Others will have much more expertise than I, but one thing that jumps at me is the dishwasher location. I'd recommend moving it to the right of the sink, for two reasons. As it is, it may fight with the oven door. And if moved, it will be closer to the eating area for cleanup.

You are very lucky to have such a handy dh! I love the yellow cupboard in your photo.

The island is in the wrong place in the pictures per Missy. Just thought I'd repeat that for anyone who missed it. They're going to figure out the exact position later, but do intend to leave proper aisles.

I love your little cabinets! Especially the yellow one. ;-) It's very nice having a surface near the table, for the toaster, the newspaper, and stuff like that. And the cabinets would be great for holding table type stuff. Or even things like the phone directory.

Do you have a message center?

What color is the table? What style? And the chairs? (Just being nosy...)

I installed larger windows in my west facing kitchen, too. Don't regret it a bit.

DHs cabinets are adorable!

Are you going to put in posts or corbels or something else for support of the overhang?

HiHi,

idrive65, you have a really good point. In fact, when we first moved in, that was one of the things that really bugged me about the space. In re-doing the kitchen we've really tried to move it to the other side of the sink, but can't find a way to effectively do so. My DH really wants the sink dead center. The DW could simply replace one of the 24" drawers then. The problem becomes where to stand when you're unloading it, as you'd be standing in front of the other set of drawers where the dishes will live. I've thought of putting the dishes in the island, but wasn't sure if that would work any better?

plllog lol and thanks for the reinforcement on the island placement

Our current table is rectangular and birch, 60x40". We have decided if it's too big when all's said and done we will replace it with a round one with more leaves. a pic of the current dining area. You can sort of see the table there.
I do not have a message center - I don't know where to put one. Our stuff has lived on the half wall between the kitchen and LR, but since that will be gone ... I am not sure where it'll go. Good question. :o)

plumeriavine, thanks for the encouragement on the window. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it!! We haven't talked about corbels as the cabinet itself will be under the overhang and support it. I guess if/when we sell we'll have to add something.

Thanks for the comments on the cupboards. I really do love them. They are all the same yellow - just doesn't show too well in the pics. It's the same yellow as my current kitchen walls. I collect old gallon jars and use them as canisters. I keep bugging DH for one more with glass doors. Perhaps once he's built all the doors/drawer faces he'll be more receptive.

~Missy

You can stand in front of the open dw and/or partially in front of the dish drawers enough to open them and put in the dishes...Or, yes, the island is a possibility. Either way you may not be able to open the drawer all the way out without squeezing yourself one way or another, but it all beats having the dw conflict with the range.

Love your little cabinets!

Hi rhome410, thanks for your comments.

I guess maybe I don't open the DW and oven at the same time often enough for it to have been a problem for me. We've lived here for almost 8 years, and the most annoying part of the DW's location (for me) is the distance to the cupboards where the dishes are stored. I may need to talk to DH and see if he'll consider having the sink slightly off center in order to move the DW.

Would you keep the 24" drawers to the right of the (moved) DW or move the garbage to the left of the sink and increase the drawers to 36"? I don't want the sink too close to the stove either, as I use that counter space for prep.

~Missy

I loooove the cabs your dh made!

your LO is much like mine except my fridge is to the right of the sink and it's counter top to the left of the stove.
I'm not concerned about my dw opening into my stove - but it's just me and I'm thinking of just a cooktop anyway.
if you put the dw to the right of the sink, you'd have a stack of drawers still to the right of that for dishes and it looks like 1 cab up above. in drawers in the island would work also.

Those are great cabinets DH made it's good you have a place in the new kitchen.

When unloading the dishwasher there are a few items I stack on the counter until I can close the door and put them away. It's really not a big problem. You can just consider moving it and see what works best for you.

Will your new window be divided in half, as shown? If centering is important to your dh you could center your sink on one of the "halves" instead of at the center divider. That would give you more flexibility in dishwasher placement.

Nice cupboards! Could you screw them together and use them AS the island with a new countertop?

Love the window and the cupboards!

If two of you are working in the kitchen at the same time, the DW will become a problem.

What if you put in a 24" trash/recycle center (3 bins) where the DW is now, move the DW to the right of the sink, and maybe combine the 12" & 24" cabinet into one 36"?

