18" dishwasher! I'd probably give the extra few inches to make that 15" drawer stack a more useful size.

No 14' waterfall island with seating for 8, no 48" range with 6,000 cfm toupee extractor, no cubic meter of marble from Pietro's tomb - what are we looking at here, a kitchen for ants? ***

Sigh, well, if we must review sensible kitchens for ordinary folks . . .

I like it. The range wall will be a hard-working space and the primary prep/cook zone, I suggest double dish drawers as i) easier to load/unload w/ less bending over, ii) they don't get in the way as much as a swing-down DW door, and iii) for daily use they can just use the upper drawer. Really good task lighting for aging eyes - even 60 y/o's can use more light. A rollout shelf under the sink for easier retrieval of stuff and emptying of trash.

I realize there are very few degrees of freedom here, but having the DW in the prep/cook zone with a drippy path to the sink bugs me a little. I would noodle if the DW can be moved closer to the sink. Makes the blind corner even blinder, but I hate those spaces no matter what rotating/hinged Rev-A-Whatever gizmo is installed. I was sailing last week and thought about the galley storage in boats, with a section of counter that lifts up with bins below.

Someone needs to try one of these storage lifts in a kitchen and report back. Small Storage Lift | Model AL-125 - Nexus 21 Small Storage Lift | Model AL-125 - Nexus 21

Finally, how will they reach the highest part of the uppers? Is there room for a fold-up stool or the like?

*** Zoolander reference in case wondering.

Great ideas, John. I have even seen a single DW drawer mounted above a storage drawer, which might work if only the 2 of them. But most importantly, no drop down door to fall over. Task lighting = undercabinet and mounted to illuminate the center of the countertop, not mounted at the back where it will blast/blind them.

Interesting dishwasher ideas. They bough a 24” bosch within the last 3 years and being practical people, want to keep it.

I usually lathe an 18” DW, but they wash so much by hand, I could see it making sense. Plus good point about more notmal size drawers next to it. The dinky ones don’t do much.

Yes to task lighting.

Yes, they have a good step stool at top of basement stairs, easy to grab. I also recommend storing light items up high (bags of popcorn, paper towels) using long tongs for retrieving.

I have a 12" wide drawer stack and the drawers are pretty useless. I wish it had just one drawer and a door beneath which would be a great space for stacking baking sheets, muffin tins, cutting boards, etc.

Kitchen Storage Ideas · More Info

Good idea @kandrewspa . They were going to do this in the 9” cabinet to the right of range but 9” really holds very little. You placement is smart

I'd change the base cabinet and counter to the left of the sink across the dining room doorway. That space can be a 12" deep pantry from the floor up. That'll help cut down on basement trips.

Do they have the same sink setup now? i would not be happy only having counter space on one side of the sink. Especially if they use a drying rack, there will reallistsclly not be any counter space adjacent to either side of the sink.

@happyinabungalow You make a good point about sink placement. Their current drop in sink is in the corner with the same diagonal upper above. The entire countertop to the left of their corner sink is taken up with a large dish drainer and then stuff gets tossed on the extra space near the door. To the right of the sink, they stack up dirty dishes and cook. They don't have anything stored underneath because it is rotted out.

My thought was by getting the sink out of the corner, they could maximize undersink space for garbage and cleaning supplies. And then they can use a lazy susan in the corner lower cabinet. (I know most people hate a lazy susan but I have always found them to be incredible space in a small kitchen.)

Ultimately, I'd put the sink in front of the window but they are 100% against that. Do you think the corner makes more sense? If it goes in the corner then the entire counter along the dining room wall gets hogged once again by a dish drainer.

@dan1888 They want to place small daily use appliances - coffee maker, smoothie blender - on the small countertop between the two doorways. Currently they take up a good chunk of the countertop space in front of the window. Does it that seem like a good use of that space to you?

Do they use the diswasher at all? You said they have a fairly new one but always use a large dish strainer. If they do not use the dishwasher and truly do not care about resale, that space might be better allocated to drawers. I would make sure they have counter space next to both sides of the sink, otherwise the dish strainer will always be in the way. The corner sink might be a better option.

If they went with a corner sink, could they have garbage pull out underneath?

Trash is currentlynin a can next to fridge. They want to eliminate that and put it in a cabinet under the sinks. (Kitchen is too small to dedicate another cabinet just for trash.)

