I see the text is hard to read. The red box on the left is the fridge. The blue box on the back wall is double ovens. The two blue rounded rectangles are the sinks. The dark green is a raised bar height counter. The yellowish rectangle lower left is a desk backing a wall that has shelving. The rectangle on the lower left is a walk in pantry. Hope that is helpful. Thanks.

Does no replies mean my layout is perfection itself . . . or is my drawing indecipherable? I'd really love some feedback if anyone has any ideas. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. :) Thanks for your help!

The drawing is small and indecipherable.... If you post a bigger, easier to read plan with all dimensions, then I bet you'd have feedback.

Didn't mean to sound flippant or dismissive.

I know you are anxious. There are lots of people here who will try to help. They/we just need more info:)

It doesn't work for me. The fridge needs to be more accessible to the cook. I would never design anything for the benefit of teenagers. You could put their food in the back yard under a tarp and they would not care.

Rmtdoug, Lol! I would say the same for my 5 yo! And it would be way cooler to get food from under said tarp.

My refrigerator is out of the triangle but it works just fine. That being said your kitchen will be twice the size of mine and I would think there would be a better place for the fridge. Your diagram is very hard to read.

Can it go in that blue spot near the range? Again I can't really read it so that may not make sense.

First questions and comments --

1) why the seats at the island and the raised bar with seats right next to the dining table? I would make that divider one level and do away with the seats.

2) Even if you consider the prep sink the "sink point" in the triangle, the triangle consists of the sink, cooktop and refrigerator, and you have removed one of those "points". The refrigerator could not a in a worse location, frankly - not only is it behind the island and out if the work triangle, it's also behind the seats at the island, so it's impossible to open if there are people sitting at the island. I'd move the fridge there the ovens are, the. I'd get a range and an extra single wall oven, which you can put under the counter in front of what is now the raised bar or in the location the refrigerator is now.

3) do a search on here and read up about kitchen desks, which apparently are often installed and rarely used.

Thanks for offering some ideas for me to work on.

I know the fridge location isn't ideal. The layout was pretty far along before I got involved in trying to figure it out. My ex-architect had it where the ovens are and then had the ovens in the middle of the long wall (where the sink is now) and I hated the look of it, as it seemed to break up the nice long counter and mess with my views out of windows, etc. We are desperately pressed for time due to my mom moving in with us (Alzheimer's) ahead of schedule, and my architect quit in the middle of my mom moving in (crisis) and then the builder was ready to go, so I was pretty stuck with the window/etc layout, as we couldn't possibly delay things at that point.

LOL, I didn't mean to place the fridge for the benefit of the teens. I agree that they'd eat in the yard under a tarp if that was where the food was, lol. I more meant to place it OUT of my work triangle as I don't want the fridge to be a "call to kids" in the middle of work zones. Right now, our fridge is right in the middle of the aisle between the kitchen and the dining room (our only eating space), and there is just a 30 inch door there, with the fridge doors opening into it, so serving meals is a nightmare. I wanted to avoid that, for sure. Ugh. I know it isn't ideal. I trimmed the island size quite a bit to try to maximize the width of that aisle. I am/was hoping that 5' is enough space to allow for the seating and the opening of the doors. Maybe not? I might cry now.

I've already bought the double wall ovens and the fridge, so I can't switch appliances on those now. I thought about two single ovens under counter, but it is too late to revisit that now.

The seating at the peninsula is more of an afterthought. The main purpose of that raised bar is to act as a serving/clearing barrier between the kitchen and dining. Having the raised bar also gives me a much appreciated backsplash in that part of the kitchen, allowing for easier electrical outlets, etc. There will be a couple seats there since there is lots of room in the dining area, but I don't really expect them to be utilized a lot. Originally, I hadn't planned for seating there at all, but with the layout of the dining as it is, I can add them without any trouble.

We have 6 people in our home full time -- kids ages 11, 14, 17, plus dh, me and my elderly mom. The kids are homeschooled, so they are here a lot more than families wiht teens who are in school. And, of course, they have friends. :) Plus, we live in a college town and it is possible/likely that one or more of our kids will live at home when they are in college or grad school at various points, and certainly be around during summers, etc. Plus, we have hired caregivers here on a regular basis for mom, and we entertain a lot. . . So, it is not unexpected for us to have 6-8 people milling around the kitchen area many hours per day, and to have 10-15 people on a regular basis for small parties. That's why I am allowing for so much seating. :)

The desk area is planned to be mostly for a handy computer station and as a possible station for Mom if she can't sit at the counter height island in the future. It is placed far back enough to allow for a regular chair or a wheelchair to be stashed there as needed. That nook could be repurposed for something else if there were a better use for it, but I do need somewhere that a wheelchair could be stationed for Mom to interact and be involved if she can't sit at the counter height island at some time.

