This thread, which I didn't catch the first time around, made me think. In general, I cook to eat and feed my family. However, I do enjoy baking for special occasions. I think that if I didn't work outside the home I would cook more...and be more adventurous. But, I work and have a long commute so by the time I get home I have to make fast meals with little time for creativity or major prep work. So, we eat a lot of frozen veggies--as is out of the bag, pre-cooked meats warmed up, pasta, soup, occasionally waffles/pancakes/eggs, potatoes, etc. I.e., for the most part things that I can cook fast. One up side to this is that our meals haven't changed that much w/o a kitchen since we do have a MW, Toaster Oven, and hot plate to cook with! One very big downside to this, though, is that my children are not learning to cook like I did from my mom. Back on topic... After finding this site and reading about zones, I realized that one thing that I really wanted was a baking center. So when my kitchen was being designed I had it in the back of my head that whatever we ended up with had to have an area I could designate my "Baking Zone", preferably near the ovens--with room to roll out dough, spread out cookie sheets, and have cookie cutters spread out all at the same time! The other thing I got from this site was our window...having the window down to the counter (OK, not cooking-related, but a very important design element!) Our very first plan that our KD came up with had input from us...but a very naive/ignorant us! (Before GW...BGW!) Then....I found this site.....and the changes began. Actually, I posted that original plan and asked for help (and also asked my KD to start over w/no island) Many, many people here helped me come up with a plan over several weeks (months?). We finally came up with a plan that has changed little since then. Interestingly, when I took away the island "must have", my KD came up with a plan very similar to what we came up with here. The only 3 differences were (1) no mini peninsula, (2) a 36" pantry cabinet rather than a corner pantry, and (3) no separate Message Center cabinets. My KD wasn't completely happy w/our differences, but she, wisely I thought, told me to go home and mock up what I wanted to see how it would work (same advice I got here!) Well, the mock up was great! It proved that I did indeed want the mini peninsula (I liked it so much I left the mock up in place until demo and used it!) When I told her the results, she didn't argue, she accepted it telling me it's my kitchen, so ultimately it's up to me. So in the end, my design was/is based on what I wanted, not what the KD wanted. [If only someone else had measured my kitchen and she was given more authority, I think a lot of subsequent problems would have been avoided.] Our kitchen isn't done yet, but it's close...so I can't yet tell you how it is going to work for us...but we are so...

On Thursday we hosted a House Concert for a niece who's trying to make a go of the music thing. About 24 poeple we invited showed up for a potluck dinner for which I made a 9 lb stuffed roasted pork loin, 2 casserole dishes of broccoli/cauliflower au gratin, and asian noodles. After which the niece played/sang about a dozen of her songs. Today for lunch, I used a fair amount of the leftover roast pork loin to make a pot of pork chili using ingredients on hand, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out.

@HU-969271744 Here is our construction plan. Units are feet and inches. It's a u-shaped rather than g-shaped kitchen, with doorways in the lower left and lower right corners (the room on the left is a mudroom with exterior door). The 1' RO in the upper left, and the two 2'6" spans on the top, are all windows. We also have a movable kitchen table in the center of the room that is 24" x 48", which allows plenty of aisle space while working except when the oven or DW doors are open. Fortunately the DW can be accessed from either side, so if one of us is working on the left/prep side, we walk around the table (opposite the range) to access it. Also, we plan to swap out the existing table for one that is 32" x 42" based on how we're using the workspaces.

I would let the cedar weather, it turns a nice grey that should go well. The pine I would paint or stain. I am tempted to say white since it would be nice a bright, but in an outdoor kitchen it might show the grunge too much too quick. So perhaps a darker color there. Maybe a deep mustard or rust, or mullberry blue, deep sage green. If you like it hot and glossy, fire engine red or bright burnt orange would pop. I wouldn't go black or very dark charcoals/greys- your dirt looks fairly light and that too might show a lot on very dark cabinet color.