Howdy! Welcome.

First, island cooktops are not well-loved around here. Splattering diners. Lack of neighboring workspace. Venting issues.

Second, the wall ovens are a fur piece away and have limited convenient landing space. It's always a challenge to have to pivot with a hot pan to an island, especially on a seating side.

Third, what is that box thing in the corner? If you moved the range to the freezer/fridge wall, you'd find that thing right in your way.

To post your other photos, just click on Direct Link in photo bucket, which will copy the URL thanks to some Photo bucket magic, then paste it into your message. In front of the address, write "img src=" and after the address, put a reverse carat. ">"

Ditto about no love for island cooktop: currently, I have a range in my peninsula (and no HOOD - crazy), and it renders my peninsula useless when I'm cooking (splatter/hot/burning children; at my friend's house, her son climb off the stool onto the cooktop).

I would move the WO to the fridge wall and move the wine to the WO spot. This will remove the oven from the walk-way; not good w/ heavy hot tray w/ people going through the doorway. You want people drinking wine to be out of your work zone; they can linger on THAT side of the island.

Where will you put trash?

My thoughts:
- move fridge/freezer to pantry wall, replacing pantry
- move cooktop to where wine is
- flank the cooktop w/ the tall cabinets w/ pantry on left, speedoven/WO on right
- if you add a prep sink to the island (which you said you didn't want), you could grab ingredients from the fridge/freezer, plop onto island, prep there and turn 180 to cook on cooktop wall.
- your south wall is the clean-up station.

Good luck,
Amanda

Hi Marcolo and Amanda, thank you for your comments. I am going to try to post the individual wall elevations so the design plan is clearer for you and others, then I will address your specific questions and comments. Marcolo, thanks for posting the first picture and upload instructions.

East wall:
img src=http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k604/Kay-SD/MyEastWallPlan.jpg>;

South wall:
img src=http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k604/Kay-SD/MySouthWallPlan.jpg>;

North wall:
img src=http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k604/Kay-SD/MyNorthWallPlan.jpg>;

I followed Marcolo's instructions, but my images did not post. Is there another way to post images?

You forgot the forward-facing carat in front of your HTML. "

It appears to me that you have a nice big kitchen that is lacking in useful counter space. You have quite a bit of tall, and not a lot of counter. Where are you going to do all your prep? Where will you put the coffee maker, toaster oven? Think about where you will get your stuff together for breakfast and lunch. It seems to me that everyone is going to wind up working in the same area of the kitchen...in the section surrounding the sink and cooktop. I understand the "look" you're going for with that whole wall of tall, but I don't think it's going to function very well. What are you planning in those shallow drawers in the tall cabinets?

I too understand the look that you're going for but you only have 9' of counter with 2' of that taken up by the DW in what seems to be quite a big space. You can't really count the island as counter space because you have a range in the middle of it. Where will guests prepare what they bring or help you.(family dinners?). I think this look is great in a contemporary loft space but in a house with a young family of 4 - not so much.

I'll start the ball rolling with suggested changes - get rid of the tall cabinets on the east wall and move the freezer/wine/fridge down towards the north and put the range on that wall.
Add a prep sink to the island with a trash pullout. You have the space for a prep sink and will be thrilled if you open up counter space and add one.
What is that 27" corner wall where the east and south walls
meet?

Ok, I am going to try pictures again. I hope I am putting the forward-facing carat in the correct place.

Inspiration kitchen:

img src=

A kitchen I love:

Marcolo and Blfenton, the box thing in the southeast corner is just that, a box constructed out of drywall to take up the corner. I hate blind corner cabinets, so I would rather "waste" the corner entirely rather than spending money on corner cabinetry I hate, especially since it lets me put more efficient drawer storage on each side of the corner. It also allows me to have tall cabinetry on the east wall and uppers and lowers on the south wall, without having an issue where they meet in the corner. I might put a door in the guest room wall to utilize the 27" x 27" space from the other side to store items we do not need to get to often, like luggage.

I agree that having the wall ovens 4' away from the nearest landing spot on the island is not ideal, but it is a big improvement over the 7' walk between wall ovens and counters in our current kitchen. If we move the wall ovens to the east wall, there is still at least a 4' walk to the island.

Amanda, the trash pullout and dishwasher are on opposite sides of the sink cabinet. I will also have storage for dishes, Rubbermaid containers, plastic wrap, etc. on the south wall. That way, after meals, the plates and pots all go to the counter next to the sink, leftovers can be packaged, dishes can be scraped into the trash and then go into the dishwasher. When I empty the dishwasher, the dish storage is on uppers on that wall.

