What is on the others side of the wall?

What I'm thinking is, what if you even out that wall on the kitchen side, flush with the chimney, and on the other side turn them into recesses for shelves? Or at least in the corner by the outside wall.

Your problem is similar to mine with a chimney bump out and you have even more sq footage. Do you absolutely have to have seating in the kitchen? This could be a really nice small kitchen if you don't need seating. A whole floor layout would help.

This post was edited by rmtdoug on Fri, Jun 6, 14 at 23:44

Could you re-do the plan so that each square is 12" (or 6") rather than 15"?

Is there only one door into the kitchen? Does the pictured door open into the kitchen or out of the kitchen, or is it a pocket door or an open doorway?

In the first floor plan, the distance from (the seating side of) the island to the refrigerator seems to be about 26". The distance from the side of the island to the wall is about 17".

In the second floor plan, the distance from the stove to (the sink side of) the island is about 39" (measuring from the oven handle).

Do you have 3 doors coming into that small kitchen? I can't really tell from the pic which are doors and which are windows.

This post was edited by cam349 on Sun, Jun 8, 14 at 19:24

Looks like a fun challenge!

In front of the chimney wall, I put two 36" wide, tall, shallow (12" deep) pantry cabinets.

Good luck.

Is this an older house? We have 3 doors to our kitchen and have decided to cover one up to greatly improve the layout.

Labeling an accurately mesured standard scaled diagram will get you more helpful responses. As will including a whole home diagram to be able to see the relationship of the kitchen and all of it's openings to the surrounding spaces.

Mdln- I like the changes!

I hope you don't mind me using your sketch...I couldn't get my Paint program to work with OP's.

Can the wall between kitchen and 'lower' room be opened up at all? If so, maybe a cutout with counter and stools on other side?

I like the chimney and wonder if there's brick you can use? The range there seems like a good fit, with pantry on one side and access to prep sink on the other. A counter depth fridge would give you more room. Just a few ideas :) {{!gwi}}From Kitchen plans

Also not sure where you have doors and where you have windows -- or how far windows some down and impact layout options.

In addition to the ideas above, you could put cabinets either side of the chimney wall and have them come out maybe 6" further, then connect them with shallow cabinets -- a large can-try and other shallow storage. If you can go 9-12", you'd get a lot more versatility out of that storage.

Thanks everyone for the great ideas! I've finally had time to meet with the plumber and we decided that it's not worth the trouble to move the plumbing and gas. We decided to close off that upper right corner to use as a space for the range hood duct.

We're still having trouble fitting in uppers in that corner. If I use a corner wall cabinet, I will only be able to fit 12" cabinets on either side.

I'm in the final stages of planning and plan on picking up the cabinets at Ikea later this week. Would you mind looking over my layout one more time and tell me what you think?

http://kitchenplanner.ikea.com/US/UI/Pages/VPUI.htm?LoadDesign=c86b9a4682144955846361603d2eb64f&UIContext=Kitchen&IsSharedDesign=1

The highlighted parts are windows. The rest are doors. None of the walls can be moved, but the door next to the refrigerator can be moved and windows can be resized.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://kitchenplanner.ikea.com/US/UI/Pages/VPUI.htm?LoadDesign=c86b9a4682144955846361603d2eb64f&UIContext=Kitchen&IsSharedDesign=1

This post was edited by rahull on Sun, Jul 13, 14 at 12:18

Consider changing the upper corner cabinet to an easy reach so that corner has a more breathing room.

I would definitely move the door next to the fridge, or just eliminate it and make the window on that same wall into a door. Is that possible?

"...I've finally had time to meet with the plumber and we decided that it's not worth the trouble to move the plumbing and gas..."

Are you on a slab? Or do you have a basement or crawl space? I'm asking b/c if you have a basement or crawl space, it's not that difficult or expensive to move sink plumbing and gas (unless the contractor/plumber doesn't want to do it - then s/he will tell you it's a big deal - been there). If you're on a slab, however, it is a much bigger effort & cost.

