Definitely full size range and smaller fridge, if necessary. What used to be considered a normal size fridge is not that much bigger than the small fridges. You can't cook properly on small ranges and the ovens are usually worthless--too small and don't maintain even heat.

Large fridge/freezer. It's only when you have guests the range will matter.

I am with Annie on the counter space. Rather than having a micro over the stove, I have it on an under counter shelf.

I am with others, as far as fridge is concerned. The few times I could have used more, I drug out an ice chest.

Full size stove for me.

Moni

Answer depends on the user. Is this kitchen for yourself, or a guest? A rental?

I have never used all 4 burners on a range, or needed the whole interior of a large oven. I've rented places with 24" ranges and they worked okay for me.

Many people are trying to limit trips to the supermarket these days, so you might not want to skimp too much on fridge/freezer size. Have you looked at the tall skinny R/F they make now? Might be a good option to give space elsewhere.

A newer fridge... standard size French door has less wasted space . A back burner on a 30 in stove can be a resting spot so get the 30 in range / standard fridge ( they vary between 30 and 32 in width ) and recess the fridge if you can. Often the depth or protruding fridge is an issue in a small kitchen. Just depends. Go to a good appliance store and look at the standard French door fridges.

Also, I have a counter-depth fridge which was not my first choice. If you have a regular depth fridge, I think you can get away with a smaller width.

Larger Fridge/freezer would be my choice. Rare that I ever need more burners or oven space but a bigger fridge and freezer I often need. Good thing I have another fridge/freezer in the garage.

Wider range. I can buy my own mini-fridge if I need more frig space, but I can't buy my own full size oven.

I value having an exhaust fan above a range -- greasy smoke is hard to clean up. So unless a shelf has provision for a fan, I'd skip it in favor of a micro/fan combination or a fan/cabinet combo with micro sitting elsewhere.

A smaller appliance generally saves you 6". Have you considered going small on both appliances, in favor of 12" of extra counter space? Is your sink an appropriate size -- not too small but not a space hog?

Neither. I'd do what Annie has. A really nice small frig and a really nice small stove/oven combo. More counter space.....and a nice updraft exhaust hood. Then in the dinning or dinette area....a built in wine cooler. Maybe a beer frig in the garage. In the master suite, maybe a small under counter frig in the coffee bar.

I do a lot of cooking and it is just me at home, but I cook for family meals at times. I have two refrigerators and just a 30 inch range. However many times I just use an induction burner and a large toaster oven. Both refrigerators have French doors. I have two microwaves. One is upstairs and one down. I have an antique kitchen cabinet for my main microwave. I could never use a microwave above my range.

Sue

I don't like the smaller ranges but if it's mostly cooking for 1, I guess I would go with the bigger fridge. If you have a drop in free-standing oven, the micro above is okay but would not put one above a wall oven....too high. I prefer my micro on a shelf, not built in. It's easier to replace that way. Doesn't require an electrician or a cabinet maker.

I am average height so the over the range micro works very well for me. It is outside vented and has good lighting underneath. Without the outside venting a fan is useless, in my opinion. It saves a good deal of space. I agree with Annie. the counterspace next to the range is the MOST important. Before the redo I had very little and I demanded that there be a big workspace between the sink and range. I got it...that space is gold!

Are you remodeling an existing kitchen? If you provide drawings with dimensions, and ideally pictures, you might get better ideas how a layout could be improved instead of personal opinions on appliance size. :)

My kitchen is 12' x 5 1/2', and it has been renovated into my dream kitchen. I have a 30" stove with the microwave over it. True, it's not the best place and there was no way to vent the fan to the outside, so the fan does very little. But it has a light that illuminates the stove that I use all the time. My refrigerator is a 24" counter depth Bosch 800 series. I love it and am amazed at how much food fits in the main compartment. It's like a magic trick! And the depth means nothing gets lost in the back. The freezer space is limited but big enough.

When we renovated, I was disappointed that there was not enough room for a french door refrigerator. Then I took care of a sick friend who had one, and found out that I didn't like it anyway. Every time I went to get something, it was behind the other door. I felt like the loser on Let's Make A Deal.

BTW, if I were going to design a refrigerator, especially a big one, I would mirror the undersides of the shelves so you could see what was in the back.

Small kitchen owner here.

