Need to lose the island as you do not have clearances for it on two sides, especially the side with the oven. That's just for starters.

@millworkman Is this based on standard recommendations for ideal scenarios or does this really not work? This is the same floor footprint we have now with the exception that I moved the oven. I just need clearance for the door to swing down but I can easily stand on one side to put a pan in and out of it and it is not a main walkway for the rest of the house. The "tight" walkways drawn are what we are working with now with our existing large island and we have no issues working around each other or during parties. It's weird how it works, I know. I cannot lose the island cuz there is no storage otherwise and we use that island top for everything. The only wall cabinets I have are the two next to the stove and tray storage above the fridge. I looked up and found a typical range is 27" deep so I used the same depth for the open door even though it will be less.

Here is the outline with an actual average range I found the open dimension for, and it is much better than I drew above. :)

The National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) recommends a minimum 42-inch work aisle for one cook and a 48-inch work aisle for multiple cooks, measured from counter to counter or appliance to appliance (handles). For a walkway that isn't a main work aisle, the NKBA suggests a minimum of 36 inches.

@course411 Thank you for your idea. That would be a great solution other than it makes everyone have to walk around that whole peninsula to get to the bathroom, bedroom, upstairs, and basement. The main flow of traffic for the house is straight along that wall.

How do you zoom in enough to see the dimensions and notes clearly? It seems very blurry and I am not sure how to upload them clearer... maybe if I took a photo if my screen rather than using the snipping tool?

I found this conversation and it gives me some reassurance in what I was thinking and have noticed in my current narrow walkways pre-remodel... My walkways are drawn bigger than this.

@brightm if you see this, thanks for the description,

Any other idea to offer or is this the best set-up possible? I personally like it but wonder what long-time professionals/designers might envision instead. I thought I'd get more replies. Maybe the dimensions were too hard to read? I just added a zoomed in version of the kitchen area to the original post.

I wonder if labeling your drawing rather than describing in words how the rooms flow would make feedback easier? It is often hard for folks to wade through several paragraphs (maybe leave out your material selections for now and just focus on layout)

I'll let the pros weigh in but I find barn doors cumbersome, could something like this work instead of a bifold?

Lake house · More Info

It seems to me the forest is being missed for the trees. The circulation is not well here from upstairs or outside. The Pantry is in the way. You don't want to remove an abandoned flue. Yet, you have plans for a full Master Suite, which removes the Powder Room. You have plans to turn the sunroom into Laundry.

With such all-encompassing plans, the Kitchen should be done right and reconceived along with the rest of house. Instead of piecemeal, look at the flow, adjacencies, everything about the house with future plans in mind.

@Nova

I have 42" wide aisle between my wall oven and my island. My wall oven's door is the common kind that swings down to open. Everything was fine until I moved that oven from abdomen height to just above the toe kick, because I wanted to install a steam oven above the original oven. With the oven lowered, 42" wide aisle was not enough. Why? When the oven was at abdomen height, I always kept my body upright, and an upright body does not take much horizontal space. After the oven was lowered, I had to bend down, which takes more horizontal space. If I did not place my feet at the right place on the floor and I bent my knees down low to reach the stuff in the oven, my bum, which was sticking out from bending my knees, would bump into the island. It was a just annoying until one day I bumped into the island and tipped forward onto the hot oven door. The oven was set hotter that day, and I must have stood a little farther from the oven to avoid the heat. I was lucky I had oven mitts on both hands, rather than pot holders. I fell onto the door that day, but what if I fell into the oven? Now I stand beside the oven, never in front, so that I don't experience that fright again. No more bumping into the island! It works for me because my oven has a ball bearing rack that glides out easily, but it's not perfect. Because I stand beside the oven, I always have to turn the item 90° on the oven shelf, and it's a bother when I have to turn heavy or bulky things.

If you plan to keep the range (low oven!) do make sure your oven with a swing down door has ball bearing racks that glide out easily. You can also buy an oven that has doors that swing sideways. For a low oven with a swing down door, the aisle width that would be safe to operate the oven from the front would depend on your height. For a low oven with a door (or doors) that swing open sideways, maybe 42" wide aisle will work.

You already have the electrical connections for the wall oven. Are you firmly against another wall oven at abdomen height? Is there no wall oven you like? Bending low is much worse than standing upright, especially as we get older.

@3onthetree thanks for taking the time to make suggestions. We cannot possible do the projects all at once. Funds are not there. It'll be a couple years of saving to do the kitchen which is our priority. We are not knocking down or adding walls to create any of these spaces. The pantry is currently there. We would have to move the stairs to the 2nd floor as well as the basement stairs to deepen the kitchen. I literally have these dimensions currently and it works great. I am wondering what others would do to design a remodel in this allotted space, even if it is a total reconfiguration.

@Sophia S thank you for this helpful description and warning. I do plan to stand to the side of the oven door when loading. My habit has always been to put one leg in front and the rest of my body on the side of the oven door when putting things in the oven. Good tip on the easier racks! I am even considering those double door ranges which have very small doors that open as long as they have good reviews for baking evenly. I know there are some bad ones. I figured I can buy a regular range and if it is an issue sell it and buy the double door style. How much room is between the cabinet and front of your oven door when fully opened?

@la_la Girl I added a labeled floor plan as you suggested. Thanks for that suggestion! I wish the pictures would all zoom larger than this site allows.

I think you are misunderstanding designing with all plans in mind, vs building out all plans at once.

What many homeowners do, is they are impatient to remodel the kitchen. They spend dozens of thousands and countless hours of stress and living with construction, dealing with details like matching flooring, having a custom cabinet built to fit between an abandoned chimney, etc. Eventually a new kitchen is "inserted" leaving the house as is, and with many compromises to make it fit.

Later, they want to remodel adjacent spaces and continue their plans, but are backed into a corner because they spent so much money/human capital on the previous Kitchen remodel, so it must stay as is and the future remodel is compromised for the worse. At the end the entire house is a patchwork of remodels that don't make sense.

@dani_m08 that makes a lot of sense. I guess I was hoping for feedback on my design as well as if anyone thought there was a better arrangement. I always read how more info is needed so I tried to include it all, but it did get very long. I am not sure how to make the whole floorplan readable because the dimensions stay so small and get blurred when zooming in. I will definitely post a basic outline and see what people come up with. Thank you so much for helping me!