Charliedawg! Alright, some fun stuff! I agree with your first thoughts that it needs a little something. I think corbels would be a good addition. I also really like pendent lights, they won't block your view. Our's don't. I agree that raised panel in that spot is likely a waste. I also agree that the kitchen won't really come to "life" until you add all your personal stuff. Here's a shot of our kitchen which includes corbels and pendents. Just like our properties, our kitchens are similar. Glad things are back on track. You can't stop writing after you move in. We want to hear all about life in the house. Here is a link that might be useful:

try hard, i think you should not forgo your breakfast bar or your ability to use it comfortably. if i understand the way you describe it, the 12 inch overhang will only protrude into the doorway, not the actual room, and then only by 3 inches. it really sounds fine to me. unused, sitting there with stools tucked, i think it will be seen as the kitchen. whether you use the 9 or the 12, your actual bodies or backs of stools will probably graze the family room but so what? counters and bars are often transitional spaces to the next room anyway, and i think that either way it will be fine and you will enjoy it so go for the 12! by the way, former owners of my house made the counter bar extend 11 inches which we find comfortable for knees. however, they removed the wall between kitchen and dining room and the entire counter protrudes the 11 inches into our small dining room which completely throws off the center of the room and makes the stools way too close to the dining table. i can't gut the whole space, so i live with it and really love using the counter bar. your situation is far far better and i bet it will look fantastic. good luck and let us know what you decided.

I'm thinking you should post the question over at the kitchens forum, if you haven't already. I'm sure you'll get lots of opinions and pics! If you don't need to hide anything you'd rather not be looking at from your family room, I'd go with counter height. It will make the counter seem much more spacious than what you would get with a smaller, bar-height "shelf". Have you done an image search for kitchen pass-thru?

If you lower the bar to counter-height, you'll need a 15" overhang...so I don't think you want to do that....unless... (1) Bring the bar down to counter-height (bar-height doesn't really hide anything and it breaks up the great expanse of workspace peninsulas & islands offer) (2) Eliminate the cabinets under the overhang (3) Put a cabinet in the corner "dead space" that faces the seating side (4) Make the overhang 15" At 5'10", I find our 15" overhang OK...another 3" would have been better, but it's OK. My DH at 6'5" still has to straddle the cabinet, but at least he'll sit at it...unlike our friend's peninsula w/a 12" overhang...he refuses to sit at it b/c it's just too uncomfortable (I have to sit sideways or lean pretty far forward when I sit at their peninsula.)