Hi, Ashley - I'm not a kitchen guru, but wanted to comment, as your kitchen reminds me of a reno we did in our last house. I think you're making good use of a small space, and will be glad that you have counter space on both sides of the range. One suggestion I would have is to consider an electric smoothtop or convection range, to allow you to use the top as additional counter space in a pinch when necessary. Also, have you thought of a range hood or an over-the-range microwave? When we had a similar set-up, we used an OTR microwave and were very happy with the savings on counterspace.

Regarding your tall cabinets -- they will only be 42" (without molding) or 40" with molding, so I don't think you'll have such a long run of wood that dividing the door will be worthwhile. Actually, I think you could make the cabinet door look more "choppy" than necessary if you do that. Further, with your budget, you may want to stick with stock or semi-custom cabinets, so you may not have the option to divide the panels (or may incur an upcharge to do so.)

Best of luck with your renovation!

Thanks so much for your response. You might even have better insight than a kitchen guru since you've lived in a kitchen similar to this one!

I'm glad you like the amount of space we have on either side of the range. This was one of my biggest worries. Also, we have purchased an OTR microwave for the purposes of saving space. Unfortuntely, though, we've already purchased our gas range. I didn't even thing about the extra makeshift counter might offer. Although, I'm not sure this was a battle I could have won with the DH anyway. ;)

The cabinets will actually be close to 46 inches tall + 3' of molding, because our ceilings are 102.5' tall. I thought about breaking them up a bit mostly because I don't care for the look of really tall and narrow cabinets, and I worry that the uppers to the left of right of the range might look that.

These drawings (and pricing) actually came from an awesome and very reasonable local cabinet maker that we'll most likely hire, so thankfully there isn't an upcharge.

Anyway, thanks for confirming our layout plans. It's our first time taking on a project of this magnitude, and the thought of spending money on something that doesn't satisfy us scares me to death!

I would consider also using a drawer stack on the other side of the range.

Why did you not put the range against that blank wall to the right of where the range is now?

Realistically, food prep happens between the sink and the range. You have 15" there. Just saying.

Remodelfla: Why would you suggest another stack of drawers? If we use ROTs in that base cabinet, do you think that's as effective? I only ask because they're the cheaper option for us through this company.

Marcolo: Sorry, I should have explained that in my original post. There's actually a window on that wall, but the cabinet company didn't draw it in in because it's high enough that it doesn't interfere with the cabinets. We actually considering having a mason fill in the window but decided that the light in such a small space was worth more than what we would gain by doing that.

I'm not a designer but the 15" on the sides of the stove would drive me bonkers. I'm not sue of all the restrictions as far as plumbing, electrical, ducting etc. but I'd work it out that at least one of the sides was a minimum of 24".

Oh. I have a very similar setup; my house is six years older than yours. Unless I decide to bump out the kitchen, I will either move the window over, or use a non-operable tiled-in window above the cooktop. Several GW members have setups like that.

I find your sink and cooktop too close together. I might've considered a corner sink by the peninsula. At minimum, it seems like you could benefit from a rolling cart/small mobile island for prep, if it fits under the window.

However, it is absolutely correct to keep counterspace on both sides of the range. That allows space for pot handles, which people tend to overlook until it's too late, as well as landing room for both oven and range top.

The most often given advice on this forum is to use drawers in base cabinets everywhere possible. Most people prefer them to ROTS's, because a drawer only takes one movement to access (pull out) and a ROTS takes two (open door, pull out), but it depends on your habits and storage needs.

Here's one of many threads about drawers in base cabinets, with links to others:

Here is a link that might be useful: All drawers in your base cabinets?

One more thing: I'm not sure whether that's a blind lower cab at the elbow of the peninsula? If so, either put in a lazy susan, or make it open to the opposite side. We small-kitchen folk need all the storage we can get.

Pretty much what was stated above about the double motion to acsess anything. I got all drawers except of one sink and corners. LOVE using drawers. It's so easy.

Can you post a floorplan (i.e. a 2-D, not 3-D, bird's-eye view) that shows not only the kitchen but also where the windows and doors are and what rooms the doors go to? That may give us some more ideas. What we can see from the pictures you posted is the kitchen itself, which is great for evaluating how it fits together, but we would have a better feel for the possibilities if we could see it in the context of what rooms are adjacent to it and where the doors and windows are.

For instance, depending on how the adjacent spaces are, it might make more sense to shuffle things a little--for example, maybe the range could be on the wall where the fridge is currently shown, and the fridge should be where the range is (but closer to the wall, with maybe a 9" pullout to the right of it, and thus 21" between the left side of the fridge and the sink). That might be possible if the floorplan shows that you can widen that sort of cubby-space where the fridge currently is without hampering the floor plan or the flow of the adjacent rooms. Just taking down those walls that frame the cubby-space would add almost a foot to the available width, since walls are typically about 5.5" thick, and if you could add a little more by stealing space from beside it--for example, why is the doorway that the range faces so wide? Could you narrow it in order to put more counter there?--you might be able to put a range there with a decent amount of counter beside it. Then you would have prep space both beside the range AND beside the sink, so two people could more easily work in there.

That's just one random possibility that I mention because I agree with Aloha and Marcolo that 15" of prep space between range and sink is not very useful, although you do indeed need counter on both sides of the range. One option is to have a smaller sink. Another may be the random possibility mentioned above. Another may be leaving the range on that wall, but scooching it six inches to the right so there are 9" of counter to the right of it with a 9-inch pullout below, and 21" to the left. The 9" of counter would exist not as work space, obviously, but to accommodate pan handles and to set spices and utensils on when cooking, and perhaps your knife rack or a jar of utensils could also live there. That way you would have 21" inches of workspace between the left side of the range and the sink--that's a much more reasonable amount of space to work in, and it could even be wider than 21" if you made the sink a little smaller or were willing to place the sink a bit off-center.

