I have a 5/8" bevel edge on my kitchen counters and LOVE it. I also have the same edge in the laundry room and crescent edge in the bathrooms. I also like the crescent a lot - but of the two, I'd do the bevel again if I could only do one. From our fabricator, up to 5/8" bevel was free (that's a little over half an inch, I think many are free up to 1/4" or 1/2"). It is simple lines and cleans up like a breeze. Like others, I strongly encourage you to go look at the slabs and, if possible, go to more than one yard. Ask the Sales Manager if they have any "clearance" granite or "single slabs" as those often can save you hundreds (or, on pricer granites, thousands). I seriously can't recall how many sq. ft. we had in our kitchen so I don't know if 37 s/f could be handled with one slab or if you must get two. If just one (even if a larger slab), you would be wise to ask about "single slabs". My cousin works for a granite supplier and the first time I bought granite 17 years ago, she's the one that told me about "single slabs". Slabs are numbered consecutively down the side when they're cut. So, if you have 10 slabs that come from one big chunk, hypothetically you would have a slab that ended with 01, 02, 03, etc. to 10. Slab 02 would better "match" or "mirror" slabs 01 and 03 than it would 08 or 10. If Customer A buys slabs 01, 02 and 03 and Customer B buys slabs 05 and 06, then 04 becomes a "single slab". It doesn't have another sister slab that was cut from either side of it. Those slabs are often a lot cheaper and just as terrific. Also, they could have a big slab with one ugly blotch in the middle or something that causes people not to buy it. My folks got a full slab of Baltic Brown granite for $255 (you read that right) because it was a "single slab" with one dark black blotch about the size of a 50 cent piece. My mom loves that blotch - says it has "character". She could very easily have had them fabricate around it. That slab was enough to do her kitchen and a bathroom vanity. A lot of people don't know to ask for clearance or single slabs, but it can save you a ton. I remember seeing 8 slabs of some kind of "thunder" something or other granite that was a beautiful dark gray with black and white waves that was originally over $33 a sq ft marked down to $6 a sq ft. They weren't going to carry that one any more, so they wanted to unload it. It didn't go with my granite plans, but if I had owned a rental property it would have been installed there! Your kitchen is going to be awesome - have fun picking "the one" piece of granite. Make it a fun trip - drive two hours, look at slabs, ask for a deal, then go have lunch before heading home.

annab6...my oven cabinet is all one cabinet...just partitioned into a cabinet on top, opening for the ovens, and then a drawer on the bottom. The entire cabinet is 24" deep, so my tray space is as well. Two things about that: (1) The 24" depth allowed me to store my platters lengthwise and my cookie sheets the same way. (Notice the cookie sheets, etc. are on their sides & the platters are the "long way" in...no horizontal storage needed...I can fit a lot more this way. Did that make sense? BTW...my longest cookie sheet is 19".) (2) Behind the shorter items, there is some empty space...but I've been considering putting some seldom-used items there...for some reason empty space just seems "wrong"! (Probably b/c in my old kitchen I had so little space that I couldn't afford to have any empty space!)

What if you just: removed the island (so you and others can move more easily around your space) put the range on the wall between the dining room and the kitchen (and vent it) moved the sink slightly to the right so it's centered on the right half of the window (to increase the counter work space between the range and sink and also to have a nice work space facing out the window) moved the fridge all the way to the left on its wall, so that wall becomes fridge --> long-ish continuous counter --> ovens (the counter is a landing spot for both the fridge and ovens and also could be your beverage station) purchased a counter-height rectangular table with a stainless or butcher block or stone top that fits in the breakfast area but that also could be pushed against your kitchen counter to act as a peninsula like this (but without chairs on the kitchen side): You can push the table into the peninsula configuration (blocking the left half of the slider) when you need more counter space or when you want people to be able to sit closer to you while you work. The rest of the time, the table can sit centered normally in the breakfast nook and make the slider look normal.

M, So great to hear your take on form following function. I think we share a practical streak. On the one hand, I'm not a preservationist, on the other I do want to be true to the spirit of the house. I'm not aiming to make it something its not, and I don't want to "over improve" either. I agree that its entirely possible to "design a modern functional home and have the original vintage design-spirit prevail". In fact, thats precisely the balance I'm striving to achieve. In my situation, honoring the vintage design spirit means keeping certain elements intact: --the cottage windows --the china cabinet --the built-ins in the living room flanking the fireplace I'm not as attached to keeping the kitchen and breakfast room spaces separate as my partner is. In the spirit of cooperation and domestic harmony ;-) I've solicited feedback on how we could fit everything in the footprint of the kitchen proper, and posters to this thread stepped up admirably (THANK YOU!!) Reading the comments here has allowed me to feel more comfortable with merging the kitchen and the breakfast room--that this might be the right place to "modernize". Considering the two spaces as one is beginning to feel…well…more practical to me. Your point about it being possible to botch both the form and the function strikes a cautionary note---Sheesh, that would be awful. Aiming to avoid this, on both counts! Thanks so much M, for your always incisive comments.