.com)

Flooring: ReNature Castello Cork (it's the corkiest of cork looks, which I wanted), from Lumber Liquidators

Tile: Mediterranean Mosaic porcelain tile, Tangier Blend, by Modwalls.com

Stainless steel counter with built-in sink and drainboard: StainlessSupply.com