Upon the suggestion below, they are now pondering an 18” dishwasher. They wash everything by hand but dishes, glasses, cups. Those they rinse and wait until the dishwasher is full and the run it once or at most twice a week. He is quite OCD about dish duty, dishwasher loading. Not interested in changing habits. Maybe they don’t need one after all?

I have a small kitchen and throwing everything in my dishwasher immediately is what keeps my counters clear and me sane.

I think a corner sink makes sense here, if they don't want an especially large sink.

Is the best use of that blind corner. DW to left of sink, is ergonomically better for a right-hander (hold dish in left hand, scrape/sponge with right hand, into the DW), dishes can even go from dining room directly into DW, drainboard on top - this concentrates all the cleanup in one leg of the counter and leaves the entire range counter free for cooking/prep with water close by. Lazy susan on bottom of undersink cabinet for detergent bottles etc. 24" DW cabinet to use what they have and allow dishdrawers later. I think the corner sink base may eliminate any irritating narrow filler cabinet by the DW.

Inexpensive counter material and re-using their existing corner sink could maybe free up budget for dishdrawers?

@John Liu - Where would you put trash with a corner sink?

With their current corner sink set up dish drainer is left of sink, dirty dishes land to right of sink and take up a lot of counter area. So it doesn’t feel like they have an direct sink access as it is now.

With sink as is in the drawing I imagined dirty dishes go in the much larger sink, more migrate to the blind corner leaving prep space under window clear.

I will discuss with them.

They have said they are going to get a new dishwasher with SS front to match new appliances.

They like idea of large workstation sink.

This is just a rough sketch. put the sink on the window wall, dish strainer can live in the corner. The cabinet on the dining room wall could be 12” - 15” deep. My original thought was floor to ceiling 12” cabinets with a cubby in the corner for the dish strainer, but they need the counter space even if it is not very deep. they would lose that bank of drawers and the lower corner would probably not be accessible. However, I have 12” deep drawers in my bathroom which I have thought could be useful in a small kitchen for things like flatware.

Trash can under the sink, on lazy susan? Where is it now?

Dirty dishes usually come after the meal, after the prep/cook is done.

Maybe they can retrain themselves to not handwash and put dirty dishes straight into the DW after a quick scrape, thus avoiding both dirty dish pile and loaded dish drying rack?

Or, a Euro style dish rack above the sink, dripping into the sink and not taking up counter space.

Fridge is now in the corner and trash is out next to it. But they are going to add a narrow pantry cabinet in the corner and place the fridge next to it, which makes sense storage wise.

Currently, all of the dirty prep and cooking stuff piles up to the right of the sink while cooking is happening. In such a small kitchen, it is hard because there is nowhere to put anything as you go. They never use their garbage disposal so don't want one in the new kitchen. I suspect it is because the sink it always too full of dirty pots and pan so they can't access the disposal.

I have talked to my friend about retraining themselves in exactly the way you mentioned @John Liu. It really appears her husband has quite a fixation on how he does dishes, and she respects that because it is his terrain. He insists on handwashing nearly everything, also rinsing anything that goes into the DW, and only running it when it is full, after close tetris like loading. They have an awesome marriage and she said she values that more than she values her sink set up. She knows how to pick and choose their battles!

A non-negotiable for her is having a sink on the window wall, so @happyinabungalow, I don't think your drawing would meet that criteria.

She recently tripped going down the stairs and is now insisting that everything in the house lives on the floor in which it is used. (No more overflow kitchen storage in the basement.) I think this is a quite smart non-negotiable for aging folks in a home with steep stairs.

So while having a small kitchen can be a challenge, their very specific wants and needs are the real difficulty here.

I see. That’s another plus for dishdrawers - he can run each drawer as it is filled, which means dishes will have half as long to pile up!

More radically, suppose she presents him with a design that has no dishwasher, but more storage, to make the point that if precious space is given to a dishwasher . . .

Funny. I've had one kitchen with a corner sink, and window to the right--and it was great! Southern window that sent wonderful light onto my prep space. I liked it more than any other kitchen with the standard sink in front of window.