Speaking of sinks, is that a double-bowl sink in your current plan? Have you considered a single-bowl? Double bowls make total sense if you wash your dishes by hand, but if you have a dishwasher and don't need a double bowl, then single bowls have the huge advantage of being able to fit (and thus hide!) dirty pans that you need to soak. Also, if you did want to scooch the range to the right and shrink the sink by 3" or whatever to create a good workspace, going to a single-bowl might give you more options. (As sinks get less wide, there are fewer double-bowls and more single-bowls available.) BTW, how wide is the sink in your current plan?

Thanks so much to everyone for their feedback.

Marcolo: We do plan to have the cabinet open to the opposite room--the dinning room--because storage is so very in small kitchens like ours. Also, the reason we didn't consider moving the budget was that we are working on a tight budget and had to work with existing plumbing. Plus, I've always liked the idea of having a window to look out of while working over the sink, even if that's a bit silly. Finally, you should know that we are tentatively planning on getting some sort of rolling cart/mobile island, and we have just the perfect storage space for it on an unused landing near the stairs to the basement. Thanks for all of your suggestions--they really made me think about our plans.

Mnerg & remodelfla: Thanks for the suggestion of putting in another stack of drawers. I guess I never really considered the difference in functionality in drawers vs. ROTs. The deciding factor for us will likely be budget, but I'm definitely going to look into it.

Can you please post a floorplan? Your kitchen is so similar to mine, it's scary. Except you have a precious few more inches of depth to your space, enabling you to make your plan work in a way that it wouldn't in my space. In any case, I think we really should explore moving your range--I think it would make a huge difference in function.

Unfortunately the walls surrounding the fridge need to stay due to light switches/electrical.

I'm not very tech savvy...do these pictures/drawings help at all?

This is looking into the kitchen from the adjoining dinning room.

These are the stairs that lead down to our garage/basement. They are to the right of refrigerator in the above drawing.

OK--This is a bit more money, but not a ton: I would seriously think about placing your range where that window is now. There are a number of options for replacing the light that we can explore here, once you can measure out a floor plan: two tall skinny windows flanking the range, backsplash windows, even a smaller window behind the range, etc, that will fit into your framing without too much trouble, but I think you would love the difference that move would make. It's really worth thinking about.

If you are limoted on storage optins, and it appears that you are, I think you are better off using ROTS in a base cab and here's why. You may be able to get ROTS from the cab manufacturer that are adjustable and that will let you store much taller stock pots etc on a ROTS than in a drawer. This could be valuable if you do not have convenient storage space in other areas for tall stuff. I would not sweat the supposedly extra effort to open a door and then pull out a shelf. I cannot begin to count the number of times I opened the wrong drawer and had to close and re-open another or stop to think which drawer something was in before opening it. Both drawers and ROTS have their pluses and minuses but what works best for you depends a lot on your situation...i.e. space and what you have to store.

I think the small counter space between the range and the sink is livable although not optimal. The cost of moving the window in a old house will be quite expensive because of the exterior work. I see that you have lathe construction so it is an old house. Talk to the contractor and see how much this option will set you back.

In the current set up, what you will do is prep to the left of sink and move to the range to cook. I tend to set what I have prepped on the 1/2 sheet jelly roll pan so I can move it easily. I think you have enough room to fit a jelly roll pan on the small counter space. You can also use the unused cooktop and lay the jelly roll on the top. It works quite well. You are talking 2 extra feet of walking when prepping. Not ideal but good enough..

If you really wanted to increased the counter space between the range and the sink, then I would also consider the sink not centered on the window by moving it 2 or more ft to the left. You need to create a very assymetrical look to the kitchen to do this. I would replace the cabinets to the left of the sink with shelves to accentuate the assymetric look. Unfortunately, when you do this, you lose upper storage.

If you do this, the DW will go between the sink and the range. This may cause too much congestion in the kitchen since all your main appliances: sink, DW and the range are crammed into one spot.

There are pros and cons of the options I listed. Good luck.

Sorry for not responding sooner. I have been without internet access all weekend...of all weekends!!

Anyway, thanks Johnny153. The fact that the ROTs will be adjustable is an advantage in our space, and that makes perfect sense to me.

Marcolo, although I do see that we might gain prep space by covering that window, I don't think that's an option for us anymore. We've actually already had new windows installed in the kitchen and had some masonry work done to accomodate these new windows. Part of the reason we didn't block the window in is that we have very unique brick on our house and were unable to find anything to match. Being that we live in a historical district, per say, we didn't want to mess with the facade of the house--the integrity of the exterior of the house is quite important to us.. At this point, the window is here to stay, so we'd like to choose a plan that work with it. : / We would, hoewever, possibly consider off-centering the range to allow for 20" or so on the left side and 10" on the right if that would alleviate some of the prep space concern. Do you think that change would make enough of a difference that it would be worth sacrificing my aesthetic symmetry?

Kaismom: I like your solution of the jelly roll tray. We have such a small kitchen that taking the prepped food two feet to the range won't feel like much at all (at least in my mind). Unfortunately, moving the sink that far isn't an option. We don't want to do make any major plumbing location changes, simply for the sake of cost. I also agree with you that having the dishwasher directly next to the range would cause too much congestion.

Have you chosen a sink yet? I don't know how strictly vintage a look you want, but there are the Kohler stages sinks (even the 33" may be too big for you, though) as well as a couple of Franke sinks that are specifically designed as food prep stations, essentially extending your prep area without moving anything. They come with chopping blocks, shelves, prep bowls, etc, all designed to be inserted in the sink, resting on the lid.