Don't put a stool there! Find a tiny little bookshelf that will just fit in the space underneath - that way you can't tell that there's supposed to be that extra space there?!

Looks like you have set yourself a challenge. What are your goals with opening up the space? Are you limited with moving plumbing etc. by slab? Have you considered stove with under bench oven in central island bench with overhead range hood. Leave sink/fridge layout as is. Can you then fit narrow cupboards for dishes etc. along the wall of the meals area where aircon is. Having some measurements for window location/size would be helpful. Hopefully this will bump your post and some designers will chip in their ideas...

Hi SonaandDi, In case you haven't come across it, here is the link to my finished kitchen: https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/5598603/renovation-of-our-1956-red-brick-triple-fronted-home-all-done This layout has the potential for issues, but I tried to factor those in by noting where the fridge doors came to when fully opened. I should have allowed a little more width for the fridge gap, as the theory didn't quite translate in practice: on the plans I allowed the minimum of 20mm either side of fridge, but ended up with only about 13mm (was not fun getting the fridge in!). So my suggestion is to make sure there is 50mm either side of fridge. eg the fridge space is 1000mm wide for french door fridge around the 900mm mark. Even so, my doors do open fully (vegie drawers slide out unobstructed), as the doors themselves sit forward of the nib wall on the right. If your fridge space is wider, you won't need to sit the fridge out the full thickness of the doors, which may look more streamlined. But make sure you allow for 50mm space at the back of fridge. This will decide the depth of your nib wall. I calculated mine as 50mm plus the depth of the fridge to the start of the doors. You might prefer to make it a bit deeper, as the doors have more room to open due to the extra width of the space. It isn't annoying having the door opening over the pantry entry. It isn't often that someone wants to get to the pantry at the exact moment someone else opens the fridge. Even if that happened, you could get past if you couldn't wait: Good luck with your renovation! Because you can't be on site, I would always factor in more wiggle room. Let me know if I can help with any more info - I could talk about this stuff all day long!

Congrats on the new home. Very exciting. As an experienced unpacker (we move every 2-3 years), the trick for organising is to stand in the space, consider how you will do things (ie imagine you’re cooking dinner, cleaning up, getting a drink etc) and, using sticky notes, decide where the easiest placement of kitchen utensils will be. You might, at this first stage, have six items that would be best in one cupboard. That’s normal. Choose the one(s) that you use most often, then with this in mind, redo the process. And be prepared to throw the whole system out after you’ve been in the house for a month or so Houses have a strange way of encouraging us to adapt to them no matter how intellectual/consistent/prepared we think we are