laura, I think you need to make a big level decision before committing to a floor plan. It seems as if you are not sure how you want the southern light to affect the interior space of your house. I would commit to that decision before thinking about other issues. Do you want that for the kitchen or the family room? There is no right answer. You have to analyze your lifestyle and commit. Don't let others pursuade you to the perfect 'kitchen' design until you have committed to the light first. This seems like an exceptional house with an abudance of natural light. Natural light decision is the fundamentally the MOST important decision for your house, much more important than the kitchen decision, IMHO. The way the house interacts with natural light sets the tone for your mood and feeling immediately upon entering the house. Breakfast area is nice facing out east for obvious reasons... Another big level decision is the TV viewing and noise in general. Depending on how you will use the TV, there maybe way too much light for TV and media in the options B and C revised. My kids use the TV more for gaming than TV viewing and we have it in the basement. There are families that manage to raise their kids without any gaming consoles. My hat is truly off to them! We have made our TV room double as a guest room because we don't have guests often enough. I also don't want the noise to bleed into the rest of the house. You need to make a high level decision about the 'noise' associated with 'TV and media'. We have a completely open floor plan with a grand piano. There is no way TV and piano can compete for noise in the same open space. In my house, someone is at the piano quite often throughout the day (much like yours, it seems). Again, you have not addressed that issue. If you have multiple kids and one has a friend over playing a console game/watching a movie and the other wants to play the piano.... (Do you have a digital piano that the practice can be done with a headphone?) To me, the house has not solved the essential question of separation and togetherness; noise and quiet with many of your plans.... I am not good enough of a parent where I can limit TV/media viewing to only night time and only when it will not interfere with anything else in the house, hence the TV's banishment to the basement. I wish you the best. I have a 12 yo and a 9yo. I have TV/media room in the basement and piano on the second floor. Our LR/DR/K is on the top floor to maximize the light and view. Having said all of the above, I like the original plan the best. This is why. 1. The kitchen has the most amount of light. You will spend the mose of your time in the kitchen as a family. The breastfast island is facing East if you eat on the island. This is a nice way to eat breakfast. We see the sunrise nearly every morning with our breakfast. 2. If you will keep the TV where it is (NW interior corner), it is the most isolating of the noise. You have essentially relegated the least desirable area to the kids to watch TV and hang out. IMHO, this will create the adult zone in the formal LR/DR when you have company. When we go to people's houses and when we have families over, this is essential: separation of adults from kids. As your kids become more independent, they do not want adult interference. Basements work exceptionally well. You do not have that option.... In the absence of that, this is the best option for kid/adult separation. (can you make your guest room into the media/kid zone? That seems not to be an option for you) 3. With the original plan, I see your family using the DR regularly to eat and the banquet as the kids school work zone. You will use the DR more because it will be quite pleasant and easy to use due to the window placement and the proximity to the kitchen. IHMO, DRs are not necessarily formal rooms. It is just another room in your house. If you have it, you should use it. I only have 2 eating areas. The island and the DR which is open to the kitchen. Many families have 3 eating areas. The time that is handy is when you entertain. In your house, you put the kids meals (banquet) separate from the adults (DR). 4. The kids will sit at the island preferenctially because of the view out the garden (over the other plans where they look at the wall of cabinets.) If you were sitting, do you want to look at a wall of cabinets or out the window? In other plans the kids may prefer the banquet because of more light... Again, what you do want? Do you want the kids at the banquet or the island? Even children instinctively gravitate toward light. I like your house's abundance of natural light and easy access to the outdoors. I also like the open floor concept very much. I wish you the best.

