Instead of raising the low window (by porch), can you somehow cover it up (see link below) or another TKO put the sink in front of the winow itself (I can't find that thread right now)?

Then this would allow the stove to go to the Right of the other window, removing the cooking action from the middle of the room. And you can vent it easier w/ an outside wall.

You can then put in shallow floor-to-ceiling cabinets where the stove is now. It'll feel really spacious.

thanks,
Amanda

from outside view:

from the inside view:

Here is a link that might be useful: example of sink in front of low window

Would you be open to closing off the door to the kitchen from the entry?

Right now that nice long run of counter space is kind of wasted...it's not in a very useful location. You could probably put your coffeemaker there, but the rest will end up as a junk drop zone, especially since it's so convenient to the entry. You could make an effort to create a Message/Command Center there and include organization accessories to try to corral and organize the clutter...

What a nice house, Emet. I could live there. :) Another could you: I love that very valuable circular floor plan, but if it were mine I'd be very interested in moving the flow on the left to a line from the LRM across the DRM, across the end of the kitchen, then on out the back door, hopefully thereby

* Establishing a nice lengthy and attractive view line down the house (adjusting the LR/DR doorway as needed),
* Improving the relation of the active living spaces with the back yard ("LRM, this is Patio. Patio, this is LRM. You two have a lot in common."); and in the process
*Clearing out that wall/door clutter in the middle of the kitchen space to free it up to a bunch of new possibilities.

You want the calm simplicity of modern, and creating spaces with elegantly simple but meaningful visual and functional relationships will further that big time. And make your home feel open and spacious while retaining nice separations for different functions and mood.

What about moving the door to the basement to the dining room? Move the pantry to the space that door occupies, change the existing pantry to be the fridge and broom closet. With the fridge facing the porch, the broom closet facing the sink wall.

Now about closing off the entry.. what about doing a door to the porch instead of a window and changing the whole shape to more of a galley space?

These are my random thoughts.

Or moving the door to the dining room over to where the basement entrance is in order to get around having to have the other wall cut-up with two doors.

Palimpsest- Bumping that microwave/coffee area, back into the pantry, would be a very good idea. It would also give you more space between that counter and the stove area. The way it's drawn, it looks like the stools fit under the counter, but if someone is sitting in them, they might block the door.

Also, some glass uppers, might help break up that long cabinet area, to the right of the sink. Even something frosted would give you a little more sparkle, to go with the stainless steel :)

Hmm- I can tell you worked hard on this - most of what I can think of is worse than what you drew. One of the things I like in your drawing is the possibility of adding another window onto the porch. Would that be beautiful natural light or be too cold and not such a great view?

The drawback is this - imagine pulling something off the stove to drain, carrying a hot pot toward the sink, and somebody or a dog comes around the blind corner there and splat. Not such a risk for grownups, but something to think about for kids. It's another reason to put the stove on the outside wall, and let the middle be the prep center.

One way to save on aisle space behind seating is to make a built-in bench where people slide in instead of pulling out chairs. Yours might end up elevated, to get the counter high enough to prep. On the left where the number 71 is in the drawing, put a bench seat, then an island/table in front of that. It's an idea, but I think I like yours better, (with the stove moved).

Wow - thanks, all, for the ideas! I had a busy evening yesterday and wasn't able to keep up as it came in. :)

Rosie and Brickton suggest opening up from the back into the dining room; unfortunately it's a change that's bigger than our budget for the project. I meant to say my physical constraints _for the kitchen_ were marked in red - and not mess with the the rest of the house at all! But now that you mention it, losing that door/traffic from the kitchen would be kind of nice :) though it would take a bit to elevate the back hallway from a utility space (smells like cellar!) to something worth attaching to the dining room.

Buehl, you're totally right about the corner prep counter being as much part of the dumping zone traffic pattern as of the kitchen traffic pattern. The mini-galley like Palimpest suggests would address that really well. (It occurs to me that we might not have revisited that after DH discovered the existence of the slide-in range, and it would likely work better when he's not trying to fit a cooktop and oven in separately. hmmm... worth a shot!)

And I wonder what we can do with Lyvia's bench idea. (I was just looking at the banquette thread...)

