Can you reduce that east wall slider to only two? That would give you some extra wall space for a fridge and pull-out pantry. Below is one with two pantries, but you may only have room for one. Depends on the size fridge you want.

The Social Kitchen · More Info

Thanks for the suggestoin. Yes, the doors can be resized and put almost anywhere. That pull out shelving look like a great solution. It's bookmarked!

In terms of food storage the pantry will cover all out needs I hope but storage for plates, cups, etc, will be needed. I'll have to find some of those pull out shelves in real life and see if they seem sturdy enough for heavy loads.

As well as dinnerware storage, we also need a place for our daily use appliances which are the microwave, toaster, breadmaker, and rice cooker!

Show a plan in INCHES , show both adjacent rooms ( fully ) etc also in inches. You have lazy, backward Americans here, Inches : ) for the lazy is great. Entry from street or garage etc as well.

Hehe, thanks for the tip Jan,

Here's a new look, with some adjustments.

I've got shelving holding in the fridge, similar to decoenthusiaste's suggestions (thanks for that!). Slight alteration though, one shelf will open toward the sink to hold plates to hopefully make unloading the dishwasher easier.

On the south side of the kitchen, I've put shelves to hold the appliances, slightly boxing in the stove but with 3'6" doors both north and south, I hope that's enough space to cook without that corner getting in the way...

Sorry for the crude illustration, but this is more of my thought on it. Cabinet on north wall and fridge on east. Dish storage in the cabinet near the dining room. That cab can go to the ceiling and house the microwave. You can have two pullouts if you want for canned goods, etc. Might eliminate the need to take over the south room for a WIP, depending on the size of your family and your need for living space in the south room.

Like mamagoose last plan w stools in lower position. Sink up near opposite side of space means some of messy zone is tucked out of sight so the visual from living room to stool and counter w pendant and on thru to range and hood w tile on wall will hold great design possibilties. Do you envision the seating being a valued change?

Can the doors be moved? If so, move them as far to the east wall as possible and then you can create a u shaped kitchen.

I would close the entire wall between the lounge and the kitchen. You can access the kitchen through the dining room. You need dish storage near the sink, especially if you have no dishwasher. You need upper cabinets or heavy-duty lower drawers for dishes. You need more counter space on both sides of the refrigerator so you will have somewhere to put things going into or coming out if the refrigerator. You need counter space near the stove. The pantry is great for storing all your extras, but you need storage readily at hand for the things you use all the time.

W pantry and large dining room that you show, storage can be adjusted in a variety of ways Into those areas. Indeed: what you seek from open vs. closed kitchen .....as well, seating vs no seating uniting kitchen and lounge are decisions you have to make. If I were leaving a separate dining room intact as you show I would certainly get storage assigned there and be keenly interested in more connection between lounge and kitchen. It all depends on various factors in your situation. as per your initial sentence”we just bought a house”.......folks are pretty universally told to hold off 6 mo to a year before major reno. Sounds like you are moving headlong but questions about spaces and their connection and use can’t really be answered unfortunately and yet you have to make decisions. Point is : the “layout of a kitchen “ is more than just that. Trying to make improvements in the way all the spaces work is to get a best end result. How do you know for instance that leaving wall between kitchen and dining is going to net you a great space as opposed to removing that wall which many would do?

@mama goose_gw zn6OH

Thanks for the new idea of counter seating. I hadn't even considered that.

@decoenthusiaste

Thanks for the illustration. If it conveys the idea it's good enough for me! I'd only be stealing a bit of space from the south room but comments from others have made me consider whether the pantry is necessary.

@cpartist

Yes, the doors can be moved. You're suggestion of a U shaped kitchen, along with other comments about getting rid of the walk-in, has me thinking. Much appreciate you sharing that idea.

@herbflavor

Your point about removing the wall completely is one that has come up offline too and something we'll definitely be thinking on. Right now it's a full wall so we definitely want at least some way to move through.

I can't imagine moving in for 6 months then moving out again for a full renovation but I can see that it's good advice - you'd get to know the house and better understand where the changes need to be.

I feel like the giant wall in pantry is an inefficient use of your space. It leaves a lot of dead space.
Have attached an alternate plan that would provide additional counter space for coffee pot, microwave, etc while still providing ample pantry storage. It does require removing a bit of wall, but adds more functional space to your kitchen.

Meant to say “walk in” not walk in.

@Newideas

Thanks for the... idea! It's actually close to the new layout my wife and I have been discussing. Basically, we're now thinking of forgoing the walk in which I will mourn, and going with something like the below, which has an additional benefit of not needing to move any walls, though the north wall will be completely opened up.

Can you PLEASE show the entire floor with the hall, all openings, where you park the car and enter and the rest? Please? : ) English and inches? I will add I detest off center sinks beneath a window............... I can't help it, drives me nuts.

That makes a more functional kitchen. Keep in mind that the NKBA recommends a minimum seating overhang of 15" at counter height, so if you're planning to use standard-depth cabinets on the peninsula, you might need to move it toward the sink. If you put the sink off-center to the left (sorry, Jan), that would leave space to move the peninsula over.

You could center the range on the short wall, leaving more space for prep to the left of the sink. Will you have a dishwasher?

Another idea would be to move the fridge over far enough to use a full-height side-loading pantry, which would help make up for losing the walk-in. But if you move the peninsula, make sure you have an adequate passage between it and the pantry cabinet.

@JAN MOYER

Here's the entire floor (below). We may try push the large center room's east wall further east, but in this image it's shown as it currently is. And, feet and inches as requested. Sorry the resolution isn't so great... you get what you pay for and I'm using something free.

Regarding the window, that might change too. Right now it's very large and extends above the cooktop, which I'd prefer to have a stainless or similarly easy to clean, solid backing.

@mama goose_gw zn6OH

I was thinking of having that south wall a wall of storage rather than a bench. It'd house the microwave, toaster oven, rice cooker, etc.

Thanks for the reminder about adequate passageway - easy movement is something I'm trying to be very careful about. My inlaws has about a 3 to 4 foot opening into their kitchen, one side of which is the fridge. Anytime you go for the ketchup, you block the whole accessway in or out of the kitchen!

I like the storage along the side of the fridge. Good use of space. It might be the dinnerware storage area as it's halfway between dishwasher and table.

In your original post, there was an exterior door coming into the kitchen. Is that pre-existing? Or were you adding that?
Curious to know the route to bring groceries into the kitchen. Where do you typically park and enter the house?

As I asked........ yet again. Print that, show where you most often enter.

@Newideas

The kitchen door exists there now, but with that last layout image, I'd removed it to allow the bench to extend a little further and the cupboards to extend the whole way along the south wall.

It might be a little hard to see but I've indicated the parking will be in the bottom section of the plan. So, groceries will probably be brought in through the door in the south, walked through the lounge and into the kitchen. There is a driveway along the kitchen side of the house but rather than re-parking the car, I think I'd rather walk the groceries in through the house...