I love John Liu's idea of a euro-style dish drain cabinet, if the husband is willing to make that small of a change. I'll give you two arguments for that, combined with a corner sink:

• You can use the counter left of the sink for dirty dishes. Clean or dirty, dishes do not need to clutter up the prep area.
• I've found angled cabinets to be terrible for storage. Technically they give you more storage than the easy-reach cabinets, but you have awkward angles where stuff ends up unseeable and unreachable in the back of the cabinets. Anything you don't use frequnetly will get shoved to the back and utterly lost and forgotten about. BUT, if you are using the same shape just for one or two levels of dish draining, that's much less of a problem. You just put your big pots near the back, small things near the front, You can see it all because you have open draining racks, and you are routinely pulling everything out to put in its actual storage spot.
• Ok third reason, but this is for the corner sink. Corner base cabinets are always sub-optimal storage for most kitchen supplies. But those odd angles are actually fine for trash cans and a few cleaning supplies. Our corner sink kitchen had a trash can on one side of the pipes, recycle on the other, and it was simple to pull it to the center and out for taking out the trash.

"BUT, if you are using the same shape just for one or two levels of dish draining, that's much less of a problem. You just put your big pots near the back, small things near the front, You can see it all because you have open draining racks, and you are routinely pulling everything out to put in its actual storage spot."

@mcarroll16 - Can you show me a picture of what this looks like? I am having a hard time understanding what a corner open drain rack looks like. They do put plates, cups, glasses, cereal bowls in the dishwasher. Everything else - pots, pans, mixing bowls, casseroles they put in a drain rack. That is what they need space to have drain.

I think their dirty dishes are still going to pile up on the right side of the sink because they are cooking and prepping to the right of the sink and they will shove the dirty dishes to the left until they are at the sink.

Just found this pic. Maybe instead of a dishwasher they should wash everything by hand and put a pull out drying rack in the area where the dishwasher would go!

I don't have a picture, and on reflection an angled corner cabinet might be very difficult to build for this purpose. But just to make sure it's clear what I'm talking about, here's a picture of a standard version of this type of cabinet.

Given a stock upper cabinet, I think it could be modified fairly easily to be a dish drainer.

Idea 1: Cut out the cabinet bottom. Order a sheet of perforated stainless steel, cut 1” oversize, bend edges over to be a 1” lip, attach to cabinet where the bottom was using screws through the lip. If cabinet sides are too thin or made of MDF, add 3/8” wood strip reinforcements before attaching the new perforated SS bottom. Then more perforated SS for the shelves. I’d coat the cabinet’s and doors’ interior with polyurethane or epoxy to humidity-proof it. Optional - instead of perforated, use solid SS sheet and cut drain holes with a lip - see Nova's post below and my reply.

Idea 2: Leave cabinet bottom in place. Drill several drain holes in it, using a hole saw bit (1“ or 2”). Similarly drill drain holes in shelves. Coat cabinet bottom, shelves, sides with epoxy (similar to flooding a wood counter with epoxy).

Idea 1 would be fun and look cool. Will need to buy or have some tools, e.g. a cheap brake to bend the SS. Idea 2 is the easy route. Epoxy coated wood is essentially plastic and impervious to water. (When planning my sinks, I built mockup sinks from 3/4” plywood then thought, why don’t I actually use these to further test size, depth, etc - so I cut holes for faucet and drain, flooded the sink interiors with epoxy, installed faucet and garbage disposal, hooked everything up, and those were our sinks for months. Worked fine, I could fill them with water, soak pots, etc. Homebrew darkrooms often use wooden sinks coated with epoxy. People even make artisanal carved epoxy coated wood sinks.)

The above assumes they want an enclosed upper cabinet to conceal the drying rack. If they are ok with open shelf type drying rack, then that is even easier. I’m sure there are pre-made SS wire corner shelves. If not, they can be made from perforated SS sheet - either by them or a local fabricator can cut and bend the SS sheet , should be cheap.

Open shelves might feel more open . . . when not heaped with pots and pans.

Kendrah, if you figure out what size corner sink they want and then what dimensions the lower cab and upper cab/shelves would be, we can see better if this will work.

Last thought - it is a small kitchen with very limited counter space. If they won’t retrain to stop handwashing, and won’t retrain to a wash-AND-DRY-AND-PUTAWAY-as-you-go process, then that counter space is going to get heaped with dirty or drying pots and dishes, no matter if it is to the right of the sink, to the left, and wherever the sink is. The only way to make things better is to add counter space by going up vertically (drying upper shelves) or down (drying lower cabinet like you posted).

