Sorry! I was in a rush to post the floorplan so I forgot to say Thank You!!! I've tried to rework this floorplan so many times I'm just making myself more confused.

Can I move the window? the 3'1" one.

Hi Bmorepanic.....if you're talking about the one in the top left corner of the kitchen, that unfortunately isn't a window....it's a coat closet that juts into my kitchen.

And that's the one you would prefer to keep? please say no

Pefer to keep it but it's not a must....if It did ALOT for the kitchen to lose it I would...most of the floorplans I've tried have either reduced the wall of kept it:

I'll just wait here until you stop screaming... Paraphrasing Michael Khors - Kitchen design ain't for sissies.

I do these for any ideas that may help you towards a final plan. I love houses like yours and I hate them but I'm not ambivalent, no siree. I would have had no idea what our house originally looked like in the kitchen but for a helpful sketch drawn on the back of a piece of drywall by the previous owner and finding another house just like ours who let us tour the back.

We had a room just like your pantry, but it was a little larger (6 x 7). The P.O. turned that into a bath. The big wall-hung sink was in the pantry and a lot of shelves and the refrigerator. There was a 3 foot space for a range right outside the pantry and a small built-in ironing board. Possibly, there would have been a small work table - maybe 24 x 40". I'm done - that was everything.

When I look at your space, I wouldn't try for a modern kitchen, I would try for an old one. When I look at your space, I first see the range. Around here, I can find an older style range - like an O'Keefe & Merritt or a chambers or wedgewood that runs for under $2k and that's what I'm thinking of you. They all vary in size a bit - with a lot of 40", 44", and some 36" and 60" ones. I used a tiny one like 21" for about 7 years and I was ok with it. I would buy the range first and size the cabinets on that wall around it.

I would trade the big ref out of the room and into the pantry space but put in a fat drawer ref. I'd still have immediate access to bread, milk, eggs, cheese, and veg. In the same way, I would use a single drawer-type dishwasher mounted underneath of that sink instead of a full sized one. If I really felt like I had to, I'd use two of them. I found they worked pretty well overall for doing dishes, but no so well doing pots. I really don't mind doing pots.

The rest of the room, I'd try to find some interesting things to copy - an older style of plain cabinets and some actual old stuff - like I'd like to find an old plate rack, the hanging pegs, and maybe make the tall, but shallow storage something like an old shallow storage cabinet.

I don't want to invade the dining space - its not big enough to afford to lose more. If you have another dining room (I'm not real clear about the full house layout), then I would likely use the other side of the door way and make the island a lot bigger. If that doorway could move a little or shrink, I'd see if I could get enough space to bring the ref back to the side of the stove.

The graphed layout really helped. Don't know how much of this you might want to use, but it was fun to see what happened when the coat closet vanished.

Two squares equal one foot in this layout.

As you showed in your plan for a peninsula and I forgot to include in mine, the peninsula needs to be wider for a safe area behind the range. Recommended areas vary: from 10 to 18'', I think.

BMorepanic, your floorplan literally took my breath away......and then I looked for the fridge. :) Something I didn't put in the floorplan is that there's a window in the pantry that I don't want to block. Sorry. In addition, I think having it in the back room would decrease functionality in the kitchen......I'm not a stickler of "the triangle" but I do think having it in another room would cramp my style (which is funny, b/c I think a fridge is the least stylish thing in a kitchen so you'd think I would want it hidden). Maybe if I took your design, left the wall up and extended it a little I could change your island to a penisula and put a fridge along the kept wall?

Thanks for the ideas! I feel like I'm getting closer with every post! :)

Bellsmom, I love that you like my sink as much as I do! I have seen nicer ones, with higher back splashes, but after living here for 2 months I can't imagine how I lived without it, so I'm happy to have one at all. :) Last night I was wondering if I was just making it impossible to get a floorplan I liked b/c the sink takes so much space but then I saw your post, gave myelf a good shake and thought "of course I'm keeping it!!" I think I have to start thinking of it as prep area instead of as a sink b/c I do put cutting boards on the drainboard.

Now, back to your floorplan! I think it's the way I'm leaning towards....I thought the peninsula could go into the dining room and do the work of a buffet, which I was thinking of putting along that wall anyway. I'll have take a look at counter depth refrigerators to see if I could live with it, otherwise it'll have to go in the prep area. Are you thinking a diswasher could go under one of the drainboards (I'm not sure I even want a dishwasher, but I'd at least like it prepped for one, and maybe put drawers in front of that so the option is there if I change my mind later on down the road)

It might seem strange, but if your situation will allow it, how about recessing a standard fridge to line it up with the counter? Cantilevering a shallow niche would allow it to hang off the back of the house with no foundation--exactly the way a lot of those charming sideboard bays were built in old bungalow dining rooms. (In some areas cantilevering can even get around setback requirements, should that be an issue, although I wouldn't count on getting that lucky.)

I don't know anything about DW drawers, but many people seem to use them. Don't know how many people you cook for. But a DW drawer could certainly go under the sink. Maybe even two of them, as BMore discussed. Personally, I would definitely want a DW.

I hate dead corners, but I don't see any way to use the one to the left of the sink. Maybe one of the dead corner pullouts would work. The other corner, the one to the right of the stove, could be accessed from the DR or you could use a susan. I certainly love my susan.

Yes, you need to continue to weigh keeping the sink. I probably would not keep it. But I like that it will ''say your name'' in your new kitchen, it will be that thing that is uniquely you.