Grendal.....We do not have the measurements yet. This plan isn't the 'exact' copy with all the specs for the contract. However, the KD and I specifically talked about this and for some reason I have 42" in my head, but I may be off here. Lulu, you are so funny!! Actually, that IS a collection box! JK......we asked the same thing. We were thinking that each room was marked with dollar signs based on how expensive it was going to be!! Actually, the KD just put that in there to show that there is a light switch there. Again, we do not have any of the lighting/electrical schematics yet. I have to say that I made progress with DH today on the single-level island idea. What everyone is saying makes so much sense. This forum is so addictive....I was combing the internet today while the kiddos were in school for gorgeous photos of kitchens. Some things I just have to let go and not get too mired in the details....like my dishwashers being different brands. I really don't care about that and I don't want to care because I am going to have so many things to worry about, if I can let this go, it will help me with the stress level. Donations anyone???? LOL Melissa

We're a family of four (and often 5, 6, 7, or more, depending on how many friends & family are visiting!) My children are just-turned 15 and 16. Our evenings go like this: Someone is emptying the DW and clearing out breakfast and after-school snack dishes (and lunch dishes if there's no school that day). Two or three others are prepping and/or cooking. Yet another person is setting the table (going from dish storage to DR). Meanwhile we have a dog underfoot (just waiting for someone to drop something!) We do not have an island as our kitchen isn't wide enough for one (started out 11'1" deep, now 10'6" deep or so b/c we had to "build-in" a wall to accommodate venting in a wall that didn't have enough room b/w the studs to fit the ductwork and to hide most of the waste pipe from an upstairs bathroom). Instead, we have a wide "U" with two short peninsula legs and a row across from the "U" with a corner pantry off to the side. Not only does it work wonderfully well for us, but it also worked great when I had sixteen 12- and 13-years old girls working on their Girl Scout Cooking badge in my kitchen (twice)! We no longer have seating in the kitchen-proper, but we do have 2 stools at one peninsula. We opened up the wall b/w the DR and kitchen and now use our DR for all our meals. Not only is the DR now being used year-round (instead of just at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), but it also has given us a bit of "formality" to our meals and my children's manners improved quite a bit! (Plus there's more room around the table and it's nice to eat away from the dinner meal prep mess.) The combination of taking down the wall and converting the entire kitchen to a "kitchen" has made the DR/Kitchen area look & feel much more spacious and both are much, much more functional! I'm not saying eliminate the island, what I'm saying is think about alternatives. As to the cooktop in the plan I did for you, it's on a wall segment approx 12" wider than the hood on each side with the rest of the area open to the Great Room. I show the counter going into the Great Room to the depth of the wall (it could be deeper if you wanted seating there). Is it difficult to vent from there? It depends on the direction your studs run. As to the comments about the "raised counter" in your plan, I agree wholeheartedly with them. Plus, a raised counter reduces the functionality of the peninsula area a bit b/c of the counter overhang into the kitchen (usually 1.5" to 2") and over the workspace that's counter-height. Having the peninsula all one height would give you another deep workspace for large projects such as baking, homework, science fair, gift wrapping, etc. with the added advantage of being able to sit at that counter while working (your current plan does not appear to have seating at the island). [Your most recent pic is much too small to see and I cannot access the pic to see if I can see an enlarged version. I recommend putting your pictures on a true photohosting site such as Photobucket, Picasa, Webshots, Flickr, etc. and putting them in a public folder so you can upload a bigger version and others can navigate to it w/o putting a huge picture inline here.]

Regarding color, I've been painting more and had my Mom and the decorator over yesterday staring at my colors. We all agreed that the ones we thought would work were washed out and didn't seem yellow enough in my kitchen. We we went through another 12-15 large swatches- trying for nothing too peachy nor too mustard-y! Keeping in mind that the same color looks different 3' away from each other... and these pics were taken at night. During the day with natural sunlight the colors aren't as saturated... The left drawer AND door are still Hawthorne Yellow. The right drawer is Little Angel 318 and below that is SW Solaria which is NOT an option. I'm really liking Little Angel but need to look at it for a few days in various lighting. (The big swatch painted on the bottom left is also Little Angel) Here is Hawthorne Yellow (left) and Little Angel (right) in all pics... With Mascarpone in the middle-- a yellow based white... This one is reverse Hawthorne (right) Little Angel (left) What do you think? (knowing that online colors are difficult...)

Are you doing a gut remodel? If you post a 2D measured plan, people can help with layout ideas. That cooktop/oven location is pretty much the worst imaginable. No landing area on the left, teeny landing area on the right, in the traffic pattern to the sliding door, and next to seating.