Thanks you guys! I need to clarify the spacing. It is fairly tricky because the island is indeed two levels which cannot be seen well with the photos I posted. I will try to take a different angle tomorrow.... Straight on. There is a small table height section to the left, so the entire length of the island is the same as the wall cabinets behind it (14'). I think if I do three lights I will add the third in the center and leave the others spaced as is. They are three feet from the end of the island and the three lights would then be spaced 4 ft from each other. I have the led cans you can see (6 around the island). Do you think option 2 allows for enough task light? Or do I really need additional task lighting there? As far as style, I am not sure what to call the look I am going for. Overall, the house is traditional and I have chosen many transitional touches. My mom calls it modern, but I don't. :). I don't want this area to feel formal, after all, it is open to the family room with a floor to ceiling stone fireplace. I like the look of lanterns, too, but most I have seen seem like a cleaning nightmare because of the glass. Other thoughts?

To explain my second sentence about moving the range and hood out of the sight line of the central hall. In the layout shown above, 27" is currently occupied by the two components that are 9" and 18" wide. Assume for a moment that the sink stays, and the lazy susan stays. Assume for a moment that the two components, 9" and 18" wide, get replaced by a single component (e.g. drawers). Then, this statement may be clearer to you now: A size smaller than this total (27") will take up less width than the current two-components, and thereby cause the entire cook zone (hood too) to get moved to the right. This also causes the left hand side cabinet to increase by the same number of inches, if your cabinet run remains the same overall length. When you reduce dimensions in one component it increases dimensions in another component, if the total has to remain the same. You get more useable space if you have large components instead of two smaller ones. In addition to the space, the ergonomics are better not worse. People here in this forum have discussed this, earlier this year. On the left hand side the cabinet run ends many many inches before the wall ends. You could cover more wall and have more counter and more storage. -- it is good to have an all-fridge and an all-freezer, too. -- A small sink of the size you have is good. A big sink can be smaller than shown since you have so much sink volume already available in the small one. If so, the loss of total sink volume is a minor thing. But the gain of space in the other cabinets might be significant. I quote plllog: "What I really see in your plan, however, is a lack of storage space in the kitchen area" =Hth. -- An oval table is the right shape. The island could be longer. Since the island can be seen from almost all angles anyway, there is no compelling reason to end it arbitrarily at the perceived-on-a-layout line that the long hall wall makes, and exactly on that line, to the inch. Now, you might ask how much room is needed behind the chair backs around the oval table. I won't put a specific number on it here because it might then cause a lot of buzz about how much is enough, recommended, necessary, etc. Currently that space is shown as 12' by 15'. Twelve feet is too much. Even if you put a hutch or other furniture on the far wall. In my house I have less than twelve feet, and I have furniture on the far wall. And, nobody has ever had a problem passing others, during fancy meals. Besides, the people serving the plates don't need to pass each other as if they each demanded an aisle equivalent of passing space. And, in your case, you have the two main aisles too, which I don't have in my house. So, your house is far far more open than mine. I think an oval DR table will appear dwarfed and floating in a 12' by 15' space, and that you really should do a layout and 3-d simulation that extends the island overhang. -- I think that with 2 DW's you will need less storage not more. Or the same not more. With 2 DW's, one is holding stuff while the other one is empty or being emptied. You can get that advantage with two dishdrawers because they each operate independently. Please note that today all DW's take plates that are not rinsed previously so there is no need to have an immense total sink volume for dirty stuff that is "on its way to the DW". I think that with 2 fridges you might not need more pots. How you manage meal leftovers is up to you. I never let more than one meal's leftovers get stored. It's a self imposed rule. I have two fridges. I have fewer pots in 2010 and 2011 than I have had in the last 30 years. I got an induction cooktop. -- an undermount sink "can" fit inside any base cabinet because you can groove out some of the cabinet sides to leave space for the sink rim. A sink can also straddle two base cabinets because you can groove out the sides to give space for the sink body. The latter exercise might make some people want to then write a lot about the wood of the cabinet sides. (How much wood, what type, how much id left over after the cut, will this be"enough", would one want to reinforce,,,,....) People don't do this, in this forum. But, within X period of time they might start writing about it and thereby encourage someone to do it and post their final result. I cut two adjacent cabinet sides in order to let my cooktop straddle two cabinets. Nobody whined or opined anything negative. Not the countertop fabricator and installer (they heard about it and saw it). Not GW kitchen forum participants. The same notch/cut/groove/cut idea can be applied to make room for a sink. Yes you may add a piece of steel to reinforce things too... more later if and when. When I stand at my cooktop I can open either drawer underneath while remaining close to the cooktop because each drawer occupies half of the space under the cooktop. This is great for a one-person cooking team, and a bit awkward for a two-person cooking team. But consider this: the big advantage of trash pullouts when they were invented was that they were on the side when you stood at the sink, instead of forcing you to step aside and to Open A Cabinet Door. HOWEVER now that undercounter drawers are proven to be ergonomically better than doors, one may consider a sink straddling two cabinets that contain all-drawers. Hint hint. This is new thinking. -- by moving the cook zone over several inches you will have to rework the wall shelves and cabinets. Do not symmetricize the sink under the window. Let the window be mostly to shine light on a countertop.

Agreeing with remodelfla, you MUST take your door and even a floor sample with you to choose the right granite (bear in mind I am not saying the one you love isn't right). We recently went through this with our bathroom vanity/shower tile/floor issues. We picked an outrageously lovely (read $$$) marble for the vanity that was a deep green oil slick with veining, puddles of colour, and a feeling of deep sea diving.. Yes we loved it! Until we brought in the slate and cork.. yeckkkkk.. sadly we bid adieu to the "green slime" lol, and happily settled for Desert Gold, which is a busy, colourful, fun slab. Because we'd fallen so heavily for the green, we'd discounted what is a far more perfect match for our home, budget, and general casualness of life. Have fun with your choices, play with lots of combinations that might not be your first pick, but most of all, get what you can afford AND love! Here is a link that might be useful:

I am guessing you don't have UCL? I would consider installing those too which would do away with the worry of it looking dark and gloomy. We have golden oak cabinets in too good of condition to replace. They also don't have an extreme orange cast like some. So we removed our pure white laminate counters and went with Titanium granite. It is black with some beautiful movement of cream and caramel colors which accented the cabinets well. Going from white counters to mostly black was a huge change, but the new UCL we installed, kept it looking bright and not hard to see while working in the kitchen. You could go with a granite with lovely movement and then keep the back splash very plain.