Definitely go for the 30" if you have the room. It's really worth the extra depth. That was a big must for me. In the thread you posted, I talked more about my mother's kitchen, but her small working station is 30" deep, and so is my own. The 4.5 feet (I assume you meant feet?) in counter length should be fine. I've found that the span of two arms at front of waist position is the greatest useful width. One has to move along on longer counters to use them.

You might find that you like the lower counter for your mixer as much or more than kneading and rolling. Certainly, it's a handier place for manually mixing.

OTOH, I decided against the lowered counter to get the rest of what I needed, when I had an epiphany: I could just raise my shoulders. I have a pair of what one of our members back then labelled "Plllog's Clllogs". They're too tall to wear comfortably on the street, but get my shoulders to optimal height above the standard counter height. Crocs aren't as tall but comfier and adequate. ;)

The eye level shelf is a great idea!! My baking counter has a window. Sigh. Anyway, I mostly type out recipes with my own notes and put them in page protectors, which makes it easy to move from station to station. It usually rests atop a large canister or something. It also occasionally blows down. :( There's a lucite book holder for the occasional time I cook out of a book, and I have a disk in it that also lets me stand pages in there. What I did learn, is that my iPad doesn't want to be in the kitchen, and if I like the recipe I'm going to want to write on it and have it ready in my binder, anyway. Pepperpot and similar apps are good, but a pen is easier with messy fingers. :)

Yes, feet. :) That does read funnily, doesn't it. Oops.

Hm, I hadn't considered wanting the mixer lower. (You could see into it better) Perhaps, I should contemplate doing the whole stretch the same height. Though, I do rather like the look of the high-low. Function, function, function. What a nasty little beast.

Changing shoes? Well, now, that's smart! I've often thought I need a pair of "kitchen crocs" since all that time makes me ache. ;)

A window sounds divine. Our baking zone is on an interior wall. Drat. I'll have to enjoy watching the birds while I wash dishes instead. ha!

Yes, yes, yes to the handwritten recipes. I, too, have a binder. And, those recipes I use from books are covered in post-its and penciled in notes.

I saw a great photo of a cookbook rack mounted inside a cabinet door (rather than under the cabinet). But, I can't seem to find the file. Otherwise, I'd show you.

For fun, here's what I was thinking as far as my dropped area, minus the window and the cat :)

Oh, and the baking center is on the fridge side, so I don't think pulling it to 30" will be too odd looking. I wonder if the smaller, standard height stretch should be 30" deep as well, or just the lowered portion? I make such messes, and our galley won't have an island...obviously.

My baking zone is simply my island, so not a lot of help there. But I do want to mention the Demy, designed to be used in conjunction with Key Ingredient. I love my electronic recipe box! I can add recipes on the 'net and sync them with the Demy whenever I need.

Oh, that's cool! It makes me think of Remodelfla's antique baking table.

Remodelfla is short, so definitely better for her to have the lower table and mixer. I'm average height for my age group (5'8") and my optimal rolling/kneading counter, from bare feet, is 33". I figured that out by using my ball bearing rolling pin with handles (rather than the flat cylinder wood one, which would be hard to keep hold of) on a stack of folded fabric on my dining table. You could do a similar thing with your mixer (or a friend's if yours isn't available). Put it on a table of known height (i.e., measure), and add books under it until it's a comfortable height for scraping. Next, try with a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon, and put something heavy in the bowl so you can feel the angle for shoulder strength.

I only tested rolling, and the clllogs are great for that. My island is 38" and baking counter is 36.5", and even with the clllogs, I'd rather a lower counter for kneading. I was just using the dough hook when I planned my kitchen, and have since gotten into stiffer doughs that really want a little kneading by hand. The mixing bowl is the worst, though. I'm also using a Danish dough whisk to mix yeast dough, even if it's in the KA bowl for kneading with the dough hook, and there are things like folding in eggwhites, or just making a quick pancake batter, which I'm doing granny style, with the bowl in the crook of my elbow. I could put on clllogs for that, but I never think of it. :)

If you're height challenged, go for more baking height counter. If you're not, you'll have more storage space with higher counters.

The cookbook rack in the door is a great idea if there's a door in your face! I like your eye level shelf better, though I suppose one could get extra heavy duty hinges. :) I even had a riser on my old conference desk (after it was no longer being used for meetings) because it's so convenient to put things up. You could put your small ingredients, mise en place prep bowls, measuring tools, scale, and all kinds of good things up there. I'm sure other people are different, but when I'm baking, I'm not watching the hummingbirds! I'd forget what I was doing!!

