it really depends on what is going on the right wall[ not shown]. A 21 in wide cabinet or even open shelves above dishwasher is too big. However a 15 in wide cabinet could be useful there. I wouldnt float shelves but you could void the door and have matching interior w nice bowls /mugs. that is Easiest situation if you need the storage there. Again...what is on right wall...and how much storage do you need that is not accounted for in your plan thus far??

Thanks for your input! I do think reducing the size of the cabinet over the dishwasher could be a good solution. I'm attaching some other views of the design. We also have a large pantry in the dining room, so that adds some storage. Any of these options will provide more storage than what we have now. The space to the left of the door will be for coats, shoes, etc since this is the primary way we enter the house.

It looks like you have enough storage. If so (and be darned sure!), I really like your second option. It's all very appealing, visually.

Thank you! I am leaning towards that option. Maybe we could just install the cabinets like that and then figure out what we want to do about storage above the dishwasher after living with it for a bit. We could always add shelves or a narrower open cabinet later on. I feel like the cabinets flanking the windows may block too much light and make the whole thing too visually heavy up top. I also like the elimination of the blind corner.

I'd do shelves there, otherwise it's going to look off balance from the other side. Like all your cabinets are squished into that one L space.

you could do shelves on the left side

Make sure you do lots of drawers, larger drawers too. (better than door cabinets for storage)

Do you have a pantry anywhere?

all I see is one cab near fridge for plates and bowls. where will the glasses go?

(the cab above the fridge isn't a good idea for everyday stuff, since it's difficult to reach)

shelving options

That's a good argument for shelves there. We have the lowers all as drawers right now besides the lazy susan corner cabinets.

We do have a nice built in pantry in the dining room! I am thinking the drawers and pantry will hold all of our pots/pans/other things, so all the uppers could be for plates, bowls, glasses, and mugs.

My husband is 6'7, so the above fridge cabinet will be mostly for him lol

Thank you for the photos! It's very helpful to see these in real life applications.

you have two large windows near the stove, and another window over the sink. plenty of light.

I hope you don't have a lot of things, because there is no storage in that kitchen

why the blank corner? waste of space. don't worry about the door opening.

do something in that corner! change the door to open outward if you have to

The blank corner is for a corner coat/ shoe rack/ bench thing since this is our main entrance. We still may have the door open outward though! We have a large built in pantry in the dining room, but yeah, we don't want to eliminate too much storage. thanks for the input!

Yet I look at that and think there's a ton of storage! If you are doing the blue cabinets, though, I must encourage you to splurge on the paneled dishwasher. You just gotta.

Have you considered something like this for the corner, made by cabinet company to match kitchen?

I love the idea of a paneled dishwasher! We aren't getting new appliances right away since we'll be spending all this money on the renovation, but I will definitely upgrade to the paneled one when the time comes!

Yes, that's exactly the type of thing I'm talking about! Since we can't have a full mudroom, that seems like the next best option.

Amy, it might be hard to find a perfectly matching panel for your dw years down the road when your current one breaks....do it now if you are going to. I just got a paneled one, it's SO nice not to have to wipe down the door often, and it's "hidden" so the cabinet run doesn't have a break. Also, I have open shelves, no dust or dirt issues that would be different from the rest of the house. Have fun!

That's great to know, thank you!

Yup--Ikea doors aren't too expensive. Buy the most likely size now and stuff it somewhere.

But I don't think it will be that big a deal to not have it paneled in real life. It just looks stark in the planner. You'll probably have something like the rest of the house attached to it. :)

Actually I don't know if you're even doing IKEA! I've used their planner too.

That’s your main entrance? So that’s a door to the outside? If so, I wouldn’t do any open shelving in the kitchen at all because of the dust and dirt factor.

Plus I’d reverse the swing of the door so everyone coming in doesn’t automatically drop everything they’re carrying right on the kitchen counter.

One more thing: everyone coming in your main entrance will walk right in front of the range/oven?

I’d do shelves. We have 3 shelves over our dishwasher and put dishes there that we use everyday, dust is not a problem and unloading the DW is a snap,

Thanks for your input everyone! We have decided to get rid of the cabinets on each side of the window and termiate the ones to the right into the wall. That will eliminate the blind corner so we can use all the cabinet space efficiently. We will leave the space above the dishwasher empty at first and then figure out what would be the best use once we have lived with it for a bit!

Sorry, should have explained better. We do have a front door between the living room /dining room. This is just the back door that we use most often, so it's where we will keep our coats and shoes.

Your local building code may not permit a cooktop next to a window or between 2 windows, so please check with a kitchen contractor or certified kitchen designer before placing your IKEA order.

If the kitchen door is an exterior door, your local building code may require that it swing open to the inside of the home.