You could store your dishes in drawers to the right of the DW or in the island. Glasses could be stored in the 12" upper cabinet I see at the far right or in a drawer (quite a few people here store both dishes & glasses in drawers and have no problems with either.)

Will you have room to get a wider refrigerator in the future? It's becoming more & more difficult to find a refrigerator that's less than 36" today so it's wise to plan for a 36"W x 72"H future refrigerator. Use filler to frame/build in the refrigerator and to conceal the "extra" inches.

Good luck!

Hi all, Thank you all for your comments and suggestions!

I'll definitely look into rearranging things to see if we can move the DW to the right of the sink. I almost think putting it in the island might be the easiest solution (laundry room underneath has unfinished ceiling so that's not a problem). We could swap the 24" and 30" cabs around, and just substitute the DW for one of the 24s.

buehl, I think a 24" waste would be overkill for us, but I appreciate your input. We recycle a lot, and it's all out on the deck. Usable storage will be much more valuable for us than extra garbage space.
Thanks for the info on fridge size. In thinking about it, I think that we are so in need of storage that we'll have to use all the space we can for shelves/drawers. If, in the future, we get a bigger fridge, we'll just have to remove the pantry and use that for fridge space.

idrive65 The window is not as shown. It is a large clear space in the center with a 24" casement on each end. I think that's likely why DH really wants the sink in the center, especially because it will be visible from everywhere on our main floor.

houseful, you have good idea which we've actually discussed during this process, but because we are losing so much storage by putting in the window, and removing the partial wall between kit/dining we can't afford to lose that much storage in the island. The yellow cupboards are already in use in our kitchen, as well as an existing island, so we would be severely short on storage space if we just used them as a new island. I would love it if my hubby built the new island in the same style as the cupboards, but he just doesn't have time to do that in addition to the other renos (not to mention his full time job).

Thanks again for all the replies. :o)
~Missy

Hey Missy!

Great to see you over here! :-) Like everyone else, I'm totally loving those cabs your DH made. Your kitchen and mine are just about the same size and I really like the idea of your increasing the window size. By bringing in more light, air and exterior views with those substantially increased windows, I'm sure your space will "enlarge" to look like you put on a whole new addition! Now I do hear you when you say you have a need for more storage space, especially with the loss of uppers. Unfortunately, on that, I'm not going to be much help for you since layouts are just not my area of strength. However, I do want to make the pitch for you to continue to lobby DH to make the island in the same style of your existing cupboards. The continuity of that great design seems like it would be totally worth the extra time and attention it will take to achieve it. (But, of course, since I'm not the one who has to build that island, what I do I know?):-)

Without a doubt, I'll be following your remodel and hope to be of more help to you in other areas of this project!

Hi marthavila :o) Thanks for your encouragement!
Maybe if I show DH this thread with all the wonderful comments about his cupboards, he might let me talk him into making the island to match. lol
~Missy

Happy New Year Marthavila! So glad to bump into you over here.

Buehl- love your suggestion of combining the 12 and 24 inch into a 36.

Agreed that if two people want to work in the proposed layout, it will be difficult.

Maybe if I show DH this thread with all the wonderful comments about his cupboards, he might let me talk him into making the island to match. lol

Agreed.

Missy about your window. Have you actually looked into the cost of doing that? I just quoted a Bathroom window yesterday 23 x 20 inches, $500 installed. So, considering the exterior rough in, window cost etc., with your dimensions, it seems like it could be BIG bucks. If so, perhaps consider 3 or 4 individual windows in a row, like the stunning White Spanish Kitchen we saw in our Mexican thread.

Hi Solman, I appreciate your comments!

We have already purchased the window. There's a good window/door manufacturer in Calgary, and the price was surprisingly low. (yay for us) We priced out some at the 'big box' stores, and the mark-up was quite significant. I love being able to buy directly from the manufacturer. As we're doing the install ourselves, that's a big savings too.

I am so grateful that my DH is knowledgeable to do all of those kinds of things. :o)

We just need to make sure the day we cut a big hole in the wall to do the install isn't 30 below!!

~Missy

Here is a link that might be useful: Gienow windows

Just to follow up, as was suggested here, I've exchanged the two 24" cabs for a 36" and a 12". The garbage and the 'new' 12" will be to the left of the sink, and the DW and the 36" to the right of the sink. :o)

Thanks all for the input!

~Missy

Here's a 'new and improved' drawing.