Zeebee, having cleanup in the middle of food prep is my own horror, so I understand the problem. However, if you designated your cleanup essentially on the left wall/corner area, that would confine cleanup to the sink and area to its left. Prep would be from the sink on to its right. When I designed the kitchen in my new house, my two big priorities were plenty of work space and cleanup totally separated from it. Well, the kitchen isn't terribly large, but I have all that, prep on a spacious island and generous areas on both sides of the stove. It's great and I love it, but having had it I know I could be perfectly happy and do just as well with much less work space--just as long as it was well designed and I didn't have to push dirty dishes away to get at it. When I look at your current plan, I see an L counter that, properly set up, would work well for me. That 39" to the left of the stove is actually almost exactly the amount of space I work in daily here (the rest mostly just gets a drippy mixing bowl, busy spoon, or some such thing set on it so I have to wipe it down anyway). Regarding kitchen as hallway, I don't see it. What those doors do is create a view for the interior space, same as any large expanse of glass, plus provide the opportunity to open the house to the garden when you choose. I personally would want to be able to draw drapes or shutters, or whatever, when the weather's unappealing or you just want a cozily introverted space, and having learned from my mistakes would choose my window treatments as part of the design profess for my windows/doors. Your garden's going to be lovely. I'm a big gardener, but agree for sure, definitely no "cottage" garden for you. Been there, love it, but it is THE most challenging of all garden styles to keep really good looking all through the flowering season. I've spent years trying to get good enough to pull that trick off and had a lot of fun--but! At least I was in California. These days a temperate climate means 6 months of drear. Over the years, I've really come to love finely designed green gardens full of lovely foliage juxtaposed against handsome hardscape to provide structure and contrast. Occasional flowers throughout the seasons can provide variety but mainly just serve to set the main feature off. A garden like that can be gorgeous in all seasons, with and without floral accents, and when well designed also be the easiest to care for of all. The foliage also softens all the masonry and other construction around and adds privacy. It can also serve as a home for birds. We really enjoy watching the birds from our windows, and my gardens now will always be designed to attract them. In any case, beauty's a function of good design. It truly doesn't have to be heavy maintenance at all. In your case, I think you owe it to yourselves to create a beautiful view for your home so you can enjoy it both at the kitchen/dining level and from above. :)

Plantknitter--luscious and expensive! I got some Touch Me Due yarn (HAD to have it) that I'm going to try to knit. We'll see. I hear it 'worms' with some knitting stitches and I'm sure it's better woven. My mother was as jealous over that yarn as I've ever seen her over anything-ordinarily she's quite tranquil and genteel. She marched back to her room and right back out with a pattern book that had a Touch Me scarf earmarked. There was really an edge to her voice, like I'd gotten the last Touch Me Due on earth, and broken in line in front of her to do it. I was delighted, of course. ;)

that was a hoot ! seeing the names of the posters also made me wonder what some of them are up to !! is sherrilynn still painting her cabinets ? what a saga that was. I don't think her story was ever topped here, GC gone bad and all that. I haven't gotten around to posting a picture of my new widget.

EAM- I am out of white out...so I apologize in advance, for the messy plan. Anyway, this is my attempt at helping you with your kitchen :) On the top wall, I like the fridge and oven/microwave in that location. But, I would have it just as a straight run of oven/microwave, cabinetry and fridge on the other end. Then, I would have the sink in your necessary location, with the dishwasher on the right (dining side) and trash on the left. Where you have the solid wall, I would continue that down to the end of your current 36" drawers and instead, center the range in that location. Since there's a wall there, it's easy enough to have a hood and backsplash area, but still keep it open to the dining area, on the sink end. Where you have the little corner, I'd have a corner (diagonal) hutch and then a countertop for seating...partly with the solid wall and partly more open. Either a half wall with raised counter or just all level with the sink area. You should have room for at least three stools. Yes, one person is looking at the wall, but that would be a great place to use a laptop or work on homework. The dining area would be against the window wall, with either a single banquette with an expanding table, which would provide plenty of seating...or the corner banquette. So, here's the plan...and again, it only seems to be about 6' between your two zones...that's very easy to work in. That's what I have now and the only problem is the range and sink are on opposite walls. Since yours would be together, with the fridge, oven and microwave on the other side...I hope it would function very well for you :) From Cottage house plans