Given that there is a dining table right behind the eating counter I probably would have opted for drawers facing the kitchen there instead of seating space. That would more than double the storage and you lose very little in the way of ability to interact with other people.

I'm not sure how deep the counter is so installing lower cabinets or drawers might not be feasible - it's hard to judge from a photo but it looks fairly narrow.

I probably wouldn't have devoted the lower cabinet to a book shelf but that's neither here nor there as all my books are now digital.

In an urban area with small spaces, many people don't cook at all and really have very basic storage needs. Depending on where in D.C., the price is pretty low - in Manhattan it would not buy you a studio in some areas :-)

Counter space is more than adequate, layout is pretty good for a small space like that. But the lack of storage would kill me!

My vintage house has a wall with original 17 inch deep drawers. I'm sure there is a custom cabinetry solution for storage in the peninsula. I agree that I would happily trade the counter seating for more storage, but the layout seems pretty good from a work standpoint, if a bit narrow.

Had they opted for an island, rather than a peninsula, access to the fridge would be easier from the living/dining areas, which would make the layout OK--for a small kitchen. Love the windows, so I would accept the range crammed into the corner.

I'm so surprised you all didn't hate it like I did. The tiny row of cabinets against the ceiling that are basically unusable? The pony wall with seating instead of putting cabinets there? The fact that this kitchen has 1 sink cabinet, 1 regular cabinet and 3 drawers FOR THE ENTIRE KITCHEN? The microwave above the refrigerator? Also, this isn't a condo. This is a single family home. The home doesn't look so bad, I just found the kitchen to be appalling. But like I said, the house will probably sell quickly, it's a seller's market here.

I personally wouldn't find the kitchen super functional because of the lack of storage and that the uppers are all pretty high.

However, within the design limitations, the design choices aren't terrible. I don't think one would want to lose the windows so putting short uppers over them provided storage.

I don't know why they opted for just a counter instead of a bank of custom cabinets. Perhaps there is storage not visible from the photo. I have a small kitchen and some of my kitchen stuff was stored all over the place.

Many people don't cook and have minimal needs for kitchen storage beyond the very basics. Some of my neighbors literally never cook a meal in their kitchens. This is not an uncommon scenario in an urban kitchen. I had very minimal kitchen equipment in my first apartment - and that apartment has since gone condo and sells for $1 million in Manhattan. I never cooked - if I entertained people it was before heading out to a restaurant and I served pate and cheeses with drinks. If I ate at home, it was takeout or Lean Cuisine. The kitchen had somewhat more storage than this one but I didn't fill most of it anyway.

The uppers look pretty old (as in, they look like mine!) so maybe they are original and "we like the charm". But seriously, they don't cook, they reheat. And probably eat right out of the foil pan, because there is exactly one place, a single drawer, to hold flatware and maybe a serving spoon.

I’m with ya. Some questionable design choices on storage space in there!!!

It depends upon your priorities. I'd be curious to know the square footage of the entire house. Our house is only 1400 sq ft, but our kitchen is three times the size of that one, with 33 drawers, two sinks, and no through-traffic. I know people who would be lost in our kitchen, though. I have to admit that I didn't see the M/W until you mentioned it. That's just ridiculous.

I also didn’t see the microwave at first. That is unusable. My guess is they don’t use it and just have it for in case they need it, then they pull it down to the counter.

This is staged for photo and showing so I imagine there is more permanently on the counter than a lone bowl of lemons. :-)

EXPENSIVE ! I have lived in DC and depending on the exact location that is probably an excellent price. I agree with you, bananas crazy expensive. I imagine this place is perfect for a young working professional. This is the kind of kitchen my son would be thrilled with. He would not need storage as the only thing he would need is a place for a mw, and coffee maker. The granite looks sleek and elegant and the drive-by windows bring in some light. I think the pony wall or eat in bar area is perfect for a single person or young couple coming home after a long day on the hill to have their take out sushi. They wouldn't need storage as they would not own a KA mixer, cookware or even dishes. This is not an entertaining kitchen, or talented cook's kitchen (despite the cook books pretending to be) or even a family kitchen. Rather this the kitchen of an overworked, underpaid political staffer that barely has time to eat.