1. Thirty-inch range. This is the standard range size and where manufacturers put all their efforts to improve design, features and price. Competition is ferocious so consumers benefit. Don't get one of those dinky 24" ranges. Get a model with a storage drawer for pans; example: LG LRGL5823S.
2. Over-the-range 30" microwave oven. You cannot just put a shelf over the range and set a microwave oven on the shelf. They are not designed to be placed over a heat source; OTR microwave ovens are. Countertop microwaves waste valuable counter space.
3. There are plenty of narrow refrigerator with reasonable capacity. Make up for a narrower fridge with a taller one. Top-freezer and bottom-freezer models are the most efficient space-wise. Examples:

• Whirlpool 28" 18 cu. ft. Top Freezer Refrigerator
• Whirlpool 24" 12.7 cu. ft. Bottom Freezer Refrigerator

Also:

• Minimum countertop width adjacent to a range: 15"
• An 18"-wide dishwasher (standard is 24") allows more room for cabinets and drawers.
• I didn't have room for a large sink so I got a small one with a drainboard. The drainboard extends over the dishwasher so I didn't lose counter space.

Something that I was not aware of and you may need to have the place where your microwave is finally located is some of the newer ones need a dedicated outlet. I had dreams of placing a microwave and a toaster oven on the same set of shelves and using the same plugin. I had wanted the ability to heat my coffee and broil cinnamon sugar toast at the same time. My kitchen does not have enough plugins to have more than a couple dedicated to any appliance.

Being short do not put it over the stove and I would also go for a smaller stove and regular sized refrigerator. You can now purchase retro refrigerators which are close to the older 1950s size.

It would help if you would mention the size of the kitchen although you did state small as some of the suggestions above are for large kitchens. My studio apartment when I was younger was 5 by 6 foot and there was no way that an oven door would have been able to lie flat when opened if I had one.

This is really dependent on the user: for me (solo person), I'd want nothing smaller than a 30" wide oven (i.e. range), and no microwave at all. I don't mind a smaller fridge - I assume you're talking about more than a bar fridge - but I like to bake and that really benefits from a 30" oven. Sure, I can do most things in a countertop oven, but if we're talking about where I'll live (not just where I can camp out for a few weeks), I want a full sized oven. I could manage with a smaller fridge, and then add a small chest freezer in another room.

I'd put more priority on the fridge than the stove. The fridge is where you store your food and that requires a much large volume than for cooking enough for one meal, if I had to, I could get by with only 2 burners - That all we had on camping trips.

For me, a 30 inch cooktop is a minimum size. Especially if you have company over for dinner, the range size controls the oven size unless you're getting separate units.

We can live without a microwave, there's less and less we find it useful for. But an oven and burners of adequate BTU power and number (and a good exhaust hood) are essential. Fridges tend to be like closets for some people - the larger they are, the more unnecessary things you put into them. Adequate is adequate when it comes to a fridge.

I agree with Elmer. How many condiments do you really need! I have a big fridge and find myself filling it with so many things that end up eventually getting thrown out. My love my big beautiful gas range however 😇.

The fridge would be the one I would go with for space issues. I basically use one burner on my gas stove, but then my oven is located under the island. But Fridge space is always a problem although it's just two of us and I have a side by side JennAire. I don't like over the stove microwaves. Mine is on a specially built shelf which is beside the fridge at eye level.

Thank you all so much for your feedbacks! I see opinions are somewhat split insofar as fridge/stove. I'm not yet sure if my plans would pan out, nor quite the dimensions, but I figured that opinions by experiencers can't harm.

Annie, thanks for your pic! I've seen microwave box-shelves, but:

i was always wondering how people access the rear to plug them in?

I usually opt for the smallest, like 600w to 700w, and even those are very heavy for me to maneuver. So the thought of having to hold it in one arm, while plugging it at the back with the other arm, makes me flinch.

I happen to prefer no-frills non-digital yet practical appliances, but they don't make them anymore! I have a 20 year old side-by-side Kenmore which i love due to its practicality in holding alot more than similar-sized refrigerators these days. I never have even used the upper fridge drawer, rather removed it, and then used the glass panel directly beneath it as an extra shelf. Nowadays, you can't do that, because for example the LG (or was it Samsung) fridge i analyzed at a store had such a flimsy junk-plastic divider separating the drawers, that it could never be used as a shelf!

It occurs to me there could be an unconventional solution related to fridge & range which no appliance designers did to date, but it would also encompass the microwave placement issue.

I.E. just as there are deeper refrigerators, vs. counter-depth ones...

Likewise, how about the attached pic? (24" wide but Deep range)

There is no way that a microwave on top of a 5 foot tall fridge would be easy reach. Depending on how short the person is they would not be able to reach inside it to clean unless they stood on a step stool which can be dangerous.

A 24" wide range has an oven that is most likely 18" or 19" wide inside.

Well one thing you can try right now is parse out a section of your current fridge and don't use it to mimic a smaller fridge...how does it work for you?

