I'm sorry to say that this plan isn't that great for multiple workers, because of everyone's need to access that one sink, and I find the orientation of the island to be sort of odd.

The mud room entrance really breaks things up for this long and narrow, one-sided space.

The fridge and sink area/dw will conflict, and the dw is in between the stove and both the fridge and sink, which is a big problem if your kids might be loading or unloading the dw while you cook (which happens in our house pretty often, especially at table setting time).

I think I would move the fridge over by the basement stairs, put the cleanup area on the wall where the fridge is shown, and pivot the island (it will be shorter and offer less seating) so it faces the stove to offer a good prep space, and add a prep sink.

Another option would be to move the range to the top wall across from the island, and the cleanup area and fridge to the back wall. I don't like that you'd have to cross the cleanup zone to access the fridge, though.

This was some of our thinking. We are very early in the process, but the initial drawing (above) was not very appealing. We thank you for your input. The mudroom door could possibly be moved if it would make the flow work better.

Would this work better?

What's above the mudroom? If possible, can you move the doorway into the mudroom (from the kitchen) through the computer area? With wireless computers, you should be able to use those at the island or dining table. Maybe expand the pantry 'above' or 'north' of where it is now?

This would give you a much longer countertop of uninterrupted space and you could keep your big island (in option 1). I would keep the range 'as is' and move the clean up sink, where you have the fridge in option 1. Trash on the left, dishwasher on the right. Then fridge at the end of the countertop, by the new doorway to the mudroom and pantry.

Then, I would keep the island for prep and move the smaller prep sink, to the top/left corner of the island, by the range. The microwave could be at chest level, by the fridge, or on the other side of the range with the warming drawer.

Here's a quick sketch... {{gwi:1858293}}From Cottage house plans

And a few options for the microwave... {{gwi:1844671}}From Cottage house plans

Or behind a lift up door... {{gwi:1844672}}From Cottage house plans

Forgot to add that those pictures, are in case you decide to put the microwave above the counter, on the other side of the range. You might want to use the counter area, to the left of the range, for a baking area. The warming drawer would be undercounter, by the range.

Sorry, the diagonal plan is not better. Too far from stove to prep area on the island and one entrance to the kitchen blocked by the open dw and anyone at the main sink. I know people have done it, but I'd hate having counter on only one side of a sink...tight for elbows and it's better to have counter space to each side.

Lavender's plan has potential if moving the doorway is an option, but I'd swap the main sink and stove in it to form a better work area with prep, stove, and fridge, and also for the cook to take better advantage of the workspace offered on the island.

Rhome- I think that would be better...the island would be such a great prep area for the range. Where would you put the microwave and the warming drawer?

If you do pursue the diagonal range, with a kitchen meant for two cooks, make sure you leave a fair amount of room (more than 5 or 6") on each side of the range (assuming 30" range) before the counter turns the 45 deg. bend. This is about the minimum needed for two people to stand at the range.

LL, it's hard to tell without a drawing to scale, but maybe between the fridge and range? Maybe one in the island? Hard to tell exact details in a basic drawing like this.

Wow, you people are impressive. I close my computer and you still contribute. Thank you, thank you!

I'm pretty sure it is possible to move the mudroom door down further and I like that suggestion very much.

Sorry I don't have any drawing to scale; this is all we were given at this time.

After reading more about the diagonal range option, that is out; it just seems to take up so much room.

Here is my latest, very crude, sketch. Thanks again for your previous comments and if there are others, they are appreciated.

Would the microwave/warming drawer be better between the range and fridge or on the other side of the fridge from the range? I'm thinking maybe warming drawer under counter close to range and microwave (drawer, maybe?) in the island.

I'm no layout expert, but your last plan looks nice! I'd get rid of the door from the kitchen to the pantry/mudroom area. Having to go through two doors to access the pantry would drive me crazy, and it doesn't look like you'd have a view into the mudroom from the dining area, so I think it's unnecessary.

I would make some small tweaks. Move DW to other side of sink (keep it out of that cooking/secondary prep zone) and move the prep sink to the other end of the island, closer to the fridge.

I don't know where to tell you to put the MW/warming drawer stack without true measurements. Functionally, they'd get the most use between range and fridge, but I can't tell how well they'd fit, and your wall may look heavy with all that tall cabinetry there. Would you be willing to make them both under-counter and put them in the island?

Do you need the door into the kitchen? The hall is clear and you would not be looking at clutter so I would ditch it.
You want your sink at the other side of the island, I would want the prep sink closer to my fridge.