And I’ve been spending every waking minute trying to plan more storage in my new kitchen! Maybe I’ll just tear out my old cabinets and put the microwave on top of the fridge! Think of the money I’ll save!

LOL our microwave is on top of our refrigerator b/c there is really no other place for it. But we're tall so it works for us :)

I was commenting mostly on the layout of the appliances, with the info given in the OP, but I missed the MW, too. There is a 'blank' across from the fridge, and we can't see what, if anything, is in that space--maybe there's a step-stool to access the MW and the cabinets above the window. ;) My guess is that the MW resides on the peninsula counter in real time, using one of the multiple outlets, and there is pantry storage in the area beyond the fridge.

Comparing square footage, my house and my sister's house are about the same size, but my kitchen and dining are 4 times bigger than hers. The above kitchen is bigger than hers. She doesn't cook (if she can get out of it), she doesn't entertain, and she doesn't store food--she'd be over the moon with this kitchen.

I don’t think it’s as bad as you think it is.

Oh, I think it's horrible:

- The priority is given to a second eating area instead of storage.

- Those short windows ... I might be able to see out of them, but no one of average height would. And the light that could've been ...

- All the upper cabinets crowded over the window.

- The refrigerator set apart /no landing space.

- Is that the microwave on top of the refrigerator?

- A poorly built filler between the wall and the range.

This kitchen is poorly conceived, poorly executed. It all seems to come back to that silly island seating. We've seen "island at all costs" plenty of times -- that is, an island crammed into a kitchen that wasn't large enough to support it -- but this is an extreme example.

The ceiling looks like it’s just a little higher than the door. It’s almost like a basement apartment kitchen. Unless that’s the only possibility for dining, prioritizing the peninsula seating over storage in the kitchen would make no sense for how I use my kitchen.

barncatz- LOL- I should have a sign with exactly the opposite, 'I only have a house because it came with the kitchen!'

I dream of buying in my home country. Smth a la pied a terre..small, close to the sea. Prices have risen like crazy though. So I think: let's look what's around half a million dollars there, and enter the approximate area in search. And hooray, one(but only one) property comes up! (in what used to be area for poor students but since then got fashionable like Greenwich Village or something). And it's tiny, studio size tiny, and the kitchen is one short-ish row of cabinets. I'm thinking "okay..how much do we really need. We'll make do". Then I notice something is missing. First, I can't find a fridge (then I did find it..was stucked somewhere else, tiny as they come). Second-can't find a stove..)) No stove. Then I look for the kitchen sink. and a faucet, you know, These, I think I found..

So. Depends to what one compares..

I, for one, didn't have kitchen in our starter apartment at all. Had a sink cabinet plus sink and plumbing and electrical ready. I did have an opportunity to install a kitchen-which with time, I did.

I remember being insanely happy over that apartment too, since it was finally ours. Would go and touch the (rather crooked) walls in disbelief lol.

I bet their microwave is usually on the counter. Taken off for photos. Or else they don't use it.

In short. Many would look at this kitchen and be like "oh, a kitchen! hooray!"

Even for what the price is. Depends where it stands. They'll sell it. Them and their lemons:)

Now of course I became much more picky. Tear apart mentally every design..))

What is the context of this kitchen.

If its a small small urban space, then the pool of buyers is likely to include mostly people who don’t cook and just need minimal storage. They are interested in how the kitchen looks. It’s just a different life style where s good looking kitchen is an accessory

It looks extremely staged as there is a rack of wine bottles by the dining room table.

I doubt this is a kitchen in a family home and for the small percentage of young urban professionals who actually cook, they would just buy something else.

But it’s impossible to determine whether the kitchen is on point for the pool of likely homebuyers without seeing the rest of the residence.

OK, I'm going to stop thinking about this (I'm at my worst when I'm supposed to be heading out to finish chores) but I went looking for homes for sale in DC listed for $849,000 and found this one. It sold last Dec for $1, 150,000. You could reach the cupboards, though.

"I'm so surprised you all didn't hate it like I did. The tiny row of
cabinets against the ceiling that are basically unusable? The pony wall
with seating instead of putting cabinets there? The fact that this
kitchen has 1 sink cabinet, 1 regular cabinet and 3 drawers FOR THE
ENTIRE KITCHEN?"

