I'll give general comments in response to your subject line ("Tell me what's wrong with my kitchen plan") and then answer your numbered questions at the end. :)

I was going to say the fridge doors would not open fully jammed up against the wall like that, but I see that you noted that wall as 29.5" deep. Therefore the doors of a full-depth fridge will probably extend past that wall and WILL open fully. You should a) double check the specs of your fridge to make sure that is the case and b) make sure you are OK with having those fridge doors viewable from the other side of the opening like that. If not, I would consider moving the fridge to the left wall where the pantry is (put a 9" pullout or spacer between it and wall, move pantry up). Put the MW, if you will be using one, in an upper over countertop directly next to the fridge on that run too. Another really big plus for doing this is because that counter space on the left wall is out of the work triangle and therefore will not be used.. it will just be a clutter magnet. So I would make this run, from top to bottom: 9" pullout (to allow fridge doors to open), Fridge, MW on shelf in upper over base with (a small amount of) counter underneath (specifically for the use of the MW), Pantry. This frees up counter space by your sink and range, where it's actually needed.

Is there any chance that you could make the slider a single door, or at least make it open on the left side instead? It seems awkward to have to squeeze by those on the barstools, and if you do either you can get another seat in. If you make it a single door you can deepen the overhang to the actual recommended minimum depth, 15". If you can only swap the opening, you could have the overhang be 11" at the top and then curve it so it widens to 15" where the two seats are. If you curve it, I might consider a hutch-like cabinet to the counter there since you seem to like that look.

Finally, what is the aisle width between peninsula and range wall?

1) Can I still make the pantry closet 24" deep?
I don't see an issue with that.
2) How deep would you make the rest of the cabinets to the right of the pantry? Is 24" too deep for the base cabinets? What about the uppers?
It seems like you have plenty of room for standard base and uppers here; however, as above, I would say that this counter space is out of the work triangle and thus useless.
3) Would you add a shallow cabinet to the left of the sliding glass doors? (currently not shown in the floorplan)
Yes, and I would make it additional Pantry.
4) I am planning on putting an 11" overhang countertop on the 50" peninsula to accommodate 2 bar stools. Do you see any issues with this?
As above, the actual recommended minimum overhang depth for counter-height counters is 15".
5) Do you see any other issues with the floor plan?
Make sure you are measuring the actual wall space and leaving room for trim. Even if you leave room, you probably don't want to jam cabinetry right up to the trim; it looks cramped.
Also, your drawing seems to be out of scale as even a CD fridge (unless a really spending one like a Liebherr, Subzero, etc) should jut out past the dining room entry, but it doesn't. I would do a to-scale layout for our review; we may catch other things that way.
Finally, you seem to have a lot of glass cabinets.. the contents of these need to be kept looking nice and uncluttered, so make sure you have enough closed storage to compensate :)

Thanks Tracie.Erin for your input.

The aisle width between the peninsula counters and the range is 38". It's tight by GW standards but it actually works for me.

So if I move the frig to the pantry wall, I would gain additional counter space to the left of the stove. That makes sense.

The frig is 28" deep and in the current layout, I do not have enough clearance to open the door all the way out. I have managed to pull the frig out enough so that it's butt up against the 29.5" wall (so that the door does open all the way out).

I do see what you mean about the sliding glass doors. We just installed these sliding glass doors a couple of years ago and it works really well with the current kitchen table. We originally did have one door which opened up towards the peninsula, but it made it pretty tight. I will have to look into if the sliding glass doors can be switched.

As for the wall of cabinets, I actually had this is mind instead. The microwave would just be a cut out inside the pantry (not shown in picture):

I am fairly new to GW - is there a good on line program I can use to draw the floor plan to scale?

I really do like your ideas and it gives me more things to think about. Thanks again.

Does your current D/W fit in a 22.75" space? I thought generally 24" was left for these.

Can your stove vent externally from it's position (assuming you want this?) I'm assuming with the windows that stove is drawn on an inside wall?

I am a little confused about your measurements? The sink wall says 24"+50.5"+22.75" (=97.25") but you've only planned for a 24"cab+36"sink+?24"D/W (=84"). It's an awkward corner on the lowers on the right there as well, with lots of deep dark dead space! If you're peninsula is 50" from the corner, the second "person" will be sitting staring at the upper cab (24" seating pp?)

It's a really tough layout you've got, but I think it needs a fair bit of tweaking (sorry). I really appreciate your need for more storage (ie: pantry). It's really hard to give specific suggestions without accurate measurements. Even scanned graph paper drawing to scale works.

From my inspiration kitchen file, here is laur66's kitchen with a good idea for your combo pantry/fridge wall. Similar set-up to yours:

Issues I see are the stove being separated from the sink, and the peninsula interfering with the stove. It's a terrible pinch point created to force seating into the kitchen, so I'd start over without the peninsula. With the sliders, it will always look like a dining area was meant to be. You will need to remove the wall cab for peninsula seating, which you can't afford. Maybe a cafe table and two chairs would fit in the old dining area if a minimum amount of cabinetry is used for the pantry wall.

If you are able to move the fridge to the pantry wall, you could move the stove down so it's across from the sink. Fewer steps with a pot of boiling pasta water. I like the pantry/fridge wall Coco posted as you really don't need more counter space there, just enough to load groceries into the pantry and to set things from the microwave.

The peninsula is the problem. At 11 overhang and about 38 long (seating area width) because of the cab on the back side), that would be comfortable for small children only. You'd be better off flying a section of top out from the niche you created on the perpendicular wall. Then 2 people can sit facing each other. And you can do that at table height, 30, rather than counter height 36, which allows for a real chair.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I think I will have to draw out my plans on graph paper (will repost hopefully tonight).

