We have something similar. I like that idea. Ours is a coffee/tea/bar area. I’m wondering if you will like it connected/ visible to your dining room though… seems like that opening would be pretty close to the doorway to the kitchen.
How big is the doorway to the dining room from the kitchen?

My only hesitation would be putting something "pretty" in a walkway that's needed to be functional for the kitchen. You'll be walking by the wine and beverage station to get your flour etc. from the pantry, and to put it away when you're done - all visible from your dining room. If that doesn't sound like something that would bother you then it can work.

So I think we’ve decided that if we do move the icemaker and beverage fridge to the walkway on route to the pantry, we will not cut open that other entrance from the dining room. Keep the dining room walls in tact.
So just a matter of best location for ice maker.

Doorway to dining room from kitchen is currently 36” but that area has only been framed and not trimmed so could be moved.

I like the original plan better. think of using the ice maker and wine bar during a party. If they are tucked into the pantry, you will have a mass of people trying to get into that small area. having the bar in the open, accessible from two sides is preferable. use the pantry area for a second dishwasher and a microwave.

I agree about everyone crowing in there for a bar… my husband tends to pull all of the drink making items out of that area into the kitchen anyway. I love to keep the tea kettle there, but it would be nice for toaster oven or other small appliances. Is there a good spot in the dining roomer living room for a “bar”?
Does the opening to the dining room from the kitchen feel big enough to you? You might want to stand in it an imagine… we had a regular doorway to the mud room and the framers suggested a bigger opening… they saved us from a big mistake. I love the bigger opening.

I see what you’re after; a friend has a similar arrangement. I think unless your guests tend to contain themselves in your formal dining area or you have an actual butler serving from that area, you’re going to get too much traffic flow through that small space and through the kitchen work areas.

Well, now I have another dillema. The wall where the refridgerator is, is framed and only 18" deep. So, I either need to

a) keep the back wall, and have fridge and bev fridge stick out into kitchen 6", and shorten the island by 6"

b) recess the fridge into the guest closet, and have 18" deep cabinets and counter where the "vestibule" to the guest bedroom is, and move the wine fridge to the pantry or another location

c) re-arrange the kitchen all together. Framing is done, sink and gas range can't move too far but nothing else is designed or ordered yet.

Here's my full floor plan if anyone wants to weigh in on the fridge wall being framed at 18" deep rather than 24" deep.

Well, first I would put the DW on the opposite side of the sink from your fridge. If you keep the fridge where it is, put the DW on the other side.

You could put the fridge where your tall cab is in the corner, provided you use appropriate fillers (make sure you have this for the second fridge by the powder room, BTW. As shown now you will not have space to open the door all the way).

I would probably prefer moving the fridge, as it puts all the food in one place and won't have you ping-ponging across your kitchen to prep. It also has the added benefit of getting your fridge out of an aisle.

IF you keep the fridge where it is, recess the fridge into the guest closet and make that closet a standard reach in. You'll actually get more hanging space (you have two rows of 3'-6" now for 7'-0" total, and if you make it a standard reach in you'll get 7'-3").

Oh man! Things like this always pop up. It can get pretty overwhelming at times.
What are the disadvantages to just recessing the area right directly behind the fridge only… into the closet? The whole line of cabinets where the fridge is can stay the same other than that, right?
You will spend more time in your kitchen than the guest closet…which area will bring you more joy?

@anj_p @Chris

Recessing the closet is no big loss to me! Having the reach in with the 2 rows sounds great, I'll do that. @anj_p will the door size still work for the reach in closet? I need room for the night stand, so hate to go wider on the closet door.

I am open to moving the fridge to that spot by the pantry that says "tall cabinet" @anj_p

@Chris if I recess into the closet, the whole line by the closet will be correct depth at 24", but I'll have to cut some depth where the guest bedroom entrance vestibule is. Those counters can only be 18" deep, unless I have them stick out from the wall. The way my plan is drawn, there is a "nub" of wall by the wine fridge, that would allow +3" of depth, so 21" depth with the nub. Still not deep enough for the wine fridge. But, could move the wine fridge (and ice maker) to that pantry entrance, thus making a "butler pantry". Then, the space where the wine fridge is drawn in would be 18-21" deep counter space, and I could have the fridge flush/match up to that if I recess the frige into the closet space.

