Hi Patricia, thanks for your input.

yes, i agree with you and as mentioned we most likely will get a counter depth fridge.

I dont understand the comment about the wall oven needing to be up higher, that height is perfect for my wife who is shorter, but most importantly even if we would put it up higher, that wouldnt give any more counter space...? if however we put the wall oven lower inside a base cabinet then yes, we could get more counter space, but we do find the look of built in oven and cooktops much much nicer, we are trying to find a balance between design and so even if technically a free standing range might be optimal to gain counter space, but we think we would still have enough counter space with the wall oven (enough to hold all our small appliances and daily stuff: toaster, nespresso machine, hot water dispenser, dish drying rack).

For lighting, we will have ikea STRÖMLINJE or OMLOPP (any preference?) under all the wall cabinets over the counter. We will also add spot light in the kitchen and have 2-3 pendant light fixture over the island. Would that be enough?

You mention a lot of things that will need to be dealt with, not quite sure what? A bit worried, you are talking major stuff or small details like door handles etc?

One thing i forgot to mention in my original post is that there is one thing bothering me which i dont really know how to tackle, i find the transition from kitchen to living room a bit abrupt, not sure how to make this nicer... maybe some shelves next to the last cabinet before the living room... Idk...

I think this is a good plan. I too love wall ovens and would prefer one even if it means some lost counter space.

A few things to watch for/ consider

Consider making your tall cabinets all one colour. I think that having the lower doors on your tall cabinets black while the end panel is white looks very odd. Either too all your tall cabinets and your fridge and fridge panels black or all of them white. Personally I'd choose the black.

I also think that doing that will solve the problem of you feeling like the transition from the kitchen to living room is abrupt. By "framing" the kitchen in black tall cabinets it will feel more like separate rooms while still being open.

Hi Autumn, yes you are right, the end panel (left side) at the end near the living room should be black but not sure if i'd make the top cabinet door black as well... I do really like all black kitchens, but we dont have huge windows so im afraid too much black will make the place seem too dim.

I understand that concern.

In looking at your pictures I think that if most everything else in your kitchen is white or a lighter colour there should be enough light in the space. Also to bring in extra light you can do lighting under the uppers.

That being said I don't know your kitchen as well as you do. Just my suggestions.

I would probably try to remove the narrow pantry by the fridge. Doing this would allow: the addition of an 18" drawer unit + a 36" upper cabinet over top the DW+18" drawers. This then gives you a spot for your dishes that is very accessible to the DW and to the dining room

For the upper cabinets along the long side of the kitchen - couple notes:

- Looks like you plan to have a 36" cooktop - you'll need at least a 36" hood overtop. Currently you have a 30" hood. I realize IKEA doesn't make the style you want in 36" but you need to consider a better match between cooktop & hood

- I would redo the upper cabinets - right now you have this plethora of narrow cabinets... instead I would do something like below: this includes spacers to "bulk" out the hood cabinet to at least 36" - you can't have cabinets overlap your cooktop (which is how it is originally drawn)

- I changed the corner arrangement - I feel this maximizes your upper cabinet space (ie having a 21" cabinet on the window wall vs I think you had a 12" one there)

- I might re-think putting the microwave over the oven... or at least check the final height. Speaking as someone who's a bit short, I find using a micro that's at i.e. "microwave-hood" height very hard - I definitely am reaching up and cannot see very well into the micro. You could either put one on a shelf in your pantry or maybe a drawer version in the island.

oh and don't mind the random assortment of cabinets on the right of the image below =)

Hi damiarain, thanks for your taking the time to look at this, let me explain the reasoning for few of the things you discuss:

1. The cabinet next to the fridge is not a pantry, its a pull out cleaning closet, for a broom, swiffer, microfiber mop, vaccum cleaner... We dont really have anywhere else on the main floor to put these cleaning gear. If we remove this cabinet from the kitchen we'd still need to have a cabinet or closet somewhere else on the main floor for these items as i do not think its convenient to have these in the basement or upper floor. I did try to place this elsewhere but settled to have it near the sink as it made sense (garbage is under sink) but am open to relocating it.

