Thank you guys!!! bmorepanic, that is a gorgeous kitchen! Your comment about the island keeps hitting me as to size/width/legroom. I'm wondering if I should go back to my original idea and do a 24-30"D island for the sink, etc with an attached "table" in a 30"D (for legroom). That would eliminate the need for a kitchen table altogether. This one is my dream kitchen from the Coastal Living Idea House on Daniel Island (I actually took this picture myself in September '13). The sink top is 48"D and the "table" is 30"D or so. Do you think that my 24/15/30 cab-table configuration could work in my room? Or just eliminate the 15" side cabs from the island and steal room from somewhere else for misc. storage? Oh yeah , I will def. have legs for supports and such, so you're right, need more legroom than 24" like in my sketch. I really appreciate that suggestion, greenhaven, but we currently have that configuration, and have dealt with it for 20+ years at a family home, and DH and I are in agreement that we'd rather not have the cooktop there anymore. The stories you hear about people getting burned from grease while sitting across from the range are true. It has happened to me on more than a few occasions. Besides, our chef friends kick us out of the kitchen anyway. "Go away and do something! We're making 14 gallons of fish stock and you need to be gone!" :D But, try me. I'm up for being pushed into thinking more creatively by y'all, not a cocky contractor that "does it this way just because".

Hi Aries, Thanks for the compliment! I think I put the most thought and effort into the kitchen and baths. I'm building in southern NJ. My husband and I are the GCs and we both work full time so we're already 9 months in and should be finished up before a full year, I HOPE! I'd be glad to share some pictures of the rest of the house as soon as I get some of the debris and dust cleaned up. The DG plan we chose has smallish secondary bedrooms and baths. I wasn't too keen on that and had planned on expanding them during the framing but we ended up doing a walkout basement instead so we'll have some extra space to store toys. That was enough to get me to drop the whole bathroom expansion obsession. I also like the architectural style of the DG and FB plans. I beefed up the size of the exterior window trim on ours and it made a world of a difference. Seems to make more sense proportionally compared to the columns. I noticed a lot of discussion on the Home Building forum if you search for Don Gardner and Frank Betz, although I didn't see many pictures.

kitchenkelly, A wine tower is a great idea. I hadn't thought about that at all, but it has the height and some substance. It could work. georgiagal, I'm so glad you posted. I've always loved your diningroom! I think I need to study it to see how you've accomplished that look. (Our room looks so sparse in comparison but with nothing on the walls or window, what do I expect?) Which wall is longer in your room? I'm sorry about not posting photos of our table finally set up as I had promised ages ago. We've had a recurring problem on our other computer and it seems the kids have ignored the messages that we have limited room on our hard drive. Didn't even know that was possible but it's so bad we can't even properly defragment. So I have to be careful with what I download onto that computer. I may be able to download something and quickly transfer it to photobucket but I got an error message the last time I tried that. It's always something.

@may_flowers -- Wow you do have a great memory about my house plans - obviously you have helped me before. Yes, we are debating either a powder coated blue for the island hood or warm white colour (both to have stainless trim on base of fan) . Our kitchen has the dining room on the south side, the living room on the north and the great room diagonally south/east from the kitchen. All of these rooms are open to each other. Ignore the wall near the fridge as there is a good size archway there that Scherr's did not put in the elevation plan. I do agree that once the stools go in as you stated, the trim work on the island will be less noticeable. I also agree with you that the eye will go to the glass cabinet and the hood before any island trim work. The laundry room with blue cabs is on the east of the house and kitchen is on west -- but you are right I have posted about my laundry room/ craft room too. @romy -- your thoughts make sense to me too. We did want stools with backs and the island is dark so trim will get noticed less anyway. I love the suggestion for counter edge that you pointed. If it was good enough for Beekeeperswife then it is certainly good enough for me. I love her kitchen! Blfenton, I like that term "table top edge". I will find out the technical name for it to be clear to the fabricator. I am really happy you came up with this idea, Blfenton, of changing the edge of the island. Such a perfect solution. I will to study Bee's kitchen some more. She made so many great decisions (love the way she did her back splash with the tiles on an angle). Off topic I realize, but since you have all helped me out so much on the form/style of my kitchen I have posted my sample board so you can envision the finish combination. Any thoughts on whether we should do a warm white island fan or grey/blue let us know. Or another entirely different colour (tons of colour options available for powder coating)? Here is the legend: a)floor b)island stain c)perimeter cab colour d)counter top e)sink colour f)back splash GA) option 1 for island hood GB) option 2 for vent hood. Blue plate - I inherited a large collection of these plates from my mom and will display them along one wall. Carol