I'm just a newbie here. So I don't have too much by way of suggestions. But my kitchen is extremely similar to your layout. Here's what I notice: 1. I agree with 90 degree cabinet at least on fridge side. We have the angled cabinet and the fridge at almost the same location. I call it the "lost corner". I think with the 90 degree upper it would open up that corner some. Yours is probably in a better situation than my corner in that you have a window there. 2. I also have an angle cabinet between the range and sink wall with no additional cabinet on the sink wall. It is unfinished. I always feel like it would be well served with another cabinet there or a decorative end panel. If it is a 90 degree cabinet it may feel more finished on it's own. 3. My dishwasher is on the other side of the sink, but also opens up against a run a cabinets. Just make sure you are not placing dishes/silverware along the cabinets you can't access with the door open. Congratulations on being close to having your new kitchen! I imagine you are really excited.

Couple of questions: is there a window over your sink? If not, what about a plate rack or a glass cab for dishes? 21" for dish storage is not much. Do you store medicines or vitamins in your kitchen? Where will they go? I would put the dishes over the sink, then use that 21" cab for medicines/vitamins/spices/oils. Close to the stove, but not close enough to destroy the flavors. Those pantry cabs: Where will you store your bulk items? Do you have additional pantry storage in your mudroom? Are you planning those 15" deep pantry cabs to be hutches that go to the counter? I think you will need the space. I like 15" deep cabs for pantry items, as long as you have additional storage for your bulk items, larger cereal boxes, Costco purchases, etc. We had a 24" deep pantry cab in our previous house. Hated it. Of course, I didn't have pullouts, but I still prefer to just open a door and look at the options instead of shuffling around through deep shelves -- even pullouts. I like your island. Small, but useful. Fridge: if you put a deep cab over the standard depth fridge, you could put your trays there, then get 30" pots& pans drawers next to your range. That would free up drawer space that could be used for pantry, and room for a full-sized susan. Spices: I personally would never store my spices in drawers or a pullout right next to the oven. The heat will ruin them. Much better to use one of the drawers over in the pantry area for spices and to put your pots and pans immediately next to the stove. Or, better yet, store them in an upper cab. Trash v. Susan: I think it depends on your needs. Since your mudroom is so close, I would prefer a larger susan and a smaller kitchen trash (make sure to get a pullout that has a drawer above so that you have a convenient place to store clean towels/washcloths).

Congratulations on starting the adoption process. I hope that goes really quickly and smoothly for you. Some friends of mine adopted from Ethiopia two years ago and are incredibly happy with their son. I wish you the same joy. One thing to consider, if you're planning on adopting an infant, is making it as convenient as possible to feed them. That means keeping all the bottles and accessories (nipples, cleaning supplies, bottle warmer...) somewhere that you can easily do the entire process (clean bottles, put them away/take them out, store, mix and warm the formula) in one place. Obviously you won't need that functionality forever, so also think about what that space will become when your babies have become children; maybe you should put it adjacent to the snack area, so the snack area can just get bigger as the kids grow. I know it's a hassle to go through all these layouts, but remember, that is NOTHING compared to the hassle of living with a badly designed kitchen for the next decade or however long. Put in the time now to make your life easier later. You won't regret it. So here are some questions and suggestions: You bake infrequently (once a month), so why get a double oven? A single oven and the counter space above it (where you could keep your George Foreman grill or your microwave) seems like it'd be much more useful for you. Also, am I misunderstanding the layouts? It looks like you have both a 30" range AND a double oven. Is that a 30" range or a 30" cooktop? If it's a range, then you would have three ovens... why, since you bake so infrequently? If you want the flexibility of having more oven space for those rare occasions when you need it, I think you would love a convection oven (see link below--there are tons of these from all different brands, of course). They are basically speed ovens capable of baking or roasting anything a regular oven can bake or roast (but it cooks much faster), but when you're NOT using them to bake, you just use them as a microwave. So with a 30" range and a convection microwave, you would be set. And you would save a ton of money, in addition to gaining more storage and more counterspace. And that's the other reason to ditch the double oven. Counterspace is even more precious for you, with the way you live, than it is for the average family. That's because you're a two-cook family, so you need prep space for two people working simultaneously--and you plan on having boy scouts/girl scouts in there sometimes, making it way more than a two-cook kitchen at times--and also, you like a lot of "as seen on TV" cooking devices. You need counterspace to use them on; the ones you use daily (toaster, etc.) would be most convenient if they lived on the counter, but even though you would probably store the ones you use less frequently, you'll still want enough counter space that you don't have to clear off the counter every time you want to use them. So you need counterspace not just for prep and a toaster, but for several other devices too. And the other need for counterspace comes from the snacking, reheating leftovers, etc. part of the equation. So in other words, counterspace is A LOT more important for you than having multiple ovens. You use the dining room all the time and would like the kitchen to be a hangout for entertaining, and appropriately for that, you've put a counter with seating (seats in the dining room) where those two rooms meet. So you were right to ditch the little table in the kitchen shown in one of your layouts. You don't need more seating there; it would just get in the way. Since you bring groceries in the door shown at the bottom of the layout, having the fridge near there is convenient. For groceries, most people like to put them on a counter or tabletop and start putting them away from there, rather than setting them on the floor. If you prefer that too, then you'll need a decent amount of countertop near the fridge. None of your layouts have that, except the ones that have some kind of table or cart in the middle of the kitchen--but people have expressed concerns that your kitchen's size and layout would make a central table or cart more of an obstacle than a help. So, putting aside for a moment the fact that you bought two 18" pantries already--maybe there's somewhere else for them to go, and if not you certainly wouldn't be the first person to buy something that she ended up not being able to use (many people sell their "oops" purchases on Craigslist or donate them for a tax deduction, or put them elsewhere like the garage or basement)--anyway, leaving out the pantries for now, is there a layout you can come up with that gives you counterspace right next to the fridge? I think the one you posted on Feb 10 at 0:35, with the table in the kitchen, is a good start--keep the fridge there, but instead of a double oven, have a counter that runs along that bottom wall almost all the way to the door where you bring groceries in. Given the dimensions, this counter would be an L shape. It would be a deep counter right beside the fridge, but a great place to keep "as seen on TV" devices that you use less often and a great place to put groceries that you've just brought in. Since you preheat frozen food a lot, would it make sense to have a freezer in the basement? Or is your house laid out in such a way that that's too far away? If a basement freezer doesn't make sense, what about having a mini-freezer instead of a mini-fridge under one of the counters? Here is a link that might be useful: Panasonic Convection Microwave

Erika, The drawings are well rendered but since you don't have a floorplan with measurements, please make sure that your designer has done this to absolutely accurate scale (including counter depth, aisle width and real world sizes of appliances). A friend of mine had a designer sell her on a beautiful living room arrangement which looked great in the drawing but didn't actually work, leaving her to settle for something that gave her far too little seating. You might be able (depending on measurements!) to put the prep sink and wine chiller in the island, and the other sink and dishwasher on the window side, then build a china cabinet around the window where the wine bar is now. That would take some of the storage necessity out of the island, I think. I know that theory says you have to store your dishes next to the washer to save steps, but I grew up with the carrying the dishes into the breakfast room and it's really not that big a deal (i.e., they should be near either the washer or the table!). Oh, btw, I don't know if you saw the suggestion to put a disposer in the prep sink to make it really useful. Seemed like an important thing to me (who's always had one large sink). If you did the china cabinet thing, it could also house the message center, the toaster, and even snacks and breakfast cereal :)