I am far from an expert, but here are a few ideas I had: 1. Turn the S. Toilet into a laundry room. Maybe pull the wall and door a little to the right so it lines up with the shaft wall above. If you can, use a pocket door that drops into the wall below so the door does not swing into the laundry room. The wall at the top where the door swings into now could have a fold-up or down table 16-20" deep when open, that would lay flat against the wall when not in use. (The table would block the door way when in use, but would give the person inside the room a place to fold clothes, or you could fold them at the kitchen table.) Depending on how you place the items, which depends in large part on the window, the room should have space for a washer (plus stacked dryer if desired), utility sink, a small amount of cabinetry or shelves to hold laundry supplies, and maybe a bar for hanging clothes. 2. Turn the utility room into a walk-in pantry. Put shallower shelves (10-14" deep) on the left side and deeper storage (18-24") on the right side, leaving at least 3 feet in between. The right side could have a counter top area with cabinets below and shelves above. The counter could give you a place to store and use any small appliances you do not want out in the main kitchen (microwave, crock pot, toaster oven, etc.) If you want a larger laundry room, leave the laundry in the utility room and put a smaller walk-in pantry in the S. toilet. 3. Get rid of the walls that create S. Room so that the kitchen is now an L wrapping around pantry. Use a small round table and 4 chairs for casual in-kitchen eating. 4. Either buy a counter-depth fridge or use deeper counter on left side of kitchen with standard depth fridge. With a 9' 10" wide space, you could have a 30" deep counter on the left side, a standard depth counter on the right side, and still have over 5' in between, which is wide enough for a 24" dishwasher and sink base of up to 36" at the top end. 5. There is a lot of wasted space next to your powder room. Assuming you could use more storage space, I would move the powder room door to opposite the sink. Then you could put a reach-in closet on either the wall next to the powder room (as shown below) or against the wall between kitchen & dining/foyer. If you want even more storage, a small walk-in closet could be placed next to powder room. Please excuse poor drawing - this is the first time I have tried to do this.

If the range is on the refrigerator wall, you won't have much working space on either side of it - just 9", right? I think the kitchen will work better with the range where the cooktop is so that there is more landing space next to it. Is there any need to keep the opening above those wall cabinets? The house might be quieter with that closed off and it doesn't seem to serve any purpose by being open. Another alternative would be to just put a section of drywall for the vent stack to go up.

More thoughts - Sitting around a normal table in normal chairs like normal diners is, to me, preferable to lining up at a bar, perched like birds on tall stools. So, if you only have room for one of those two, you might think about a four-top table in the space between kitchen and dining room. Depends on how much traffic will cross that area - I'm not clear what the various doors lead to - broom closet, or discotheque? If you choose to shrink the island and make it all workspace with a prep sink, perhaps position the sink where people can get to it without entering the main cook/prep/wash zones. Add a microwave nearby - perhaps undercounter in the island, or in-wall by the refrigerator if there is space. This is all about keeping the masses in their place. Let them heat their refrigerated gruel and prepare their weak tea without interfering with the business of making real food. Another place for the refrigerator would be at the end of the main sink counter, where half of the current double-width sliding door is. Now the island won't block the path from main prep zone to refrigerator. But, the aisle between main sink and island will need to be wide enough for one person to get to the refrigerator while another works at that sink and loads the dishwasher. This is a less attractive location, I think, but just wanted to mention it. Wherever you place the refrigerator, I think you might consider a true counter-depth model (26'' deep to the handles) or a typical counter-depth model (28-29'' to the handles) that is recessed into the walls. This will get you more clearance. Aisle width is slightly flexible. I think the 32'' you've drawn between sink counter and island would be inadequate for most people - unless you're all size 2 and ex-submariners. Closer to 40'' will work better. The full 42'' would be nice but may not be absolutely necessary. Between range and island, I think clearance is even more important since you'll be handling large hot things while stooped over a blazing hot open oven. Not a good time to get tipped onto your keester. Can you mock up an island (e.g. from cardboard boxes) and experiment with different aisle widths in your current kitchen? Note counters overhang the cabinets by an inch or so. Also note that drawer dishwashers can take up less room when open to load/unload, because you needn't fully open them just to slide in a dish. You have plenty of space for a very functional, attractive kitchen - heck, you could almost go over to malgold' s house and steal her kitchen, just send her Bluestar range over to me, please - so fine-tuning the layout to your family's cooking and eating needs will surely be time well spent.

if you like the Mist, get it leathered. you won't see fingerprints. of course crumbs will be an issue on anything without veining. Cosmos is another one that looks good w/a leathered finish. and this would go well w/the butcher block If you did Absolute Black (genuine Absolute) you could have the sink integrated like this: AB is a true granite. It will not take a sealer because it's so dense. (other granites are actually different types of igneous /metamorphic rock and not true granite). So this choice would be perfect for the sink because it won't stain if you like the marble look, half a zillion quartz counters to choose from: or do something different and install some of these beautiful slabsbianco lasa vecchia marble/ for this, I would use trivets. it's beautiful,,,I mean, Hello?and the flip side is Black Horse Granite Santorini granite or maybe quartzite. this one would make your walnut butcher block look amazing. and actually quartzite is stronger than granite. you just make sure that your edges aren't cut into large quartzite deposits in the stone. I love this Silestone. expensive. but gorgeous. these are a few of the new ones in the Suede texture. the charcoal soapstone is stunning. look it up.