Rentaltux and Bill, thanks to both of you for your ideas! They are both great but I will go with the 9-12-9 inch design as it is closest to the look I am going for. Thanks again!!! I am so relieved to get this figured out!

OK, here's another one. It gives you most of what you want: Layout #2 Kitchen: It has: Good workflow Nice separation of work zones so more than one person can be working in the kitchen at the same time - preparing a meal or snack, cooking, or cleaning up. -- Refrigerator, Prep Zone, and Cooking Zone are one side of the Kitchen with plenty of workspace -- Cleanup Zone is on the other side with plenty of workspace and, now, quite a bit more dish storage. In addition, the dishes and Cleanup Zone are near the DR for ease of setting the table or clearing it. There's a 24" wide x 15" deep tall pantry on the end of the Cleanup Zone - this is to hide dirty dishes a bit from the DR and hide them completely from the LR. I discuss pantry cabs in the DR discussion below. Between this pantry cab and the two in the DR, you have 6 feet of pantry storage. I wish they weren't separated, but with your wants and constraints, compromises are needed. 36" range. The Cooking Zone is also well-protected from traffic - both the range and the ovens. There's a 24" wall oven in an oven stack with the MW in an alcove above. -- Under the MW alcove and above the oven is a pullout shelf to use for MW landing space. -- The reason for the alcove is that you can place an inexpensive MW in the alcove and, if it ever breaks down, you can easily replace it - no worrying about whether it will fit the existing trim kit for a built-in. -- Oven landing space is on the other side of the refrigerator 48" or less away. NKBA Guidelines recommend oven landing space should be within 48". You could also use the counter over the DW - although it will be a bit more than 48". Finally, you might be able to use the MW shelf - but be careful of heavy items. It has three seats at the peninsula. With the different seating in the DR, there is sufficient space for both the table and peninsula seating. The trash pullout is located in the Prep Zone and near the Cooking & Cleanup Zones. Far more trash & recyclables are generated during prepping and cooking than cleaning up, so locating it in the Prep Zone makes the most sense. Peninsula: Yes, there is a sink in the peninsula - a prep sink. I know you didn't want one, but, again, if you want the large range, the extra oven, etc., compromises are needed and this is one that I feel strongly is needed. Without the prep sink, this layout will not work well. The peninsula still has plenty of space for staging. -- I did do an alternate layout with a corner prep sink, assuming it can be done with the chase. However, it doesn't follow very good workflow b/c you're moving back & forth from the peninsula where all the workspace is to the range on the other side of the sink. There isn't enough workspace b/w the range and sink - and that's where it's most useful. What did I tweak this time? :-) The Living Room wall is no longer extended "up" - it's extended "down" toward the Dining Room by 26" - based on your previous removal of part of the LR/DR wall. I.e., I would keep 26" of it instead of taking all of that part of the wall down. That may or may not help with expanding the LR/DR doorway down toward the bottom wall. (See the DR layout to understand what I'm talking about.) The short wall b/w the Kitchen and Basement Stairs/Study is still shortened by 12" I moved the windows so they flank the range and they are both 39" wide. I strongly recommend counter-height windows! (See this thread: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2484108/counter-height-window-pictures-please) That black box, btw, is what appears to be a chase of some kind that you cannot move - based on your layout. . Layout #2 Kitchen Zone Map: . Layout #2 - Alternate Peninsula: . Layout #2 - Alternate Peninsula's Work Zones: . Layout #2 Dining Room: I changed the doorway to open it up more - assuming you can do it. If you cannot, then leave it as is. This layout has a partial banquette - a bench along the window wall for two seats and the rest are chairs. This should work for just about any family - with or without children and empty nester or not. It also contains two 24" wide x 15" deep tall pantry cabinets - shelves, not pullouts or roll out tray shelves (ROTS) since shallow shelves are much more useful than deep pullouts. With 24" wide cabinets, things easily get lost in anything deeper than 12" to 15" - shelves or pullouts or ROTS. If you wanted a pullout, then, I wouldn't have it any wider than 18" so you can see everything by looking on one side or the other. I do not recommend ROTS - you end up opening & closing them looking for what you need. With a narrow pullout or shallow shelves in a cabinet or built-in pantry, you can see everything at one look (or maybe two with a pullout). The table is not centered on the room b/c of the door on the right. You need more space to get by b/c of the door. If you moved the door "up" toward the Kitchen, you could center the table and have 38.5" aisles on both ends of the table. The bench, however, is centered on the room - mainly so I could symmetrically place the two 24" pantry cabinets. If you can move the door, I would.

Thanks - that's the look i am looking for and also understand that i may need to compromise a bit as the geometry of the shower is not exactly setup for 12x24 so i will get some odd sized pieces. I will work with them this morning and see if we can work out the best layout that meets my objectives while also not end up with very small cuts of tile at the more visible ends. I think there may need to be a compromise somewhere but I think it can be done by working the corners within reason.

Definitely thinking I can't make the island work with fridge relocated and appreciate all the advise to avoid a walk-in pantry. My next thought would be to remove our current island altogether and add a peninsula directly across from where I'd like the fridge to be. The peninsula would range reach to just short of the center line of the kitchen, leaving 42 to 48" clear to the fridge. This would also allow me to have an overhang into the dining area. Currently the island top is small and the cabinets are used for storage. There is not enough room to sit there. Any thoughts on this being a better route? I'm not sure I'm sold on closing the kitchen off with an island, but I think it would give us a lot of counter space for entertaining, free up the kitchen floor for moving around, and keep guests away from the stove and food prep areas.