Ooo, ooo, really last thought - if much of the clutter in the drying rack is pots and pans, suppose the pot/pans are stored hanging above the sink? Then they get handwashed and hung up to dry in their normal storage place, not cluttering the counter and allowing a smaller drying rack.

I like the drying rack cabinet but wonder how to keep the drips above the sink rather than into the sink, on the counter under the cabinets where sink is not and behind the sink. A bottom slightly funneled above the sink would be perfect with a rack just above it and then the other shelves being racks. I am not sure how to design the slightly funneled bottom. It would look best raised behind the front face of the cabinet frame like some projects that want under cabinet lighting without light molding applied, so the odd bottom is hidden.

Nova, no need to funnel the bottom - just have a downward-pointing lip at the opening, water flows to the edge of the lip then drops off into the sink. You can also press a very slight slope into the bottom, so water doesn't pool at the edges.

Friends are now embarking on a 10 day trial period of placing everything in the dishwasher and not doing handwashing at all. If the experiment goes well, I think it will help with a lot of issues in this small kitchen. Thanks for your feedback and your clever drying rack ideas.

@Kendrah

Having the dishrack above the sink does save so much counter space, and there are some techniques to using it. You have to wear dishwashing gloves with the cuffs folded out, an apron, and you have to be mindful to use both arms equally to lift items up onto the dishrack, or one shoulder will become stronger or hurt more than the other. Some older folks have shoulder pain that prevent them from lifting their hand above their chest.

When I used the above-the-sink dishrack for the first time (it was summer), I remember repeatedly lifting up the wet dishes, spoons, forks, etc., above my shoulder to place them on the rack, and the water from the wet items would run down my arm and wet my shirt in the armpit like I sweated and soaked my shirt there. It looked bad. I had to change my shirt. The next time, I wore dishwashing gloves with the glove cuff folded out to catch the drips before they ran down my arm, but I enough drips landed on the chest and abdomen part of my shirt to make me look like I sweated and soaked those parts of my shirt. I had to change my shirt. On the third try, the apron and gloves with the cuffs folded out kept my shirt dry.

That is potentially great!

In a small space, every inch has to be used and none wasted; plus, they will save a lot of water and time.

(Whispering) d i s h d r a w e r

Am I correct that Fisher and Paykel are the only manufacturers of dishwasher drawers? Or am I missing something? They seem expensive, probably out of budget. Say why you love them so much. Maybe they are a possiblity.

Home Depot and Lowes have "Cafe" and "GE" dishdrawers, about 50-60% the price of Fisher-Paykel.

I have not owned dishdrawers - when it was time for a new DW, I went straight to commercial - but my dear friends have had dishdrawers since Fisher-Paykel first introduced them and I've cooked and cleaned with them and used their dishdrawers a lot, over the past twenty years. They've always had F-P so I've no experience with Cafe, GE, KitchenAide, etc.

I am thinking of putting a single dishdrawer in my kitchen since firing up the Hobart high-temp commercial is too much of a PITA when there's only a few dishes. I could use the single DD daily and save the Hobart for big days.

Advantages:

i) easier to load: the upper drawer especially, it is as easy as opening the top drawer in a stack and putting the dish in, no bending over.

ii) doesn't get in the way: the drawers when open don't stick out as far as the open door of a conventional DW, and it is much faster to hip-check the drawer closed than to reach down, push back the racks, swing up the door, throw out your back.

iii) each drawer can be run independently, e.g. put pots and pans in the lower drawer as you cook, start that drawer running, then put ware in the upper drawer after the meal, start that drawer running - or use just the upper drawer for daily meals, with the lower for parties etc - or use one drawer for fragiles and the other for everything else.

iv) more economical? if your friends want to convert to running the DW daily but are conflicted about running a partial load, now they can run a "half load" (one drawer) using half the water/energy - and either way, DW uses much less water than handwashing.

Disadvantages:

i) more expensive: though, the Cafe and GE are closer to higher-end conventional DW price range.

ii) smaller capacity: but not a lot smaller, and certainly plenty for a couple. My friends entertain a lot - or did, before Lammie died :-( - and the dishdrawers were fine.

iii) less common: in "the sticks" it might be hard to find service for dishdrawers, I speculate? My friends live in L.A. so not an issue.