No experience with layouts...but, I have the same upper corner setup as your plan, I really dislike it. It was a error on cabinet makers part. Unfortunately DH really liked the look and I gave in...big mistake!
So, I would get rid of the diagonal cabinet ( things get lost in there and it will be in your face) and make cabinets 8 & 10 wider ( easier to move stuff from side to side) with a blind corner.

Unfortunately, I can't move the door. But I can remove the window in front of the sink because it faces an enclosed porch.

Buehl,
Where would you suggest moving the plumbing to? I have a basement, so moving it wouldn't be too much trouble if it significantly improves the layout. But keeping the range in the same place means I'd be able to use the closed-off corner for ductwork from the range hood and avoid a soffit.

Does this look better?

I like ideagirl2's suggestion to replace the window on the left wall with the door. Here's what I came up with:

Plumbing and gas lines stay put. I added another window on the sink wall to make up for the loss of the other window.

Moving the doorway to the window gives you room to move the fridge to the left wall, giving you more counter and cabinetry. I also added a shallow floor to ceiling pantry in the lower left corner for more storage (I guessed at its depth).

I also decreased the aisle behind the seating. NKBA's minimum suggested aisles for walk-behind seating is 44"; 53" seemed a bit overkill to me given your small space.

Now if you're willing to move plumbing and gas lines just a bit, here's another possibility:

I swapped sink and DW to give you more counter between sink and range. Yes, it puts the DW in the prep zone but I thought that a fair trade-off to get more counter for this busy area. I moved the range down the wall a bit - doable since the peninsula is shifted down - to avoid DW door and oven door collisions.

You'll notice I made that top wall a wall of windows. I've no idea what your view is but all that light and openness will make the small space appear larger. Hopefully the pantry cab helps makes up for the loss of upper cab storage.

Oh, I also spec'd a counter-depth (CD) fridge over what looks like a standard depth fridge on your plan. That helps avoid fridge door/DW door collisions in Plan A and gives you a bit more breathing room when standing at the sink in Plan B. If you can't or don't want to go with a CD fridge, pull the base cabs next to it forward so that the bulk of the fridge is less obvious.

Oops, I was busy drawing while you posted that you can't move the door to where the window is. Too bad that's not possible.

Oh, buggers, I see that I got confused. The 4'5" is from the backside of the 24" deep cab, not the edge of the seating counter overhang. That's what I get for going off visuals of your drawing, not doing the math. Working on another idea for you.

Okay, here are two more ideas, with windows and doors in existing locations, plumbing untouched but with the gas line moved. These plans use Ikea cab sizes (rounded up, obviously).

I spec'd a CD fridge in both plans to avoid crowding the back door.

I eliminated the peninsula and swapped it for an island with room for 2 seats. Eliminating the peninsula allowed me to move the range down the wall, giving you more prep room between sink and range.

The island is composed of a counter supported by 2 legs at the lower end and an upper cabinet serving as a base cabinet at the top end (check Ikea hacks, this has been done before). The lower end of the island is open for seating like this

[Transitional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/transitional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2112) by Charleston Cabinets & Cabinetry K & K Custom Cabinets LLC

Plan D adds a peninsula for seating opposite the fridge.

The 3 cabinets in the lower left corner are upper cabs used as base cabs. Stack an additional 12" and 24" on top of the bottom 2 to create a shallow pantry. The 24" cab below the window is only one high, topped with counter. You can eliminate the doors and have a bookcase/display case here instead.

The top side of the peninsula has one each 12" and 30" wide base cabs, facing the fridge, for more storage and serving as counter support.

The peninsula has room for 3 seats with ample aisles behind the seats. I curved the lower right end of the counter overhang. You can use the peninsula as additional prep area, buffet counter, snack center.... Whatever fits your needs.

This post was edited by lisa_a on Sun, Jul 13, 14 at 16:50