What is the dimension of the kitchen? What are you isle widths?

Walking all the way around the corner to the pantry would be a non-starter for me. It wouldn't bother me to have the door to the pantry interrrupt the counter run, and it's an improvement to not have the entrance to the kitchen from the both mud room AND the pantry interrupt the counter run as it had been plotted on the first drawing.

As a thought experiment think about the pathways food takes within your kitchen from storage position(s) to prep (often a sink) and almost always to a counter or stove to plating and delivery to table. And then the reverse when leftovers and dirty dishes return for more action at the end of the meal.

In general the fewer times the food has to back track over where it's been in a previous stage, the better. Not to mention a less convoluted pathway for the cooks makes for easier meal prep.

An example: in your latest drawing: you have your main clean-up sink in almost the farthest away point it can get from your dining room. Since most people like the convenience of storing the dishes near the DW that means that your dishes will have to cross a long way to go to the DR. And your DW is on the side of the sink that's almost within the main prep cooking aisle so your kids, if they're tasked with setting the table or belatedly emptying the DW, will be in the action area. Just moving the DW to the other side of the sink would be an improvement. (Or consider repositioning the sink.)

I know most people first think about the look and features they want to achieve for their kitchen and then try to arrange the cooking elements within that vision. I am always plumping here to start by thinking of the food pathways, and the human pathways while doing the cooking, as a first step. Once you've got that down, then you can work out the visuals.

I think even something like starting from the idea that you want an island with seating or an island cooking position is a step too far down the line until you have the pathway thing worked out. I'm not saying discard any attractive features at the start, but just don't start the plan focused on the features. A kitchen is primarily a room for storing, preparing, cooking and delivering your food to your family. Get that right and the rest is much easier.

Where does your food come into the house: most likely the garage.

It goes to fridge and pantry and maybe the cabs near the stove.

Then it's collected from the storage places and taken to the sink or a counter and prepped and/or cooked. I think it would be fine to have the entry to pantry near the fridge, breaking through that counter run.

A prep sink will separate the clean-up operations from the veggie washing and icky chicken-hands type of usage. But I'm not sure having the prep sink at the clean-up sink end of the island is best since that places it opposite the stove position. I'd consider moving it more towards the other end so you have a kind of zigzag between the fridge/pantry to island prep sink and back across to the range. Don't have the range and prep sink opposite each other unless you have really wide aisles (48-60"). Otherwise someone standing at the prep sink will be in danger of having their heels stepped on by someone at the stove who wants to step back a tad in order to peek in the broiler.

(I confess that in my own plan I do have the island prep sink closer to the range than the ideal zigzag I am proposing. I pondered it a long time and decided I can live with it as we are an older two-adult, basically one-cook family; and my range is 48" long so I have lots of sideways room to stand aside, and my island is only 27" wide so another cook can actually use the sink for prep from the opposite side of the island.)

Lots of people find it imperative to have the fridge on the DR edge of the kitchen so they can easily fetch stuff from the fridge during meals, so your present position of it may be a very good one.

Moving the prep sink towards the DR will break up your island prep space somewhat so you may want to play around to get the best place for it. Moving it farther away from the main sink may add to your plumbing costs. Another option to play around is shifting the location of the range slightly to off-set the prep sink and range from each other.

Meanwhile think about the next step when the food is being cooked - where are your pots stored and how did they get back there from the dishwashing operation?

And then, where are the plates stored? Don't hesitate to have cabs in the island that don't all line up and face in the same direction. For instance, you could have a cab on the clean-up end of the island that opened toward the sink counter run, not toward the stove. You might consider even moving the clean up sink farther towards the bottom of the drawing and putting the DW opposite the end of the island with a dish cab opening towards it from the end of the island. That would make convenient storage for your dishes; convenient to unload - just open the DW and the drawers in that cab and transfer the stuff. It would also make for a convenient place from which to grab the plates when the food is ready to be dished.

As I mentioned above the current position of the DW is a problem since it kind of herds the action into, not away from, the cooking aisle which should remain free of temptations for non-cooking people to enter it for any reason.

When you think you have a good food-pathway driven plan then spend some time thinking through your present cooking activities and see how often, and where, the cooks cross paths during meal prep - those are potential collision spaces, perhaps some can be eliminated by further tweaking. Even though I am the only cook, I drew my own pathways on rough sketches so I could see how often I backtracked and find improved storage points and efficiencies for many of our commonest meals.