@Kendrah

That is a difficult kitchen to design. The already tiny space is interrupted by three doors. If storage is their main concern to avoid going to the basement, would they consider:

1. A 24" wide sink cabinet? An example of right hand offset drain sink that fits https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kraus-Farilane-Undermount-24-5-in-x-19-in-Stainless-Steel-Single-Bowl-Kitchen-Sink/5015427273
2. A 30" wide refrigerator, even if it is not counter depth? An example, ice maker is extra, not counter depth, left hinge https://www.kitchenaid.com/major-appliances/refrigeration/freestanding-refrigerators/freestanding-bottom-freezer/p.19-cu.-ft.-30-inch-width-full-depth-non-dispense-bottom-mount-refrigerator.krbl109ess.html. I wanted to mention that the chosen 32.75" wide LG refrigerator does not have a pull handle on the freezer drawer. Pull handles are easier on aging hands because they put less strain on finger joints that may be stiff or hurt. A similar 32.75" wide refrigerator with freezer handle, but not counter depth has a pull handle for the freezer https://www.lg.com/us/refrigerators/lg-lrdcs2603s-bottom-freezer-refrigerator. Another example, 31.25" wide https://www.bosch-home.com/us/en/mkt-product/refrigerators/fridge-freezers/freestanding-fridge-freezers-with-freezer-at-bottom/B33CM10SNS.
3. A 18" wide dishwasher, as mentioned by others? An example of this, quiet, has handle: https://www.bosch-home.com/us/en/mkt-product/dishwashers/top-controls/SPX68C75UC
4. IKEA Sektion kitchen cabinets? Are they located far from IKEA? IKEA Sektion is less expensive than Kraftmaid, because the sides are particle board, the doors are not solid wood, and sizes are limited, but the function is no different from higher priced cabinets. I mention IKEA because your friends don't care about resale value, and you can get soft closing everything for less money. IKEA has a online kitchen planner and it will calculate your kitchen cabinets (you have to remove extra cabinet feet, toekick boards, rails). Then they can spend more on appliances and maybe even other items mentioned below. All the door hinges and drawer slides of IKEA's Sektion cabinets are by Blum. My IKEA kitchen is 18 years old (previous version, was called Akurum, also Blum door hinges and drawer slides) and the door and drawers are still operating smoothly and closing softly. The boxes are just as solid as when I first installed them, except the sink cabinet, which is still solid but has some water damage because we dripped water down the front and didn't know about it. IKEA Sektion cabinets can have up to six drawers, each 5" tall. Drawers come in 5", 10", and 15" heights, and you mix and match however you want. Base and wall cabinets come in 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 30, 36 inch widths. The 21" wide base cabinets don't have drawers available from IKEA.
5. A narrower window opening, with a casement window? The window's width allows only 9" wide upper cabinets, which are difficult to use. Does the back door have glass, so they can still get light from the back door?
6. Moving the door to the dining room toward the basement stairs? Is the wall between the dining room and the kitchen load bearing? The layout (see below) works better if the door to the dining room moves and you have a narrower sink and a narrower dishwasher. The disk drying rack placed on the counter to the left of the sink frees counter space to the right for a toaster oven, Instant Pot. Moving the door makes the 36" wide cabinet on the refrigerator wall shallower, but the shallow countertop can still hold a KitchenAid stand mixer, and a small coffee maker.

>>> Am I correct that Fisher and Paykel are the only manufacturers of dishwasher drawers? <<<

Pretty much. As was mentioned in a recent thread here, GE, Cafe and F&P are brands owned by Haier, the F&P dishdrawer design also has been offered under the Cafe brand for the last three years and also, starting a couple of months ago, now under the GE Profile brand as well.. As you and John Liu noted, they are all expensive.,

Please let us know how your friends’ experiment at old-dogs-learning-new-tricks works out. But don’t tell SWMBO since it is very important that she think me unable to learn new chores.

@Sophia S - Yes! I'm really impressed with your vision to move the dining room door a smidge and just how many possibilities it opens up. Brilliant. They have a very meaningful family Danish vintage buffet in the dining room along that wall. I don't know if it will prevent them from moving the doorway a smidge or not but am going to pass along your drawing and find out.

Regarding making the window smaller, the large window is everything in this room to my friend. She is in love with looking out of it, and it does help the room feel more open. So I don't think they will be willing. I too have suggested a full glass backdoor.

