Hi everyone, :) Thanks so much for all the input. Yes there will be a range hood, I guess I fogot to draw that. I hope there are corner pantry cupboards, but if not a corner cupboard and a corner upper wall cabinet, I've seen those. I have seen many kitchens including a friend of mine who has a fridge and wall oven next to each other. I just have to make sure I buy a fridge that will open to the opposite side of the oven so as not to interfere with the oven door. Since the wall oven will be fitted into a cabinet there will be wood between the fridge and the wall oven to give it some buffer. Thanks for the idea of the microwave drawer, but I don't mind using one cupboard to put in a microwave, then we can use our current one and save a bit of money and then upgrade later. And in our new kitchen we'll have twice the space as we do now, so it should be ok. In regards to have space on either side of the cooktop, at the moment that is what I have, but one side is completely taken up with the microwave and a deep-fryer, so I know that I can work with just space to the left like I have now. The pennisula I didn't want to be two-tier, like two heights, I wanted it the same height but just with a divider in the middle, because if you are reading the paper, or working on the laptop, you dont want water, or bits of food creeping onto that side of the pennisula. Thanks for all the opinions everyone! :) Its made me think :)

Trash pullout and sink run...If the trash pullout in the Cleanup Zone run (i.e., the main sink & DW run) will only hold one bin, I would consider making it 12" or 15" and adding the "extra" 3" to 6" to the cabinet on the left. Depending on how much cutlery you have, 20" may not be wide enough. Ours is 24" wide and that's the minimum I would go to be able to separate out the dinner forks, salad forks, soup spoons, teaspoons, knives, serving spoons, serving forks, and small ladles (as an example). Besides, the more space you have in your other cabinets, the more and more varied items you can store in them! Here is ours: We actually have more forks & spoons in it; this is what wasn't in the DW at the time! The back holds the things we didn't have room for...butter knives, iced tea spoons, seafood forks, pie server, non-wood handled steak knives, etc. Our drawer height is 3-1/4" and is plenty tall/deep enough. Range cabinets...I'm assuming you already have those? If not, consider making the cabinet to the left of the range 24" instead of 18"...it not only will give you more work and landing space, but it will also give the Cooking Zone a little more protection from casual kitchen traffic and people in the Cleanup Zone. Just as an fyi...here is my 4-drawer stack. It holds, top to bottom, flatware/cutlery, plastic bags & wraps, extensions cords & misc electrical-related items, and bread. (The dimensions of the drawers are listed above.) Note: Not all semi-custom cabinets require you to use 3" increments...my semi-custom line had a 31.5" tall oven cabinet...at least there was no upcharge for the size, so I'm assuming it was an available cabinet size.

Interesting how people looking at the same picture see something different ... Take away the doorway and this is the classic U layout. Maybe you could call it a Broken U, but a U is uninterrupted and keeps everything within reach of a single cook -- that's the strength of a U. An L is better for shuttling traffic through /allowing multiple cooks, and that's the functional style we have here. The hood should be six inches wider than the stove below so that it really catches all the odors and grease rather than allowing them to be deposited onto your cabinets. I know this is common advice here, but I've never found a need for a wider hood /never had a problem with odors or grease -- maybe my hood is stronger than average? A related issue: When your stove is on an interior wall, you have to figure out how you're going to vent. It's certainly not an insurmountable issue, but it is one that you need to address. Like others have said, you probably want all drawers in your lowers, rather than a mix of drawers and cabinets. Yes. Inventory your current kitchenware, then assign everything a spot -- that'll allow you to accurately determine whether you have an appropriate number of drawers and cabinets. Personally, I'm planning for my base cabinets: 3 cabinets, 3 three-drawer stacks, 1 four-drawer stack, and 1 pull-out behind a cabinet drawer. I could not have predicted these specifics without having "assigned" items to specific places. The island looks very large. Will you be able to reach the middle of it to clean it? Always a concern for me. A prep sink in the island would do a lot for the layout, that's the biggest change you need if you want to keep the basic layout here intact. I'm not a big fan of repetitive items, but I agree that if the OP's going to keep this layout, a prep sink on the island would be helpful. Realistically, though, adding a prep sink is expensive and would eat prime island storage. I'd rework the plan rather than do this. Other thoughts: I agree with the idea of moving the oven(s) to the side near the sink, and I agree that this area appears to be a potential clutter magnet -- perhaps go with a tall cabinet here instead of countertop? You need to flip the pantry door. Imagine you bring in groceries, set them on the island to organize them ... you have to walk around the pantry door. Best would be a pocket door, but I'm not sure you have the space. You're going to serve beverages from the area near the refrigerator ... but the dishwasher is on the far side of the room /with the island in between. Since you wash so many glasses, it'd be better if the dishwasher and beverage area could be closer. The dining room looks fairly far away from the kitchen; plus everything's going to have to be carried around the island. Any possibility the family room could go into this area (if you rework the mudroom, it could have windows on two sides) and place the kitchen directly in front of the dining room? Overall, it'll be a pretty kitchen, but it could massively improve in terms of function, work zones, placing things in convenient places. "Walk through" mentally and imagine yourself doing everyday chores: Putting away groceries, making your favorite casserole, fixing coffee or a soda, cleaning up after dinner, etc.

Hi kikodog- I don't see the new layout as an improvement at all. It looks like you have less kitchen storage than you had before, and it seems totally inadequate. Is that a double wall oven? If so, that is great/ But where is your microwave? Your eating table is so close, why do you need chairs at the island? Do you ever plan to have company? why not have a normally shaped island with good storage? Why not have a dining table that is oval or rectangular with ability to expand for 2 extra leaves so you can have guests if you want. Do you really need to have a separate seating area with sectional in the kitchen with a living room right next door? If you want to kick back with a book and a cuppa, two great chairs and a side table would do the job and maybe an ottoman or two. You could do a comfy upholstered club chair, a wing chair if you like the feeling of being hugged, or you could go more contemporary with something like the Eames chair in leather and wood. It's not as if you can quietly cosy up with a book while someone is watching TV in the next room, there isn't a door separating the two spaces! How many people will be living in this space, and what will be their ages? if their will only be two older people who don't entertain, then maybe you don't need more storage space in the kitchen. But then, you don't need 4 stools at the island either plus a table in the kitchen. In addition to the island being an odd shape, the furniture seems to placed at odd angles, and there seems to be a lot of wasted space in both rooms shown. And please oh please, take those cabinets up to the ceiling instead of leaving wasted space on top to catch dust. Can you please tell us more about who will be living here, and how you want these rooms to function on an ongoing basis? Besides television, what else will you be doing in the living room? Do you need any storage there? Do you need a desk anywhere to do paperwork? Work on a computer? In your new configuration, with where the new walls are, you would have a more functional kitchen if it was moved to the opposite corner of the room. That would give you more wall space for cabinetry. if you can't do that because of where plumbing lines are, then I would flip the living room and kitchens. In fact, I like that even better, because that puts the living room in the larger room. Which is appropriate And it gives you more functional wall space on three walls for your kitchen, plenty of space for a normally shaped island with plenty of storage, and a normal dining table that can easily seat 6 or more. Or is that a pre-existing fireplace?