Alabamamommy - It was a long and more complicated process than I expected. I expected picking stone counters would be difficult, paint colors are always a challenge but hardware? One thing to keep in mind that if you pick a standard size - I think that 3.5" or 4" center to center are common measurements - you can always change them (especially if you have not spent a fortune.) I definitely recommend going to a local hardware store and picking up a few - different finishes, different styles - to start to narrow down what you are attracted to. We also put the samples on the doors (we used that adhesive tacky putty but the tape mentioned above may work better.) You may get lucky and find one you love, but if not you will have a better idea of the style or finish that works for you. Then you can order samples - from one of the online knob sites, a local restoration hardware (they don't charge you shipping if you order from the store - I even ordered on the phone via the store so I didn't even have to go to the mall :) or other store that carries hardware. We have a great local hardware store that carries all kinds, BUT each manufacturer charges shipping so it stinks for samples (versus the online consolidators that will charge you one fee even if you order from different manufacturers.) I also found some online stores that specialized in more period hardware, even some more simple (www.whitechaple-ltd.com, wwww.houseofantiquehardware.com and www.horton-brasses.com.) The surprising thing was to me some handles looked good in some finishes but not in others. Additionally, finishes look different for each manufacturer - some lacquer, some don't, some times there is a "grain" on a brushed knob or pull that goes in a certain direction. Some knobs have an orientation. OK - maybe I have freaked you out more at this point. I surprised myself in the process - I originally wanted a silver color but not polished (actually loved the pewter but everything was either rustic or super expensive.) BUT - I ended up with polished nickle because it really complimented my natural birch cabinets AND I used ORB on my white island and cabinets AND used glass knobs and satin nickle on my desk/hutch. Oh yeah AND two different handle styles AND knobs. I also wanted something that was a little old (we have a turn of the century house) at the same time contemporary. I went with Restoration hardware bistro pulls - but almost went with the House of Antique Hardware's "Classic Early 20th Century Pull" (and don't even look at Sun Valley bronze unless you have an "unlimited budge" - they are beautiful :) Regarding you kitchen - I love ORB with white, but you have to decide do you want hardware to stand out as ORB does with your walnut accents. I became attached to PN because it actually reflects what is there and therefore doesn't stand out as much as an ORB but give a lightness and glow that I didn't expect. Chrome is "cooler" looking than PN to me. Satin nickle (stainless has a similar look but is more expensive) would be more "modern" and does look really nice on the white as well. There is also antique brass (sort of a dulled almost browned brass - not shiny) that would give you more of a classic feel and may be a nice compliment to walnut but based on what I read this may not be your cup of tea (I have just warmed to it recently.) Obviously I still have some hardware baggage based on my long post - I wish you luck and hope that some of this helps.

Jillius. Thanks for taking the time to try to make something work. I am listening to everyone, though I don't always agree :D. So, couple things I'll point out with this layout that you posted and why they really won't work. First, the range you put on a 2x4 wall that is 9ft tall. Our ceiling there is 16ft tall (ish, 15-17ft) So, we'd have to run our duct straight up and in a sight line (not interested in doing that... we're not a modern house (so exposed duct is out) and a drywall column will not look right). Second, the cutout over the sink will have us look straight into the dining room, and not actually out the atrium. I will say that I've considered closing that wall since it's been suggested and placing the fridge there, but I would leave the rest as is (and either extend our built in pantry or (more likely) buy a wider pantry cabinet. I also guess you weren't able to see from my pictures, but where the wall oven/fridge are is actually a cutout of 28" deep (so after the drywall pantry a length of 84" is inset 28"). So we would have to walk in and then out of it to get more space... I think that will look out of place. If I had it to do all over again, I would probably build a wall between the kitchen and the hearth room and make it where we could put the refrigerator on that wall. Then we'd open up the wall the dw is on into the great room and make it a peninsula. But you'd see the chairs right when you walk in, but the right chairs could make a statement, and make that area a gathering place for parties, etc. It would also open the kitchen to the atrium completely. It would also make the hearth room a better area to create a play area, and a more closed off area all together. Alas, we've already ordered the cabinets and probably couldn't afford the cost to demo that wall, the soffit (which apparently has all the electric in it) and rerun all the electric that would be required. Not to mention the extra cabinets we would have to order. But something like this could've worked.

Ice, thanks for posting your lovely kitchen. I struggle with visualizing ideas, so it is really helpful! Funky, if we go with additional lighting I think you are right that the sconces are going to work better with the look and small space. It also makes a lot of sense to add a little additional light - it can always be turned down - and to have a couple lights that are task-specific or for mood. The artwork idea is so fun. I'm going to have to think about this! I also have that evil powder room wall, if I could find the right decoration. There's something terribly pleasing about having begun the kitchen planning with the thought, "Oh my, where am I going to put all my stuff? How is this ever going to work?" and to be drawing toward the conclusion and be thinking things like, "My storage plan around the range should be nothing, or art. Bbtrix, Thanks for hunting out this pictures for me. The style you pictured and the placement might look really good in this situation. The pulls are a kind of a strange color, "antique pewter," so maybe hard to match. The faucet is chrome and lighting fixtures in the dining area are currently dark bronze. So ... we're already getting patchworky, for better or worse. Here are the pulls - first is the stock photo, and the second is a photo I took when investigating flooring. (We're probably about to order the brown tile on the top.) The pull looks more silvery in direct light: