With your large island, you shouldn't need the breakfast nook area for seating. As shown, I feel it would be too small for table, and way too wide to waste as a walkway.

I would move the island to the left a foot or so from the fridge (and you can lengthen the island some to the left to give more seating or elbow room.) This gives more clearance in front of the fridge. The counter to the left of the stove can also be lengthened to the doorway entering the master bedroom on top.

I would cancel the corner pantry and put a pantry cabinet to the right of the refrigerator (allowing the fridge to almost be built in. I would use a super susan in the corner with your choice of upper cabinets in the corner.

This has nothing to do with your pantry but is the entrance to the master bedroom in the kitchen? I would not be on board with the master so close to the kitchen.

Here are former threads on corner pantries. Maybe something here can help you.

https://www.google.com/search?site=&source=hp&ei=0YezVsiTBIayeuKQkKgJ&q=getting+rid+of+corner+pantry+gardenweb+&oq=getting+rid+of+corner+pantry+gardenweb+&gs_l=mobile-gws-hp.3...2055.22534.0.24236.40.38.2.11.11.0.285.5861.0j34j3.37.0....0...1.1.64.mobile-gws-hp..2.29.3169.3.oJ-7fuudDoY

Agree with some other comments above. There seems to be a lot of unused space in this kitchen. And this kitchen would provide an uncomfortably limited amount of storage for me. If I was stuck with a small kitchen, I'd make due. But you have the space so there's no reason for you to suffer! I agree with the general thoughts: island should be MUCH longer. So should the cabinets running along the wall to the master bedroom door. Scrap the corner pantry and put tall wall cabinets to the right of the fridge. Also, more tall cabinets either to the left of the fridge (and then you can do a little appliance garage or nook thing in the corner where you currently have the pantry - the effect being a full wall of floor to ceiling cabinets). Fridge could be counterdepth for a nice built in look. You'd recoup the counter space with the extended stretch by the master bedroom door and the enlarged island. Or instead of putting tall cabs to the left of the fridge, you could put another tall cab in that space by the master bedroom door.

It does seem redundant to have a very small dinette with a dining room open to it and an island with seating. Are you allowed to make changes to the plans? Why is there a set of stairs going down in the garage. That seems like wasted space.

Do you have a dining room in addition to the breakfast nook? (I would never give up a table in favor of only island seating - I really don't like eating meals at an island, I always feel like I'm eating at the local diner).

If you are okay with the bedroom door location, and you won't be using the nook for dining (I think you said that over in Building) maybe do a counter-depth wall at the end of that cabinet run, to kind of set the door off a bit, creating a nicer entry to the suite.

If you lose the corner pantry, what if you move the sink and DW to the walls, and have the whole island for working or eating or visiting over (without having a sink with a dirty dish in it right in front of you)

For a bit of additional pantry space - I would consider making a side access to that closet by the laundry room. Those ends of closets are hard to access and don't add much, but that space accessed from the hall would hold loads of canned goods and small appliances.

This is probably how I'd do it. Note that I moved the master bedroom door to the end of the wall. That nook is too narrow for a table and to walk past to the bedroom so you might as bring the kitchen down and keep a nice aisle to your bedroom. The dish hutch would obscure the door a bit and give you a feeling of more privacy.

I like the idea of the island seating how I made it but I think the island itself should be narrower or something. Something is wonky with the proportions so that definitely needs tweaking. Alternatively, you could make a rectangle island and then push a table up to the island. That way you could pull it away from the island and sit on all four sides when extra guests are joining you. You could also do a banquette there and there are many ways the banquette(s) could be laid out depending on your preference.

I think this gives you good workflow with ample prep space, the cook area is protected from traffic, and a nice-sized clean-up area with good dish storage. I would do a pretty hutch with some glass doors and interior lighting. You probably have just as much, if not more, pantry storage this way, too.

Thank you for all the ideas and comments. I am definetly going to consider altering the kitchen and get rid of the pantry. My current kitchen is the same size and it has mostly drawers for dishes, cutlery even pots and pans.

I think the Landry area can store small appliances etc that are not used everyday.

