A swing door instead of the bi-fold for the pantry would allow easier access. A temporary fix while you “live” with this before more investing.

I agree with wsea to live in it awhile. When we moved into our "new to us" house in 2019, I was itching to update the kitchen and had all kinds of ideas. But we ended up living in the house for 2+ years before actually doing our reno. And I am SO GLAD we waited, because once we knew how we lived, we made better (and different!) decisions about the changes we wanted.

Best to post a plan with all dimensions. In addition to living with it and then budgeting I would be trying my hardest to find out what venting situation you have (just recirculating or is it vented out?). If there are venting limitations that will drive any plan modifications.

Thank you so much for your comments. We are out of town & I just had a chance to get back. I really don't know how to use this website, so I am learning. I have a floor plan, but the measurements will be difficult for me to organize. We have lived here since May of '25.

Additional pictures are added here. I will organize all measurements later. Cabinets are all standard sizes with some filler pieces in places.

The venting situation is non-existent.( a microwave fan) There is a 13 " x 5 1/2" walled area above microwave. No idea what it is. There is a bathroom above. Above the cabs is 11" of space. Behind the stove/fridge area is a room off the garage that contains old gas & vent pipes for water heater (now gone). The door from the garage is left of the pantry. It'

s definitely a pinch point, but no room for a swing door.

thinkdesignlive, I think any real venting is a problem. This is a free standing 2 story condo with brick & stucco exterior on the window side. The range side is bounded by the garage, sink side by the front hallway & glass cabs by the great room walls. There is a loft above the kitchen ceiling area. H.O.A. approval required on exterior. I am working on drawing all measurements right now.

course 411, thinkdesignlive, valinta, wsea. .Here are the kitchen measurements. I am not at home, so I have no materials for drawing. The proportions are not great, but the measurements are pretty accurate. I will be out for a couple of hrs, but can answer ?'s when I return.

wsea, I would like to move the kitchen sink to the peninsula wall & remove peninsula I think. Having enough flooring would drive that & labor cost. I measured & wondered if I could shift sink cab, sink & dishwasher to peninsula wall, removing peninsula, then take the 36" cab on sink side of the peninsula & move it to former sink area. The only area that I can't account for in any way would be 24" to the right of the sink & dishwasher on that peninsula wall. I could reuse cabs that way. Sophie would have called that "lipstick on a pig", but that does not bother me if it could be done.

We have entertained several times since we moved, plus Thanksgiving & Christmas. I have a pretty good idea of what does not work: the current prep area between the sink & the stove; small aisle space between fridge and peninsula; the 9 1/2" knee space at peninsula; the sink that is visible from the great room dining table; uncomfortable kitchen table chairs & stools, lack of storage; counters that look bad with the white cabinets (that are damaged beside the stove), 2 dead end corner cabinets, no coat area near kitchen & lack of drawers. The list is long. Probable won't spend the $ to fix it all, but looking to see what can be done.

The minimum needed is new counters, sink, faucet and storage.

1. What do you mean by storage? New cabinets? Please clarify.

2. I know where I'm going when I run out of grape nuts.

I would want cabinets to the ceiling and all those lower cabinets changed to drawers, so I would take my time to design, plan and budget for a bigger project, which would be worth the wait for me. In my previous house I used the kitchen as it was, for 7 years before I gutted the whole thing. Didn't spend a penny on it during that time. I did remodel 4.5 bathrooms in those 7 years!

Thanks for sharing the photos.Your kitchen is very clean and functional, but I can see why storage and workflow feel tight. The cabinets look like standard height uppers and the pantry is more of a closet-style space, so you’re losing a lot of vertical and deep storage potential.

A few ideas that could make a big difference without changing exterior walls:

1.Consider taller upper cabinets (stacked uppers or ceiling-height cabinets) to gain vertical storage and make the kitchen feel more custom.
2.Replace the wire pantry shelving with built-in pantry cabinets or deeper adjustable shelves. Pull-out pantry drawers would dramatically improve usability.
3.If possible, borrowing a bit of space from the adjacent closet/mudroom for tall pantry cabinets could create a more walk-in pantry feel.
4.Adding more deep drawers in base cabinets can greatly improve daily cooking workflow.
5.Lighting upgrades (under-cabinet and ceiling) can modernize the space quickly without major renovation.

If you’re open to it, I’d be happy to sketch a couple layout ideas based on your floor plan to show how the pantry and cabinet layout could be optimized.

I can sketch a quick layout idea for free.

Kendrah, Felix & Chispa. I am open to all ideas. The pantry is tight. Right now it has immovable solid shelves & is under the steps to upstairs. We added the 2 wire shelves which are adjustable for at least some storage. Adding custom shallow cabs on either side of window area a thought. Maybe adding shallow cab on wall to the left of garage door (which does not show in pics) is a thought. The laundry is behind that wall. Current lower cabs in peninsula have some pull out shelves. We added a rev-a-shelf pull-out to one. Kendrah, hubby loves that cereal. Can you tell they had a sale? Half the time, the grocery is out!

