When you say your budget is limited, does that mean you can't afford to move plumbing and alter walls? If not, here's an idea for you:

I shifted cubes around using, in almost all instances, what you had on your plan. The exception is the cabinet between chimney and pantry cab (the "X" denotes a void space below the counter) and the cab between the sink and wall.

It turns what is a jig through your kitchen between the entry and whatever room is below the kitchen into a straight path past the kitchen. And at 48" wide, it's a generous path past the kitchen. You could always shrink it to 42" to gain even more working space in your kitchen. Either way, you should have the leeway you need to work with Ikea cab sizes.

The pale blue thick line is a new half wall behind the sink.

Don't let a baseboard heater (I'm assuming it's on the wall where I placed the range) dictate your lay-out. Investigate toe kick heaters to replace the baseboard heater.

This post was edited by lisa_a on Tue, Mar 11, 14 at 17:32

Thanks for your idea-it is a great one!- but it is not in our budget to move the plumbing for the sink, change around walls, or replace the baseboard heater/piping with something new at this time. We were going to live with the kitchen as it was for a couple years (weirdness and all), but then due to some nasty things we found, it had to be pulled out (or rather, we decided we couldn't deal with it!). This won't be my dream kitchen but we had to do something.

We also want to be a little careful of how much we put into this house, because we aren't sure we'd get it back when we sell in this neighborhood.

I do actually like the idea of having my stove looking out on my open dining/living area, because I spend a lot of time in front of the stove. I have searched these forums and know that a lot of people on the forum don't like the stove on a peninsula or island, but have also read of some who enjoy it.

If there are any ideas for layouts involving not moving major things (walls, plumbing), I'm open to hearing them, or if anyone has ideas on decorating the couple inches of the top of the back of the stove, I'd love to see examples of that!

This post was edited by kapowilicious on Thu, Mar 13, 14 at 11:01

Don't assume it will cost too much to move plumbing without getting estimates. What is the foundation under the kitchen? Are you at all handy?

The objection to a range on island or peninsula is two-fold: one, unless you have a lot of counter behind the cooktop, you risk splattering on anyone sitting at the island while you're cooking. Two, venting a range that isn't on a wall can be challenging and/or expensive. In your layout, there is no venting for the range, and you'd almost have to bring the wall up as high as the back of the range, or it would look really awkward from the other side. And a higher wall would also look weird.

What is your layout like now?

What's your foundation? Do you have a basement or crawl space? It might not be as expensive to move the sink as you think. Lisa's layout is terrific!

Also, I forgot to add- there is a doorway to a hallway across from the half-wall, as shown in this diagram. And about 3 feet from the doorway, there is a corner where it opens up into my living room. My kitchen/dining/living room makes a big "L" shape (backwards L, anyway). See diagram.

Due to the doorway the layout Lisa suggested wouldn't work.

As far as estimates moving plumbing, when I recently got estimates to install a gas line (there is already a line in our basement not being used, it just has to be run an extra 5 feet) they quoted me $400 for that. I would imagine moving the water plumbing has to be at least that. But the fact is, any extra money is not money we have right now. Even if it's only $400, the money is not there. Any amount is too much at this point. Unless someone wants to come to my house and move things around for cookies, I am stuck with what we can feasibly do on our own. This doesn't have to be the most amazing kitchen in the world, but it has to function for me and be better than what it started as (and with all the nasty stuff torn out, it already is better in my opinion! lol).

On the peninsula stove- I did read all of the objections in other threads. I don't have any kids, and the counter behind the stove will be a full 23" counter width raised breakfast bar. I'm sure I won't end up burning my spouse :) On the venting, I know people will strongly object to this, but I have almost NEVER used a vent when cooking, unless I burned something. And even then I lived with crappy venting systems so it was almost always a window instead of the vent that worked for me. My last home was a rental and the vent was a recirculating microwave thing that was installed incorrectly and didn't do a thing, so it wasn't used. I had a window in the kitchen and that seemed to work fine for 5 years. Our current home was built in the 60s and it is nowhere near airtight, so I'm not too worried about building up pollution in here.

As far as my current layout- the sink is under the window. The fridge is sitting in my LIVING ROOM, and the stove is not hooked up and is sitting in a corner of my kitchen :) The current counters and cupboards are against the window wall and the half wall.

I like the sink under the window, it's nice to look outside while doing dishes. I was also happy with the idea of a peninsula stove until I read how terrible a lot of people on gardenweb thought it looked. That's what is making me second guess it. I was trying to find unique things to do to the back few inches of the stove, and stumbled across all the "anti-peninsula-stove" threads and it scared me!