Co-Co:
Yes, the range is on an internal wall, but vents outside (there is an attic above the kitchen).

As for the sink base cabinets, they will be 36”, which means that I will have have approximately 13” of base cabinet space left on that wall (97.25”-84”). I prefer to center the sink around the windows though. If I do this, I will have two ~6” base cabinets on either side of the sink base (perhaps for tray storage or spice storage?). Ideas?

On the peninsula, the 2nd person would be facing the upper cabinets. I’m not thrilled with this, but thought that it would be good for the kids for their quick meals.

Mayflowers:
If I remove the wall cabinet above the peninsula, would it look odd if I only had a cabinet on the right of the window wall?

Let’s assume I move the frig to the pantry wall run, if will be 9” pull out pantry (as Tracie.erin suggested), 36” refrigerator,….would you do 36” of uppers / base next? How much space would I need for the café table? Should I consider a banquette bench?

RCkitchensdotcom:
If I move the frig, the first thought I had was whether I should center the stove. If I center the stove, would you still keep the peninsula? The reason why I’m asking is that I use that spot extensively now for prepping.

If I decide not to have seating on the peninsula, what do you mean by having a niche on the perpendicular wall? Do you have any pics of what you mean?

Thanks!

RCKitchensdotcom:

Do you mean something like this on the pantry wall (I found this picture on Houzz):

Spending your $ for you and put in a small prep sink on range run. Would not want that pinch point, 4 and 7 are going to be 14 and 17 before you know it! ;-)

Thanks clueless in Colorado!

I like the little tables. Nicer to sit with a view out the window and to have the wider opening into the kitchen. I have read that people don't like sitting at an island because the granite/quartz is cold, so you can use a wood top. You would need a design that makes good use of the base cabinets around the table. Looks like it would be fun to design though.

I see clueless added a pull-out pantry to the left of the fridge. I think that's all that would be expected in a kitchen this size. We have an 8" pullout, which holds all our canned and boxed food. I use a wall cabinet for baking items.

I think you won't need a prep sink with the stove just a turn and step away from the sink. The stove might move down a little.

I don't know why you haven't gotten more responses except that June is a busy month for many people.

jerseygirl135 posted: I am fairly new to GW - is there a good on line program I can use to draw the floor plan to scale?

Honestly, I use IKEA's online planner. Others use Sketchup but it had a steep learning curve for me and I gave up. The IKEA planner limits you to the cabinet sizes they have but you can make it work.

By the way, I'm by the shore in Ocean County :) High five Jersey buddy :D

jerseygirl135 posted: As for the wall of cabinets, I actually had this is mind instead. The microwave would just be a cut out inside the pantry (not shown in picture):

I would not take up space within the one pantry cabinet you have with the MW. As you have posted it, the kitchen has precious little pantry space. I also still do find counter space there useless and a clutter magnet because it's out of the work triangle. Therefore I really do recommend making that your "Wall of Tall" (9" Pantry, Fridge, MW over counter or in an additional Pantry Cab, and even more Pantry)

jerseygirl135 posted: If I remove the wall cabinet above the peninsula, would it look odd if I only had a cabinet on the right of the window wall?

Let’s assume I move the frig to the pantry wall run, if will be 9” pull out pantry (as Tracie.erin suggested), 36” refrigerator,….would you do 36” of uppers / base next? How much space would I need for the café table? Should I consider a banquette bench?

If you get rid of that wall cab I'd do open shelving there. It will balance the other cabinet but won't be such a huge mass in front of whoeever is sitting there.

As for the seating issue.. well, I am going to change gears and say I really like what cluelessincolorado has done with the layout. The only changes I would make are:
a) Very important: deepen at LEAST the range/prep sink run, or but ideally both runs, by 6 inches. You can have the cabs made deeper ($$$$) or, more cheaply, just build a 2x6 frame against the wall, install the cabinets against that, and run your countertop over the whole thing. It just makes it hugely more spacious and easier to work in. I grew up in a house with a super tiny kitchen but my parents were able to do this and I never noticed. When we moved I wondered why a bigger kitchen felt more cramped - it was because we didn't have that extra depth. honestly, you will love it.
b) If funds permit, I would swap the prep sink and range on that run. It's safer and makes more sense from a work flow stand point to have the range closer to the dining room and the prep sink closer to the fridge. Either way, I would have the sink and range each only about 15" or 18" from the edges of the run so that you can have the maximum amount of space between them because THAT will be where you prep meals.
c) More closed storage, less glass cabinetry.

I really like all the ideas thus far. Thanks and I am going back to the drawing board! It seems like everyone is in agreement that I should move the frig to the pantry wall, (thereby creating more counter space on the range wall) and the peninsula should be removed.

Cluelessincolorado,
I really like what you came up…never thought of having a prep sink on that wall, but it makes perfect sense. I’ll have to see if the budget allows for this.

What type of base cabinetry did you have in mind by the table / chairs? I found these examples on Houzz, but instead of glass doors, I was thinking it will be wood doors. I am not sure if I can do sliding doors on the base cabinets. All the pictures I found only has sliding doors on the uppers for whatever reason:

Tracie.erin,
High five back to you! I’m in Union County…I would love to live by you now that it’s getting warmer here :)

Thanks for the clarification on my questions and your input (very helpful). I like your idea on having deeper base cabinets on the range and sink wall. That will help in my lack thereof counter space. If I take this approach, there really isn’t a need to have the peninsula anymore. I’ll also think about adding an additional pantry cabinet at the end of the tall cabinet run. I definitely like the open feel of glass cabinets, but in reality I just don’t have that many beautiful dishes to display (more like clutter to hide!).

Does anyone else have any other input / ideas?

For safety reasons in a pass-through kitchen, a sink on the same side as the stove would be a very good idea.