So, from the food for thought file, I'd suggest you give a good think to what you want handy in your baking area. Your inspiration picture looks lovely, but Remodelfla's table with the built-in flour and sugar bins, utensil and pan drawers, and what I think is a pullout cutting board, seems much more functional.

I have a drawer stack the width of my baking counter which holds mixing bowls, including my 13 quart bread bowl, pie plates, cake and loaf pans, silpats, rolling pins, and a whole drawer for utensils. In the corner I have drawers with canisters (flours, sugars, and smaller ingredients, though I've started milling my own flour, and it will be changing from flours to grains :) ). The most useful part of having a baking area is having all the staples to hand. I'm guessing you have plenty of room in the adjacent area to your dropped counter, where you've been planning your mixer, but that's more essential than the counter height and width. In my mother's kitchen, where I learned to bake, the counter is 35.5" high (boy the one inch difference is significant!), but the mixer sits on about 22" width of counter (about 28" deep, if I remember right), and the work space is 24" wide by 30". The staples were on the third wall, but it's such a small kitchen that they weren't really far. I still love having the staples right there! The tiny kitchen works fine! I still sometimes bake there, and it's still fine. It's the quality of the layout, not the size, that matters. :)

hi there plllog... me and my ever shrinking self have been extremely happy with my setup. the table is 33 1/2in high, 70 inches long, and 30 wide. it's glorious and i love it on a daily basis. oh.... i'm barely, on my best day, 5' tall.

Thanks for mentioning the Demy greenhaven. I hadn't heard of it and will check it out. (Can you believe we're a smartphone free house? I'm about to be forced into converting because we're switching providers, and I know it might just kill me to have to move into this century.)

RemodelFla- Serious table envy. Serious. That's stunning and looks so very functional. What a find!! Thank you for sharing the dimensions. I'm 5'6", though often a very lopsided 5-6 since I have a little one on my hip. ;) This, of course, has sent me into using my stand mixer and dough hook more than I used to. There's something so therapeutic about doing it all by hand.

Pllog- So many good points! Thank you, thank you for sharing that photo. It's way more functional. I've actually been trying to work the "table" around the cabinet options I have (we aren't able to go fully custom), which is what led to the single deep drawers. I do wonder, though, if I could have this one particular piece built by a cabinet maker. If I looks like furniture, it wouldn't necessarily have to be the same as my other cabinets. Of course, it will be the same counter surface. Hm. Thinking on that.

As far as storage, I was going to use the deep drawers for my monstrous array of flours (gluten free due to allergies) and hopefully mixing bowls. My smaller items (sodas, gums, and the like) will probably be in little glass jars on an open shelf. The cabinet to the right of the table would have my other everyday baking supplies: utensils, pans, etc. My "once in a while" pans will be over the fridge, and I have a cabinet just for cake and cookie decorating supplies that's going in the adjacent laundry/butler's pantry. I'd love to have that all in one place, but there's just not room. Like at the last house, it will be in drawers, in little self-contained boxes so all I have to do is lift out the correct box and take it to my center when I'm ready to decorate. I like having my mixer hidden, but that might not be an option this time around. I have seen the mixer lifts but am not sure I'd like mine sticking out like that, especially with the kids being tempted to pull it down onto themselves.

Thanks for the great idea on how to figure out the height I need. We'll be doing that, for sure, before I lock in a dimension.

Here's what I am thinking, at the moment, anyway...maybe it will help the written description make more sense. :) Just to the left of the baking counter is the doorway to the butler's area that I mentioned, so it's close. There's a closet style pantry in there, too.

Off to Google "baking tables." Hadn't thought of that one. :)

I've been kind of 'anxious' about loosing my old-fashioned pull-out cutting boards. Even they are a bit tall for me to chop on. I'm 5'2".

I too have kitchen clogs. Mine are old Sanitas with a hole in the toe. :) They're worn down enough that they're probably the height of Crocs. I've been thinking about getting some crocs recently, this may push me to.

I'm not much of a baker (I'm more of a sous chef to DH who's the real cook), but I'll have a low counter in my kitchen due to low windows. There will be 3 27"w, 28.5"h cabinets (plus 2cm granite). I wanted to do an open space like in the pic young-gardener posted for a step stool like that. If I'd thought about putting the animals food/water underneath too, I'd probably have fought harder for it. (We have a 'desk' in the kitchen now without a chair and the open space is a black hole for junk, so DH held firm.)

I think, with a cutting board on it, it might be a nice height for me to prep on (it might have to be a tall/deep cutting board). But what I wouldn't have thought of is that it should be good for the KA. Thanks!