At the earliest stages of kitchen design only the immutables like structural supports and unmoveable door and window positions should be givens - everything else should be on the table as you think about the food paths, IMO. You'll have less trouble getting to a good plan that's as fully populated with the most important-to-you features as possible because you'll be placing them within the best functional plan you can come up with. When you can't place any more, you're done!

HTH

L

Your last plan is great except for one thing...Liriodendron is right about moving the prep sink to the fridge end of the island...either closest to the seating or replacing that one seat. No use doubling up your sinks in one spot. Moving it will give you a wider prep area right in front of the stove, and make the sink accessible to others outside the cooking area, but without them getting in your way.

Also, I would place the DW on whichever side of the main sink that you'll store your dishes. I also think that it would probably be best on the left side and away from the cooking area, if that works otherwise.

My pantry is around the corner from most of my kitchen in an alcove and I just feel blessed to have it close. In our last house, my pantry shelves were in the basement, and I just felt blessed to have them at all, having never had decent pantry storage at all before. Having the door between the kitchen and pantry might be tough unless it gets left open most of the time.

So much better! The door to the pantry and mudroom looks great and I really like the way you modified those spaces! I would definitely walk a few extra steps to get to that lovely, large pantry...rather than break up the countertop/work space, in the kitchen.

With the main sink and range switched, I would also move the prep sink to the other side, if it won't interfere with your seating area. How much overhang are you planning to have for the stools? It should be fine, but you can figure our your exact measurements, when you go back to your draftsman.

The dishwasher would probably work better on the other side of the sink...so people can do dishes without being in your secondary prep space. What's great about the island is that one 'cook' can prep there and another can prep, between the range and main sink.

The garbage should be somewhere in this area, too. Maybe one under, or to the right of the main sink, and one in the island? I like the microwave between the fridge and range (if you still want it chest height) and the warming drawer in the island. With little ones, the microwave should be higher or have a lock...and higher sounds less complicated :)

Everyone has been so helpful! Thanks so much.

After reading your advice and learning more about laying out the kitchen into "zones" rather than the "kitchen triangle" it makes a lot of sense to move the DW to the left of the main clean-up sink and the prep sink to the other end of the island. I also agree that the door from the kitchen towards the mudroom needs to go; there's no need for it.

The comments from liriodendron and thinking about the utilization of the kitchen as a process from bringing in supplies, to the cooking, and then to the distribution are very helpful. Thank you for that.

I'm torn between where to put the pantry entrance; where I have it now or break through the counter between the fridge and range? I'll need to get the final dimensions from the draftsman and then decide. I can see it both ways: more counter-top space and easier unloading from the grocery store run and trip from the garage vs easier in and out from the kitchen while preparing meals.

Good thought about keeping the MW higher with the 2 year old around (she loves playing with Grandma's MW that is in her island).

Thanks for raising up the trash placement and having that in the island for the prep area as well as considering having one near the cleanup sink.

Again, I cannot thank all of you enough. This addition/remodel has gone from a dreaded experience feeling like we were alone trying to plan the most functional kitchen, to one where we are very excited about the possibilities of having a kitchen that we will enjoy for a long time.

Thank you.

Personally, I would NEVER break up such crucial prep/counterspace, for an entrance to the pantry that would save my about three steps. The pantry is often on the other side of the island or in the next room, so yours is close, compared to many other plans! It also gives you a great place for the microwave.

I bet your little girls love playing in grandma's kitchen. I did and still love making chocolate chip cookies, which I did for the first time when I was 3 1/2 years old...in my grandma's kitchen:)

My pantry is around the back from my range like the latest drawing. It's fine. I would hate to break up critical counter space for a door to shorten a few steps. My spices, oils and basics (flour, sugar, salt, etc.) is in the kitchen so IF I go to the pantry it's usually only once for a meal.

Your layout is similar to ours with the long side of the island facing the range. I use the island for almost all my prepping. One idea is have a bank of 3 drawers facing the dishwasher and store your dishes in it. It's so useful for us. Our drawers open towards the sink and the kids can easily put away the dishes. Make sure the DW and those drawers can be open at the same time.

I agree with the prep sink closer to the frig.

Just a thought - your kids are 2 and 6 and the older one will be using the microwave soon if he/she hasn't already done so. If it's too high they won't be able to reach it. Our kids prepare their own snacks many times and the microwave is usually always used.

Good point Pam, about the kids' cooking skills changing, as they get older. One option might be a shelf for the microwave that can hold cookbooks, when it's not being used. Here are a couple of pictures...
{{gwi:1844671}}From Cottage house plans
{{gwi:1844674}}From Cottage house plans