Do you have a floor plan to post? Is your pantry like a walk in pantry with a door or more like a pantry room with cabinetry? I am having a hard time picturing it. I have seen hoods next to doors quite a lot but it is usually a door on either side of the hood . . . I do agree it might look strange with cabinets on one side and doors on the other. It sounds like the pantry is the best option but can't tell for sure without a floor plan.

I can't put my hands on much in the way of pictures right now but the Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles Christmas house my architect did a few years ago was like this with a door on either side of the hood - one went to the butlers pantry and through the dining room and the other went to the back hall area I think. It was a mantle style hood but I think I remember you are doing a Francois and Co style. Here is one with a door beside it and I think it looks nice - it doesn't look like they have upper cabinets on the other side and maybe that is the trick . . . I can't tell if they have a window or not next to the hood and this is from an old Atlanta H&L that I threw away. Hope this helps you visualize. . .

This post also has pics from another Atlanta house. These aren't the best but there are doors on either side of the range - one into the kitchen office and the other into the wet bar.

http://www.thingsthatinspire.net/2009_05_01_archive.html

Here is a link that might be useful:

I pulled up the website for Design Galleria, which is a big time high end kitchen design firm in Atlanta (they distribute William Ohs cabinetry and many similar lines), and they have several pictures of houses with this sort of thing and one has a door on one side and cabinetry on the other (but no upper cabinets - instead a pot rack thing but you could do something else there to balance it out) . . .

Here is a link that might be useful: Design Galleria

Below is a shot of my kitchen design. We'll have a hood with a door next to it and no cabs in between. The cab to the right looks funny in the pic but it will be a custom spice cabinet - rustic looking with the chicken wire style (going for an old farmhouse look)

I think as long as you don't try to do standard upper cabinets on the other side of the hood, it will look great. Something like Andi did, or like what was in the Design Galleria picture or something else (even a piece of great art or grouping of pottery, or antique plate rack, etc.) could look great there and not look "unbalanced" like upper cabinets might.

Is there a way to make the passage through the pantry wider, perhaps by installing shallow cabinets and shelves? (Plus it's easier to find stuff on narrower shelves.) My brother-in-law and his wife just purchased a home with a walk through pantry - it creates a convenient way to their kitchen, just a few steps down a short hall from their entry. Another thought is to create a pass through "window" on the range wall to allow you to easily set groceries into the kitchen, onto the counter without the actual need for a full door - I recently saw this idea in the book "Big Solutions for the Not So Big House". (You could still have the passage through the pantry, but perhaps it wouldn't need to be as wide, since you wouldn't be hauling bags of groceries through it.)

Andi- Great kitchen design! What are you using for the backsplash, behind the range? Are the cabinets going to be painted or stained? Are you planning to have a kitchen table or just the island? Nice plan :)

Threeapples- Can you post a plan?

This is what we did:

It was very important to me that the range be centered in the room, thei sland centered on the range, the dining table centered on the island, the chandelier and pendants and range all line up.

First, you are all so incredibly helpful--thanks for calming me down with this. The website and photos you all included are fantastic and have been quite helpful for me, thanks. I'll do my best to include plans here--I hope it works. The one image of the range wall you will see has a door that is designed to look like cabinetry. We've decided to just do a regular door there, so ignore that detail. The range hood is toulouse from francois and company and has a graceful line to it. For the sink wall, we are doing a french casement window 56" wide x 48" tall. We can move the window over one foot to the right to try to center it a little more, but that's it. I'm not sure if we should move it over or just have cabinets to the right of the window and not to the left. The ceilings in here are 10 ft tall and I want to take the cabinets all the way up to the molding. I'd love any comments or critiques! :)
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http://img.makeupalley.com/2/7/8/7/2093757.JPG

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three apples - we went through some of the very same things you did! :)

your sink wall not being symmetrical isn't noticeable at all. If you had your sink off center from the window or something "crazy" like that, then, I'd say you may have a symmetry issue :) But, I think it looks great. And, I if you bump the window, you'll end up bumping the sink down which may leave it farther from range then you may want (unless you have a prep sink?). It also may leave it "not so symmetrical" that it looks like the installers messed up - know what i mean? If it's functional to you, I'd leave the sink wall as it is.

The floor plan is a little tough to read/tell what can be shifted for a passage way to kitchen. But, I can see why you'd want one if you had a ton of groceries, etc. Is it possible to crop the image to just the key areas and repost it larger?

lavendar lass - thank you!! Behind the range we are doing a 'false stone chimney' - like the kitchen was an addition/renovation done later. So the stone will behind the range and then we may do tile of some kind in the small cut out over the range since there's going to be a shelf cut out of the stone. The perimeter is going to be soft white with soapstone...island is a walnut-like stained rustic knotty alder...also with soapstone. The dish cabinet to the right of the sink (tall one on right side of pic) is meant to look like it's own separate piece of furniture - it's going to be this french gray color - bluish/grayish/greenish :) Then, the spice cabinet to right of range color is still TBD - either stained or some rustic/weathered color. KD is recommending a red, and I'm going to visit David Smith (davidtsmith.com) to see if he can make something, so we'll see what he suggets, also! We will have a banquette - it's just after the sink wall...(although the sink wall in the pic below is not the current one)

If I'm seeing this correctly, it looks like the butler's pantry passes through from K to DR, correct? But it looks like there are 2 cabinetry sides? Can you get rid of one of those, bump out the kitchen pantry more so you have more space to walk through the pantry? Then, make the kitchen pantry shelving so that it's a drop counter and upper shelves (or something like that so you can drop groceriers there more, etc)

I tried to doodle this out, but I'm not very savvy with picture tools!

possibly another option?