I've had no idea what would go into those cabinets beyond the pet food in one and extra drinks etc. in another. I'm thinking one might become a baking cabinet. :)

cal-quail- I'd be reluctant to give up the cutting boards, too. How great! (That's going on the wish list...perfect for chopping nuts and whatnot for cookies) Your idea of putting a step stool underneath is great, especially in a house with little ones. :)

I've been following this off and on, not sure whether I had anything to add. Young-gardener, I love your sketch, there's something very appealing about it.

On the run where our baking center exists, the countertops are 30" deep. I cannot say enough about how great these are, as I tend to keep things out on the counters (flour/sugar/tea cannisters, VM, etc). Lovely to be able to roll out a pie dough or a dough for biscuits or scones without moving anything.

Below, are just standard 24" cabinets, pulled out 6". Three wide drawers with all baking and prep equipment. Here's a picture of it. Note the under cabinet mounted paper towel holder. It's, functionally, the right spot, and I like it here.

Top:

Middle:

Bottom:

Adjacent cabinet to the left:

And then next cabinet over:

Upper right hand door in the cabinet above is for baking spices:

A huge plus with the deeper countertop, comes the deeper uppers. My DW is close by and I store my serving bowls vertically (which is another huge plus).

I'm only 5'3" and I went with the regular height. I've often wondered what a lower countertop would have meant, but it's what I'm used to, so no regrets.

Good luck!

Just looked at your sketch and caught something; cabinets to the right of the baking zone marked pullouts. Don't open doors then pull out; suggest you turn these into deep drawers. One motion.

My baking center is in my pantry. I know this is a luxury that not everyone has the space, but when we built i insisted on the space for a large pantry. It is very functional and works well for me. The counters are 35" high and 28" deep. Everything I need is right there.

Well, my message was deleted when I inadvertently let the battery on the computer die....so, let's try this again.

Oldbat- I'm SO glad you decided to post! Your kitchen is lovely and has given me much to think about (and drool over). :) The pull out with upright pan storage is fabulous! I like how you are using your narrow pullout. I've only ever seen people stick spices or bottles there, which just doesn't work for me. Thank you for sharing an action shot of your lovely counters. Yes, 30" seems much more functional than 24. SOLD! Regarding the pullouts: thanks for the feedback. I was feeling really wishy washy about it. I like the look of the doors there and thought "well, what if I have something that's too big for drawers." But, the thing is, we went with all drawers in our last remodel (minus the two big pantry style cabinets with pull outs), and I loved it. So....

kalapointer- How dreamy! That is SOME pantry! Boy, would I love to have a "baking room." Also, having the cookbooks close at hand in their own little library is just fabulous. So many lovely ideas to think on :)

Young Gardener - I think you are on the right track - I originally planned my flours to be in the drawers but switched to putting in the cabinets. If I read your drawing - you main area will be 42 inches plus the cabinet - how wide is the cabinet?

My bake zone is well organized, albeit a bit small. It is only 45 inches total.
I also have a Boos cart to expand it.
These are older pictures and I updated the bins in the cabinets to Interdesign from MadeSmart.
The drawer still has MadeSmart and I can't deal with Tetras to change....

My casseroles plus more in one drawer

The bottom drawer has most of my baking dishes - but moved some to my larger oven drawer since this picture.

And my top drawer explains my personality - ADD/OCD?

The overall baking area sans Boos cart

And my Boos cart - I can move it anywhere!

My oven drawer - which now houses my Vitamix pieces as well as my muffin tins.

OldBat - how wide is your top drawer - I have some extra organizers that I can send you.

I'm average height for my age group (5'8")

5’8” average? Plllog - What world/age group have women with an average height of 5’8? :-)

A2Gemini - Your not ADD/OCD - Now… if you had each of those tools outlined, then we could talk! :-)

Sorry. I think I meant median. :)

I make cakes as a side business and I found, in my old kitchen, that I used the end of the peninsula when I was decorating and finiishinng them. I could approach the cake from 3 sides without having to twist and turn it.
I also found that when I was rolling out dough for anything, I always used the peninsula for that as well, for the same reason.

Because of that, I planned my kitchen to have an island end close to my double ovens.

My kitchen isn't complete yet but I can't wait to be able to use the end of my island as my baking zone. The cabinets underneath will store all of my specialty cake pans (I have to keep them separate or my wonderful husband will use them as regular baking pans!!!) and I will have a nice, unobstructed work surface where I can really move around!

In my world, at 5'8" plllog is a darn super model! agemini...I have organization envy.

TExas_Gem- So smart! Yes, I can see how and end would be great for baking. Hm. Thinking on that. Glad to hear I'm not the only one who hides the "good stuff." :)

a2g and oldbat2be - Can you tell me about your dividers? Meaning where oldbat2be's cooling racks etc. and serving dishes are and a2g your lower two drawers.

Were they ordered/included in the cabinets or something added afterwards?