If that door is the family entrance, it makes sense to add a mud room bench and coat hook unit as a Houzzer suggested above. But I would add a wall to the left side of the unit to separate it from being exposed to the cooktop and flammable books and backpacks ending up ,on the countertop.

Focus on kitchen function and work zones. The cabinet in the DR is for your dining room storage like formal china dishes, occasionally-used serving platters, special table linens. If you entertain, you could turn the cabinet into a wine fridge and bar ware. In the kitchen cook zone, you want your pots, pans, and bakeware stored next to or under the cooktop and oven. In the clean up zone with the sink, you want your every day dishes and glasses stored within a step or 2 from the dishwasher. In the prep zone you want food stored next to your fridge. You need storage space for your paper goods.

Have you designed space to store your broom, mop, and cleaning supplies?

Also make sure each work zone has sufficient (usually 48”) span of work space (include sink and cooktop).

When deciding on open shelves by the exterior door, consider that the items displayed will be constantly exposed to wind, rain, snow, etc. every time the door opens.

Thank you for the advice! The window shown to the left of the stove does not currently exist, and the window to the right of a stove is our entry door now. We want to move the door to the back of the house (wall with sink) so that it opens directly onto our back deck that will be a porch in the future. None of this is set in stone, so we have plenty of options for window locations. I will have to look into the local building code.

As far as the pantry, the dining room (which is right on the other side of the peninsula) came with a display cabinet like you are describing. To be honest, we are just not the type of people that would display fancy tableware, so it felt like a waste of potential functional storage. We frosted the glass and built out pantry shelves in there and it's been working really well. I do see what you are saying though! I am curious what people use those display hutches for if they don't have anything to display. A wine cooler like you mentioned makes sense, but again, we are not very fancy people and don't drink. Thanks again!

Pictures of hutch turned pantry:

Like your hutch turned pantry, very much!

Cute kitty! 🐱 🐈 🐾🐾

Thank you! She knows we keep her treats in there, so she hops up every time she hears it open 😻

First, think of where you will put your knives, cutting board and colander. You will be using them frequently, at the sink. I assume you eat vegetables and fruit. So you might want a drawer cabinet nearby - or you could use a knife block, and hang your colanders and cutting boards somewhere. Because your space is tight, consider a 30" sink base cabinet instead of the standard 36. That might give you a sckoosh more opportunity for a small drawer cabinet or pull out in your prep area.

The door swing might need to be reversed. Most building codes require 18" clear on the strike side of a door. Also, you don't want dropped hats and stuff on your clean kitchen counter where you are preparing food.

Is there space for a pull-out pantry to the right of the fridge?

Where are you putting trays, platters, and baking sheets? You'll enjoy a cabinet with vertical dividers. I put scrap carpet in mine so nothing gets chipped and it is quieter.

You're having fun, and it's going to look lovely

that poor kitty is starving for treats ;)

cute hutch idea.

Pretty black and white (cow cat) fur baby!

I would do a corner cabinet on right side of sink and then hang something pretty down the left side (hand painted tile trivets, a set of vacation photos, etc).

How would I use the DR cabinet? Store board games, favorite books, paperwork for filing taxes, paper products, gift wrap, birthday presents bought on sale in advance, extra school or home office supplies and printer paper, but it is too many steps from the kitchen prep area for convenient food storage.

If your DR is on the other side of the peninsula in an open floor plan, and you have a table and chairs for meals, you don’t really need to take up 30 inches of valuable floor space with bar seating at the peninsula. A more functional use of the space is to add a pantry on the cooktop wall within 3 steps of your fridge.

Also, the door hinges should be on the DW side so the first thing seen when coming home is the mud room unit.

Those are all great points, thank you! We just moved into this house from a 1 bedroom apartment with one closet, so I feel like we have a huge amount of storage here! It is a good idea to focus on storage for the future and give ourselves space to grow into the house.

Congrats on the big move, Amy!

Another thing, since you are considering open shelves, is open shelves in front of windows.

If you are not building a mud room on the outside of the kitchen door, you could

build in a coat closet to look like the DR cabinet (for visual balance) or buy a wardrobe unit with doors.

You don’t need 2 windows on the long wall and your kitchen layout could look like this. Keeping sink wherever it is now will keep plumbing costs down, but you can move fridge anywhere. If you have hood instead of microwave/vent over range, will you have under counter microwave?

If you move the range further down the wall, you have plenty of clearance to open oven and fridge doors, and if your kitchen is 12 feet wide you would have room for 24” wide island for more prep countertop and lower cabs storage.

That is a very good option! I hadn't considered expanding the kitchen into the dining room. There is actually a wall between them now that we are removing. I'll play around with this in the ikea planner. Thank you!