It sounds like cooktops on islands are not popular. I agree it is not ideal, but it was the only way to get the entire wall of tall cabinets on the east side. My DH loves the look of that wall, and that wall will be highly visible from our kitchen and dining room. I would prefer a real hood to a downdraft vent, but, then again, I have lived without a proper hood for 10 years.

Mahlgold, I am having trouble balancing the look we want with function. We plan to do prep on the island and the counter to the left of the sink. Those 2 areas give us more counter space than we have had in any prior kitchen. We do not own a coffee maker or toaster oven. Our only countertop appliances are a KA mixer, small toaster and blender. The mixer and blender will go under the uppers to the left of the sink (mixer in far left corner on an angle). The toaster could also go on that counter, or maybe behind the lift door on the left side of the east wall along with bread storage. We only do breakfast and lunch at home 1 or 2 days per week. I am not sure how many or how deep of drawers to put in the tall cabinets. I drew each side with 5, but it could be 3 or 4. This kitchen has so many more lower cabinets than we have ever had before, that I am not sure what to put in all of them. On the right side tall cabinet, I thought I would want a couple of shallow drawers at the top to store extra trays for the Advantium, pot holders (those will be kept in 3 different locations near all the hot appliances) and wine tools like the opener, Vacu-vin, etc. Maybe a drawer for DH's vast tea bag and leaf collection and related tools. We could put all the empty baby bottles and plastic plates for the kids in a drawer in that tower or on the south wall. On the left side tall cabinet, I could use the drawers to store pyrex, roasting pans, pie tins and other baking dishes that might not fit in the drawers below the wall oven. My stove top pots and pans and utensils will go in drawers below or next to the cooktop on the island, as I have several feet of drawers on the south side of the island.

The wall ovens were put on the north wall (where they are in the current kitchen) because they are less attractive to look at. Also, if we get the side opening Gagg ovens, they would be difficult to place in the east wall because they need at least 8" between the hinge side of the oven and an adjacent wall, so we could not put them at the very end of a cabinet run. It is also tricky because we are trying to find space for 3 wall ovens: standard 30" convection oven, speedoven/microwave, and steam oven. They are too tall to stack all together in one column and still have at useful heights. I will use the speedoven/microwave more than once a day, so I would be miserable having that oven below countertop height. I also hope to use the combi-steam oven regularly. I feel like we should have 1 full size oven, but that one will get the least use (I very rarely bake or cook large meals), so I could buy the Thermador wall oven with the standard door and put it under the counter somewhere and stack the other 2 together on a wall.

The problem with swapping all the cooling appliances to the north wall and the pantry to the east wall as was suggested is that the pantry is only 16-18" deep and the appliances are 24" deep, which would prevent us from having a 24" deep coat closet on the hall side of that space. (We really need a coat closet because the house does not have one now.) I will think about whether we can steal coat space from another room, like the guest room.

I am debating the idea of a prep sink on the island. DH looked at me like I was crazy when I suggested a second sink 5' away from the main sink. We do not use the sink a lot for prep. We rinse the veggies, but then put them on a cutting board and move it to where we want to work. We use a large bowl to collect veggie or meat waste when we peel, chop and trim.

Sadly, we do not have any family in this state, so no one brings us food to prepare. It is just DH and I in the kitchen now, although we hope our two daughters will like to cook as they get older.

An alternative plan I had considered for the east wall is to put the freezer column at the far left, the fridge column at the far right, and a 30" gas range with 36" chimney style wall hood in the center of that wall. I would have space for about 21" of lower drawers and counters on each side of the range. I could put 18" uppers on each side of the hood, or just leave the upper space open. The range oven would replace the large wall oven, so the microwave and steam oven could be stacked on the north wall. The wine column would move over next to the oven stack, which would reduce my pantry width to 4.5', but that should still be enough. I also could get rid of the tall wine column I have been drooling over and just put 2 undercounter units in the island and/or south wall.

Alternatively, the range could be flanked by the 30" fridge column on one side and the 30" wall oven cabinet on the other side, although the visual symmetry will not be as nice as with the two 30" Thermador columns. This would allow the microwave and steam oven contents to land next to the range. Then I would pair a 24" freezer column and 24" wine column together on the north wall next to the pantry.

It will take me a while to try to draw these alternative plans, as I am doing these all by hand. DH hates that I am rethinking the layout when he thought we were done with the design phase. I am 6 months pregnant, and we are 2-3 months behind our timetable to have plans done so we can start building. We had hoped to be done before the baby came, but I am going to end up spending my whole maternity leave in a construction zone. Wow, I wish I could drink - a lot.

I had planned on seating for 4 at the island since we are a family of four and I thought we might want to occasionally grab a quick bite together at the island. I also want seats for guests since everyone congregates in the kitchen at parties. I am starting to wonder if I really need seating for 4 at the island since the dining room table will be less than 5' away.