Wow, Andi K, thanks for the time you put into that!!! I really appreciate it. We have some sort of structural reason for not being able to cut in under the stairs there. As for eliminating one wall of cabinetry in the butler's pantry, it's a possibility. I'm thinking the most convenient way to enter the kitchen would still be at the end of the range wall, as irritating as it may be for aesthetics. I'm having the cabinet guy redraw things with the door there and take it from there. I'll try to learn how to upload pdfs to photobucket or shutterfly, though I've not found where on those sites to do so. That way I can try to post new plans here for feedback again.

no problem. If you create a door through the oven wall, your layout/base design becomes very similar to mine. So, I added the overhead pic below just to maybe give you some ideas (or not!) :). (In my first pic above, the cab to the right of fridge is really a cabinet door that goes into a walk-in pantry...you can see that below with the pantry to the right).

Also, I don't think you can upload pdf files. But, you should be able to take a pdf file and save it as a .jpeg....and upload that.

Hi,

Thanks, Andi_K. Yes, your layout is incredibly similar to ours. I'm thinking I really want my island (a horizontal shape) centered in front of the range. Uggh, this is so frustrating! I've spent hours browsing online photos on various blogs and website featuring beautiful kitchen images and cannot for the life of me come up with a design for cabinetry or otherwise on the range wall, not to mention the fact that I am at a loss for ideas for a back splash. I wish the kitchen designer would just get back to me and come up with something fantastic so I can stop worrying. :) I appreciate your help and hope to post more images soon.

There are also pdf to jpeg converters that are free - I have used those to convert pdfs to jpegs and upload thru photobucket. . .

Cnet has a couple you can download I think

wish i had a better photo , but this client's kitchen had the same problem ... the door to the rear hall and garage is to the immediate right of the cooktop and hood ... this has worked well for him ...

Andi K, I love your banquette! We are going to have one of those too. Do you mind if I ask the width of yours? I'm trying to decide whether to put a single "bench" at the back like you are showing here or to have it run along the sides a bit too (U-shaped seat) with chairs at the front. Our entire width is 12 feet so I'm trying to figure out the best option for that space.

Interior dimensions of the banquette space are about 11'4" x 5'5" (something like that) Here is an overhead shot with my table/chairs doodled in (we estimated a 42" x 76" table). The only reason we went with the straight was bc of table placement and not wanting to "scootch" in/out. So, we planned it so you could be sitting on the end, and have someone get in/out easier. But I have to say it was a long decision process - I love the look of the U shaped banquette!!!

This is my inspiration photo also...

Thank you so much Andi K! I feel much better knowing your dimensions are working for you. This helps so much. I almost didn't see this post because I didn't get the follow-up email for some reason. But I'm glad I came back and searched for it. Love your inspiration photo too. I put a few up on my blog and this one has my favorite colors since we are doing beach house inspired decor:
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Here is a link that might be useful: Let's Build a Home

Andi K- Thanks for the details...the backsplash behind the range is just beautiful! It's going to be a wonderful kitchen :)

My only question...are you using a pedestal table with the banquette and do you have enough room to get past the end chairs, when someone is seated there? (Okay, sorry, that's two questions.) I've been thinking of using a banquette on one side of the table, but didn't know if I had room for a bump out, but yours (and grace's) look so charming and cozy!

Andi K- Your sitting area is very nice, too. Is that a fireplace with bookshelves, on both sides? If so, are you using gas or wood? Thanks in advance :)

graceshan - that's a beautiful pic! We also considered an L shape banquette, but it kept throwing off my table size and ability to walk behind the chair on the other side if someone was sitting there :) Thanks for sharing the blog, I'll definitely check them out. I just started one as well...

lavender - for the banquette, I'm going to do a farmhouse table with a pedestal base. Depending on the actual table I get (leaf or no leaf), I may need to get one with 2 pedestals. But, I definitely want to get a pedestal so it's easier to get in/out. And, if someone is sitting on an end seat, we estimated there would still be about 12" of space behind them. So, it's not a complete perfect aisle, but enough that the person on the bench doesn't feel "stuck" :) And, most of the time, it will be my boys on the bench - and they have skinny little butts :)

The fireplace is going to look like it was an old brick fireplace, but have a gas stove instead. And, yes, those are bookshelves on either side. I really wanted a much bigger design, but the space wouldn't really allow it. Here's the idea behind the fireplace design...

And, the idea behind the bookcase/panel design...

Here is a link that might be useful: our home blog

And, threeapples - I apologize bc I feel like i've completely hijacked your post!

Andi- Thanks for the link to your blog. Your KD has done a wonderful job and I think your home is going to be beautiful!

I like the gas stove, too. I've been thinking of doing something similar, since I wanted to have a hearth...not just a wood stove in the corner. Something to warm up the room and cook on, when the power goes out...which it does a little too often, out in the country.

I like this picture, but I need enough room on the stove for a tea kettle :) {{gwi:1416730}}From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures

I love the pic! I've been looking for one with brick, so I'm definitely saving this one! :)

Andi- Glad you like it! I thought it was so cute...perfect for a little sitting area :)