I'd cut the little peninsula in favor of a tall pantry-style cab - either 18" or 24". This is a little bit practical - the ref door can smack the peninsula, it might be difficult to clean the ref depending on the exact ref you get. Then you can add an over the ref cabinet. It should be enough storage for the craft stuff and some overflow kitchen stuff.

See if you can re-arrange the cabinets on the range wall to use fewer cabinets. Like do a 12-15" cabinet in the corner, a 36" p&p followed by an 18" cab and then the corner unit. Fewer bigger cabinets are cheaper and yield more flexible storage.

What about a small butcher block topped cart on casters on the dining room side of the chase that can be rolled out to act as extra prep space in the kitchen and can hold additional goodies for crafts?

I tried it again putting the dishwasher on the right wall, and moved the fridge down closer to the window giving more clearance on the peninsula side of the fridge. Not sure how i feel about that either.. ugh. I do like the idea of a tall pantry, but the seating is more important to us than all that storage. If I do a narrower tall cabinet - for brooms, etc and the peninsula on the other side against the chimeny well then Im pretty much back where I was 6 months ago!! lol.

I just found (okay I've lived here 5 years) an original 1905 cabinet from this kitchen in the basement.. 43 wide, 30 tall (without the countertop) and 18 deep. Its solid, drawers work well but would need a good scrub and some touch ups on the finish (it holds paint cans and random things). I think it could be fabulous. There is also an upper - not quite as fabulous but it would fit nicely over the fridge.

I told my husband we should gut the room, redo the walls, ceiling windows and floors - wall to wall. Then put the fridge, stove, sink, my new found old cabinets all on wheels. and live for awhile.. to find out what we really need! lol (insert wild cackle and hair pulling here!)

Swap the stove with the fridge and you can keep and even expand the peninsula into more useful storage and seating.

What is the green box for in your new layout?

I like the suggestion to replace peninsula with a tall pantry cabinet. Also, the suggestion to move the stove towards the window and have fewer skinny boxes is good.

Your vintage cabinet sounds like a find... do post a picture. Not sure where it goes in this layout?

The green box is the air intake grate on the floor. I'll fiddle around with those suggestions .. thanks!

Im using Ikea software - so the cabinets i put in there may not be exactly what I end up with. For example the only thing narrower than 12" is a bookshelf - which is 9 inches.. i could do a pullout for cookie sheets or brooms in a narrow spot, I jus cant show that on the software.

Thanks!

Okay here are two variations with the stove by the island and the fridge in the corner (the space by the fridge would ideally become a narrow pullout for broom and whatnot. My cabinet maker can make them as narrow as 5 inches.

The short squatty fridge is actually my vintage cabinet. Its only 18 deep and I could pull it out for deeper countertop. It is a few inches shorter than the other countertops which I love.. Id like a shorter spot for rolling out dough etc.. I bake a lot. I saw that in someones kitchen on here.. and I just loved it!

The dining room table is setting in the center of the room like it is now ... We can and likely will move it once this is all said and done.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Before you get too excited about the 1904 cabinet, remember the old house bywords - everything has lead paint on it until it tests otherwise.

Old cabinets can have drawers with interior painted sides and wooden glides that have been painted and can continue shedding lead paint nearly forever.

While I like the first one in your latest set the best, I'm not sure your 18" deep vintage cabinet is deep enough to roll dough out on. Standard depth counters (25.5" deep) with a wall behind seems to me to be the minimum useful depth.

thanks guys! I didnt think about the lead factor.. Its is bare wood inside, but I will definitely keep that in mind.
If I was able to use it, Id likely pull it out from the wall and put some support behind it so the counter top ran all the way to the wall. The back is open so maybe my cabinet maker could rig something up to make it deeper in back.

Okay here's the one I am going to send to the cabinet guys for quotes... It will be a starting point but still time for changes and tweaking. There are no uppers - I'll figure that out once I'm set with the base cabinets.

I am going to see if i can get the peninsula lower than counter height - maybe 5-6 inches lower.. then I can have that for cookies/pies and whatnot. I also want to use 2 different counter top materials and this would be a good way to make that work.

I'll just skip the antique cabinet. I have a couple other non-food areas in the house it could go if I really want to reuse it..

I really love not having the sink centered - it will drive my MIL crazy. Can't wait!

Thanks again everyone.

{{!gwi}}

If you go with a smaller single sink, it may be possible to center it under your window in your current layout. Then you could add a small prep sink on your peninsual or maybe under the other window to clearly separate prep and cleanup functions.

Or, when I recommended that you swap the fridge with the stove originally, I meant keep the sink centered under the other window, on the same leg as the range. You have at least another 24" to be able to shove the range down towards the dining area, and that will give you enough room between the sink and the stove. The back window wall becomes your area for small appliances. If that crowds your dining area, you can do a banquette to gain back some of the room.

Thanks live_wire_oak!!

Here's one with the smaller sink under the window. I like the idea of 2 sinks just wasn;t sure if I had room for that. This was the smallest sink that ikea wuld let me put in.. Also I dont have the 15 inch overhang on this - the stools are where that would be.

When i swapped the fridge and stove originally, I didnt like how the dishwasher looked right up against the stove. I have a very expensive one i really should keep, but could always consider a panel ready one down the road. It just isnt in the budget this time around. In this one the dishwasher is on hte other side of the corner.. not sure if that is a good idea or not.

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With the fridge next to the wall now, you need to know the exact model/type of fridge and check the dimension guides for how much space to allow for door swing.

It looks like you are leaving extra space in the corner, but just a reminder before you send in the final cabinet order.

Thanks!!
The fridge is in my kitchen right now - I only need 2 inches on the left side for the handle - and the freezer door will stick straight out - nothing is removeable on that side - so it would be fine. The fridge side would need to swing open all the way to remove drawers so having it on that side of cabinets works out nice. I would like to have a minimum of 5 inches by the wall though - for a broom pullout. Wider yet if there is room.