And another question: would it look weird to do wall shelves instead of the solo wall cabinet next to the sink (by the peninsula)? That would be the only place with the wall shelves.

If you have space for the 36 inch fridge cabinet, I'd choose that instead of the 30 inch for over your fridge. You can add filler or molding below the cabinet if you dont like the 1.5 inch gap on either side of the fridge. But having the 36 inch cabinet will give you or future homeowners flexibility if you need to replace the fridge in the future.

Unless you have a real need for doors on your lower cabinets, I'd switch everything with doors to drawers. Map out what will go where and utilize drawers everywhere you possibly can.

Blew up pic - only reason Peninsula lowers might look weird is that the vertical & horizontal handles do not 'please' the eye...simple solution: change vertical handle on the 15" wide door to horizontal (centered on door) & match handle on corner door- it's narrow enough that it won't hinder opening it and will look better...

What is the distance between the end of the peninsula where you want bar stools and the wall? I ask because it doesn't look like you have enough room for bar stools there.

Personally, if you have a dining area, I'd give up the peninsula for more cabinets. I'd get rid of the over the range MW and put in a drawer MW or at least one on a shelf above once of the counters. I'd also put in a trash cabinet next to the sink instead of under the sink. If you run the cabinets to the end of the wall instead of making a peninsula, you'd have room for that.

I'd flip your pantry and your fridge. I say that so that if you are cooking in the kitchen and someone wants something out of the fridge, they're not brushing past you to get something out of the fridge.

Where is the dishwasher?

Can you show us a floor plan on how the kitchen relates to the rest of the floor?

Yes to all lower drawers.Just about anything that can go on a shelf can go in a drawer, and while the initial cost is more, the improved function is well worth it.

Another handy hint - it looks like your uppers go to the ceiling. If so, order extra shelves for all the upper cabinets. It is so much more efficient to have shelves closer together, so things are not stacked.

Carefully plan out where you will put everything in the kitchen, with important/most used things close to their point of use: cooking utensils, potholders, spices, pots and pans near the range; knives, cutting boards and trash near the prep area; dishes near the DW. Figure out where you will put small appliances - will the toaster sit on the counter, or be put away each time?

I would definitely do a 36" cabinet above a 33" refrigerator. Unless your refrigerator is really built in it won't hurt to have a little extra clearance for the doors and it doesn't look bad to have a little gap on both sides. Or you could trim it out if you don't like that.

If you are doing a corner cabinet, you should have a good cabinet for taller things and could probably do all drawers in the lower cabinets. We did all drawers with 2 corner cabinets. One corner cabinet was enough for a all of my tall items (crock pot, rice cooker, etc) that I didn't want to put in drawers.

I would probably want the two pantries next to each other. You could put the refrigerator next to the wall if you make sure you have enough clearance for the doors to open. (You could use that 3" gap from 36" cabinet.) We needed a 2" gap for ours I think because our refrigerator is next to a wall.

If you are going to have your countertop overhang on the little peninsula for seating, I would lose that upper cabinet. If you want someone sitting there it will really close off their view and make that little peninsula feel even smaller. Especially since Ikea cabinets are 15" deep.

Thanks for the comments everyone! This is really helpful. Some of you asked about the layout in the house. I am attaching a photo. The peninsula will separate the kitchen in the back of the house from the main living area. We are adding addition to the back of the house, which will become a small eat-in area. Even though the plans say "dining room," we will not actually use that area as a dining room. (It was the dining room under the pre-renovation layout and our architect kept that in the plans.) This kitchen layout is also what our architect drafted initially but have tweaked it a bit to maximize the countertop space between the sink and range and to give a different look on the pantry/refrigerator wall.

We plan to have the dishwasher next to the sink (item #6 in the ikea layout above). We have a micro-vent above the range because it is a small house and I like combining two things into one haha! We plan to store cleaning items and other odd things in one of the pantries. The other one will definitely have pull out drawers so we don't lose things way back there. If we did open shelves between the sink and the peninsula, would we need to do those on the rest of the wall with the kitchen?

I can see why you wanted to create more counter space between the stove and sink, but personally, that 15" cabinet/counter on the one side of the stove would drive me crazy. It's not much of a landing space, and the counter behind you is a ways away with a hot baking tray!

Might it be an option to move the fridge to the end of the sink run taking up the spot where the stove and 15" cabinet is now, giving you the stove in the middle of the other wall run with tons of prep apace on either side? I know ventilation may be an issue. And ideally it's nice to have the sink and stove in the same run. But in galley kitchens, it's not a big deal to have them across from each other. Another option might be a prep sink in the new stove run, which would make the fridge/ main sink run both an effective second prep space and distinct clean-up space, all of which would great if there is more than one person using the kitchen at the same time...