What do you think - should I leave 4 seats at the island, or switch to 2 to gain more prep and storage space?

These are the architect's drawings that show the floorplan of the house.

Current kitchen:

House:

Architect's proposed kitchen:

The rooms the kitchen will look into. The wall cutout will be to the left of where I was standing to take this picture.

The style of our dining room furniture. (The lovely light fixture will be replaced.) This is the wall that will be opened.

Inspiration for the row of Thermador columns with wood surround:
{{gwi:1751918}}

Kaysd- Love your inspiration photo, for form over function. One reason it might work is that there seems to be plenty of landing space, behind the fridge/to the right of the cooktop. Will you have enough space in your design?

When I say form over function, my concern is the little ones, who will want to help in the kitchen. Can you imagine a five year old, getting their own cereal in the morning? You have 30" opposite the oven, about 24" to the right of the cooktop...and the island is only 4' deep....so you have landing space for the oven, fridge, freezer, and work space to the right of the cooktop.

I don't know if this is going to be enough space, for so many functions. If you could bring in a little counter space, maybe by the oven (?) with only one pantry...that might give you a little more functional space.

Again, I like your sleek design style...just make sure it's going to function for you now...and when the kid(s) get old enough to want to cook with you :)

I like the sounds of your alternate plan for the east wall better. You could put a decorative backsplash behind the range for added interest as it is a view wall from the dining room. For the corner - instead of building a box and losing 4 sq. ft of counter - what about putting in 2 levels of open-shelving as deep as your upper cabinets, mitered into the corner. I think that would go with the clean style that you seem to be aiming for and gives you a place for accessories, or oils, vinegars, cookbooks etc. I'm looking at the corner bookcase in your inspiration photo and trying to, not copy, but draw inspiration from it.
I have to tell, I spent 20 years cooking, prepping and cleaning on a counter that was 4' x 2' and covering up useful counter goes against everything I believe in for kitchens. (just kidding - sort of -LOL).
Oh I hate to tell you how many times my DH thought we were finished the design phase - but I wasn't pregnant.
It is, however, definitely worth the time to explore other plans and suggestions, even if you wind up exactly where you started. You will then know that for you and your family, it is the best floor plan.

Hate to say this, but I vastly prefer your architect's version, with the addition of a prep sink on the island and moving the DW to the other side of the main sink.

Boxing in a corner makes absolutely no sense. Not only are there multiple useful corner cabinet options like super susans and magic corner, but you're losing precious counterspace in a kitchen that already has too little.

If you really despise corners, check out the alternative in johnliu's thread linked below. You don't have a window there to walk up to, but at least you get a full run of cabs and countertops on one of the walls.

Here is a link that might be useful: Look at the corner in this thread

I understand you feel good about the fact that your plan has more counterspace then you've had in any other kitchen, but you also will have 2 more people in this kitchen than in your other kitchen. Kids grow up fast and take up the same amount of space as you and your DH. When we bought our house 17 years ago, we put in this kitchen, which was plenty of space for the 2 of us.

We then had 2 children who decided to get bigger! They are now 14 and 12. Eventually, we were all constantly bumping into eachother in the same corner section of the kitchen. Sort of a similar set up as to your plan with the sink, range and frig very close to eachother(yours is obviously more spread out). I had very limited prep area and it was difficult for more than 1 person to be in there working together. We renovated and changed it to this:

What I'm trying to say is you have to think way beyond how you did things before and that you are getting more space than before, so it must be ok. Your needs will change. You said above that you only make breakfast/lunch 1 or 2 times a week. That will change too. The kids will need breakfast, you will eventually have to make lunches for school, etc. When we first bought our house, we pretty much got our coffee on the way to work, went out for lunch, etc. Things change after kids....at least they did for us. We started drinking coffee and eating breakfast at home before work. We started bringing our lunch to work, which had to be prepared in the kitchen before work while getting breakfast ready, etc. I'm not trying to discourage you from your dream kitchen. Just want you to be aware of what you may wind up with functionally because of how you want it to look. Would hate for you to be frustrated after all the time, effort and money.

Many people find it can be a fairly long design process once they post their initial layout here. Most are extremely happy with the outcome, even though it may have been difficult at times. It took me over a year to finalize my plans. I wanted to take the time to get it right. There was no way DH was going to put in a 3rd kitchen in the same house!! Good luck!!!

Kaysd: Look at the corner inset shelving that malhgold did in her above kitchen. Something like that might work in that corner instead of boxing it in.. Or corner shelving as mentioned before.
Malhgold - beautiful kitchen.