I'm curious why you put all the appliances on the stairwell, when you want to keep it open?

How about if you put the appliances (using a 24" range) on the right wall? I might skip the DW in favor of a stack of drawers.

Have you priced custom cabinets? If you have, and they would be our of the question, you could use deep (15") upper cabinets as base cabinets. Not as convenient as drawers, to be sure, but being shallow means that everything is readily accessible. I would give you uninterrupted counter space, a 39" aisle, and a reasonably priced solution.

The sink is already plumbed to the noted location, meaning that side of the kitchen is the full depth side, the refrigerator is already in that spot (and it is really the least interference spot), not to mention any hot plate against the wall would require additional space above, loosing additional wall cabinets. There is also a window, which a cooking range or a refrigerator wouldn't be good against. I hear your idea for saving money, but in my opinion, it would be low value to me to have a 39" aisle and 15" cabinets... too much aisle for a tiny kitchen and would mean you'd lose uppers. Anyhow, that's my logic (possibly flawed), but I appreciate the idea and will continue to chew on it.