There are a number of ways to make keeping your pond maintenance more efficient without the outrageous price your handyman puts on the job. The first problem of fine leaved Honey Locust leaves could be solved by making a screen sided or mesh sided basket to put into the top section of the pond to collect the leaves. Just leave it in place between cleanings. If you are handy, the screen sided bucket is simple enough but premade mesh fish nets come in some rather large sizes and shaping the handle to serve as a cup type handle is easy enough as is making some sort of shelf to hold the net in place. Just lift the net out by the handle, let the water drain back if it is sufficiently clear and dump the leaves out. I am putting in a link for a website that happens to show several products on the same page that would do a good job of cleaning the mulm under the bottom drain. The fish capture nets are there, too. The Muck Vac is about as simple as it gets. The price is a bit steep but it works. All you need is 50 lbs water pressure in the hose. The leaf vac uses a bag to catch debris and I use one to collect leaves on the bottom. It isn't as good for mulm unless you get the extra bags for that purpose. The price is hard to beat. It adds water to your pond so prepare as for a water change. The Python pond vac is a more elaborate version of the Muck vac designed to collect leaves and mulm. It is more difficult to get into tight places and I have a problem opening and closing the jar that collects the debris because my hands hurt a lot. The pond vacuum on this page is pretty expensive but you can get a garage(utility)vac with a continuous flow(water)discharge for between $75 and $90. It works, too. Just add a hose to run the water to the garden. I got one at Walmart and I've seen them at Lowes, Menards, etc. It took me a while to get the hang of it but Horton came through for me with proper instructions. UV, UV. Hum-mm. I don't see anywhere the flow rate would be low enough to let the UV work. I see you have valves all through the system that makes in-line space at a premium even if it lets you adjust the flow. It seems to me that adding another pipe with a valve to control that flow would make the system complicated to the point of maintenance inefficiency and it would certainly raise the scream level. Maybe I am wrong. Since you are going to move, I would use a small submersible pump and a stand alone UV + filter. It might even be possible to get by with only the sponge included prefilter to protect the pump. The object is to increase dwell time to allow the UV time to work. You can get small fountain pumps for cheap. Try Harbour Freight.I found the UV and filter from Laguna on sale for 45 bucks. several years ago. That screwdriver must be a sign of ingenuity or ineptitude. I don't know which. One of these days you will laugh at it. In a number of stores I see wire shelves that are stackable in the laundry and storage departments. I don't see how deep the hole is but I bet you could find one of those shelves that would fit close enough. You might need to do a bit of bending or cutting. Please do not put stones on the bottom of the pond. It will make cleaning an impossible task and eventually the water will become stinky. Now I will let the smart guys take over. I still like your pond. Sandy Here is a link that might be useful: Simple inexpensive ideas that work well

Thanks you all! @rosie-I've considered moving the garage door toward the pantry area. I just wasn't sure how far. Right now, it's 18 inches from the pantry cabinets to the frame of the door. I wasn't sure how much clearance I should add for the cabinet doors to make sure they can clear and have room. It would be nice to slightly deepen the island and have a bit more space along the fridge wall. @marcolo-I thought of that too. I like the idea of having the range on that wall, but I was concerned about having the fridge across a high traffic area from the rest of the work triangle, and it would have an island barrier between the sink and the fridge. Would you move the sink down? Part of the concern is trying not to move the sink due to existing windows and exterior brick if we can help it. You should see the layout of my kids' room. Doors and windows in the wonkiest of places. No place to put a bed. Curious what the architect was thinking 50 years ago.... :-)

My kitchen is traditional/transitional and we went with the zero radius single bowl sink. That is a working item, below the counter and for me, function trumps decor for an undermount -- but the working parts of your kitchen are good places to have updated looks as long as they aren't jarring. Hard to be jarring when it's mostly hidden inside the cabinet and under the counter. In a bowl that large, you can put most things to one side or the other and keep the drain clear and that most sinks that get to 30" or larger tend to have a center drain. I can put a baking sheet to the side and still have the drain clean -- soup pots on either side -- it works well for us.

Here's a few additional pics of the space to give you a better feel for it as a whole!