If R is a commutative Noetherian ring and I is a nonzero ideal of R, it is known that R+I[x] is a Noetherian ring exactly when I is idempotent, and so, when R is a domain, I = R and R has identity. In this paper, the noncommutative analogues of these results, and the corresponding ones for power series rings, are proved. In the general case, the ideal I must satisfy the idempotent condition that TI = T for each right ideal T of R contained in I. It is also shown that when every ideal of R satisfies this condition, and when R satisfies the descending chain condition on right annihilators, R must be a finite direct sum of simple rings with identity.