So I posted in case someone might see something I missed,and have an alternative layout option without me having to move plumbing and walls.

You need at least 12" on the side of the stove top when next to an aisle. You don't have that in your current layout and it is a hazard being right next to a main walkway like that. Somebody walking by could get splattered, or accidentally knock a handle of a pot or a pan. If gas long hair could catch on fire, or even wide sleeves of somebody walking by.

lyfia, We must not have that building code here. My last place had a freestanding stove next to a very small walkway on one side (this was the main entrance to the kitchen), and a fridge on the other side. It was a small, older home, but passed rental inspections with no counters on either side. This stove would have a large almost 50" walkway on the side of it.

This post was edited by kapowilicious on Thu, Mar 13, 14 at 12:13

In your last diagram, what's on the left wall?

Could you do a modification of Lisa's and yours, with the range on the left wall, and eliminating the peninsula and half wall? I know that range across from sink is far from ideal, but better than range stuck out on the peninsula. It would also provide for cabinets (or at least inexpensive shelves) on that wall, for much-needed storage. Later cabinets and venting could be added.

annkh, The issue with the left wall is that I have baseboard radiator heat running almost the full length of it. It's just not in the budget to move it at this time, so we were going to do freestanding furniture and open shelving on that wall. I do like the look of a kitchen that is not completely built in and has open shelving.

I'll probably build something like this for that wall, using extra butcher block counter for the top of it.

The previous owner (he rented the house out) DID have the stove on that wall, next to the chimney block thing, and it couldn't open because the door of it hit the fridge, so you had to open the fridge to open the oven. And it also blocked an entire cabinet that was in the kitchen.

An old house is grandfathered in - only if you were to update the kitchen would you need to change it. Just make sure you check before doing it.

How about putting the range on the other wall, but surrounding it with free-standing-open kitchen items like you showed. Pull it away from the chimney some.

I know you said you have a small budget, but how about putting the stove where you put the fridge with some counter space on each side.

Put the fridge where the 2 and 7 is.

Move the sink to be in the corner of the peninsula. This should be able to be done DIY if you are handy.

Just a sketch of the option I mentioned.

Would allow you to pull a line from the sink to the fridge too for an icemaker through the cabinets.

Here's a minor tweak to your plan:

I had to make some guesses on dimensions for the fridge wall so I don't know if you have more or less aisle between fridge side and adjacent counter edge. However, doing the math made me realize that you had a large opening at the bottom end of your kitchen, more than enough for an aisle. So I added a 15" cabinet next to your range to give you more storage plus now you have landing space on each side of your range.

I didn't know what you intended for the cabs between range and sink wall so I plopped in a 49" (48.875 actually) blind corner cabinet with pull-outs from Ikea.

I lined the backside of the half wall/range area with upper cabs from Ikea - that's "a" - giving you more storage plus a way to camouflage the backside of the range. If you go with the 30" wide, glass fronted cabs (mount about 2x as high as base cabs to get to 42" high (I'm assuming that's your breakfast bar height), 3 of them will nearly fill up the whole span. Not sure if Ikea glass is tempered though, that might be a concern.

If you don't want to fill the whole length with cabs, you can just add one at the end, covering the area not filled by the half wall. Tile the backs of the cabs to protect them from grease spatters, etc from the range.

b is a 24" pantry cab with shelves, modified to be no deeper than the chimney stack.

If you go with a free-standing table longer than 24" next to the new shallow pantry, you end up with less than a 37" aisle between table edge and range counter corner. Not sure how useful a 24" wide table would be, except as a landing zone for pantry items. But you could add shallow (4"-6") wall storage on that wall. I would end it before the range counter run to prevent someone zigging too far one way or the other and bumping their head or hip.

Thanks for ideas everyone.

Lisa_a, I really like that idea of adding a cabinet to the side of my stove. And yup, the corner cab from Ikea is what we were already planning on.

I'm not sure we can buy cabinets for the back of the half wall, but I already have t&g pine boards for it (one side of them is more or less breadboard, which is the side we'll be using), and I'm sure it'd be simple to raise the 1/2 wall a few inches with 2x4s to cover the back of the stove. In my search for pictures, this seems to be pretty common for peninsula stoves- just having a higher wall/breakfast bar behind it and then tiling the wall on the kitchen side. My one worry would be that this would create a really high breakfast bar. It would probably be about the height of the 1/2 wall/breakfast bar shown here:

One more photo of the height of that breakfast bar. I guess if her kids can still manage with it I shouldn't worry about adults...

