I have a dishwasher that blocks a walkway and it's fine, you just don't leave it open unless actively filling or emptying it.

Thanks! I really needed to hear it because I am having second thoughts on this layout. Does yours block the entrance to the kitchen?

Mine is between the sink and range and dining area. There will be more room now that have removed a wall, but it is still a traffic flow of kitchen/dining. You can see where it was in this pic, and in the second packing up photo, the clearance between it and our island (which will go back) as taken from the prior doorway. We haven't moved appliances just stretched them down the wall with the small wall removed.

Thanks snappity, yes I can see the traffic flow issue in your photos. Mine will be worse, but I guess a small kitchen will never be perfect.

My dishwasher is also near the entryway into my kitchen. When the DW door is down, I am left with 14 1/2" between the open DW door and the opposing cabinet. I can easliy walk around it if I need to, which is seldom. I worried about this way too much. Now that my kitchen is done, I realize it's fine.

I have a small galley kitchen and if the refrigerator door is open; the oven door is open OR the dishwasher door is open, access is blocked.

The dishwasher used to be at the entry from the hall (entrance) but I switched to the other side of the sink and so now theoretically it would block access to the dining area.

In real life, it really isn't that much of an issue because doors aren't open for significant amounts of time and worse comes to worse, I close the door for 20 seconds to let someone pass by.

FWIW if I have drawers open or the microwave drawer open access is also blocked even though the aisle is relatively wide for an urban galley kitchen.

Yes, and if the silverware drawer is open on the cart/island, it’s totally blocked off! but, it’s very efficient for unloading the dishwasher, and you just get it done and close stuff up. The pros of my small house outweigh the cons of small house living, you learn to work around things like this!

Thank you everyone! Glad to hear it is not a major issue in your kitchen. Now I can move on to figuring out where my trash can will be...

@tlilak With my galley kitchen prior to my remodel the trash can was always blocking something.

I got a sink with a left drain in the back instead of in the middle. This way the pipes were not blocking off most the real estate in the sink cabinet. I have a pull out standard size kitchen trash can in one half and my garbage disposal in the other half.

I have a workstation sink with a "grid" that effectively acts as a really functional extension of the counter as necessary since I can prep over the sink AND if necessary I can place stuff on the grid section if I am loading or need more counter for cookies sheets or whatever. The grid comes off and fits in the bottom if I don't want it but most of the time I just leave it in place.

Because my drain is offset (left and to the rear instead of center) I can stack dishes in one half (often under the grid) without blocking the draink.

Here is a picture which might give you some idea

Unless you have a huge kitchen; the open dishwasher door is going to block something.

I am working on a similar setup as Helen for trash, and hoping to get it finished this weekend!

My DW is also next to one of two entries into the kitchen. We just don't leave it open unless loading or unloading. In our case it was the only spot for the DW.

Helen, your cabinets are gorgeous! This is the first time I see this door design. Is this sink 36"?

@tlilak The sink is 36" which is why I mentioned that it is a work station style with a grid that extends the counter functionally for prep as well as if I just need extra counter.

Prepping OVER the sink is actually functionally better because any detritus either falls into the sink or is easily sponged into the sink versus having it on the counter and needing to clean the counter. I also have the wood cutting board accessory which fits securely over the sink. I have the standard one and also the one with a large stainless bowl that fits in it if I want to sweep veggie directly into a bowl.

If I didn't have the work station aspect of the sink with the accessories, I would never be able to fit a 36" sink in my small kitchen. And if I didn't have a large sink, I would not be able to have both the trash can pullout AND a garbage disposal. FWIW I also had a roll out bottom on the sink cabinet so that nothing gets lost in the dark depths of the sink cabinet.