Time has come to redo a problem kitchen. We've lived here for about 10 years. While we don't plan to be here forever -- we have other retirement plans -- the current space isn't very functional. The idiot previous owner (IPO) redid the kitchen in the late 90s. He was tall, and didn't cook.

Constraints: we'd like to keep costs down because this isn't the "forever" kitchen and because whoever buys the house down the line will probably bust out the back and add on. It's a brick house. Windows and doors can't move. Windows are 22 inches from the floor, including molding.

Possibilities: There's a full basement so utilities can move. The north facing window can be covered from the inside. We can't remove it per historical district guidelines, but pulling down a shade and blocking it is fine.

Goal: To get more prep space and rational storage.

Style: It's a pretty utilitarian house built in the 1880s. The kitchen area was an addition that dates to 1900s-1910s.

For a time we thought about keeping the layout and updating: losing the tile counters with nasty sharp edges, replacing the upper cabs over the sink wall that are 24 inches above the counter and feature two 12 inch face frame cabs. But by the time we'd do that, it seemed to make sense to redo the whole space.

It's actually a large room, but it makes sense to keep the kitchen in its current roughly 11x10 place because the IPO took out paneling or something on the non-business end of the space, thinking he'd expose the brick. Turned out that the brick didn't look good, so he covered up with drywall (fine) and then stone facing to about 3 feet from the floor. Nasty stuff. Removable, but not by us.

Here's what I've come up with so far. Plan A keeps a step in pantry, which repurposes what was the second doorway/entry into the house. On the other side there's a bookcase built in at the bottom of the stairway to the second floor.

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Plan B covers the north window and the pantry/former doorway. We'd open it up from the other side and turn it into storage. And that would help, since there are no second floor closets.

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Am I missing a plan C? In plans A and B, we'd take the cabs on the sink wall to ceiling, either using 42 inch cabs and a shelf underneath for everyday dishes, or a stacked arrangement. The fridge wall side can get a little longer. What I have in the Lowes planner as a big pantry will actually be a hoosier cab with a nice zinc top. In both, the stove sits between the windows (36 inch stove with 36.8 inches of space). Two freestanding tables, probably stainless, would go on either side. I own a couple of freestanding butcher block tables that I can float as would suit to provide a bit more prep space and separate the dining end from the business end.

Currently the range is in a peninsula that juts out from the fridge wall.