I will try to post a better jpg later. I had great difficulty getting my pdf to convert to a jpg in an acceptable size for this site. I will try again later, with added dimensions.

Thanks for trying to help. I may be beyond help. Ugh. I will go have a drink. :)

I actually think a lot of problems may get solved by losing the peninsula all together. It looks too tight there with the table as it is, and it is an ideal location for the fridge - not too far out, yet not in your work zone, and close to diners that may want a drink or condiment during a meal. The storage you might lose should be replaceable with tall cabinets where the fridge is currently located.

You clearly have a lot going on right now, good luck!

Sometimes just regular graph paper and a sharpie are easier to draw out and easier to read.

szruns, so we now know you have a pretty busy household and that you want to make it nice for everyone. It's clear that you like having people in your home, but for the purposes of designing a kitchen that works for you, you need to focus on food prep, cooking, and cleanup only.

Two sinks are good. If anything is out of the work zone, to me, it would be the ovens (unless you bake incessantly), but your fridge, prep, and cooking needs to be laid out as efficiently as possible even if it means losing seating in the kitchen. You have 16 seats within or within spitting distance of your kitchen. How many times in the last year would all 16 seats been filled?

I agree that the peninsula is taking up valuable real estate without any real benefit and I would rethink that. I also agree that a kitchen desk these days does not add much value relative to the space it takes up.

So, how about the question . . . If I leave the fridge where it is, and have the island seating across from it as is . . .

What is the ideal distance from the handles to the counter seating (assuming 18 inch deep overhang for seats to tuck under/into to some degree).

More than 5'? 5'6? 6? 10? How much space there does one need for it to no longer be an issue?

I could push the island 3" towards the main long wall, still leaving a 42" counter-to-counter aisle there. I could also trim the island seating overhang to 15" from the current 18". If I did those two things, that'd buy me 6 more inches between the seating and the fridge. Would that be better? Or does it not really matter?

FWIW, the dining room is large and totally open to adjacent living room. I can push that table back another foot or two from the peninsula no problem.

If I put the fridge on the peninsula spot, eliminating the peninsula, I lose ALL visual openness to the adjacent dining room and the living room behind there. It would totally enclose the kitchen, which is really, really not OK with me.

UGH.

Do you think it'd be helpful to buy backless stools for the island seating? I was thinking that'd make them less of a barrier . . . and then they'd tuck under neatly as well.

I think I will pull my current fridge out of it's nook, draw up an "aisle" and place some "island seats" and see what happens with varied aisle widths. New project. Dh is gonna' love this one . . . Not.

What about adding a refrigerator drawer somewhere over in my work triangle? Would that make a huge difference? I had thought about it, and I have plenty of under-counter space to put one . . . But just didn't know if it'd be worth the bother. Would it be worth the bother? Then I could stash current-meal prep stuff in there all at once, reducing the back-and-forth to the fridge?

I don't think anyone is suggesting putting the fridge exactly where the peninsula is, at least in my mind. For example, you could remove the peninsula and place the fridge on the same counter run as the sink. You then have lots more options for your island, including seating at the end of you so choose. Then, your current location of the fridge can be storage to replace what was lost when you removed the peninsula and probably a lot more storage if you use the entire height of the wall.

Another option is to place the fridge at the top of your drawing and then go fridge > sink > cooktop > ovens, which is a more logical workflow pattern for a kitchen.

Right now, your fridge is placed such that you would have to take stuff out and carry it somewhere else as many times as you need to do what you are doing. I know that doesn't work because I live with it every day and I only have to move stuff about 5 feet max. You will be carrying fridge stuff 8 or 9 feet at least or moving it directly through anyone sitting at the island. I just don't see it working for anyone and especially for someone like you who will have lots of people around.

All this advice is just guessing, however, without a more detailed plan.

I have tried to read every post, but I may have missed the answer. Sorry if this was covered. Is it possible to put the new frig where the double ovens are? Put the double ovens where the frig is in your plan? You could pull your range run out with deeper counters and/or cabs to make the frig appear flush. Then the island would get a few inches shorter to make that frig/range range aisle roomier.

I am concerned that inching the island toward the window wall will really jam you in that 42" aisle with so many people needing to use the space. And it's a rather long aisle.

What about instead of the desk, the dining table could be shifted back so if your mom were seated at the head/foot she could still see into the kitchen and be connected to the action. But she would not be in the way of likely getting jostled in the aisle at the desk. As the desk is now if she is pulled up in a wheelchair from the kitchen, her back is to the main action in the kitchen. If she is on the dining room side of the desk, maybe she could just as easily be at the dining table?