consider a built in looking frig on wall between pocket door and basement stairs. have a long counter run where frig is. Take items from frig-2 steps and pivot and you're right at the counter. Not perfect, but the L shaped area is improved this way. Keep sink under window-stove on 192 in wall-give yourself a nice run of counter to the rt of stove,[maybe move stove closer to corner],do a great backsplash and it'll beam with light from lg windows/some beautiful counters..no more big frig hogging the space...open shelves above??...may even have room for small counter next to frig over in new spot.

herbflavor - thanks for the suggestions. I have considered putting the fridge on the bottom where you suggested it, but am concerned that it will stick out into my walkway too much. That is a main traffic path to back door and basement where laundry room and 1 bedroom is located. I was concerned about opening the fridge and crowding the people sitting at the table, but I really liked the extra counter with that set up.
How close is too close to the table? I have a standard fridge which is about 33 inches deep.

This is my take on your 2nd layout. These are all just individual things you might incorporate.

1. Move the dw to the other side of the sink. Where it was located does some evil things - it chops up the drawer units, takes space away from the best location for things used in prep and service, and also that big door of the dw is an obstruction between sink and range every time it's in use.

2. Use fewer, but larger cabinets. You save money over buying more individual cabinets, you gain some extra interior space (less space taken by the cabinet walls and face frames) and more importantly, you get some flexibility in how and where you store things.

3. Try not to use stuff like 9" cabinets unless there is really no other choice. A 9" cabinet isn't 9" wide on the inside. It's either 7.5" to 8" OR when its framed - it's that wide, but the clearance at the front is only 6" making it impossible to store any but very small objects. They're kinda expensive for something that small.

Think of ways to make 9" cabs disappear - either by cutting them or rearrange something else. As an example, by making the cabinet on the far side of the range a 15" instead of an 18", that 9" wall cab could become a 12" - at least it would fit some bowls. It may not be an acceptable trade for you because of the change in other cabinet sizes but always look at little leftovers and see if them could be combined into something else or eliminated.

3. The hollow orange elements are open appliance doors and indicators of the space that will be used when those chairs are occupied.

4. Consider changing the over the ref cabinet to full depth. You can store all sorts of things on edge near the front (cookie sheets, baking pans, rolling pins) and if you're tall enough, you can reach them! Also, see if hubby or contractor can recess the ref - sink it a couple of inches into the wall framing (harder than I'm making it sound).

hth

If you get a "cabinet depth" frig the butt into your walkway will be less. I'd really see if it could work. The gain for your other long walls would be worth it. Of your other options..I'd keep sink under window, keep range on wall opposite lg windows..move to the left a bit so space betwee frig and range expands.

Thanks so much for your input! Sorry I was off the computer the last few days as my daughter had a little girl!
Anyway, I purchased our full depth SxS fridge last year so I hadn't considered replacing it. I guess I could look at the cost of a Cabinet depth fridge. Might be able to sell the one I have outright, or trade it in. Something to consider.
Herbflavor, you mentioned if I keep the frig & stove on same wall to move the range closer to corner to give more space between frig. I had thought that it would be more important to have more space between stove and sink, so wanted to leave enough room between range and corner for someone to stand and work. Maybe I don't need the 15" + 12" from corner cabinet. I'll try to mock up how much room it takes.
Bmorepanic - Thanks so much for drawing out a revised plan. If I use the sink in the corner, that is a much better layout. I see what you mean about the smaller cabinets. I was able to get in to a store today and measured the inside of some drawer bases and was shocked that you loose about 4 1/2" of the inside measurement. Didn't see a 9" wall, but suppose that's about the same. I guess I just had those locations locked into my head and couldn't see the big picture.
Unfortunately I can't recess my frig into the wall. There is a chimney that runs up that wall right in the middle of the frig location! (And if I moved it to the bottom of the plan as herbflavor suggested, I can't recess it because of plumbing in the bathroom.)
By the way, with the sink in the corner and the stove on the upper wall, it does make me a little nervous to be so close to the table. Not sure if that is a good idea or not.
Lots to think about and talk over with my husband. Thanks again for your input and if you have any more suggestions I am open to considering them!

congrats! a new little darling in your family....

Congratulations!

I like your first plan, with the fridge close to the living room and the sink, under the window. Have you thought about putting a banquette under the window and giving yourself a little more space for the dining area? You'd still have four chairs, but if you turned the table (as in your earlier post) you'd have a little more space for your fridge and oven doors to open.