The lower 9" by the door is not a pull out. They intend to house sheet pans and trays in there. It is going to be a very narrow opening, but seems to make sense. Do you agree? For the upper, they have a door and will install some kind of rev-a-shelf thing inside maybe for spices.

@John Liu - I once read that it takes 10 days to form a new habit. I don't know if it is true but it has greatly encouraged me throughout my life to try new things. I'm firmly in your SWMBO's court.

@Kendrah

1. Your current plan fits everything nicely along the window wall. I mentioned glass in the back wall only to compensate for the smaller window. Since she loves the current window, there would be no need for glass in the back door which is less secure than a fully solid door, especially if the back door leads to an alley instead of an enclosed back yard.
2. When they said that storage was the main issue, was it big stuff (size of Instant Pot, Crock Pot, toaster oven) or small stuff (size of ice cream scoops, measuring cups, etc.) or both? Since the back door does not have glass they can hang small shelves on it and store so many small stuff, freeing the drawers. They may have to put the small stuff in small bins, or cover them with paper towels, because open storage is dusty. If the back door is used frequently, then perhaps they can mount the rack on the wall. https://www.containerstore.com/s/home-decor/decorative-shelving/elfa-utility-white-mesh-pantry-over-the-door-rack/12d?productId=11006153
3. Which way does the back door swing? Will the back door's door knob hit and dent the range or the refrigerator? Perhaps they can install a door limiter hinge, which keeps the door from swinging too far?
4. Storing sheet pans and cake pans in the lower 9" cabinet is a great idea, and saves money because you have only shelves in the cabinet. The lower 9" cabinet is adjacent to the hot oven, so it's a good idea to store things that are unaffected by heat.
5. In your opinion, what is the minimum width of a filler piece between the cabinet and the wall? If the filler is 3/4 inch wide, they can fit a 42" wide cabinet under the window, and that moves the stove a little farther from the window.

They seem hesitant regarding your idea of moving the dining room door over because their walls are plaster and the doors are arched at the top. They are concerned about the labor and cost.

I’m curious about their plaster walls. I knock on them and they sound hollow. I have had plaster walls my entire life and they have never sounded hollow. I don’t doubt that these are some type of plaster - they don’t sound like knocking on drywall. It is odd. I hope they explore it because a 39” bank of drawers is a storage game changer.

They need storage for all kinds of pans and pots that don’t fit into their current kitchen - dutch ovens, extra roasting sheets, casseroles. They’ve used their current set up for 27 years and it really doesn’t make the most of the space.

Your idea gets them more storage at safe and easy base cabinet level. Very good for aging and not having to reach up high.

I think one has to weigh what extra money spent will get you in a kitchen. In this case it seems worth it to fit the goal of not having to venture to the basement for extra pot and pans.

I’m reassured to hear that what they and I have come up with so far does not seem terribly off to you.

@Sophia S - You can lead a horse to water ... They've decided against your brilliant shift the door plan. They have three large case goods in their tiny dining room and they would have to get rid of one if they shift the door. They don't want to do it.

They are maximalists. Their house is small. If they don't want to store over flow belongings in their basement anymore they will just have to own fewer kitchen items or fewer dining room items.

At some point, we all have to downsize . . . or install really good handrails on the basement stairs.

They are doing both in fact!

I renew my call for the restoration of dumbwaiters to proper living.

I have also, truth be told, occasionally investigated the topic of residential elevators.

Dumbwaiters and laundry chutes!

@Kendrah

I can see why they don't want to change the door to the dining room, especially if they have to discard furniture pieces they treasure.

Regarding the hollow sounding plaster wall, it may be that the keys have broken off. If they wanted to, they can gain an inch or more by removing the lath and plaster. Drywall and paint is less expensive compared to moving a door. Driving screws into the plaster with broken keys can either crumble the plaster or re-attach it to the lath.

Below, the narrow shelf to the left of the sink can store little stuff, and the full height of 24" deep cabinet to the left of the door to the dining room can store big stuff. If they want, they can have counter space in the full height cabinet by leaving the middle section without a door. It would look like a tall cabinet where a wall oven is to be installed, but there is no wall oven. The counter space in the "wall oven space" can be useful, and the 24" depth above it can store big stuff. The corner cabinet is 36"x36" so that the opening can be about 15" wide, and they can store medium size stuff there.

