Can you get rid of the soffits? On sink wall what about from left to right: 18” drawer, 24” DW, 36” sink cabinet, 18” garbage roll out. Void corner. Then range wall 30” drawers, 30” range, 30” drawers, fridge. No 12” pantry which is too narrow to be practical and no expensive corner pull out, but allows for a garbage pull out and larger drawers. You’d need to get one of those new zero radius fridges so doors can fully open

You need more space for your aisles. And 9” overhang isn’t enough depth for stools.

Soffit demo is over our budget. On sink wall, upping the cabinet to the right of the sink would make not centered on the window. Our current fridge doors are confirmed to open exactly enough with the 12” pantry. Our current footprint has a 24" pantry there and only 15" between stove and fridge. Counter space is not functional, this seemed better. Any other options to work around this? Cabs will be custom so could split the difference (26" counter/16” pantry?)

Can increase overhang to 12". Not looking to make that a regular seating option, just for seated prep, or for kiddo to sit on occasion (only one stool likely). Not sure about if we have enough space to increase aisles anymore (already moving island ~8" over and back from the ridiculously narrow size we have now), but possibly can do another 2". Thanks for your suggestions!

We have a bonus room across the kitchen/dining area ~8ft x 8ft that we use as a pantry with metal shelving and a butcher block with our microwave currently.

Husband is a former chef, avid cook, and we have a LOT of kitchen equipment and food products, etc.

Custom cabinets but cannot afford the cost of demoing soffit? I am curious about these priorities. I wouldn't invest in redoing this kitchen without removing the soffit.

Is your aisle measurement cabinet to cabinet or counter to counter? 40" is tight counter to counter. If it is cabinet to cabinet, it will be even more so.

If you will do a lot of prep work at the island, having the trash there is fine.

We have an overhang for one stool (I think 14") and we love it. It is a frequently used perch in our home.

Can you draw the layout of the area around your kitchen and where the 8x8 room is placed? How far are you walking to get to the pantry and mircowave?

I don't love your sink wall layout either. I'd go a good google image hunt for sinks off center from a window and see what you think.

A 12" pantry seems nearly useless by the time you eat up the interior space with pull out drawers.

I hate a wasted corner cabinet so glad you are using yours. I have always preferred a push door carousel to large pull outs. With a push carousel, I can access everything without even having to swing open a door. With a large pull out, I have to open a door, lug the shelf out, and inevitably store things in the back that I don't use often.

Thanks, great points.

Soffits: I think the soffits are more complex than most? The sink soffit is probably easy to remove. The other wall has the vent and ac pipes. (See pic). Would it be worth it to remove only the sink wall one? (Already replacing sink window that probably can be fit in the budget).

I am measuring counter to counter. See dimensions of current layout attached. The dishwasher door takes almost ALL of the walk way (clearance is 6-10"?).

Our sink is currently off centered and I was looking forward to having it aligned. Is there any way to make the narrow cabinet more usable? I liked the Lehman's or rev cloud shelves. I think these would be best for pots. We have a lot of cast iron and Lehman's has better weight capacity. Lazy Susan is an option I suppose but I hate the corner folding doors.

We are a family of three, kiddo also loves cooking, and we spend most of our time in this part of the house (I work at the couch).

We could cut the pantry altogether, and move the fridge all the way to the wall but we were hoping to keep our current fridge which is 8 years old (next one will definitely be counter depth regardless, it's ridiculous how much this sticks out!).

Right now island is 3x 24" cabinets and a two tier bar height overhang on two sides. We hate the two tiers. The kitchen has only 3feet of usable counter workspace.

Thanks so much!

You haven't drawn your current layout to scale - it would be helpful to have the dimensions of all walls/doors/doorways/windows/fireplace/etc. in order to add more info for the space.

Will you please add photos of the whole room = dining room + opposite wall where sofa/table/chair are located? Is the sofa area only used for work? We need to understand entire space better.

What do you use the closet for on the end of the refrigerator wall (is it in the foyer/entrance to your home)? If you could use that space as part of your kitchen (instead of as a closet), you'd be able to have a wider pantry at the end of that run of cabinets = more useful OR you could put your refrigerator at the end of the run of cabinetry = remove it from work zones (if someone needs to access fridge while a meal is being prepared, he/she won't have to walk around the individual(s) who are working on the meal.

Regardless of whether you moved your fridge to the end of the run of cabinets, you would have a larger pantry right where you need it. I understand that you have a large space for all of your husband's fancy cooking equipment/utensils/etc. - however, that is a pretty far distance away from the kitchen. It would be nice to be able to have certain things within the work space instead of having to walk all the way over to the 8' x8' room on the far side of the dining room every time you need something.

