Hi I finally got my key a couple of days ago. So yes the plan I posted is a mirror image. I forgot that there is a door to the closet. I wonder if I close up the door, and move the door next to the toilet bowl, and remove the door for the toilet bowl, if that will work. But it might be weird to have the entrance to the closet next to the toilet. I got some better measurements. The length of the tub is 62". But there is 2 inches of wall on one side of the tub, which I think is hollow. I don't know why it isn't flush with the wall where the doors to the closet and toilet are. The width of the tub from the wall backing is 41". From that same wall to the side of the vanity is 58". To the side of the cabinet is 59". I am tempted now to put a 59" x 32" tub (or maybe a 60"!?) next to the vanity (along the same wall), and I will have 32" to work with for a wall in shower on the doors side? Or any suggestion would be good. Few days ago, I came up with this: From forums But I think this is going to cost big time, involing moving the toilet, and half of the vanity, redoing the floor, wall,etc. And I don't know if the entrance to the closet would be too small (3 feet). By the way, I don't know how the DWV plumbing is run. Any thing I need to look for?

Residents: Mr. Chef, Elderly Mom, Me. Cooks: 80% of time one cook, 19% of time 2 cooks, 1% of time 5+ cooks. However, we also do BIG production cooking that takes up a lot of space. E.g. grinding and stuffing sausage, making huge pots of clarified spiced butter, roasting green coffee beans (yes, inside! We do like light roast, so it's OK :-), distributing parts of a butchered pig to friends (not butchered by us (yet!), although Mr. Chef has taken butchering classes and he and I have gone to a farm to learn to kill and prep chickens), making and freezing buckets of sauce from our tomato bumper crops, etc. We do a lot of cook-big-and-freeze (and have two freezers and a fridge in the garage as well). Sometimes we videotape our cooking. Elderly mom does not cook, but removes items from toaster oven and microwave after we've started it). Diners: Most times we all eat what Mr. Chef has cooked at separate times/places (our schedules are very wacky as people with mostly freelance/teaching type jobs). About quarter of the meals are with the 3 of us together (not including breakfast, that everyone eats on their own unless we go out). About one to three times a week we have a single guest over and there are 3 to 4 people eating (depends whether mom is awake). About once a month we have 5-15 people and pull out the tables. I have a friend, and Mr. Chef has a friend who do not like to be touched by our big dog. They visit in the kitchen or the office and we keep the dog out with voice commands. Dog also sheds a lot (Akita) and we try to keep him out of the kitchen generally. So somewhat restricted entrance and in-kitchen seating is preferred. Mom wants to visit with them, too. Our 26+ cu ft fridge is completely packed. We, and especially Mom, cannot get the food at the back. We need both more space and less depth. Hence: a 48" built-in fridge. Mr. Chef currently uses a 36" Thermador cooktop over a 30" oven. He almost never uses the oven, but has filled all 5 burners of the cooktop at once. He hates with a burning passion the knob-on-top design. Solution: either a 36" range or rangetop. Currently, I can't find a solution that involves a 30" wall oven that doesn't steal precious drawer space or window space. So, it'll probably be a 36" gas range with 6 burners. The 36" hood has been sufficient for us, including when venting coffee roasting fumes, so we may not have to step up to 42 as long as it as a wall stove. The toaster oven and microwave are used daily.

Are you still working on this? I have questions about more than the fridge. This is an awkward layout and there is enough space there that I think you must have better options. Have you looked at moving the dining room entry to the right? Shifting an opening is not a huge ordeal, even if that is a load bearing wall (not sure if it is but someone mentioned the possibility in an earlier post). I'll try to post something mocked up best my crude skills allow here. As I have it, I think that would be a 36" fridge and there is a pinch point. I'm not sure of the depth there, but with a counter depth, an 18" DW or some other tweaks with proper measurements, I think you could improve the function of the space. On the dining room side, any crown would remain or be replaced above the opening and a good contractor should be able to adjust the baseboards. Keep working the plan until you get the kinks out. I lived with two horrible kitchens (we're talking 2 burners and they aren't flat or heat that well, dying ovens, DW tiled in and praying it wouldn't die -- even though it was so loud I hated to run it) for ten years between the two of them until I was able to do my kitchen. I learned a lot along the way and had time to explore outside the box ideas, come back and go off in different directions. All that exploration really paid off in the end, and I plan to use it long enough to make up for any delays. Anyway, here's one rough idea in case you hadn't though of it.

I like a mix I saw a walk-in closet first time in my life when I first came to the States. I thought it's kinda neat)) When my late Grandma did her first and last remodel, in the eighties, she "borrowed" space between two rooms (we had three altogether, and it didn't go by bedrooms like here)-and that's how we had two big, not walk in but still quite big closets. That was neat too. It was a nicely sized apartment but we were six people there. Everything was very organized..had to be. But we had lots of free standing pieces..say my and my brother's clothes all except for coats went in a small wardrobe, and the wardrobe wasn't in our room, but in a different, bigger room, where Grandma and Grandpa slept. Books, we had in every room. We have a lots of books now too-but to be honest, it's but a small percentage of what we used to have when I was a little girl. One can't compare. In short, I still find the concept of built in closet pretty neat)) But I love free standing pieces too, a lot. I think the right mix gives one function, form, flexibility and beauty. So I go by that. Except for the garage..that's my DH's kingdom..and he abhores the thought of ruling there too..:) but doesn't want anybody's help as much as I beg. He thinks closets help, shelves help, this or that surface will help..no, nothing will help..I will help if you let me:) The concept is important, but it can't be fully functionable and enjoyable without people handling it, you know.