Below, on the wall with the window, there is only 3/8 inch gap between the wall with the back door and the 6" wide wall cabinet to the right of the over-the-range microwave. Could the cabinets just fit? Can just one cabinet can be custom? I hope a small cabinet like that does not cost so much. Perhaps removing the lath and plaster, then installing drywall allows for another inch.

Are the cabinets frameless? Face frames waste 1-2 inches of width per cabinet. This kitchen is tiny, so 2 inches per cabinet would make a notable difference.

Not sure I am following the ratinale for two 6" cabinets on either side of microwave instead of having a 9" on the right. Is it just for balancing out the look of the microwave so it is sandwiched in between two cabinets?

For the cabinets to the left of the dining room door way, they will keep a blender and coffee pot on the small countertop. I like keeping the standard upper depth so it doesn't feel like it is hitting you in the face as you walk in the narrow entryway.

They currently have a tiny shelf on the end of their cabinet run to the right of their dining room doorway and it gets cluttered with junk so they do not want open shelves there. It is amazing what 27 years in the same kitchen has taught them!

That version was another option, saving some money by keeping the window and door as is, and spending some money by using custom cabinets.

The shallow shelf by the sink is standard size 24"w30"h when viewed from the side, so you can have doors for it. They could have a shallow cabinet with door above it, too, attached to the end of the upper cabinet above the sink, and it would be standard size 12"w 42"h when viewed from the side. Here's an example shown with the doors open, from https://walkerwoodworking.com/organize-your-kitchen/

The 6" cabinets flanking the stove may work better because they don't waste space with fillers, the cooktop is farther from the window, it looks more balanced, and they can have better visibility of, and access to, the items in the pull-out upper cabinets when standing at the cooktop. 9"w cabinets are just wide enough that you can store 2 to 3 rows of bottles on a shelf (when viewed from the cooktop with the insert pulled out), but the first row items cover the row of items behind it. When you want to access the item farther from you, you have to first pull out the item in front.

Since storage is their main concern in their tiny kitchen, I would use frameless cabinets.

An example of custom frameless cabinets, ready to assemble (less shipping cost?):

• very nice: Barker https://www.barkercabinets.com/
• budget: City (difference vs Barker explained in the video on the page) https://www.citycabinets.com/

The maximalists must be halfway through their experiment. I hope it is going well!

You’ve already got a lot of great thinking put into this layout, especially around what your friends need, storage close by, minimizing trips upstairs, and ensuring the sink‐setup feels comfortable. Given all that, a few tweaks could make everyday life smoother without blowing the budget.

First, the sink & dishwasher area is crucial here. Since dishes (and the big drainer) take up so much space, ensuring there’s usable counter both to the left and right of the sink will make things more ergonomic. Moving the dishwasher closer to the sink (if possible) would cut down on awkward “drippy paths” across your counter.

Second, those deep corner cabinets / “blind corners” are often awkward. Using a lazy susan or pull‐outs will help, but you’ll get more benefit from straight-drawers near your most used work zones (pots, pans, mixing bowls) rather than tiny drawers that don’t hold much.

Third, maximize usability with lighting and counter height. Under-cabinet lighting is a must, especially with countertops under windows, to avoid shadows, so things don’t become frustrating for older eyes. Also, think about whether upper cabinets to the ceiling are truly useful high up (what you’ll access vs what becomes storage graveyards).

One other idea: since the window view is non-negotiable, try to keep work zones where that light comes in, maybe rearrange small appliances so they stay off prime prep space. Also using a narrow high cabinet (12-15”) near doorways or between zones can give you small item storage without stealing much of your working surface.

Overall, with a few smart changes, better sink layout, improved drawer vs door distribution, good lighting, and keeping accessible storage high priority, it can become not just pretty but genuinely easier to live with every day.

@Kendrah

Two more options. First requires the contractor to cut the sink cabinet to utilize the gap between the corner cabinet and the sink cabinet. Second requires plumbing work.

Below, the first option, window wall, using a different corner cabinet.

Below, if the door has no casing, the sink cabinet can be 21" wide, which is stock size. Your elevation diagrams do not show any casing.around the door, but the window had ~2" wide casing.

Below, the second option. This requires no cabinet cutting, but plumbing work. The window wall is the same as above. You could do this with stock size frameless cabinets.

Tejjy sounds like AI