I don't think the fridge - microwave - oven wall is too crowded. These aren't places that people stand and stand and stand; rather, they're do-your-thing-and-move-on spots.

What you're lacking is good, big prep space. Right now you have two corners for prep, but standing in a corner is often dark and uninviting.

At this point, your breakfast area is your best prep space,
but the dishwasher is going to be a big problem in three ways: 1) When it's open, it'll prevent you from reaching the cabinets above (which are prime dish storage). 2) You'd want to store your sharp knives and gadgets next to your prep space, and you can't do that if the dishwasher is in that spot. 3) This configuration means that you have only one narrow entrance into the kitchen -- looks to be less than 3' wide -- and that entrance will be blocked when the refrigerator is open. While I love the concept of the breakfast bar, it just isn't working in its present form.

You're working with a difficult size space -- not unlike my own kitchen, so I understand your problem. If you go for a galley kitchen, your cabinets are really too far apart for comfort. Yet you don't have the width for an island or a bar. Can your overall dimensions be changed? Or perhaps you're the person who would benefit from extra-deep cabinets to give you loads of storage and close up some space to make the galley kitchen possible. Or -- and I'm spending your money with both hands now -- could you flip-flop the kitchen and dining areas, giving you a larger, wider space for the kitchen that could allow you that island . . . and put the table in the more narrow end?

You may want to mockup the standing space between the fridge and the peninsula. Currently I have a refrigerator directly in a walkway across from a peninsula and it's too tight. It's difficult to get past the open doors to the fridge and it's practically impossible for anyone to get by while someone has the fridge open. I can't tell from your drawing whether there is sufficient space, but you might want to mock it up and make certain it's comfortable for you.

How many people will try to cook in this space? How far is it from the breakfast bar to the fridge? It seems like it may be only 2.5 feet or so. It looks to me that it would be a real bottleneck, trapping people inside the "G."

Is the wall oven in a tall cabinet or an undercounter cabinet? What is your goal in separating the oven and cooktop? I think this kitchen may be better served by having a range and freeing up some space for prep.

Thank you all for your suggestions. We did a little rearranging and came up with this.

My husband thinks the space is too tight for the breakfast bar, but I'm still trying to squeeze it in. We moved the fridge to be inside the "G" instead of the outside, to be closer to everything and hopefully not create too much of a bottle neck. We were also thinking about switching the position of the Fridge and stove. Would that be a better position? Usually its just me cooking in kitchen.