"I.E. just as there are deeper refrigerators, vs. counter-depth ones...

Likewise, how about the attached pic? (24" wide but Deep range)"

Looks like a safety hazard to me -- reaching over those front burners all the way to the back.

I think you would need to see that 6 burner range in person. It looks awkward to use. How far would it stick out into your small kitchen space, especially with the oven door open? Think about how it would work sticking out from counter tops and storage on either side. Might make those things awkward to use as well.

I've seen pic's of mw's on refrigerators in tiny urban kitchens. Figured the person who lived there seldom used it, and was also tall. You mentioned being able to maneuver a mw on a shelf...if that is difficult wouldn't top of fridge be worse?

It varies so much on individual circumstances. I now eat way less meat than I used to. Which means food takes up less fridge space. I do keep some vegetables in the fridge simply because I haven't sorted out where to put them yet. Once I've done that I could probably make do with a smaller fridge. More likely it will just mean more beer and Coke.
Other factors such as how often you shop, climate, etc. will factor in.

SIL had a 24" stove in her apartment. She asked me to trade for the stove in my basement because she burned herself almost every time she used the oven. We knew mine would fit there because I had lived there with my stove before but someone tried to save a few inches.

Just Something to think about.

Compare prices. Smaller sized appliances often cost more than standard size because there is less demand for them. There could be an issue for parts or replacement.

Consider re-sale also. What might work fine for an auxiliary entertaining kitchen might deter potential buyers in a main kitchen. Similarly, what might be adequate for a short-term guests (family, friends, airbnb) , may be unappealing to someone wanting a longer lease.

Stick with standard-size appliances. I have a 7-1/2" foot corridor kitchen with 30" range, 30" OTR microwave, 24" dishwasher, and 28" refrigerator. There's plenty of cabinet, drawer, and countertop space. If ventilation is poor, consider an induction range which start at less than $1K. Example: Frigidaire FFIF3054TS

Remembering back to the days of living in apartments with kitchens that did not work well. I need

- a fridge with a freezer big enough to fit a frozen pizza box

-my oven needs to big enough to be able to cook a turkey

I'm ok with a smaller kitchen if my dining area has a built in cabinet and the microwave can sit on top of there.

Seeing the picture of that stove I wonder what country the OP is from. It is an unusual one for the US but may be normal in Canada.

People apparently have never seen 24 inch ovens. A friend has an in-wall one that while only 24 inches wide it is deeper than what my 30 inch one is wide. I have always been fascinated by AGA ranges and the older ones were just the width of what was width and depth of a regular sized pan.

Hi, all! For clarification, please see my below attachments with further Q's & A's.

Also, why would someone get burned more by a 24" oven? I happen to own a 38" wide early 1950s gas range. "Estate" brand. Alot like this:https://www.antiqueappliances.com/wp-content/uploads/1948-Estate-Gas-Stove-15-4.jpg The inner oven is only 17" wide inside - more than enough for any pans i ever used, and i use potholders to avoid getting burned. To the left of the oven+broiler section, is a very handy deep metal drawer, and shallower metal drawer beneath.

Note the Depth of my weird stove-suggestion need not be 30". Perhaps if the foremost burners are smaller it can be 27". In any case, it was a wild suggestion which might work for some, but not for me, because i'd need the space there so furniture can egress.

Re: the last post, maifleur03, heh heh, my gas-range pic was from online images of standard 24" ranges! All i did was modify it (quite unprofessionally as you may notice!)

Indeed, i, too, realized it would jut out from counter depth, and not have clearance space for oven-door. But sometimes solutions are needed, in weird situations. Perhaps the design of oven-door can be changed to allow for cramped spaces.

"The inner oven is only 17" wide inside - more than enough for any pans i ever used,"

Good for you, but that doesn't change the fact that a standard muffin pan is about 16", a standard cookie/bar pan (half-sheet) is about 18" wide, and there has to be at least an inch of room on each side for the air to circulate around the pan. A medium roasting pan is likewise about 16" wide -- an none of those measurements account for any handles. As for burns, I can certainly see burning an arm while reaching in if it the oven dimensions are smaller than you are used to -- regardless of whether you're using pot holders or oven mitts. (Carrying a pan or tray on the short end - to fit it into a narrower but longer oven space - will be more difficult with respect to weight distribution. Doable, but not as comfortable.)

As many have said -- what is best will depend on the individual and how they use their oven, but a lot of posters on here like to cook and bake, and so want at least a standard oven size.