2. Concerning the cooktop, although the base cabinet is 36in, the cooktop itself is actually 30 7/8" . The hidden range hood is 30in width with 385 CFM, i was told this would be ok but your comment is making me doubt that now... Could this be an issue? The height distance between cooktop and hidden range hood is 18.5in in case that matters? In terms of aesthetics, I do like this hidden style, i generally find that the classic range hoods (the ones with a lip sticking out of the cabinet) are ugly, alternatively the other chimney range hoods styles can be very nice however i find they look better when there is a lot of clearance on both sides of the chimney hood, it generally means more backsplash ($$) and less storage. When chimney range hood are squeezed in between cabinets i find it a bit awkward, the whole point of these chimney hood i find is to be kind of a accent/focal point, so it kinda defeat the purpose if its narrowly flanked by cabinets that hide it.. So i went with the hidden fan style instead, it creates a clean uniform look with the other cabinet around.

3. the idea with all the cabinets is that it creates a lot of vertical panels that are all the same size, so again it looks clean and symmetrical and i was reading that one way to make a room appear bigger is to draw the eye to the ceiling which can be achieved with lines. In the example you shared, the corner space seems to be kinda lost? im not sure how it works, there is that 21' cabinet in front of another cabinet thats in the corner partly obstructed.

4. You are right about the microwave being a bit high, we changed the location of the microwave a few times, but we found that having it a bit higher (still usable) is better than having it in a base cabinet (under counter), we rather tippy toe than bend down ;).

- re: cleaning supplies cabinet: if you're going to keep it, then move it to the other side of the fridge - I wouldn't want to be pulling out the vacuum cleaner from within the kitchen space - possibly bumping into the island cabinets. You didn't mention if you'd planned where to have your dishes/cutlery. Like i said, if you remove that cleaning cabinet, then you have the perfect upper + lower cabinets right next to the DW

- the corner cabinet is just a different cabinet than you choose. IKEA has two styles of corner cabinets. This one creates a 90º turn vs you had the diagonal version. I personally find it more appealing (tho I wish IKEA made something like the EASY-REACH corner cabinet)

- I understand your point about visually elongating the space - makes sense. I think though there's a bit of form vs function here... form: visually elongate with symmetry and narrow doors and function: you have cabinets that can hold all your stuff easily =)

- Thanks for pointing out about the cooktop/hood - you're right, it's the cabinet that is 36". One thing to check re: installation instructions is the minimum height between the hood and the cooktop. For instance, that hood says "min. 24" from electric cooking surface" - generally the space between counter and uppers is 18". A minimum of 24" makes sense for a hood, but I wouldn't want to move my entire bank of upper cabinets up to 24" just to keep it in line with the hood.... possibly someone at IKEA could confirm for you.

Here is the 3D view of the floorplan I posted above (with the hood at ~18" off the cooktop) - I think there's still good balance and visual height even without having all the narrow doors. Plus you can include above cabinet trim+moulding to make it look like the cabinets go all the way to the ceiling

You've got a lot of expensive ideas. Time to step them down. Using ikea isn’t enough to get this done on a low budget.

Don't be so sure that that that wall can be removed wholly. I’d bet there is a support post there under that ridge beam that won't be able to go away without a lot of structural redo and steel. The span is just too long without it.

Switch back to a range. Running a whole new electrical line from the panel for an oven will be a budget buster. There’s a lot of electrical that needs rerouting in that wall that is going to be expensive to move. Better budget 5-6K for electrical, as you need a better lighting plan too.

Etc. You don’t know what you don’t know. But you’re planning like you do know, and have a really big budget. Time for the expert. Hire a Kitchen Designer to consult here as your first step before you waste any more time on things that the budget won’t allow to happen.

I would put a side-loading tall cabinet on the right side of the fridge. It could be used as a utility cabinet, and should be less expensive than a pull-out. I would also omit the pantry on the end, to make more prep space between the sink and cooktop.