As far as the nook it will not be used as there is a dining area across the great room. So no need form2 tables close together .

bpathome I am not sure what you mean abt creating an entry to th master bath. I do like that idea. Can you explain or draw it out, thank you.

Nighowl, good idea, I will just have open shelves there and not closets.

Karen, the stairs must stay. My husband was going to put an outside entrance to ththe basement but this is better, he said. For carrying crap lol downstairs, including firewood. We will have a wood burning stove down there.

Hey funky camper, thanks for the drawing, makes it clearer

I am re posting the house plan, to give a clearer idea. The back faces north and the dinette side faces west.

we like that the dinnette and great room can be used as 2 distinctive areas, or as 1 big great room.

The kitchen nook will not have a table. We tend to eat at the island.

currently my living room is 13 x 14, kitchen 14x14 and eating area 14x14. So this is quite big compared to what I now have.

Same holds true for my current bedrooms 12x13 each and no ensuite.

Oh, I meant an entry to the master bedroom, not the ensuite. And Funky's hutch there accomplishes it.

MrsPete had an idea on Building to include a bay window in the kitchen; what about a box bay? Gives a bit moe elbow room for the passage to the master.

Thank you bpathome and funky camper. Do u think extending the counter and cabinets as opposed to putting a dish hutch would also create a more private entry into master bedroom

I wasn't thinking of a separate piece of furniture. I was just thinking of the cabinetry being something more like the cabinet in the right of this photo. A separate piece of furniture would break up your kitchen too much, imho. The cabinet going down to the counter will make your bedroom door feel more private. You wouldn't have to have glass in the doors but I think it would be quite attractive, especially if lit. And since that would draw the eye, it would make your bedroom door less noticeable.

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You have a lot of counter space in your kitchen so you probably don't need more counter. However, if you prefer to have that extra stretch of counter, you could do something more like this.

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And, of course, you could just do a regular cabinet with no glass doors. If you think you need to do that to hide messes in the cabinets, you might consider getting a glass that obscures the interior items so that you really only see blurry color inside, not the contents. Maybe reeded glass like this.

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Thank you fcamper. I get it now, I'm doing away with the corner pantry. You have put a lot of effort into helping a stranger out.

See how in the middle picture Funkycamper posted, that the counters extend all the way, but there is a side panel at the end. That creates a bit of separation, which would be nice for your bedroom.

I like the idea of cabinets down to the counter, though, or even most of the way with a little space for a serving platter, teapot, or landing spot. Especially if the dishwasher is across the aisle on the island, how convenient that would be!

My aunt bought a house with a corner pantry. When I first saw it I was impressed - it held so much and so conveniently. After staying with her for 11 days and later helping out in her kitchen on holidays, I realized her kitchen was somewhat lacking in counter space. Not only did the corner pantry take up space, but she and her family members where not *clear counter top* people. What there was of kitchen counter space was taken up by toaster oven, microwave, basket of breads & bagels, snacks that didn't fit in the pantry, etc.

My aunt was a food stockpiler. Not only was her kitchen well stocked, so was her laundry room, and part of her garage. She was near 80 when she passed on last summer and I suspect that keeping a lot of food on hand may have been a habit going back through almost 60 yrs of marriage.

I don't think a corner pantry is bad design. I think it might work better for people who keep their counter tops as clear as they can. And also for those who value having more storage over having more counter space. It's a balance based on how well one knows how they use their own kitchen.

Lucy Thank you for your comments and experience I'm rethinking the whole pantry idea for sure. I can store stuff in the laundry area very easily

I think the pantry I suggested to the right of the fridge should hold about as much as the corner pantry. A good reach-in pantry holds a LOT. Especially if you size the shelves correctly. If you buy a lot of canned goods, have a shelf or two just high enough for the cans, for example. Have another shelf sized just right for cereal boxes. Or whatever it is that you normally store in a pantry. It takes a lot of thought to design the shelves right for your needs but it pays off in convenience. There are quite a few discussions here about how to do this. You might want to do a search. I think buehl's "New to Kitchens - Read Me First!" thread has links in it to pantry planning. It's usually on the first page or two of this forum and is worth reading.