Lisa_a, I forgot to add, your dimensions are almost right on the fridge wall. It is 56" so will fit the fridge and a 24" base cab with a tiny filler piece.

You're welcome!

Those images show a breakfast bar higher than I was envisioning. I was thinking 42", only 6" higher than standard counter height. That counter looks to be closer to 45" but it's so hard to tell from an image. I wouldn't go for taller than 42", otherwise, you'll have a hard time finding stools for the counter.

Also, if you can, I'd make the overhang more generous than the one in the photo. Recommended overhang for 42" high counters is 12" but if you are tall or have tall family and friends, you may appreciate having a slighter deeper overhang that that.

I like your solution to fill in behind the range. I also like the bookcase shown in the photo. Can you adapt an Ikea upper cab to be a bookcase there?

Yay me for my good guess on your fridge wall. Glad to hear that you have a more generous aisle than 33.5".

Don't forget to include the recommended air clearance around the fridge when planning out that wall. It's usually 1/2" on each side; an inch overall can make a difference when space is limited.

btw, I love your screen name. :-)

Lisa, I am planning for full counter depth for the breakfast bar, so 23" or however deep regular counters are. I wanted a nice, comfy eating/hanging out area right there. I might do a shelf or two along the 1/2 wall underneath the counter as well. I found a photo of this that spoke to me, and of course I can't for the life of me find it again! But it looked great, and that's what I'm planning on doing. I'm not sure if there is any reason to not go a full 23" deep- I know it will need some good support. But I think once I move the chandelier (as seen in the picture below) to allow for the dining table to be moved to the other side of the dining room, it will allow for a really nice hang out at that large breakfast bar. I still have no idea why they would have put the chandelier where they did.

Regarding the height of the breakfast bar, the only reason I was thinking of going higher than 42" was to completely hide the back of my stove, which would otherwise be a little exposed. I think the top of my stove is about 47". I was planning on building custom stools to whatever height would work best for the finished bar. If I don't do an extra high bar like in the photo I posted, then I still am not exactly sure how to cover the back of my stove. The picture I'm attaching is what the kitchen looked like when we bought the home a couple months ago (truly cringe-worthy!). The breakfast bar in the photo is 42" tall.

And in regards to the bookcase in the other posted photo, I really love that, too. I would probably build something custom to go there, or use an Ikea cabinet box. I think I could build something myself though. (I'm not a professional woodworker by any means, but I do have access to all of my dad's tools now so I have been building a few things here and there!)

You could copy what shanghaimom did for her range wall (see the link below, scroll down to see a photo showing the reverse side of the range wall). It would block the view off a bit but it would solve your problem of hiding the back of the range in a I-meant-to-do-that way. That said, your space will look more open than her kitchen does because you won't have cabs on the sides as she does. The section behind the range would end up so close to centered in that span that it would look balanced, too. Hang some nice artwork on the side facing the dining room.

Vertically challenged people like me would have a hard time getting up on stools for a counter taller than 42". But maybe you only have tall friends. ;-)

I'm speechless at the sight of the cabinet next to the range, balanced on two spindly legs to keep it up above the baseboard heater. That's ... uh... inventive.

Looking forward to your reveal, whenever that may be.

Here is a link that might be useful: finished! Vintage Cream in the City

Her kitchen looks great. But to be honest, I'm really looking forward to being able to see the TV while I work over the stove! LOL. I spent some time on the Ikea planner again, and this is an "in-between" height bar. The half wall was raised to 42", which means the end height of the bar after the top goes in is just 43 1/2" inches. I think it's not so bad, with just barely any stove showing. And I really like the idea of making shelving behind that 15" cabinet to the left of the stove.

What do you think of this now that we're looking at it as it would possibly be (minus the tiling that will not actually extend beyond the kitchen)? And THANK YOU for all your help Lisa! I really appreciate it :) I think I'm going to be much happier with a little extra counter by the stove, as well as the extra storage.

Her kitchen is so lovely but I understand the desire to see the TV while at the range.

43.5" high is just a hair above 42" so I doubt anyone will realize it without a tape measure. I carry one with me at all times but I've yet to pull it out at a friend's house to measure the kitchen. ;-)

I think your kitchen is going to look very nice. You're going to have a much better functioning kitchen that you do now. I'll bet you can't wait!

And you're welcome!