Have you considered changing where the kitchen is? For example can you build onto the back of the dining room? Then you can put the kitchen up there in the new addition. I'd think that if you're planning on adding on space, you might want to start thinking outside the box as to where you can change the placement of the dining room, kitchen and family room. It may give you more and better options. Or how about moving the kitchen to where you're planning on putting the family room addition? Additionally do you need a formal, separate dining room or could you incorporate it into a kitchen/great room/ dining space? I would first think in terms of not what you have right now, but how you live your lives. If you only use the dining room a couple of times a year, you might be better served with a smaller island, and the dining table where you can all use it and enjoy it daily; in your great room/kitchen/dining area.

Pretty standard stuff. Respectfully, no. This is all high-end and oversized. The appliances don't seem to be drawn to scale Yeah, that's the first thing that caught my eye. If you're going with this oversized refrigerator, I like this layout -- it keeps all your storage on one end of the kitchen, and small appliances around the corner just makes sense; you don't pull them out every day. sprnkles, you're the fellow planning a very large family, No, in his other thread he says they have one child and may have 1-2 more. Average-sized family. New topics: I don't think you're going to like the clean-up sink at the far end of the kitchen. Look at the picture above -- the red line represents the pathway you'd take to bring a single plate or serving dish from the table to the sink /dishwasher. I'm estimating it at 27' per trip. In contrast, the breakfast nook is nicely placed. It'll be convenient to get food and plates to the table and back. The negative here is that you're far from the beverage area, so you'll be walking the length of the kitchen to get a refill mid-meal. My suggestion for the dining room: I remember eating at my great-great-great aunt's house as a child and LOVING her glass-front cabinets /pass through. The cabinets opened on both sides so she could wash in the kitchen /take out in the dining room. Something like this: If you do these cabinets in the area I marked with a purple box and place the clean-up sink where the stove is currently placed, the kitchen and dining room would work together nicely. You could set the table in the dining room ... then pass the plates through the the waiting sink /dishwasher area ... then return them to the cabinets ... all in one convenient area. Of course, this pushes your cooking area to the back of the kitchen, while your food storage is near the stairs. I don't see a way to even this out within the confines of the space as it is currently defined -- it's just too spread out for good kitchen function. Don't focus on big. No one really wants a big kitchen; when people say that, they really mean that the kitchen is a priority in their plans, and they want a well-organized, efficient kitchen with everything placed logically so making a meal is a pleasure. More counterspace and larger spaces are not a substitute for that efficient, well-organized space; in fact, they can actually work against you because they can spread things out too far. Finally, take a look at the green circle I placed in the kitchen. Using the table as a guide, I'm thinking this is about 60 sf of empty, wasted space. Then another same-sized empty, wasted space in the hallway just outside the kitchen, and yet another empty, wasted space in the stairway hall. That's way more than you need for good circulation.

However, if you usually cook using the cooktop, and if you, say, cut your onions and soften them as you cut your chicken and then brown the chicken as you cut your vegetables, in the pattern that the vast majority of cooktop recipes call for, having the cooktop behind you is incredibly annoying if you don't have a helper. So for cooks who use the cooktop heavily, prepping with your back to the cooktop IS a major issue. I know that a lot of people don't really cook, but if you do, it matters. You have several options: prep next to the stove as soon as you start using it and turn your back on the people at the island that you put there so you would face them; prep everything on the island before you start cooking and add 20 minutes to your cooking time every night; or turn your back to the stove and either burn things or switchback and forth a lot, also wasting a lot of time. But I suppose CPArtist is a special person with eyes on the back of her head. Or she doesn't really cook. I do cook, although not frequently. And if you had spent lots of time on this forum like myself and most of the other regulars, you'd know that Kitchen work studies have shown that you spend the following amount of time at each major kitchen activity: Prepping - 70% (some studies put this number higher - more like 75%) Cooking - 10% Cleaning up - 20% So based on that study, most cooks spend the majority of their time prepping the food, not cooking it. And most people prefer to prep while they are facing their guests, family, etc. So once again, prepping with your back to the cooktop is not a problem. And quite honestly, most people I know, including the chefs I'm friendly with, will tell you to prep everything in advance and not as you go.

Doug already knows my views about cooktops on islands. So, I didn't share it when critiquing the original design. My opinion only, but putting a cooking surface on the island is a decision of last resort. Both safety and efficiency are compromised by this type of arrangement. I think the Buehl's idea of using that beautiful front window area for dining is inspired. It would get you and additional 28 sq.ft. in the kitchen. That's not chump change. That front window would be a lovely spot to sit with a cup of coffee and watch the kids. The light would be glorious. Seriously consider moving the kitchen to the rear, moving the dining room to take advantage of the window and sew/craft in the now freed up space in the front of the house, The old dining room in front could be used for a flex room/library/study/extra bedroom for overflow guests/sewing room/home office. Like Doug will tell you, everything is a compromise. Every decision effects another decision. It's just a question of how many comprises you have to make.