We drifted putting toward the stove on the peninsula instead of on the back wall with everything else, because it seemed like having all the appliances in a line against the outside wall would tangle up all the multi-cook paths, makes it more likely someone is standing directly in between any two stations, more going around each other. Am I wrong? Would the straight-line plan be a functional improvement over what I posted?

What if you do the plan you like, except that you switch out the range and DW like so:

(1) Move the dishwasher into the island, but not exactly where the range is--instead, have it on the end facing the sink. It will be easy to load this way. Yes, it will block the passageway when open, but it's going to do that anyway.

(2) Put the range at least two feet to the right of the sink. If you feel you're losing too much storage space by putting the vent hood here, then wrap the upper cabs around the corner to get a little more space. And the space in the peninsula that is shown occupied by the range could be used for undercounter storage, or you could leave a little room under there for someone to sit there--that way you could have seating for 4 or perhaps even five people there.

What this would do is basically give you a modified galley kitchen with a very logical flow: food comes out of the fridge, gets washed if need be, then goes to the stove to be cooked. This layout would prevent the type of accident Lyvia mentioned, since you would never need to carry a hot pan across a passageway. It would also keep cooking mess and spatter away from people seated at the peninsula, as well as giving you a lot more continuous prep space on the peninsula for those times when you need it (Thanksgiving, etc.).

The plumbing for the DW would probably be not one bit more difficult than it would be to put it next to the sink--as long as it's not too far from the sink you're fine, it doesn't need to be right beside it. And of course, venting the range would be easier and cheaper.

Hmmm... I like the idea of the DW across from the sink. I think the plumbing would be significantly different, but I'll consult with the plumber, I mean FIL. ;)

I think you should draw out the galley kitchen idea. Just messing around on some graph paper, I put an 8' long peninsula coming out from the wall where you currently have your microwave. Aisles are a little small, that is my one concern.

I would put the microwave and coffee center at the end of the long run of counter, I think that was mentioned by pp, sorry I don't remember who. Pluses are it is out of the work zones and easily accessible by visitors into the kitchen and makes good use out of an otherwise fairly useless area, negs are it is far from the fridge and other food storage. I would not want the dw in the prep area, and would put it on the other side of the sink. I would elevate the seating behind the range for a few reasons. It protects guest from being splashed, and allows you to get away with a narrower seating counter. Seating at counter height should be 15" deep. Although people have certainly gotten by with less, it is easier to sit at a 12" deep counter when it is at a taller height. Of course, the negative is the loss of a large flat expanse of counter, but with the range there, I have to wonder if you'd really be using that space for crafting, gift wrapping and all the other things regularly mentioned here as uses for a large flat island or peninsula surface.

Good luck!

DW on the other side of the sink, and then range at least 2 feet to the right of the sink, would work too. The main thing with the modified galley is to get the range off the island and onto the main run of counter, so that your island is more flexible in its uses and so that the mess and spatter of cooking don't make it unpleasant to sit there.

The decision on where the DW goes might be dictated by which way your joists run. Since you don't have a DW there is no plumbing to change, but if the joists run L to R (towards the sink window), it might be easier to put it in the island and run the pipes between joists over to the plumbing stack that the sink is sitting on. Whereas if the joists run top to bottom, it would be easier to put it to the left of the sink. But if you have a strong preference for the DW being in one of those locations rather than the other, I don't know if the joist direction would make it SO difficult that it's not worth drilling a few holes in the joists to get it done how you prefer it.

How about getting rid of the MW/coffee shelf altogether and housing them above drawers and below glass cabs where the one of the pantries(?) is now? Then you wouldn't have to wend your way around them on your way from the DR to the sink. Another idea would be to have a large table/island with 12" deep cabs at the end to house a sideways trash can if you want to prep on it.

Oh, yes, the dishwasher... I'd love it if it would fit there to the left of the sink, but there's no space because of the drain vent pipe (not obvious enough in the overhead view, sorry about that).

I'm sure it's possible in theory (ripping out and redoing the cast iron to get the sink drain connected into the network lower than the current 10" above floor level) but the father in law looked at it and said it wasn't an option. I listen to my GC.

I actually love your take, cluelessinCO, if everything would fit. A wall lineup like that was my first sketch, that the FIL then vetoed. :(