Thanks, Nancy! Our colors are very similar, yes. So you are going with the ceramic tile, and not the glass? In your pics, the glass tiles are brighter on the edges just like mine were before installation. I guess it's because light comes in thru the front and back and shoots out the sides, for lack of a better way to explain it. Once installed, the glass backsplash looked a tad different than I thought it would. I thought it was going to be closer to white or off white, like the individual uninstalled tiles appeared. Instead, it looks almost grey. But also, I guess I have to consider the fact that the wall of glass tiles is picking up the reflections of the dark countertop and floor? I don't know what it is and it was never cause for any upset feelings, we love it! And think it works just beautifully. Just thought it'd be a tad lighter/off white. Just goes to show you, you never know what all the individual elements you picked out are going to look like until they're all up together! Good thinking on waiting to try and tackle the wet saw project. I'm always envious and proud of DIY folks. I'd love to try a project one day. Learning how to use the wet saw must be a lil scary. Also, those tiles can be pricey. Your cabinets are so cool! And we have the same reeded glass!! Thanks again for posting the link :) ~E

Hey folks, Thanks for all of the earlier feedback. Demolition is well underway, and we are on to framing, and in a few weeks, plumbing/electrical. I need to finalize much of the kitchen layout ahead of plumbing rough-in. So I am updating this thread with current design in hope of getting additional feedback to see if there are any issues/concerns I haven't considered. (Let me know if it's best to start a new thread given the age of this post - I opted to keep it for continuity.) Latest floorplan: Orientation: North (top of diagram): living room area (open) South (bottom of diagram): dining room area (open) West (left of diagram): deck/water view Elevation of galley wall (east) Elevation of island (west) Based on the earlier feedback, we have: Aisle width: Increased the width between the island and galley/appliance wall to 42" Prep sink: Eliminated the prep sink - there didn't seem to be a compelling reason to have two sinks with this layout, and ultimately I didn't want to give up the cabinet / drawer space that this would impinge on Cleanup/Prep zone: Instead, placed dishwasher/sink/trash receptable on island in a way that hopefully creates reasonable separation of the cleanup, prep, and cooking zones (despite the fact that the prep and cleanup zones necessarily share a sink). Dishwasher: We opted to place the dishwasher on the left end of the island so that it was close to the dining area, next to the sink, and away from the cooking area. I considered moving this a little more to the center of the island to facilitate closer proximity to dish/flatware storage, but didn't like the fact that it would likely be close to the cooktop and further from dining area (i.e. inviting more traffic into cooking areas) Sink: We opted to place this to the right of the dishwasher so that it would be accessible to the cleanup area, adjacent to the prep area but mostly out of the way of the cooking area (it is not back to back with the rangetop) Trash: We opted to place this to the right of the sink so that it was near the prep area, but accessible from the cleanup area. (I read several threads that recommended trash being closer to prep area than cleanup area) Cooktop: Centered on the galley wall, both for aesthetics and function Ovens: I looked at a lot of layout options, and ultimately opted to stack the ovens bottom to top with a 30" Convection Wall Oven (bottom), 12" Warming Drawer (middle), and 24" Convection Steam Oven (top), with the 18" (tall) microwave being placed undercounter on the island, opposite the main oven stack. (All Miele - separate thread on this). The top of the oven stack is 68.5" off the ground in this configuration, which is roughly eye level for me (6' / 72" tall). The rationale was centered around assuming that the CSO would be the primary oven so we placed that in the most optimal spot, and that it would also be best to have that higher up for safety of venting steam. We also wanted to keep the warming drawer at an accessible level. The only downside is that the 30" CO/wall oven is at a less useful height (below counter), but there wasn't a great option that we liked for placing this at waist/eye level. I considered this acceptable if this is the secondary oven. We considered putting the microwave next to the refrigerator for easier access (seems like a lot of people like that), but ultimately decided that we liked the aesthetics of the current location + the increased pantry size that this offers. Thoughts/feedback/concerns on this layout? Overall I am pretty happy and thinks it meets most of our design goals but want to see if there are any yellow/red flags in what we have planned. The only things that are giving me a bit of pause are: Aisle width - Once demo is complete I am going to try to get some boxes to mock out the 42" wide aisle to see if that feels sufficient. Taped out, it seemed fine, and from reading this forum, it seems like a good number of folks "get by" with 42" despite multiple cooks, but I know there was feedback on this thread to get this to 48" as a more standard two-cook width. To do that, I would likely take up @buehl's suggestion and reduce the walkway behind the island, and potentially the size of the island itself. But I kinda like those dimensions and chose to compromise on the kitchen aisle width a bit. Dishwasher/sink placement - is this a good placement to have a good flow for prep, cooking, and cleanup? Cabinet / drawer layout - we have a few weeks before we place the cabinet order so have time to fine tune this still, so I plan to go over this more closely next so that I can optimize the layout for my storage needs. If there is anything immediately problematic it would be good to know! Thanks in advance for any insight, everyone has been immensely helpful in helping me with planning and design of this kitchen! Joe