ALSO - if you plan on replacing your current fridge at some point with a counter depth one, it would be better to have your refrigerator cabinet at the end of that wall of cabinetry. A counter depth refrigerator is nice - however, it will be wider than your current fridge. I would make sure to have room for a wider refrigerator cabinet when needed (you will need to be able to widen the fridge cabinet + shorten the sides in order for the doors to open correctly).

What is the room below the pantry (I think it has an "L" written on it - based upon how the word "pantry" is slanted - or it could be a "V")?

Thanks! I tried to do scale before but messed up the length of the one wall. Here is a closer scale version.eith measurements.

Here is a photo of couch wall.

Here is a screen from a pano picture of the kitchen.

Closet is a coat closet, near the entry.

L is laundry and garage access.

You should get feedback on here from @JAN MOYER @Diana Bier Interiors, LLC and other pros who are great at kitchen space planning.

Why are you not using this entire red outlined space as your kitchen area? Why are you limiting yourself to the current, confined layout? The pantry is a far walk, you can get wider aisles, and more storage in here. It seems you are throwing money at what you are already used to instead of actually making an improvement.

Lazy Susan is an option I suppose but I hate the corner folding doors.

I HATE corner folding doors too. The lazy Susan cabinet we had made had the door in a fixed position and you pushed it to access the contents, like in the pictures below. Ours was incredibly sturdy. We had a heavy LeCrusset dutch oven, glass nesting bowls, blender, and other heavy objects in there. Everything was so easily and quickly accessible.

I'm not sure why people on houzz are so against them.

I'd also be concerned about dictating the measurements of a new kitchen based on an 8 year old fridge unless it is a subzero tank destined for a long life.

Totally agree with everything Kendra said. This may mean you have to wait until you've saved up more money so you can both get rid of the soffits and expand the kitchen significantly. I'd also considering replacing the floors with something more current throughout this level . As a potential stop gap measure, you could see above removing the current island and replacing it with a portable one that could be placed further away from the wall (provided that could work with current flooring and any electrical on the island).

I agree that we are open to upgrading the fridge if we can do so in a way that will improve the layout, but I'm not hearing that it would.

As for the window/couch wall, the windows take up most of the wall and start from 20" off the ground. Anything on that wall aside from a small 67" buffet (which I think would look strange) seems like it would require major changes to the windows/exterior wall. I had thought about a narrow 15”deep bank of cabinets/counter a long the 102” wall on the way to the pantry.

The kitchen is over 40 years old and is barely functioning, so a temporary fix doesn't feel like a good choice either, although I understand all the points raised so far.

I worked up two layouts, but unfortunately your latest measurements do not match up with your original measurements, so I will need to re-work them. In the meantime, do you have a fully-measured layout of the existing walls, windows, doors, & doorways and the distances between each wall, window, door, & doorway? Not cabinet measurements, actual wall, etc. measurements.

Sink centering? If the sink is in front of a one- or three-section window, then centering it will work. However, if it's a two-section window, then unless you like looking at the center divider/stile instead of out the window, don't center it on the window overall, center it on one of the sections. Our new house, unfortunately, has a 2-section window with the sink centered on it and when at the sink I stare at the black center divider, not out the window. Your layout shows a 2-section window, so I strongly recommend either (1) making it one big window or a 3-section window or (2) center the sink on the left window.

You need dish storage near the DW - skip the open shelves. With open shelves, you need to constantly be cleaning to remove dust & gunk as well as be mindful of how cluttered or chaotic your items look. Open shelves are best for curated collections and display b/c just anything will look cluttered and make your Kitchen look cluttered overall. IF you use every item every day or two, cleaning may not be much of an issue (although you will need to frequently dust the shelves). Dust accumulates quickly and gunk will form (gunk = steam + grease + dust + human/pet hair + whatever else is floating around the Kitchen), especially with an undersized hood like you show.

Ideally, the hood should be at least 6" wider than the cooking appliance and 24" deep to adequately capture and hold FOGSS (fumes, odors, grease, smoke, steam). While flanking the hood with cabinets will help corral FOGSS, it will mean more gunk on the cabinet sides. It's best to go with a wider hood with a bit of "breathing room" b/w the cabinets and hood - usually at least 3". The "breathing room" also gives you room to clean the sides of the hoods.