Continuing on the storage topic. Chispa, tall uppers would look great. We are getting an estimate now on that, with no change in appliance placement (as a starting cost point). The current cabs really aren't reachable/barely reachable as it is, so I'm not sure that is worth the $. We are thinking seriously about that change. More drawers would be fab. What width are best? The only 36" cabs now are the sink & one under peninsula. Also, the way those glass cabs open is hard to reach. I've already damaged one hinge. We love the look of the glass cabs though.

We are considering all possibilities right now: new cabs, or some added custom ones, or other more limited choices (like just new counter & sink/tile). Floor plan changes have to be made from current box of flooring, as flooring is not on the plan. Apparently, their previous range was wider, as there are two chunks of granite missing on both front edges. We are used to one large sink, so we are already tired of this divided one. The range is Samsung glass top radiant electric with touch screen oven & timer control. Quite awful! We prefer induction & no more touch screens! That range is a change we may or may not make. It really depends on overall costs.

Chispa, you are right about current cabs. Nothing is custom. Basic sizes with a few filler pieces. Half size shelves in the back of most lower cabinets. Can those be taken out?

It looks like you may have a vent above your stove/microwave. If you look inside the cabinet above the microwave what do you see? If it’s there then a proper range hood could be installed instead of the over the range microwave.

We replaced our 30“ wall cabinets with 36” and can’t believe how much easier it is to fit things on the roomier shelves. Also the ~ 6” left was easy to finish up to the ceiling for a built in look.

If you put a 24” deep cabinet over your refrigerator and have a matching panel on the open to cabinet side it will look more built in and give you extra storage space.

Replacing your bookshelf and small wall side cabinet on your peninsula would give you room for three stools.

Look at Barker and Conestoga for custom made in USA RTA cabinets. The assembly isn't hard and it should be a little more economical. Nice house!

mojavemaria, thank you for the suggestions. We are not handy, so we will have to buy ready-made cabs. The bookshelves house our plastic & glass storage containers. It's a sorry situation, but there is no place else to put them right now.I. bought a spring rod to hang some fabric until we could make a plan. As you can see, I never got it done. The holidays came before I could buy the fabric. I will check the back of the microwave cab when I get home Feb 1.

Which area are you located in? We have stock available in our warehouse.

chispa, based on our measurements, where would you place each appliance? (Remembering our flooring situation)

Kendrah, yes, all new cabinets are being considered. Also the possibility of adding cabinets on the back side of the laundry room wall to the right of the breakfast table and .moving appliances. I would like to decide the best placement for appliances, knowing venting is probably a problem and only one box of flooring for repair. We have a crawl space under the floor.

Do you have a "cleaner" layout with measurements? The latest one posted is very confusing and difficult to decipher. It also appears to be missing some key measurements, although it's not easy to tell b/c of all the notations/extra comments.

A layout with only measurements - no cabinets, appliances, etc., would be much easier for us to work with. See the Featured Answer in the "New to Kitchens? Read Me First!" thread to find out how to create a fully-measured layout.

Since your budget is 30-40K, I'm assuming changing the Dining window and taking down walls b/w the Kitchen and very large Living Room are off the table.

I was going to suggest looking into IKEA b/c they have very nice budget-friendly cabinets. However, you said you don't want DIY. IKEA cabinets aren't that difficult to assemble and install, but it's up to you.

• Thank you Beuhl. I will get better drawings for you. I am away this week, but can possiby redo this p.m. Sadly, I don't anticipate moving walls/windows. We have been there 8 months, so I have had time to dislike several things in that kitchen. The upper cabs are ok except for corner. Some lower are ok with pullouts, but the 2 dead ends are awful. Glass front cabs are hard to reach. Least liked items are the divided sink, counters with chunks missing at front range corners & top dislike the prep space between range & sink. We have loved the great room. (Formal dining table on kitchen side of wall & LR seating near fireplace).

Buehl, h

ere is a better perimeter drawing with measurements.

May I ask which area you are located in? If you’d like, I can prepare a floor plan and a 3D rendering for you.

Can you suggest the best appliance arrangement given unchanging walls and window? Also, no real good venting situation. We do not fry or do wok cooking. We will buy an induction range with no touch screens on the front, hopefully. We do need a microwave somewhere.

Kendrah, If you saw my comments above, the lower cabinets have poor accessibility for storage & also the upper corner cabinet. Four lower cabinets have those half shelves, so basic builder cabinets. The lack of space between the range & the sink are the biggest pinch point. Do you have thoughts on the best appliance placement?