So...I didn't really consider the speed ovens until they were brought up recently on the thread. Now that I've looked at them, aside from the increased cost and loss of a turntable, are there any downsides to swapping the Miele microwave with a Miele speed oven? It looks like the footprint is identical, which would be my primary concern with this change. I didn't really set out to get three ovens, but given that I really want the standard convection oven, the combi-steam oven, and a microwave, it seems like it's worth considering this change. Given the desire for fast reheating, etc with wife and kids, having a microwave is necessary. Also, is it still advisable to keep the warming drawer? From what I've read, some have suggested the the speed oven and/or steam oven can replace a warming drawer, but @pillog's thoughts on this post have convinced me that I'm not completely insane for wanting to keep this in the layout. (Biasing towards Thanksgiving/large group cooking as opposed to everyday needs.) The layout would be: Main stack: convection oven (bottom); warming drawer (middle); speed oven/microwave (mainly due to the fact that the XXL Miele CSO won't trim match with the 30" convection oven but the microwave will: post and post) Separate stack (opposite side, beneath counter): CSO Thanks for everyone's thoughts on this design, it's been really helpful. -joe

I've been pleased with the following appliances: Electrolux single electric oven - though I only started using it as my primary oven a couple years ago, it does the job. Wolf 36" induction cooktop - replaced another cooktop (see below) with this induction and love it -- I also looked at the Miele and might have liked the individual hob timers that the Miele offers, but overall love induction and love the look of the Wolf and the ease of cleaning. After 2+ years of regular use, the unit still looks new. Bosch integrated dishwasher - had a small issue with the door (owing I think to the weight of the integrated panel - was fixed under warranty) but otherwise love this D/W. It has a long run cycle, but I usually run overnight, so not an issue for me, but something to consider if you run your dishwasher a lot. Monogram 36" integrated refrigerator - chose this because the price point was a few thousand less than a comparable Sub Zero or Miele and was just looking to keep the food cold - no complaints. Kitchen aid integrated refrigerator drawers - looked at getting an under-counter beverage refrigerator, but opted for the drawers because at the time most beverage refrigerators only cooled to 38 degrees whereas the drawers will chill to 33. I also liked that I could match the drawers to my cabinets. I am only slightly pleased with: Miele Speed Oven - not sure about current speed ovens from Miele, but the one I have (7 years old) has three heating elements -- the bake element/function stopped working (or at least that was what I thought) ... After spending a bunch of $$ trying to get the unit fixed, I gave up. Now I can use the oven for broiling and microwaving (which I prefer to do in my microwave). Before it stopped baking, I loved this appliance! Used it many times a day. Used it as my primary oven most of the time. Can't bring myself to spend the money to replace it with another Miele, so am waiting until I can get some feedback on the Wolf 24" speed oven before deciding what to do. Right. now, it's a very pricey toaster. I was really not pleased with: Bertazzoni combo gas/induction cooktop - bought it because I couldn't commit to induction so this seemed like the best of both worlds. Turned out I loved induction and gas...not so much by comparison, so when the induction hobs stopped working, replaced it with Wolf.