The 12" pantry cabinet - while I agree you will lose space, I suggest, instead, you make it a Utility/Broom "closet" with pegboard along one side that holds a broom dustpan, swifter, etc. That way, you can utilize more space. You mentioned you have pantry storage elsewhere, so using this as a Utility "closet" seems to make more sense given the narrow size of the cabinet. Consider adding an outlet to the cabinet if you have something that needs to re-charge (e.g., dustbuster/hand vacuum). [FYI, I'm partial to reach-in/step-in/walk-in pantries over a pantry cabinet. I like a separate pantry with shelves that allow me to use the entire space – floor-to-ceiling – for storage. I also like being able to see what I have in one sweep of my eyes rather than opening/closing doors and/or ROTS and/or drawers.]

What about the Closet? Could it be re-purposed as a Pantry? It would bring it closer to the Kitchen than the current pantry.

You don't show your current refrigerator – is it a full-depth refrigerator? If so, then for now build an alcove to fit a future 36"W counter-depth refrigerator. The opening should be between 36.5" and 37" wide x 72" high with a full-depth cabinet above. That size will allow you to have options in the future and shouldn't cause an issues. Smaller openings will be a constraint when it comes time for new refrigerator. Height is key as well. I was only able to find one freezer short enough for the alcove the previous owners had built because the alcove was too short. (I was looking for a larger freezer since it's the only freezer in the house – the refrigerator in the Kitchen was/is only a refrigerator, not a normal ref/freezer, so I needed a full-freezer!)

(I assume you know that a counter-depth refrigerator is around 30" to 32" deep when accounting for the doors, handles, and required air clearance behind the refrigerator. Only the refrigerator box is counter-depth. The doors must extend out past the counters, walls, cabinets, etc., to be able to be opened fully.)

Regarding a corner solution...First off, a blind corner is the last thing I would put in because it can become an issue with access even with the swing outs. With the swing outs, if anything falls off, you will need to retrieve it before being able to close it. Our KD told us you will need to "send a small child into the cabinet to retrieve the fallen item". While it was said in jest, she had very good point.

As to a corner susan, I agree with Kendrah! I also prefer the ones that have the "door" that pushes into the cabinet. Yes, it has a center pole, but you can still fit a lot in it! In our previous home's original Kitchen, I fit all my post & pans and several oversize serving dishes in that lazy susan! It can also be used for small appliances. The nice thing is that items are always easily accessed – just rotate the shelves until what you want is in front – then easily lift out. Note that most of today's lazy susans have back/side walls that closely follow the contour of the shelves so nothing can fall off the shelves. (See Kendrah's example above.)

The ones that have no poles are called super susans - they consist of a turntable on a fixed shelf and the doors are piano hinged doors. There's no center pole to impede the horizontal space, but you lose vertical space b/c now you have both a shelf and a turntable instead of just a rotating shelf. (See example below.)

Another option is to void the corner and have drawer bases flanking the voided corner. Others have put in corner drawers, but I think it does waste space and the drawers are an odd shape, but they work for some people. (You mentioned you don't like a voided corner, so I assume you don't like that option - but it does give you more drawer space and, therefore, more easily accessible and functional space than a blind corner cabinet.)

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Super Susan:

You can gain counter space and wider base cabinet space by using a 24" sink base and 24" sink with interior dimensions of 21" wide by 17" or so deep front to back. The sink base you show in your layout drawing was likely 36" because of a double bowl sink more common 40 years ago. A 24" single bowl has enough space to wash anything used in a kitchen. And you need the space gained for higher priority functions. You gain15" of counter and 12" of cabinet width. Cut down an Amazon box or tape one together 21 x 17 x 9inches deep. See the capacity. It's large enough for this size kitchen.

Continuing with the max function theme, the coat closet drawn in your existing floorplan - I'd incorporate that valuable space into the range/frig run in a heartbeat. The work zones around the range are too small. They'd get maybe 30" added space. Plus, that added width means wider drawer base cabinets for pot/pan and other kitchen machines your husband would prefer to have on hand. A 36" hood would be easier to fit in over the range.

I'd like to offer a money saving option to your custom cabinet budget allocation. Ikea has light European Oak complete options in the Vedhamn line. Made in Hungary. There are standard sizes. I think you could work with that.

These match the European Oak engineered wide hardwood flooring every flooring supplier is offering.

@Buehl, see attached. Does this have what you need?

Yes, thanks! Just checking, but is it 150" or 144"? that's where I saw a discrepancy b/w the first layouts and the later, existing one.

I will use this one - it's actually close to what I had.

Sorry 150 confirmed, I think the difference is related to the (current) spacing around the fridge and stove units that makes the total sum of cabinet measurements less than the full length of the wall.