I don't think of "hating" a kitchen that isn't set up for the kind of life I lead. My thought was "this is a kitchen for people who don't cook". And there's nothing wrong with having a small, inefficient, low-storage kitchen in a home where you don't cook much. If that's the kind of life/family you have. Condo or single family house doesn't matter - what matters is the way they want to use their kitchen.

I would not buy a house without a functional kitchen. I know other people who wouldn't give the size or layout of the kitchen a second thought - either because they don't cook, or because they plan on renovating anyway.

Toronto Vet -- you are clearly much more mature than I am. And I am not being sarcastic at all when I say that. But you and the other posters are right, clearly these people are not cooks, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just as someone who has spent the last year living on the Kitchen Gardenweb forum and going through a kitchen remodel myself, when I saw that kitchen I just immediately thought, "WTH and I have to show this to everyone at Houzz."

Here is the listing: https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/2025-N-Madison-St-22205/home/11238256

Helen, it's a single family home in a close-in suburb on DC. Very nice neighborhood and it's listed at 2918 sq ft though it really doesn't look that big. But what single young non-cooking, take-out ordering professional buys a home that close to 1 mil? Clearly it's more targeted towards families.

This kitchen is a LOT better than the one I am leaving behind.

90% of my prep in the old kitchen was done on the range top. The other 10% on the dining table.

The one on this thread is no ways remotely ideal, but, I'm just saying... the one the OP posted is miles ahead of my old one!!

Hah, Artemis, you're gonna have to share a picture of your old kitchen then!

That link answers the question about what's in the blank space across from the fridge. It's a freestanding trash can. OK, now I'm properly aghast. ;)

It does look as if there might be a walk-in pantry between the kitchen and rec room--or maybe that's the half bath. Very cute house, but I agree that more space should have been allotted to the kitchen, if only for resale value, and I'd prefer that it was on the same level as the front entry. Someone above commented that it looked like a basement kitchen, and although it's above ground, from viewing the exterior, I can see why the ceilings are so low.

Sandpiper - the kitchen makes no sense since, at least to me, it seems more of a home for a young family and not the kind of home I would have wanted in my young professional 12 hour career phase :-) I was picturing a sleek minimal one bedroom place and not a home intended (and staged) for a family. A non-cooking professional single or couple could indeed spend $1 million on a home theoretically but I doubt it would be a 3 bedroom "cute" home in Arlington.

It was obviously renovated to open up the kitchen which I think was originally a galley which would have upper and lower cabinets originally. The width of the wall is deceptive and one could indeed I think install at least a lower cabinets in lieu of having that counter which has no storage.

It would NOT have been the way I would have remodeled a 3 bedroom family home - hell it wouldn't have been how I would have remodeled a condo for a single professional or even a couple but I don't share the passion to have a counter for people to sit at when there is a perfectly good more comfortable table contiguous to the kitchen - aren't people more comfortable sitting there and it's certainly close enough for children to do the homework at - if that's what one is aiming for.

"someone who has spent the last year living on the Kitchen Gardenweb forum"

Remember, Houzz is a bit like house porn, and it can skew one's view of reality (and realistic possibilities). Sure, everyone indulges in some type of porn at least a little bit, but those kitchen (or garden, or dinner party, or whatever) images are all dolled up to make people want more (kitchen, garden, food, etc) than they'll ever really get.

Rather than a young couple, I was thinking it was an older couple - prepared to host grandkids every now and then or host an annual Thanksgiving dinner, but otherwise they work on their garden, build birdhouses, and order meal kits from Blue Apron.

just need minimal storage.

If this were true, they wouldn't have crammed all those up-high cabinets above the window.

DC isn't manhattan. People in DC expect kitchens. And that price isn't a total steal for that neighborhood. It's cheaper that a lot of places. But not a steal. And that neighborhood is all families. I have no idea what they were thinking.

The local dc listserv flagged it a couple days ago... scroll down towards the bottom of this page where, when posters were previously discussing a terrible listing in arlington, someone posted this one and everyone agreed it was the worst they'd ever seen. I think that is a very tough sell in DC.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/75/719916.page