I'll save our guru Buehl the trouble on the second question: per Buehl: "42" is the recommended aisle width if your kitchen is a multi-worker kitchen. 36" is fine for a one-worker kitchen. You might also be able to get away w/36" if you have a multi-worker kitchen if you don't mind either asking someone to move if you need to get by or sliding past that person."

With this in mind, we have now a 40" aisle between perimeter and island (countertop edge to countertop edge), and it's more than adequate for two adults prepping back to back and one to squeeze by. We are not big people though.

Re the DW, i would put it to the side that is closer to the cabinets or drawers where clean dishes will live, so you don't have to travel too much when emptying the dishwasher. We used to have ours to the right of the sink and now have it on the left, and after a day of adjusting, I don't even notice the difference anymore. There are the threads on this topic if you google keywords "gardenweb" and "dishwasher placement".

My trash is in a pull out under my sink. I can't think of it being any other place, as I create the most garbage when prepping and I don't want to travel across an aisle with dripping trash to get to the trash can.

Our kitchen is maybe 80% done but we are using it daily now that plumbing and electric and appliances are in, and we are loving the new layout.

Good luck!

My brother has a very efficient, well-working galley kitchen where 2 people can be working on either side etc..... I asked them to measure it and the distance, cabinet to cabinet, (not counter to counter) was 48inches. perhaps you can go narrower than that, but this seemed about perfect. Plenty of space without being too wide.

Regarding the DW, the dish cabinet would be equal distance either side of the DW.

Regarding the pathway, we have up to 5' to work with for a pathway. Nervous about making it 4' but I keep hearing that might be a "sweet" spot for most. I've read Buehl's info before. It's just sometimes hearing from other's practical experience and reasoning, puts my mind more at ease.

I moved my DW from the right of the sink to the left in my last remodel. You can get used to either configuration easily.

The main questions are really --

Where are the dishes coming from? (In my case, primarily the breakfast area closer to the left side of the sink.)

Where are the dishes going to? (In my case, to dish drawers in an island which turned out to be more convenient to the left side of the sink again.)

Where will the open door be less in the way? (Again, in my layout, left side won again.)

For the trash, my trash pull out went on the right of the sink, and had to be there because the dishwasher wound up on the left of the sink. This places it under my main prep area. I often toss the empty cans onto the sink grid or have a small pile of trash (empty bags or containers) to the edge of my prep counterspace to get them out of the way until clean-up time. Then, I drop a bunch of things in at once when I'm ready to make a clean-up pass.

Opening the trash-pull-out multiple times when prepping would be a pain. But, it hasn't been too hard for me to work with in my relatively small kitchen. In fact, making trips to a further-away trash can was definitely worse!

In the temporary house we're in now, the galley kitchen aisle is exactly 48" from cab to cab. DH and I can work across from each other without squishing. It seems perfect to me. Some breathing room. No squishing. If you have the space, which it sounds like you do, I wouldn't go less than 48". If your cooktop and water source for prepping are across from each other, more than 48" seems like too much when going back and forth during cooking. I had 5.5' in my old kitchen. That was too much.

My old galley kitchen was 48" between cabinet runs with the DW and range opposite each other, and it was fine. Both could open at the same time, but we just never found it necessary to have them both open simultaneously. The kitchen eating nook was at one end with no wall between it and the cabinets. The DR was at the other end with a wall at the end of the cabs. If one end had been closed off, I might have preferred to have the 48" space a little wider just so it would feel larger.

Anne

I swear I need to write down the why for decisions that we decide upon. As time goes on, I start second quessing things, but then I eventually come around to the same decision, I made weeks before.

We decided the dishes need to go closer to the MW & frig which would bring the DW resting spot to the left of the sink.

The pathway we've narrowed down from what we thought was a barely tolerable 5', went down to 4.5' and we are now considering the 4' distance for pathway. I'm thinking that we should have it close since the majority of the time it will be just my DH & myself. Seems best to design for 90% of the time as long as the other 10% isn't awful. Visually since we have the space though, it might seem a whole lot less crowded, perhaps not.

I hate when both options will work but a decision has to be made. I like to have decisions with more clear cut reasoning behind it....kithcen remodeling doesn't seem to provide that.

