Sorry I've been MIA but it's been a crazy past few weeks and I forgot to check the place to notify me of responses so didn't realize there were any. I'm SO sorry! I really appreciate the advice more than you will ever know. I posted the plan on the building forum and received some great advice there as well! I'll post the whole plans here to share. We are making several changes to the plans which aren't reflected here, yet. ~ We are going to rework the guest bath and scrunch it down to add another foot to the office cubby depth and give a bit to the kitchen. ~ push the kitchen back about 6 inches by using wasted space in both bath areas. ~ reduce the size of the Master bedroom slightly for a few extra inches walkway in the laundry room and move the sinks down a bit in the master bath to reduce wasted space. Using that space better somewhere else. As bmoresporadic mentioned I worry about the desk area becoming the dumping place but I run a pretty tight ship and keep things fairly neat so I HOPE it won't be too much of a problem. My family tells me I have OCD, OCD, OCD, OCD. DH and I talked about placing the 1/2 bath in that hallway instead but put it in the laundry area for 2 reasons. First, we have horses and I'm a dirty gardener and we hope to have a pool in the next few years so this will keep dirty and wet people from having to go all the way into the house. Also, we will use the utility sink and keep costs down by not adding an additional sink. I do some work from home and need some space for computer/office supplies, too. That's what the closet will be used for. One thing I forgot to mention we are enclosing a small portion of the back porch area past the laundry room - taking in the porch for a tiny 'mud' room. Rhome - I think I gave up on an island. I feel I had to choose between an island and those precious uppers... although I really wanted an island! Also, we LOVE solar tubes. My sister has several and they make a huge difference. My kitchen will be half open with an extra window in the dining area (which isn't on the plan) along that blank wall so I should have enough light and view that I won't need one there but we will have them in the long hallway and guest bath. A few of the small changes we are making: Taking out some space in the Master Bath which I knew had too much wasted space so re-work the M bath to add space to the master closet. Scruch the kids bath down. Push the kitchen wall back. SO.. on to the kitchen. My final plans go to the builder this week so I have to get this 'right'. I found a layout that has an angled kitchen and I'm wondering if this would look better and mimic the front windows?? The sink run will be partially a full wall (both uppers and lowers) and partially open to the dining/living area with only lowers near the sink with seating at the counter. The length is 14 feet which sure sounded like a lot until we stepped it off, (now wish we had 20!!! LOL) and the width at present is 11 feet but I can steal another 1 or maybe 1 1/2 by stealing from the living area and baths. My thoughts (and I'm sorry I don't have this drawn but will try to draw something tomorrow) is for the sink run to have a trash pullout (possibly double sided to access it from both the dining area and sink area), DW, a set of drawers and no uppers. Then past the DW would be another set of drawers (is there room for 2 sets?) with uppers above. At the end of this sink run I was thinking a narrow 'hutch' type built-in with one drawer, rail style baskets below and 3 open shelves for displaying above. Is there room for all of this?? The range/fridge wall will have a 30" NXR gas range with a set of drawers on either side, step in pantry, and fridge (which will be set back a few inches into the wall so it won't stick out as much. I would love to get a few extra inches here for prep space. Would it be worth it to do a smaller pantry? I love to bake and cook but I also don't have a huge abundance of bakeware and food. The microwave will be built-in next to the fridge on a shelf which will be slightly lower than regular upper cabinet length. We talked about a MW drawer but I don't think I can get it into the budget. Should I try to draw this?? I tried using IKEA and just didn't get the right look. Should I stay with the straight sink run or would it look better and is there enough room to do something at least slightly angled? (which I'm posting below for you to see as a reference) Thanks to all the helpful adive I know we need 4 feet between the fridge and counter and 3 1/2 feet between the pantry and other side of that sink run. OHHH, BOY HELP!!! OUR PLANS: The front bay window will have my lovely grand piano there and will be in the trees. It will hoepfully feel like we're in a tree house. :) Here is the 'sample kitchen' with the angled kitchen. Well, I hope I haven't completely confused everyone. I'm open to suggestions and opinions. Thank you once again... this is an amazing place. Sunny

I love your kitchen. Love the height, the arches, the cab color! For a DC kitchen, it is very nice. ITA on brass hardware. It will look great with the countertops. ITA the micro has to go. I love the Fagor pullout hoods common in Europe. Here is my fav -- which I've actually used -- available from AJM: And yes, I think the MOP backsplash, or some sort of color is needed. I love wallpaper on the backsplash -- something g geometric, perhaps, in earth tones. Another option would be a solid glass backsplash. Those were trending for a while but never hugely caught on. But it gives the drywall a sheen, and good protection. Again, it is a lovely, lovely kitchen, and needs very little, IMHO.

@Beth wow - what slab of quartz did you use for your island? A 3 cm i assume. @mhcooper : Looks well done for 12k. I would change the island hardware to gold to offset the white and black of the surrounding area. The only other change i would have made would be to remove the cabinets (with 4 doors) above that nook so you can have a full view when looking at your dining table and realllly open up the space. I always disliked that obstruction. It always shock me when people spend so much money refacing cabinets, just a pay a guy to sand, prime, sand, paint, sand, paint your cabinets a color of your choosing, or buy brand new cabinets (there are so many options out there for under 5k w/ install).

As demolition and remediation continue, I have time to think, tinker and research. Due to budgetary concerns, I’ve gotten comfortable with abandoning the island with seating, opting instead for a work table or island that can be moved. Not necessarily on wheels, but maybe a piece of furniture. I'm open on that issue. It really is the work area I want and need, not the seating nor the storage. Between the size of the kitchen and the fact that it's on a slab, I've decided it's not worth it to me to go for the traditional island. I’m embracing what I consider the idea of a true eat-in kitchen with table. One that is big enough (or can be expanded) to accommodate visits from family. To that end I’m thinking of totally eliminating the entire wall between the current two rooms. Part of my original thinking was to combine the rooms, but still have a working area and a separate eating area, so I was leaving a bit of the wall. I’m not adverse to someday (when we sell a house) extending the cabinetry fully down the back wall. I saw an idea for a window seat with drawers underneath that I would love. I also would consider adding cabinets on the living rooms wall at some point. But for now, I truly do have to keep it to a minimum. The key word here is “livable” as we can’t sell anything else until we can move in to this. And considering this is what it looks like right now, we’ve got our work cut out for us. What I’m trying to do is have a solid idea of what I’m going to be asking of a contractor so that I can get accurate estimates. I don’t need to nail it down to each specific cabinet, but I need to have an idea of layout and scope. My biggest concern with this layout is its lack of symmetry because of the 2 differing windows. But window replacement and total siding of the house is also part of a future phase of this project, so the dining room window can be changed at that time. Note: This entire house is gutted, so the kitchen is but one part of this project. To me, it's the most important and obviously always the most expensive, so it's what I'm focusing on. Thanks to anyone who has something to offer.