Hi everyone, sorry for the delay in replying! So many thoughtful suggestions, thank you. I haven't yet got around to taping out the kitchen, boundsgreener, but I hope too soon. Even just pacing it out has made me realise you're all right, there's no way a G shape will work. The space at the sink surrounded by the benches would be less than one metre. So that's good to realise now! I can't do banquet seating as there's a window behind the table. The wall behind the buffet unit is structural so we can't remove it (and I'd imagine it might get expensive too!) So what I'm thinking now is more a revamp/update with the current layout, but still moving the fridge across and creating a pantry, plus an appliances garage (love that term!) in the corner. Oven, sink and dishwasher in the same spots. This will still give more room for dining as the fridge won't be taking up space on that side of the kitchen. I'm now worried about losing the bench space that the buffet unit gives us, though. It was going to be offset by the extra G shape, but as that's gone and there won't be any room for the buffet (though I'd love to keep it as an island on wheels, hazzaran!) there will be less bench space than before. I like the idea about a wooden benchtop to save money, Pazz, but is it practical? Won't it get lots of bacteria in it? I'd still love some natural stone in there somewhere, and was thinking of those beautiful hexagon marble tiles they have on the Block. That might be cheaper than a caesarstone benchtop! I am not a big fan of laminate, though, for some reason it always really looks really plasticy to me. Thanks again for all your great advice and for helping avert a layout disaster! I really appreciate all the advice.

Hi tashnmitch, I know you like the island, everyone likes the island, but I'll have to agree with mattban and haephestus here, I'm afraid the galley kitchen isn't going to work or be very practical... Besides the point raised above about not enough room between the island seats and the stacker door, there are other spacing issues. 1. You've got just over 1m between the island and the cabinetry/bench where the stove top is, restricting passage particularly when say dishwasher is open, etc (or oven, but I imagine the oven would be in a tower) 2. Island with sinks in them usually require to be a bit wider than 900mm as you need at least 550mm for the sink itself, otherwise it doesn't leave much comfortable space for eating if seated behind the sink 3. If you currently have a full pantry as it stands, just be aware that you're reducing your pantry space by more than half, personally wouldn't compromise on storage 4. I would prefer an island looking at the open plan, just personal pref as I like to watch tv from the kitchen :) but more importantly ideally shouldn't it be the ppl seated at the island looking out? Anyway, just some food for thought, I'm sure you'll work something out and what works best for you, but I would personally consider haephestus suggestion which is on the right track in my opinion... ... very wide galley kitchen with benchtop to the pantry along the exterior wall and bi-fold window with servery to outdoor area... Good luck :)

Thanks for the good ideas. Val - yes we are planning a moveable island/table - didn't put it in the diagram as we are planning to get it after the reno but perhaps should have it there to give better picture of our plan. We are thinking a timber topped bar style table, 900 high, 1200 long and 800 wide. It'll be dual purpose - flush with benchtops for extra prep space, and a snug table for 4 (on bar chairs). Louie and Kate - thanks for the fridge tip. I was playing with this and preferred the look of the fridge inside which seemed more 'built in', but can see the point about a slight blocking of the pantry with its greater depth. One related question - if the fridge was on the outside, do you think an end panel (as in Louie's pic) is essential? With every mm literally counting, it would help save 16mm or so to not have this, but would it be an issue to have the side of the fridge exposed? Kate - re micro height, it's another good point. We chucked our current micro and were waiting to reno to replace...and have found that we hardly miss it. So we aren't even sure we need one, but thought a compromise was to have the shelving about 650 above the benchtop to allow for micro but not effect benchtop space. This would be at a similar height to ones that people sometimes have over cooktops. But agree that it would be a bit impractical for regular use of the microwave. Perhaps it's worth lowering at least 100-150mm? One final question - perhaps should be separate post. What is the thinking on minimum width next to cooktop? Of course ideally you would have 400 or 500 or more.....but in our small space, we have a reasonable space to the right of the cooktop, but only 200mm to the left. Then again have seen kitchens, especially with freestanding stoves, that have no space on one side (ie cooktop at end). In some ways this would be better for us as we could have 800 wide drawers, rather than 600 wide, then oven, then 200 wide mini drawers.....but thought it might be better to have the small 200 benchtop space on the other side of cooktop than none at all. Thoughts? Thanks again for the good ideas!

i'm glad you're planning to reroute access to the garage: clumsy traffic pattern change a generous room into a big hallway and can't stop thinking about your kitchen..1. where you have narrow cabinets/shelves in the pantry...it's possible to have built in shelves inside the dividing wall (think about the size of what you want to store: cans, bottles, skinny packets? and put 60cm base cabinets on the other side, next to the freezer 2. i can't see the yellow highlights for stools 3. width of pantry is subject to you wanting to keep the door to the formal living room...if so, measure 150mm past the door opening and that's the minimum width of the pantry but 1500mm allows space to comfortably walk past your freezer and have full size base cabinets with pantry drawers (cleaner than open shelves) 4. space between the b'fast bar and 'fridge should be at least 90cm but if you choose a wide b'fast bar and a big 'fridge a bigger space is preferable (stand a couple of chairs 90cm in front of your current fridge for a few days and see how it feels) direction of fridge door opening is also critical, first for the cooks and then everyone else: if the size of the b'fast bar can be enlarged or reduced with overhanging counter then a change of walkway is not so difficult 5. as suggested by girlguide, the cooktop and rangehood might be better on the outside wall for ventilation 6. there seems to be a lot of small cabinets and drawers in your plan and there could be some better (and cheaper) combinations but when i tried to access IKEA kitchen planner to confirm available sizes it's not responding today 7. i've attached my suggested approximate base cabinet sizes: starting with corners and work outwards, aiming for the biggest standard carcases and then add drawers to suit purpose ..