Of the two, I also prefer the second drawing for the reasons RHome spelled out. It does look more logical. Now as to your butcher block -- I love a good chunky hunk o' butcher block. Fabulous piece. Focal point. Very handy -- love 'em - honestly. I remember suggesting in an earlier post that you incorporate the top into your island, and your response indicated that the BB is a cool piece on it's own -- I get that and will accept your word on it (there are some COOL BBs). But where yours is located, it's just not working for me. It just seems kind of 'in the way' -- a bit of a barrier island. Plus, you've got that whole other aisle there that's eating up potentially six linear feet (3 front and 3 back) of counter-top and storage space. Why not scoot it over one more foot toward the island, and grow your island the rest of the way to the BB so that they're sitting side by side? You don't really need another exit... Also, there's no law against having a raised bar run along the inside of a wall. It's no use as a seating area certainly, but can be quite useful for other things -- the types of things that one would set near the sink. You could even continue your wooden counter-top across the short wall section and over to the other side. When we entertain casually, the raised bar area makes a great place for desserts or appetizers. Anyway -- I like the majority of the plan, and would just play with that one area to see what else is possible.

Are you against islands for some reason? I would nix the peninsula and do an island with prep sink and seating. You have plenty of room for a 6' longx 40"ish wide island with 4' aisles all around. That will seat 3, or a cramped 4, if you do the seating overhang on the left and bottom sides. Prep sink goes towards bottom edge of island. Your most used prep space is next to the sink but close to the range, so you are going to be prepping in the corner between sink and range while your scads of peninsula counter space go to waste. You don't even have room for the DW next to the sink and peninsulas generally invite people into the kitchen working area - and thus into your way - and then they don't leave. Also, your peninsula with seating is very close to the dining table. An island that has 24" cabinets plus 15-18" seating overhang that is placed 4' away from the range wall will give another 18" to that aisle. pps7 has a very similar layout to what I suggested: Here is a link that might be useful: pps7's finished kitchen thread

greencleaning - Thanks for the compliments! singingmicki - "shallow cabinet beside the fridge" "put upper cabinets and a countertop but leave the bottom open for your dog's needs" - Brilliant! We love this idea! What a perfect spot! (I didn't want to get rid of the hutch next to the fridge in order to put the dog bowls there, and now we don't have to.) Thank You!! buehl - We do have a dining room and need to banquette to seat a family of 4. I see what you mean about the leg room issue. From your post, I think we're going to need to put a Lot more thought into the banquette. Thank you for all the great info! davidro1 - Again, thank you so much for your reply and terrific advice! We will take everything into consideration and we revisit the fridge wall options. Right now, we're trying to finalize the "L" cabinets. We put together 2 mockups based on all of the great suggestions we've been receiving here and on IkeaFans. What option does everyone like best for the "L?" CHOICE A: SYMMETRICAL 15's ALL of the wall cabinet have 15" doors (on both the stove and sink sides)! LOVE the symmetry (achieved by cutting down the upper corner cabinet). [](http://www.flickr.com/photos/40167831@N08/5672410282/) Stove wall base cabinets: From left to right: \* corner piece (with two 12" doors, one on each wall) \* small cutting board pullout \* 15" (not sure if I would do all drawers or some drawers...still need to decide on that) \* stove \* 15" drawers And I gain a bigger stretch of countertop between the stove and the sink. Sink wall base cabinets: From left to right: \* 18" drawers \* 24" dishwasher \* 24" Domsjo single bowl sink \* 15" (for pull out garbage) \* corner piece with two 12" doors (one on each wall) Questions: 1\) Glass cabinets \- I'm not sure that I have enough pretty dishes to fill the deep corner cabinet too. Would it look strange to keep that as a regular door? 2\) There are 2" of extra space to the left of the far left wall cabinet (next to the nook) \- DH would love it if the wall space flanking the nook window was symmetrical (not displayed in pic). Right now it is 13" to the left and 15" to the right. Is there anything that can be done with that extra 2" inches to fill it in? (We ended the backsplash to match the upper \- not sure if that's the best idea either.) CHOICE B: BLIND UPPER CORNER CABINET AND SHELVES Stove wall: [](http://www.flickr.com/photos/40167831@N08/5672410196/) [](http://www.flickr.com/photos/40167831@N08/5671843445/) Stove Wall Uppers: \* a 30" (which has 12" hidden) with an 18" next to it (two 18" doors so it LOOKS like a 36" cabinet) \* 30" above the microwave (two 15" doors) \* 18" with a 6" shelf on the end to fill in the space. Stove Wall Base: \* corner piece (two 12" doors, one on each wall) \* 12" \- yes \- bottom section for cookie sheets and things \* stove \* 24" drawers Sink wall: Here's where it gets super custom. [](http://www.flickr.com/photos/40167831@N08/5671843503/) [](http://www.flickr.com/photos/40167831@N08/5671843323/) Sink Wall Uppers: From left to right: \* 6" shelf \* 27" custom cabinet \* window \* 27" custom cabinet \* (not seen \- but there would be 12 inches of the blind cabinet from the stove wall) The two 27" glass cabinets flanking the sink should be the perfect amount of storage to put my beloved dishes. Loving the symmetry here. Now 27" cabs are not that much bigger than the 24" cabs with 12" doors that I was trying to avoid. I think this plan would commit us to paint grade Shaker doors since we'd need custom door sizes. I saw companies selling paint grade doors that might actually be cheaper than Adel White (which is making DH very happy), but more research is needed. Also, while it would give me an excuse to buy some adorable ironstone creamers and/or pretty colored glass vases to decorate the corner shelves \- I'm not sure about all that dusting. Sink Wall Base From left to right (same as Choice A): \* 18" drawers (the pic is wrong \- it should be all drawers) \* 24" dishwasher \* 24" Domsjo single bowl sink \* 15" (for pull out garbage) \* corner piece with two 12" doors (one on each wall) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank you all again for your help!!

Do you have a floorplan/layout that you can post? I couldn't tell where you'd store your dishes, but now I read the followup comment that told...I agree with Desertsteph that would be too far for me, it seems limited in size, and needs drawers. The fridge is in the best place for dish storage, and I wonder if you did another style of corner pantry that doesn't protrude into the room, if you might be able to move the fridge to the left of the pantry, facing the aisle. This would open up space in the room, as well as getting more storage where you need it. But I can't tell if you have room without seeing a floorplan. Do you have a particular style in mind for the kitchen? Does your house have a certain style? I have tried to think of a nicer way to say this, because I really want to avoid the possibility of offending you, but I feel like this design...with the angled pantry, what looks to be a roll-up appliance garage, the oddly shaped and bi-level island...feels dated. But I don't know enough about you or your house to say it's off track. Just wonder if the builder/designer is stuck in a time/style you may not want in the long run, so wanted to say something. How large is your family? We are a family of 10 with 1 double trash. Two might actually be nice in our kitchen, but I didn't want to give up the room, and it seems a 2nd one for you might be taking up valuable real estate that could be utilized for something else. Do you have need for space for coffee maker, mixer, toaster/toaster oven, etc., etc? The appliance garage wouldn't hold much and the pantry is so handy to the space. It seems an open counter in that spot would be more flexible and might serve you better.