Of course, if you intended to put taller things in there like brooms, you would need to designate a narrow cabinet to do that. Or put them in the laundry area if that wouldn't be too inconvenient.

I wonder if you could add a "mini" butlers pantry hall outside your master to add a little privacy. This photo shows pocket doors but you would use a cased doorway instead.

Thanks again funky camper. You are right lots of comments re pantry types. Efficiency, practicality and cost will b deciding factors for sure.

kiko, neat idea Thank you

There is a way to get that reach-in pantry and save a LOT of $. Instead of having it built out of your cabinetry line, have that area sheetrocked in just the same as if a coat closet was being built there. Then put in adjustable shelves and put in sliding doors painted to match your walls. Or stain the sliding doors to match your cabinetry. Or, if the aisle is wide enough, you could just put on the same type of doors you're putting on your coat closet with the double-doors that open out. Although I don't think that's as convenient. With a slider, the doors could be left open while you're working without obstructing the aisle. Or you could get the type of hinges where you can recess the doors when they are open although these are likely a bit more expensive.

I was thinking about the plan I gave you and wanted to mention something else. You could move the prep sink to the wall next to the fridge and then have a lot longer expanse of prep counter. And, of course, you could also prep on the island as you have tons of space there. Since your island is so large, I would definitely invest in a larger sink there. Probably 36". That way one person could be doing some clean-up while someone else uses the other side of that large sink to prep. Many of us will be envious that you have two expansive prep areas to choose from.

I just want to emphasize that you have a good space to work with and there is no reason to crowd your space so I would definitely have at least 48" aisles. You might even consider making them a bit wider. Wide aisles make a space feel bigger and allow for more people working in the kitchen at the same time without crowding each other. Even a big kitchen can feel tiny if the aisles are too narrow for comfort. The NKBA suggests minimum of 48" aisles for multiple-worker kitchens. I'm an oddball who likes aisles wider than most. Mine will be more like 60". However, many people like around 50-52".

The best way to know what suits you is to use boxes or whatever to mock up the island and place the boxes at various aisle widths. And then wrangle some family or friends to do pretend cooking in the space where someone is cooking, someone else is cleaning up, and someone else is prepping, or some-such other scenario. I realize this is a new build and you might not have that space available to do this in but you could do it anywhere. You're simply testing aisle widths. You could do it wherever you're living now by using furniture to stand-in for the perimeter counter and island.

Totally Off Topic: since the pantry issue is solved, why don't you extend the covered patio the whole length of the back of the house? It seems crazy to me, to put a tiny little porch in when you have that nice space just begging for a longer porch. It would be much cheaper to do it now than to add it later if you decide you want it. You could put french doors or sliders in the master bedroom to go out too, or leave the window and then you have a place for BBQ, chairs etc. to eat outside in good weather. Unless you have some other place for that.

And if you are worried a covered porch making the bedroom too dark, you could put a pergola over that portion. The current patio pad is kind of small; once you add a table and chairs, there's no place for lounge chairs.

thinking of light in the master, why not add another window on the left side of the bed? That would draw the eye from the door, instead of the bed. You could make both of them high windows so you can still have nightstands beneath.

Hi funky camper. Thank you for all your ideas and efforts. And I am happy to know that my kitchen, without putting a table in nook, is big enough. I was worried that it would be too small.

hello mgmum. Yup, the deck is on the review list as well.

absolutely right, pbathome, regarding side windows in the bedroom

Are you sure about the master bath? It seems like adding the second staircase without changing the footprint of the foundation is really crowding this space. Looking at the plans it is not clear the tub and shower will both be accessible even for a young and agile person let alone someone older? I don't think there's space in the room for a separate tub, shower, and linen closet. If you must have the tub and shower I'd take out the linen closet and rearrange to get a second vanity. I'd also take out the pantry and replace it with a door directly into the laundry room so that you can easily carry groceries into the kitchen from the garage. Sorry if this isn't helpful to you at this phase in the design process but I'm seeing things in the plan that other people will spend tens of thousands of dollars to fix in a remodel so I'm bringing this up to help ensure you are happy in your new home!