Okay, read this post yesterday for the first time and thought: I have one. Oops no pics of it. So that's what I did this morning. Realize this is still sort of a work in progress. This area is at the front of my house, upstairs at the end of the wide center hall. The window seat was there when we bought the house 2 years ago. A few months ago we added the bookcases on either side. The seat lifts up also for storage. Please ignore the fact that the curtains are not hemmed and I have not recovered and replaced the cushion (and the really crooked candle)! I think I also need to paint the strip under the window the same color as the windows and the seat and finish painting the upper left window and then scrape the paint off the window panes!!. Never enough time though. Also something I did in a previous house: it is really easy to make a finished window seat using those small cabinets that go above refrigerators.Put several together to get the length you want, add a top and a cushion.

I wouldn't worry at all about not moving in a straight line through the mudroom. You won't even notice that slight jog. We used the kitchen door exclusively which was set about 3 ft to the left of the doorway from the kitchen to the DR. It was never a problem. Not awkward at all. I can't see why you can't just move the existing cubbies. And remember as Buehl said, they don't stay little long so the cubbies may not be as important as getting a great layout. An island with seating never gets outgrown! One possibility for the pantry wall is bathroom vanity base cabinets. Sometimes they come in 18" depth then you wouldn't have to do custom. I think 18" deep base cabs with 12" deep wall cabs down the the counter would look great. If it were me and I was going to do tall cabinets, I wouldn't go deeper than 15" (I'd probably even consider 12") because stuff is so much easier to access when stored on shallow shelves. Many people have microwaves installed in the island. Looks great and seems to function well. I do believe you can get them it fit in an 18" deep cabinet; it depends on what size you use (we have a small one as we use it only to reheat beverages and snacks or pop corn). Can you fit 15" between the fridge and range? 18" would probably be better but I think 15" would work. We have 18" between the sink and fridge at it's plenty of space. I don't think it will look like too much stainless with the sink and fridge so close to each other. Were you considering moving the patio doors? If you did that, and put the fridge on that wall, it would be more easily accessed from the family room and the deck (if that's what's on the other side of those doors). I worried about putting a tall appliance next to a doorway the first time I did it, but it turned out to be just fine. I never felt like I was walking through a tunnel or anything. The swing of the garage door looks like it will function well in either direction but I think I prefer it the way it is.

Kathy, the planters are just boxes and the seat sits between them and on top of them at the edge. I have to paint the planters and grout and seal the seat, so when I get that done and put in place I will take a pic. The seat was made out of wood slats with wood frame. I just covered the whole thing with backerboard and tiled over that. It was all here when we bought the house, so I just spruced it up a bit.

My auntie had that (think your picture done in farmhouse style) when I was 6 and it was fine. I don't really care about the back since I don't lean back much, but I agree with lightlystarched about adjusting one's chair. Also getting in and out in a skirt. At six I didn't mind scrambling. Also, hard and flat isn't so easy on the bottom. A lot of the men in my family are practically tushless and they complain about sitting on hard surfaces. The whole sofa or settee at the table trend is worse for comfort of getting in and out, though easier on the tush. If it's mostly for itinerant grandkids then it looks spiffy and declutters the visual sphere above table height.