Kind of went through something similar. Our kitchen layout has the fridge by a wall that comes out (deep) 36 inches. The space is 36 inches wide. ThPrevious owners put in a side by side and I didnt notice until after we moved in the fridge was pulled out to the end of the wall creating a gap of about 3-4 inches behind the fridge. I thought this was odd, pushed the fridge back and then I realized the problem. The doors on the fridge would gouge into the wall. Every darn pen or piece of paper seemed to fall behind the fridge. Drove me nuts. So anyway, to actually get the right fit meant going with a fridge that was smaller. One where I could open the doors and access the trays. I bought a fridge that is 30 inches wide giving me 6 inches to play with. New fridge opens all the way without issues.

In the FR against the Kitchen/pantry wall, we plan to put in some tall cabinets of some sort for books and other storage and maybe the TV/stereo components as well as put a 36" desk between them. That wall is 82-3/4" right now (it extends about 4' beyond the kitchen) plus we're adding another 18" or so to that wall for the pantry. That means we will have 100-3/4" to work with. We'll probably put in a 30" cabinet + 36" desk + 30" cabinet, all at least 24" deep. The desk may be 30" deep. That's the plan anyway. However, that will not be for at least a year or two. We need to save the $$$ to do it. But before then, we'd like to put in a DIY Mudroom in our Garage. We need someplace for all the clutter, etc. We might be able to put the Message Center there, but I'm not sure we'll have the room...it's going to be a small Mudroom (we're taking a 5' x 10' bite out of one garage bay to do this...we will still have room to park a car in that bay, but just barely!) So, in the mean time...I guess we'll have to find someplace else. The Pet Center is where we plan to store the dogs' food, collars, leashes, etc. We feed them right around the corner in front of the PR where there is a little setback b/w the kitchen & PR. The counter above is my baking center...I don't think I want to put a phone, keys, etc. where the flour may be flying! My KA Mixer will also be housed in that corner on the counter. [We have 2 standard poodles, around 45 pounds & 55 pounds.] Ruby & Shea (sister & brother) I have just about every counter and cabinet planned out! Perhaps I could put the landline phone & answering machine on the DR peninsula...although, there will be prep sink in that corner and it's pretty far from the FR...I'll have to think some more! Thanks for the suggestions!

As I mentioned above, we took the soffit down. We really needed every inch of storage we could find; removing the soffit and taking the cabs up to the ceiling was a wonderful solution. Aesthetically it was an enormous improvement too. Made the kitchen look much bigger, almost like magic. To the OP/Marti8a - have you thought about removing the soffit/fur down? Just a P.S. about us vertically-challenged people (5'3" here) and tall upper cabinets. For me, I can't reach anything above the second shelf regardless, so I will need a stepstool whether we had cabinets up to the ceiling, or had shorter cabinets. Either way I need a stepstool, so I was happy to get the taller cabs.

I just simply didn't run a water line to my fridge. I use ice trays, and buy bagged ice for parties. If you don't use up ice on a regular basis (and I wouldn't), that's one of the times you can start running into trouble. I have food storage in the putative ice collection bay. There are two great sinks in the kitchen here... I was able to find a good unit without a door dispenser.