A couple of things: I completely identify with your desire not to touch the dining room. In our reno our KD and GC were given the exact same instructions and we still have our dining room. That was nonnegotiable for us.
I really like the buffet/hutch (?) you have designed. In my mind the only time that cupboards to the counter are appropriate.
The only suggestion I have (And I hate to suggest it because you have everything so nicely symmetrically arranged) is to bring the fridge more into the kitchen. Right now to get to the fridge it's a bit of a walk and you are also walking through two traffic paths to get to it - one from the mudroom and the other from the dining room. It would also put is closer to your breakfast room.
If you put it to the right of the DW and the DW on the other side of the sink, leave the sink centered then you would have to reconfigure the cabinets. You would have to probably leave 6" (?) by the wall for door swing.
You could then enlarge your pantry for more storage.
Having said that it looks like you might be building in a regular depth fridge which would definitely stick out in this suggestion.
When you say that you don't want to change the footprint of the kitchen/breakfast room - does that also mean that you don't want to switch the two rooms? Your kitchen is 9'x12' while your breakfast room is 9'x17'. It is something that I would be considering. BUt maybe you already did and discounted it.

Thanks for the suggestions. They make perfect sense and we did actually think of each of them. We would have loved to "switch" the kitchen and breakfast room areas. Unfortunately we decided the costs involved (mostly plumbing) wouldn't be worth it. I just this second asked my husband specifically why we didn't do it and he mentioned the plumbing costs plus the fact of the breakfast room originally being a porch built on a slab with a coal bin underneath and running pipes into there...)

The reason we put the refrigerator where it will be was specifically to "get it out of the way" - mostly visually (the way it does stick-out.) Having it there and the size of my pantry is the one thing I am a little disappointed in. (I think it's going to end up being 27" wide, but I can make it up to 36" deep if I put in some type of pull-out shelves I think) But only a little disappointed - I feel that I have plenty of storage in general.

Again, thank you so very much for your post. I'm actually a little nervous that the whole layout is "wrong" in some sort of GW-way!! Anyone else want to lend a hand? Thanks -

SQ

I'm all for throwing out more suggestions. The island in your breafast nook (again unless there is a reason not to) could be made longer.. Why do you need walkway/aisle space to the left of it? Could you Make it longer to the window by a foot and a little closer to your buffet/hutch. It looks like you have 5' clearance there. This island could be 8' long. I'm afraid the island will look lost in there and by making it longer will give more storage as well.
A radical thought is to take it all the way down to the window., That might make it too big.
Your window wall you have base cupboards and not drawers - why? Why not all drawers. Most GW will say drawers, drawers, drawers.
Back to the fridge for a sec - if you haven't torn down any walls yet - if you were to put it at the end of the sink run by the breafast nook (just sayin') you could take the wall down to the depth of whatever fridge you buy, panel the sink side of it and make it appear built in - that would solve the sticking out problem. You can still have enough wall space for shelving.

Wow - I do like both of the ideas (the island and the refrigerator) in your post. I am alittle concerned about the breakfast room area looking "empty," but then again, I sort of like the idea of alot of open floorspace.

As far as the refrigerator move, my only concern there would be giving up the longer area of counterspace. I was thinking that was going to be my main prep area. (I'm not planning on using the island for much except eating and standing around. Is that silly?) I'm not sure what's more important to me - more counterspace or more pantry storage space? Guess I have to answer that one on my own, huh?!? The other concern is that I'm sort of excited about having that sink wall looking "open" with only the open shelving above it. Do you think the refrigerator would take away from that look?

And of course, there is always that nasty little budget concern to bring in to the picture. I'd have to figure out exactly how these changes would raise my price. (Why do the changes almost never seem to lower the price?) But again, I think they are both worth considering and I'll probably run them by the builder (and the husband.)

Oh - the drawer thing...One of the things my wonderful husband really really wants is one of those garbage pull-outs. We thought the sink wall would be the most logical place for it. I thought that if we had a regular doors there, it would look better to have doors on the other side of the run as well? I know that I have a "symmetrey" thing in my head that sometimes is a little difficult to work with...

SQ

The fridge would take away that look because I think it would come almost to the window depending on the width of the fridge. Your window is very wide (almost 6'?) so you have an open look going regardless. But now we're into form over function and only you can make that decision.
By throwing out decisions and you discounting them is, in fact, a decision for you. That's the great thing about this site - it opens up new possibilities to think about but can also reaffirm our original decisions.
You do however have quite abit of prep space on either side of your range. The function part also depends on where you are keeping your cooking utensils and your pots and pans.

blfenton - I truly appreciate your taking the time to respond to my posts. I totally agree about the beauty of this place - I LOVE to hear other people's ideas. Everything you said to me makes perfect sense...

It's funny because if you read one of my earlier posts, I 'fessed up to thinking I AM a bit of a "form over function" kind of gal. Because I've truly hated the look of my kitchen for 15 years, and really haven't minded the actual "working" in there, I think that this kitchen remodel is very much about making it a beautiful, visually appealing place. Of course, I want it to be efficient and work well, but I REALLY want it to look good!

Anyone else have any thoughts on the layout? I'm hoping that no other responses mean there's nothing terribly bad about it. Of course, I realize that my pictures were NOT that great, so I'm also afraid that people are having a difficult time visualizing it.

Thanks -

SQ

I think the refrigerator is close to the main prep area and the dining room...the only area it isn't close to is the breakfast room.

Is there any reason why you are using a fixed island in the breakfast room rather than a table? I see that you do get some storage in the island but a table with leaves could be more flexible in this area since its not a working part of the kitchen like the lower left.

You are right palimpsest - I did also have a post about my lack of a kitchen table...for the first time in my life!!!

Part of it is, I just WANT an island. Never been able to have one; I want it. The other part is that I think the island really brings the two rooms together - as much as they can be one big room. I've already obsessed about NOT having an actual kitchen table and how that will effect holiday dinners and things like that. I know it is a legitimate concern but I think the island means too much to me. Once again we have SusieQusie going for that "form over function" thing. At least I know my own weaknesses. Thanks for responding.

I think you're good to go. You've thought about what you want, you know yourself and your "form over function" ideas but, I think you've been smart about choices. I would enlarge the island if you want to. If you don;t it may be dwarfed in the space and you don;t have enough other area around it to add more furniture.
You could mock something up with existing tables or some chairs to see an appropriate size.
Mext, post an elevation drawing of your stove wall and show us your ideas. Good luck!

Thanks again - I was able to actually embed pictures in a post, so I re-posted a version of this with pictures right in it. (I was very proud of myself!!)

The wisdom of the island is being brought up by a couple of people...I truly don't think I'd be able to give it up in favor of a kitchen table. I am open to any other suggestions on how I can improve the room however.

The only other furniture I thought about adding in that part of the room was maybe a baker's rack in the one corner. I think that might fit, and I think it might fit in with the look I'm going for.

Please know that I do appreciate your encouraging words blfenton!!!