Apartment Layout Question - Kitchen is a problem!

[Matt Kvalheim]

Hello, I have an apartment building under contract and I have just toured the units.  The unts are small - under 500 sq ft - but they are livable, but there is a glaring problem.  The kitchen is fairly small, and the current owners have placed the stove right in front of the sink.  There is about 10 inches separating the counter top where the sink is located from the stove, so a tenant would not be able to stand directly in front of their sink when using it.  They would have to lean over from the side.  

This is more than an oddity to me - it makes the sink and the kitchen essentially dysfunctional.  There are 26 units, so it won't be cheap to relocate either the sink or the stove (there isn't much room to maneuver in there anyway, but I have some ideas).  

What do you think?  Is this a deal breaker?

[Ken Quagliata]

Do you have a layout of the existing conditions that you can post?