Forgot to mention that the sink and stove will be almost directly opposite each other on either side of the aisle.

Don't forget to take the 1.5" or so counter overhangs on each side into consideration when determining your aisle. I mentioned mine was 48" cab to cab. The overhang in this temp house is about .5", so smaller than what's done now.

If I had farther to step across than about 4' to 4.5' it would bug me. (I used to have 5.5' in my old kitchen.) The DW and range are across from each other here. That bugs me too as sometimes I'm emptying the DW while making dinner. And the kids are fussy and fighting; and the cat is whining; and .... I 'm usually irritable that time of night!

my brother's place is 48 in cab to cab... with a 1.5 overhang... sink is directly across from cooktop.

as I said, it feels just about perfect. even though my kitchen is larger than his, his works MUCH better than mine and can fit more people/helpers.

good luck figuring out what you want!

We had a 36" walkway with sink and cooktop opposite. Miserable. Seems someone was cooking and another at the sink always at the same time.
New kitchen now has 46" countertop to countertop, but moved cooktop down away from cleanup sink. I can open DW and still allow traffic through. Wouldn't want to work back to back even with 46". Right now, DW is opposite narrow hutch, so no one works there. Perfect for storing dishes opposite DW, though.
Prep area now has 52" across countertop to countertop and works much better. Even with small 24" fridge open, 2 people can work easily. We are not large people either.

We currently have 37" counter to counter and I am pushing DH for 48" cabinet to cabinet. We are constantly asking each other to move so we can open drawers, get to the sink, or just get past each other. It is one of the driving reasons for our remodel. I moved my DW from right of the sink to left in order to not have it open into the range. With 2 of us almost always working together, it is not unusual for someone to try and load things in while working. I think we will get used to it quickly. I also am trying to fit in 2 trash pull-outs. One near the prep, and one toward the exterior of the kitchen for guests to use, kids to scrape plates after leaving the table, etc. Chances are, in a small galley kitchen, you won't need this. I think I'd rather have to take a few steps to get from prep to trash (that's what I do now) then have the rest of the family entering my prep space to throw something away.

Lawjedi, that was very nice of you and your brother to help out (thank him too for me please). It's good to know the why it works better.

Breezygirl. Thanks for clarifying the .5 overhang. It's good to know what seems like enough space and definately what is too much. My SIL, who has a galley kitchen, LOVES the sink and stove being back to back. But it's just her and my DB, no pets, and they rarely ever cook.

JimandAnne. We will keep the closed offness from the one end being closed off by the back door (traffic though won't go thru the galley portion so no worries).

La Jan, you must be in heaven after coming from 36". Logistics like getting a frig or oven in, would be a nightmare. That's not even speaking about the every day troubles.

Controlfreakecs, I think all of us can understand your desire to open up the aisle more. My DH wanted me to caution you on 2 trash containers in your kitchen. Unless you accumulate a lot of trash, trash sitting around twice as long (since you would be doubling your trash containers), might not smell so nice. Convenient yes, smells noT so good.

A few of you pointed out the logistics of opening the DW and over (no worries about the frig for us). That's another good reason for the DW on the left, so that cements that decision---yeah!

Our super wide kitchen now is part of the reasoning for the remodel. We are going from 9' across now, which is crazy! We're taking down a wall so it's hard to get a full mock up & feeling, but we're trying. We have so much space to work with we can pretty much have whatever we want...it's just deciding what.

We have narrowed it down to either 48" or 54".

I love being able to cook with only 48" between the aisle.

With the one side of the galley being the outside wall and the other wall actually being an island which may "invite" others to troll around it during gatherings, the extra 6" might come in nicely. Though technically everyday the aisle won't be a traffic flow, during a gathering it might be.

This thread has been so good for my decisions.

Our trash would will be at the end of island. It will be to our right during prep, directly across from the DW (that decision was made too), so scrape and put in DW, and right across from the frig where we can toss anything that has been in the frig for too long, and right next to the outside door where the trash comes out of the house. I LOVE IT!!!

Though much of the discussion has been about the aisle, I'm just not getting a warm enough fuzzy to commit yet.