Or, I can go with @anj_p suggestion and move the fridge between the range and the pantry, then that full wall by the guest closet would just be cabinets.

You will also need to find space for your wine fridge...so you may have to recess that space either way.

If you have a reach in closet now, go measure the distance from the opening to the end and see how comfortable it is. That should give you an idea of whether the doors are OK. If that doesnt' work you could always do bifold or bypass doors, which aren't as "nice" but still function just fine, especially for a not-often-used closet. I would pull that entire wall forward to regular reach-in depth (2'-6" maybe?) so it doesn't look choppy.

My vote would be moving the fridge to the corner. Keeps your kitchen work triangle more compact, and makes the fridge accessible to diners. You could even consider putting the wine fridge and ice maker in the island. That might require some reconfiguration of cabinets there, though, and wouldn't make a stand alone "drink center" if that's what you're after, so maybe not...but make sure your wine fridge fits if you keep it on that wall.

interesting. What will you do with the 18” counters even if you move the fridge?Do you have a “ 3D” mock up of your kitchen from a designer… could they pop the fridge in to see where you’d like it? I used Paint software on my computer back in the day to draw up our kitchen since I made adjustments along the way. I’m the worst at just imagining… I always had to see how it would look. I would do your best drafting up the stove wall adding in the fridge.
I also think you might want to consider making a tall shallow cabinet ( floor to ceiling) right where the entrance to the guest room wall is… I marked that in green. And then recess the rest of the cabinets and the fridge to a regular depth(In red). Do you think that would work? For some reason the picture keeps loading extra small( sorry) hopefully it’ll still make sense.

It made it giant instead.. ha!

@Chris I had thought of that idea of the shallow floor to ceiling cabinet where your green area is. It could even have some glass cabinets to look like a hutch. Only thing is, would be a loss of some counter space that I was hoping to use for serving.

Trying to figure out where the best area is for a) serving drinks, b) serving food.

@anj_p I like this idea of moving the fridge.

Does this change your opinion on location for the bev fridge and ice maker?

Whatever you do, it’ll be very nice. We use our island for food services. I just felt like the fridge might crowd your stove area a bit. Draw it out if you can. We did that trying to fit the microwave somewhere/ anywhere! Finally worked it out. It felt a little off at first because I knew we were doing the forcing, but no one else even notices.

(anj_p) I do so love efficiency! Good points about the door overlap. I was really hung up over symmetry in our kitchen in the beginning, but there was no way to make it even so I had to give in and did what worked best for how I was going to use the space… picturing where I’d want to reach for things helped immensely. But by the time I got to drawer pulls, I was a mess. I ( and my husband) questioned my sanity🤣. Such a tiny decision overwhelmed me.
No one even notices any of the things I stressed out about.

@anj_p would love to see photos of your new kitchen!!! Thanks for all of the input.

@rr4580 Sure, I will take some when I get home. My kitchen isn't perfect (it was a production home so I wasn't able to change it very much) but I was able to extend the island and shift the sink & DW over, which was the most important thing for me. The builder's plan has an 8' island with the sink centered. leaving only 2.5' for prep. I have 5'.

I wish my aisle between fridge and island was larger (I could have made it larger but didn't think of it until it was too late). I also think my ovens are too far out of the kitchen. I probably would have preferred to move the beverage center to where the ovens are and to put the ovens where the beverage center is. Or move the fridge there and put the ovens where the fridge is...I did ask about moving appliances around and was told no. I probably should've pushed harder - but thankfully I'm not much of a baker so really only use the ovens for roasting.

Anyway, here is the plan of it. Because I extended the island the "Dinette" is actually not large enough for a table, which is fine - our dining room is close by.

Perlick makes 18” deep fridges and beverage centers that might be worth a look for your situation.