Hi folks,

I have a small kitchen in my house I've been complaining about ever since my husband and I moved in 3 years ago. He came up with a possible new layout and I wanted to get others' thoughts/opinions on it because it would be a ton of work and money and I want to make sure we thought about everything.

The first 3 photos are the NOW. The 2 "pinch points" are the trash can and refrigerator but my biggest gripe is the refrigerator. If it's open there is hardly space to stand and definitely not space to get around someone. I also wish the trashcan had a more dedicated space instead of being in the middle of the walkway. And I could definitely use more counterspace because it just gets used up so quickly. The cabinet space is actually pretty good.

(excuse the mess)

Now, we have a Formal Dining Room adjacent to the kitchen we have used as an office/junk room that we think we can expand the kitchen into. We use the space next to the kitchen (the breakfast nook) for the dining room instead. We hardly use it anyway.

Here is an Idea sketched up:

In this layout, the wall dividing the kitchen and front LR is removed including the upper cabinets and the fridge gets moved to the far side of the Dining Room. The original peninsula gets removed for this longer one that shares with the LR instead of breakfast nook. I am concerned the refrigerator is too far away. What's too far for the 3 major appliances to be away from eachother? I'd also rather not have to run electrical thru the concrete to the oven if we remove the wall. Does anyone have any other ideas for that? I'm thinking maybe leaving the upper portion of the wall could be an idea.

Thanks for any thoughts, input or new ideas