A shallower pantry sounds like a good idea. Are you going to have any glass upper cabinets, plate racks, or open storage in the kitchen? That always looks nice, when you have an eat-in kitchen, IMHO...but I love country kitchens :)

How nice! Where does the highchair go? :) I'm very fond of tables that allow family to settle in right in the middle of everything, so I'd like your kitchen. Next one for me, for sure.

Regarding your plans, I'd like having a nice appealing prep center in front of the window like #2 but definitely want to bring the sink and its cleanup around onto the right-wall counter to create a luxuriously large space devoted to cooking. And keep cleanup helpers out of the way.

If you measure, you'll also see you'd have fewer front-of-counter inches for people to work at with a space-hog corner sink (which of course will be significantly larger in real life). I'm dying to get started remodeling our vacation trailer kitchen, a corner "L" on two 7' walls, including fridge and pantry closet, which has a tiny scrap of space to work on by the stove. Moving the sink out of the corner will add an additional 17 inches of counter to my work area, plus the adjacent corner area. Huge in that kitchen.

Thanks all. It's my first grandchild so extra special!
Lavendar lass - I did think about turning my table and putting a bench/banquette under my window. Problem is that I have hot water heat and the registers run right along that wall under the window. However, I was thinking that maybe I could do a bench that is raised off the floor so the heaters would still work. I have to look into that. I even considered maybe running a narrow set of shelves up both sides of the window to enclose my bench? but am afraid that it would get too close to my cupboards on the one side and infringe on the walkway on the other. Saw a really cute picture of a bench like that, but not sure it would work in my room. I have been reading the banquette threads eagerly.

I have a 20" x 36" pantry closet around the corner on the way down stairs. (Butts up to my bathroom wall.) Will probably still use that, so was thinking of putting 12" cabinets on top & bottom of that bottom wall. That would give me a place for more pantry stuff, as well as a small buffet area (about 54") when I have a crowd. If I do that, I could also put glass uppers there and display some of my good dishes. So many possibilities. I just have to make some decisions!
Thanks so much for your help and ideas! I love all the suggestions. Trying to do it on my own has been hard and my family and husband are tired of my "obsession". Just go with it and be done is there suggestion. But after reading and reading here I want to make it as functional and pretty as possible even if we are on a budget. And thanks to this forum, the layout is already better than I had before. Thanks again!

Hi Rosie -
Highchair will go front & center!
I share your concerns about a corner sink. The loss of counter space, not enough room for 2 people to use it at the same time and not able to use a double sink. I am used to 2 people cleaning up and like a double sink. Of course, we will have a dishwasher now, and the kids are mostly gone, so maybe that won't matter. I did think I would enjoy the prep are on that side, but still not sure if stove is too close to table.
Hadn't considered moving sink to the right wall. Will have to check with my husband about plumbing access. Kitchen sits over basement furnace (hot water heat), hot water heater etc, so lots of pipes. However, if it would work, would I put a cabinet between sink and corner or butt it right into the 36" corner cabinet? I suppose the 12" from the corner cab would be enough for the 2nd person to get to the sink? I think I would want the most space between sink and fridge, right?
Also, would the DW have to go to the right of the sink so I don't run into the problem of having it between sink and stove like bmorepanic mentioned. If I do 36" corner, 36" sink, 24" DW, 12" cab or drawers + 39" for frig w/ 1 1/2 sides that will bring me to 147" + 41" for 36" door & frame leaving me with 4" in corner for my light switch. So only 36" total between sink and fridge. Would that work?
However, I would have a 6' from stove to Corner cab (plus another 3 foot to wall) prep area. Might be worth it. Have to check things out.
Do you think the range is too close to the person seated at the table if I go that way? Would probably move it out to make the cab on the L a 24" instead of 18" if I moved the sink.
Thanks for the idea and suggestion. Really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Well, I am now noticing how tight the fridge wall is, especially for a wide sink, but I think it would work. I got everything on ours.

If possible, it'd be preferable (but not necessary) to move the sink down enough that all inches of the prep counter were available to stand in front of and still free up the sink. In case you and your daughter and granddaughter on her stool might occasionally work there together. We have an 18" cabinet at my right hip as I stand by my corner, with the oven next in line beyond that, and it feels very comfortable, but 12" would do. Dishwasher next to fridge would provide 2 feet of counter above for both cleaning and fridge landing.