Most suggest 18 inches as the minimum but it depends on what type of countertop appliances you have. My distances are 16 although they could have been higher because there was room. My coffee maker will barely fit but the blender and Kitchen Aid stand mixer can not. To lift the mixing part I must turn the mixer sideways. Forget about having the bread maker on there because the upper cabinets stick out too far for the bread maker to sit on the counter without touching the upper cabinets. If I was doing a kitchen I would have an area with no cabinets above but a deep cubbyhole with a door that could be closed to keep things out of the way.

Half sheet pans are 13 by 18. There is no requirement that the 18 inch side be placed across the oven. I must be weird but I slide the wire racks in my oven about halfway out to take things out or to baste things.

I totally agree maifleur03 about the pans.

Now as for the measurements, my Qs on my pics were:

• recommended minimum inches between sink-countertop & cabinet above-sink? In other words, the countertop which sink is dropped-into, and the cabinet above it...
• Also, how do weak people plug in 700watt microwaves - when they are recessed within shelves?

jally, you might find this site helpful:

The 31 Kitchen Rules

What Are the Acceptable Measurements From a Kitchen Counter Top to the Bottom of a Wall Cabinet?

From The Spruce:

Design Ideas for Small Kitchens

3 Basic Corridor Kitchen Layout Ideas

Kitchen Space Design Recommendations and Distances

Note that some microwaves can be hung from a shelf. Example: GE JEM3072SHSS

"Half sheet pans are 13 by 18. There is no requirement that the 18 inch side be placed across the oven"

Right, but as I said, lifting or carrying a pan by the shorter end is awkward because the weight is less balanced and it wants to tip forward. Again, I think it's a possible, but unwise thing to do.

Does anyone know the answer about plugging in MW that rests inside a shelf?

As for the sink cabs, i got to see from pics that many people have the sink cabinets flush with their counter-cabinets (even if some have 22" or 24" height, or else windows.

You have to lift the MW, plug it in and then put the MW in the slot. You may need help to do it but it can be done. Also you have to check to make sure you get appropriate air circulation around the MW, so it can't be too tight.

Jelly, most people have an electrician install an outlet inside the shelf itself, so the microwave cord doesn't have to trail in or out of the cabinet and you don't see it at all.

I see, thanks! The following pinterest shelf looks most like something which would work for me. What's your opinion of it? I also wonder how high it is:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d7/a2/c1/d7a2c1c33d91519d7eaeca9da8db831e.jpg

Also: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B2TnQKLKUMY/UYF3w1UQTII/AAAAAAAAMZE/i9fx2rBlME0/s640/DSC_0444.jpg

The following mw's don't seem to have much ventilation:

https://thecreativecollage.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/microwave-shelf-update/

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/94/b9/e5/94b9e502fed0a05b46363fb85ac40975.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f5/ed/4e/f5ed4e5822a973a752f91d41550daac2.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7a/d4/48/7ad44855bdc48cf135047f95fe3e1a1b.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2d/82/59/2d8259943f944a2eaa8a15994bfab7fc.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9a/4f/fd/9a4ffdae2440c0580236516378feaa61.jpg

My old microwave manual states it should have 2" air zone at top, sides, and back.

Also, now that i know about the outlet, there's only 2 solutions for a weak person:

1. Either some sort of extension cord (which is most optimal?) that can be plugged in first, and then the microwave can be lifted onto shelf with both arms, or:
2. The shelf should have about 1.5" of empty-gap sawed-off all along its innermost edge to enable the power-cord to descend toward outlet beneath the shelf.

1. Temporarily put a box on the counter.
2. Lift the oven onto the box.
3. Plug in the oven.
4. Lift the oven onto the shelf.

If I am understanding correctly you are thinking of using an extension cord to plug the microwave in then lift the microwave into position. You originally was planning on putting it over the stove. Not something that is safe or acceptable at any time if that is what you are planning. You need a plug in the back of the shelf. Doing what you are suggesting guarantees that the cord would either be pulled sending the microwave onto the stove, floor, you. A pan would meet the cord with the pan spilling whatever was in it. The cord depending on what it was made of could simply melt from the heat of the nearest burner.

You need an electrician to do things right before you injure or kill yourself.

wdcruise, that's a resourceful idea, thanks! Though i'm not sure the cord would reach the outlet from the temporary box, due to how short microwave-cords are.

We have a very small eat in kitchen. We have an in-wall unit, oven and microwave combo. (was like that when we bought the place) and a 36" glass cooktop.

Just bought a new french door fridge less than 2 years ago. Bigger than our last fridge. If I had to choose, I would get the bigger fridge. Also, I love having the freezer on the bottom. When you open the fridge door now you can see the top shelf without bending down.