SFGate

Denise Marchand An L-shaped kitchen doesn't always get you more storage. There are a few tricks I see. 12" deep closets floor to ceiling with adjustable shelves can store almost anything. The doors should be full height and pivot hinges so that it is almost invisible. Add one to the powder room common wall and bring out the wall at the existing pantry to align. (Which will give you a walk-in pantry). Then in the dining room do the same on the wall that continues the kitchen. Wall to wall, ceiling to floor. Get creative with a serving height cutout, with a mirror behind the cutout and a stone top. (The dining room storage will be for the pieces you don't use often, serving platters, extra glassware, linens, even that stock pot). Now, it's too bad you need all that space for a mud room. Can you extend the door area to align with the back of the house? If so, you can create more storage on the common wall to the stairs. I would have the closet go from the back door and wrap around (a L closet) and put the bench at the end going into the great room. Don' t forget to get creative with the doors and finishes on the closets. Not knowing your style, you can go very simple or go crazy with old antique moroccan doors on some of the doors. Believe me, you will not feel closed in and even notice all those closets when they are completed! Good luck!

Dytecture A simple gesture would be to move the pantry doors forward to it doubles the size of the pantry.

Rebecca H Thanks for both comments - definitely food for thought! Moving pantry doors out makes perfect sense! ....would still like to add to the kitchen to minimize wasted floor space.

Our style is contemporary - looking to hide any clutter as much as possible.
The foot print is maxed out for the plot so unfortunately we cannot extend the door area out. The reason for the larger mudroom and stair configuration is so we can have a "private" entrance to the basement so we can use it as a granny suite.
Can't quite see what you mean about the powder room common wall and the dining room wall - will have to re-read!

Aggie Purvinska I agree with Dytecture, you can also add another sleek storage unit at the entire length of the powder room wall...

Denise Marchand Common powder room wall: In other words, when you move the panty doors forward, add a closet on the powder room wall facing the kitchen. Both closets will line up. I love classic contemporary also. In the dining room, on the wall where you would normally put a "china closet", build out that entire wall with 18" deep storage. Don't let it just be one flat wall system. Add niches. The one I like best is one that is 72"wide x 18" deep x 18" high (positioned 33" to 35" off the floor) to create a serving area.

rinqreation I totally agree with Dytecture and Aggie.

Rebecca H Thank you for your ideas. It helps having fresh eyes! We'll extend the pantry and I like the idea of a wall of shallow units as Denise suggested. :)

EasyClosets You can also remove the pantry doors, if that's a style you're interested in. If you're looking to hide clutter and increase your storage, our EasyClosets pantry systems are great. You can design the layout yourself and it'll be custom cut to fit any tricky spaces you have. In addition to the pantry, exposed shelving along the kitchen-facing powder room wall would work well too for kitchen storage. http://www.easyclosets.com/

lefty47 HI -- I would NOT make an L shaped counter ,- that would cut the room in half for sure . You didn't say more storage for what -- like do you need more pantry space or just general storage for household things or decor items ,-what ? Is this going to built or is it already there ? The kitchen plan shows two end walls - can those be removed - there's space . You could continue storage down and around the fireplace .You could add shallow storage on the powder room wall . If you made it the same color as the wall then it won't take up visual space . You could make the stairwell cabinet a little deeper . The island could also be a foot longer . If the house is yet to be built then I would make changes to the floor plan . If you need more kitchen storage , - then I would NOT have the kitchen in the smallest most narrow part of the space . I would open the whole place up so the kitchen isn't cutting the space in half . I would put the dining where the kitchen is . Then the kitchen would go at the back and have the living room at the front . With the living and dining in the front part that opens the whole place up and it will look even bigger and that should make more storage in the kitchen .

annmarie2 I agree with Lefty47 - swap the kitchen and dining spaces. We did that in our last condo and it worked beautifully. That way the light is coming into a room you're in more often, and the walk through area is not used as often.

If you do that, you could have the kitchen be a big L-shape along the two long walls, with an island in the middle. You get loads more wall space that way, and therefore more storage space.