My husband and I do love our 30" (28 inside) deep single sink, and that choice did help me fit everything I wanted in. He mounted it so that the flanges overlap the tops of the cabinet sidewalls (chiseling out wood at the top to fit it in) so we were able to use a 30" cabinet under it. BTW, my husband's a sink hog (or captain of his ship, whatever), and this sink is wide enough to allow me to come fill a pan even if he is planted in front of it. BTW, waiting pots and dishes disappear into it so it always looks tidy over there, even when it's not.

Another device we used (I was looking everywhere for inches to fit in a 15" drawer stack) was a counter-high 12"-wide pull-out trash. I saw pictures on a forum posted by someone who had done it with a 12" Lowe's pullout unit which holds a tall plastic can, and it works extremely well. Actually, since we're empty nesters, we might even have put a drawer in on top and cut the can shorter. As it is, it holds a 30-gallon bag, and the height is nice for just sweeping stuff into it. The alternative, of course, was under the sink.

Speaking of, once we no longer need to store pet food under the sink (also in pull-out garbage units), I'd like to retrofit it for some more full-extension drawers, although the plumbing was not specially positioned with that in mind. That's prime kitchen storage space, but it's traditionally been badly wasted, used like some kitchen back-alley area. I'd like to put my largest soup pots, large wok, etc., there, instead of in the deep cabinet over the fridge. At least my household chemicals are stored elsewhere, up in a closet away from our own grandkids, everything but dish and dishwasher detergents and a can of scouring powder. Don't need a 30 or 36" cabinet for that. Just another idea as you move your options around on the graph paper, but I think it's a really valuable one when more storage is wanted.

Rosie,
Thanks for the input. After reading yours, I agree that having the extra 12" between corner and sink would be better for a 2 person work space. In my original design with stove and frig on same wall I left 15" between stove and corner as a minimum for an additional workspace/person. No reason to think I would want less for the sink.

I have read the single sink threads, but still think I want a double and my husband is sure we need one. However, I think I might be able to use a 33" base which would give me an extra 3", so I might be able to put a 15" cabinet between the sink and corner. That would be big enough for a trash pullout. I am glad to hear that a 12" wide cabinet will hold a trash pullout though if I stay with a 36" sink. A 30 gal bag size is good sized. I will have to check into that. I have some chopped up spaces (depending on what layout I go with), and thought that I needed a minimum of a 15" cabinet for a trash pullout.

Also a very good idea to put some of the extra large soup pots and such under the sink. Never thought of using that area for anything but kitchen cleaning supplies, bags, etc. However, with a grandchild to think of, I need to rethink that and store those kind of things higher.
Thanks so much for your suggestions. New possibilities.

How's it going? Layouts have probably been running through your mind almost as continually as holiday traffic.

I thought of you because I started thinking of the under-sink area again while we were sitting in traffic yesterday (mostly fantasizing at this point), and I realized the upper drawer under the sink will absolutely have to hold glassware. I really like having my china in a drawer under the stovetop, point-of-first-use, but glassware is hard to carry in any quantity even the couple steps to its current place in the island, and it would be very, very nice right under the water faucet (our well water our favorite beverage) and next to the DW. Point of first and last uses. Can't beat that.

And maybe pots and pans I boil water in below that. They're happily by the stove now, but that does mean I walk them to the sink for first use.

Are you considering points of first and last use as organizing principles for storage as you push these cabinets around? Where I did a good job of that, it's really working well.

Thanks for thinking of me, Rosie. Yes, I lie in bed at night with visions of cabinets and layouts dancing through my head. In reality, still not sure about moving the sink. My husband doesn't really want to do it, but we are still looking at the possibility. Hoping to get a contractor friend over to look at things and answer a few DIY questions one of these nights to help us make a better informed decision.

I do like the ideas you have about storage under the sink. Very useful. Also, thanks for the suggestion to consider points of first and last use. I hadn't really thought about it that way. I think I need to rethink how I use things and see which layout gives me better storage options.

I did get a chance to see a corner sink in real life and absolutely won't go that route! I "knew" there wasn't much room at the front, but until I really saw it, didn't really get how tight it was. One option scratched off the table at least. Thanks for all your input.