I had that exact problem! I went to Urban Ore and bought a window shutter set that was already hinged together. After a little spraypaint it looked great. I added hooks to it and hung up our cooking utensils within easy reach of the stove. Good luck!

I think painting is a lot easier than moving a gas line. Just repaint when you move out.

You just need to embrace the exposed water heater and work with it. Go with a utilitarian aesthetic in the kitchen...think Terence Conran. Put some Ikea Grundtal shelves up above the stove and a nice plant above the fridge, you won't even be bothered by the water heater after a while.

Could we have a picture of the entire room? Or at least have a diagram of the layout? It's impossible to tell from that little picture what your options are.

It's kinda tough to give completely useful ideas without seeing the rest of the room...
...but you could go to the home reuse/resale store and get a couple of used doors, hinge them together, and create a screen to at least close off the waterheater from the rest of the room.

How about wrapping a piece of corrugated metal around it, then going with the industrial look throughout?

I feel your pain. Oakland apparently hates cooking, because I too live here, and have a terrible kitchen layout.

For the water heater, I would find a nice wooden screen, or find a cheap paper one with a sturdy frame and replace the paper with pegboard so you can actually make use of the new "wall" space.

Can you move the fridge farther away from the water heater? Even a foot can make a huge difference, and you can stick a little table there for extra counter space.

Without moving the gas line, there's not a lot you can do about the fridge/stove issue, but you can minimize it's effect on your cooking by laying out all of your ingredients, etc before you begin; if you have a kitchen cart or a conveniently located kitchen table, just put everything out on it so you don't have to fish in the fridge while cooking.

I think a lot of the awkwardness comes from the refrigerator doors opening the way they do. Would it be possible to reverse them? (I know many modern fridges can be set up to open either way; yours looks like an older model though.)

Ditto on reversing the fridge doors. If there's no rearranging, at least you can make the fridge open towards the counter space.

It's hard to tell from the small picture but a movable partition is a good start. I'd paint it with chalkboard paint and use utensil rails.

hi thanks for all the advice!

here is a quick layout diagram i made:

http://hphotos-snc1.fbcdn.net/hs215.snc1/8222_1165476230188_1626382064_454839_6251879_n.jpg

another big problem with the awkwardness is that every time i think, oh i can just move the fridge to the right, there is a door that opens right to it's right! same with moving the stove any farther to the left; the landlord has converted a built in ironing board into a spice rack. handy, but it's so tall that you can't even put the smallest table underneath it.

Wow, I wonder if the place you are leasing is up to code...

I third reversing the fridge door if you can.

Changing a gas line is rather expensive, and your landlord may not want to do that. All the suggestions about enclosing the water heater sound like good ones, I have my waterheater surrounded by three louvered doors hinged together, which allow free air flow but make it less "ugly".

One possibility would be to move the fridge so it was blocking the cabinet to the right of it, depending on how much you have stored in that cabinet, and how much space you can free up by moving things around, it would look a bit odd, but allow a bit of breathing room between the appliances.

My only other suggestion is if it is possible to move the fridge out of the kitchen into an adjacent room...I know that sounds odd, but if there is a really close spot nearby it is not as inconvenient as it sounds. We once lived in a place where the fridge was in the utility room next to the kitchen, and it worked really well.

You don't want to move the stove. But you can easily move the fridge to another area/room. Fridges plug in to regular wall outlets.

Six bucks will get you some appliance/furniture glides:
http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-64147/Detail

$13.00 will get you a magnetic towel bar for the side of the fridge (measure fridge depth):
http://www.meijer.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=32548&CAWELAID=317664987

Use that with a curtain, once you have moved the fridge. You can do it on both sides. So it's not so "fridgy".

For the water heater, how about shutters?:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UzzxBNks74c/Se5SiL-XFgI/AAAAAAAAGYc/rsJBGqhoV1c/s400/SHUTTER HEADBOARD.jpg

One over the water heater, the wall next to the stove, and then that small space on the wall behind the stove BEFORE reaching the stove.

UrbanOre might have something:
http://urbanore.ypguides.net/page/o0zo/Retail_Departments.html

Your created image is probably not to scale, but realize there should be a 36" space between counters and appliances or counters and other counters.

I haven't checked it against CA Code, but here is the reference:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Building-Codes-Inspections-3546/Kitchen-island-cabinet-wall.htm

Ok I'm going to be unpopular, but... would you be willing to spend $1,000 to be very happy!! Propose to the landlord to go TANKless!!! you can leave the vent where it is, and it can hang high up on the wall and is way cheaper. If the landlord pays for gas they may go for it, if you pay gas the saving will even out in a couple of years and it's better for the environment. GO for it.. and then you can have way more floor storge space. see here!
US TAX CREDIT!!!!Water heater clunker incentive

Homeowners who purchase and install a qualifying tankless water heater between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2010 will now be eligible for a tax credit equal to 30% of the full purchase and installation price up to a maximum of $1500.

here is a good brand on ebay costs $789 - not sure if too big - go to a plumbing supply house ask questions- tell them how big current heater is and how many people use and how many bathrooms
see:
http://cgi.ebay.com/RINNAI-R75LSi-NATURAL-GAS-TANKLESS-WATER-HEATER-7-5-GPM_W0QQitemZ160360055119QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item255634414f&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

a metal pegboard panel, custom-sized and painted at an automotive paint shop for an even, durable finish.

you would have to figure out how to mount it, attach it to the jutting wall, or suspend it from the ceiling, but it could also be a very useful storage spot with pegboard hooks.

http://www.carguygarage.com/two16by32inm.html

it would hide that corner, make it appear to be a planned wall, and it would be fire-safe and ventilated.

http://www.wallcontrol.com/Index.htm?gclid=CML3h6TC2ZwCFQRM5Qods1wuLg

and this was another online store i found when i searched for metal pegboard.

DUDE! I feel your pain: (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ynV-TojWZ8QbdhuZQFM-sg?feat=directlink)

i am not a craft girl, nor am i a rich girl. i looked online forever for peg boards and folding screens and it was all so much more than i could afford at the time. If I had a car I would have gone to urban ore like someone suggested, but alas, i did not. so ultimately, i didn't do much at all. I hung a plant above it, i put magnetic poetry on it, i put my spice rack and some other things on top of it, and then i just looked away. i know complacency is not the answer you are looking for, but ultimately, i got over it. i don't really notice it at all anymore and when i do, its sort of just funny.
if you figure out a solution, please let me know! in fact, i dont know you, but if you need some random assistance or muscle, i would seriously come over and help. for real.

why anyone isn't cashing in on this problem by making cheap metal folding screens and selling them for profit, is beyond me.
good luck!!
Lily

fyi, tankless hot water heaters are not necessarily better for the environment because they take a HUGE amount of electricity to generate hot water. some experts say that at best tankless vs. tank is a wash environmentally.... now if you have a major space problem that might be a good enough reason to go tankless. you should check with people who live with them... they are less than perfect in delivering hot water on demand.