There are problems for me in this plan. I have to focus on the negatives to get limit or eliminate them in hopes of getting you the best kitchen possible...so I hope you don't mind. Anyway, just one mom's opinion, so take them or leave them.

1) No workspace around the stove. This one is huge. The most important work area is cramped, and also cramps the main sink.

2) Fridge so close to the corner creates a deep cave there. My sister had this in her old kitchen and at the top of the list of things to change in her remodel.

3) Related to #2, open the dw and you have no access to the corner counter or storage, and maybe not able to open the fridge.

4) Where will you store your dishes, cups, glasses, serveware, etc? I don't see anything handy to the dishwasher, which is the most convenient location for dishes.

5) The 2nd sink isn't as useful as it could be, IMO, as it doesn't seem to offer you added prep function, it is so far from the stove and on the opposite side of the island from the fridge. This doubles the use of the main sink for dirty dishes and prep. The main reason I love a 2nd sink is so that food prep doesn't have to be done over collected dirty dishes.

6) You have the full-ht fridge and full-ht microwave cabinet blocking the light and view into the kitchen from the great room windows, and any air flow. Is there any reason not to have that kitchen window be operational? Even if you open it rarely it could be worth it, and I can't think of a reason it'd help you to have it not open.

So exciting to build a house and get it just the way you want...Best wishes! My advice is not to hurry and to get it right for your needs...not only now, but in the future. How many and how old are the kids?

Ditto.

You have a huge study, a large dining room, a ginormous great room and yet you have squished your 3 major appliances into a tiny cramped spot with no place to prep, clean or walk around.
You have 5 entrances coming into the kitchen from everywhere (speaking of which, where is the garage for grocery unloading) and then into the kitchen area itself you have fridge doors blocking one way in, oven door blocking another way in as well.
The oven - is that an under the counter wall oven or is there actually a wall at the end of the peninsula for the oven?

Yes to having an operational window.
How much cooking and baking do you do? Is this a one cook kitchen? How old are the kids and will they every help you?

I meant to ask - what is the area to the left of the peninsula? Is that just a walkway or is there going to be tables and chairs there for eating. At the least, I would contemplate closing up the space between the fridge and MW and then start reconfiguring the kitchen.

It looks like you are building a beautiful home... congratulations on that. I do hope you reconsider the kitchen layout. I have all the same thoughts as mentioned. The lack of prep space around the stove and the jamming of all major appliances into one area is glaring. How do you see yourself using the left side of the kitchen? Is that an overhang on the peninusula for seating? Let us know what you think of these comments so we know where to go from here. Don't feel discouraged though, this is a process!

What if you were to put the clean-up sink, DW, and dish storage on the peninsula? The spot that you had pegged for the microwave shelf, "the only upper cabinet," could still have an upper, perhaps a hutchlike one down to the countertop, to house dishes. It would help to balance the tall mass of the refrigerator on the other side of the doorway.

Then you could make the island into the snack zone (or at least the snack retrieval zone, if not the snack consumption zone), configuring it with the undercounter fridge and a microwave drawer (both facing the great room?) with the microwave on the right, where it would also be handy for a cook who wanted to defrost something or melt a couple tablespoons of butter. The remaining storage space under the island top could be drawers or doors or pull-outs to hold all the snacks in question.

The right wall of the kitchen is then left for meal prep and cooking, with the refrigerator (still at the top), a prep sink, adequate prep counter space, and a range (instead of a cooktop, since there'd no longer be an oven in the peninsula.)

Anyway, it's just one idea, out of the many possibilities to consider, but I think it would make a little more sense of the zones than what you have now, especially by separating cooking/prep from clean-up, to give both some elbow room.

What about something like this?

..

Zone mapping...

Thank you all so much for your incredibly helpful input! You are awesome! I am so glad I posted on this forum instead of ignoring my nagging feelings.

Based on your suggestions, I have reconfigured my kitchen. It had bothered me about 3 major appliances being on one wall, the lack of space around the cooktop, and the prep sink being across the island from the fridge, but I didn't know what to do about it.

blfenton - I cook about daily, but bake rarely. The oven is mainly for throwing fish in a couple times a week. Someday, I hope to get into bread baking, but will probably use the bread machine more. The oven is an under-counter wall oven.

rhome and blfenton - My kids are 2 and 4, and we want more. And yes, I expect them to help me when they are older.

remodelfla & rhome - We will have bar stools at the raised (elbow-height) bar which goes around the peninsula counter. That peninsula is our snack zone, so the snack-makers won't have to cross the cook's path. On the left there is nothing currently, but with the revisions we are making, there will be a nook of sorts on the left there.

Ok, I will draw up my new kitchen and post it but I'll try to describe it first. I am thinking of:

- rotating the island 90 degrees so the long side is parallel with the exterior wall.

- moving the main sink, dishwasher and wall oven to the island so that becomes my clean up zone.

- get rid of the wall shared with the Great Room, backing the fridge. Move the fridge to where the lazy susan is now, with back of fridge against the exterior wall.

- Prep sink next to fridge (after landing space for fridge) on exterior wall and long counter space for prep leading to the cooktop. Keep window/s over that counter.

- This will give me 6 feet on the left of cooktop (including prep sink) and 1 foot on right of cooktop.

- shift peninsula in maybe a foot closer to the island to make usable space for nook or something on left of peninsula.

- To prevent the microwave cabinet/ base drawers from jamming the walkway between it and island, get rid of the microwave cabinet and make that wall a lot smaller.

- What do you think of making the island 4 ft deep to gain more base cabinet storage? I made it 3 ft deep because I was concerned about cleaning it, with me being short. If I made it 4 ft deep, I could put my snack/ breakfast supplies and snack dishes there. I would need storage for those items if I'm going to lose my 30" base drawers under the microwave.

- Move microwave to base cabinet next to under-counter fridge, where oven is now.

Whew! What do you think? I'll put a drawing up tomorrow so you can see what I'm talking about. My builder is going to hate me!!!

Notes:
One of the things we love about this floor plan is how open the Kitchen is to the Great Room and other areas. We walked into a model and the way it flowed was what sold us on a layout like this, so I wouldn't want to close up the opening to the great room.

Also this is a custom modular home, hence I am restricted a bit on how I move things around. Basically, I can do anything I want as long as I keep somewhat within their 3 "modules".

I would need to see it on paper, but it definitely sounds better. Here are some thoughts. I think you will want more than 1 ft. of landing space to the right of the cooktop. Even though you will have a massive amt. of space on the other side, I think you will feel 'stuck in a corner.' I am guessing you are restricted by the large window? But, being a new build, you should be able to alter that window to accommodate the cooktop. 5 ft. and 2 ft. next to the cooktop seems like it would be a lot better, and 5 ft. is still a lot of prep space.

Speaking of the cooktop, can I ask why you aren't going for a range? Most people that do separate ovens typically do so for ergonomic reasons, or because they do extensive baking. You said you don't bake a lot and the location of your oven is under counter anyway, so ergonomically no different from a range. Ranges are usually significantly less expensive.

Do you need the wall at the end of the peninsula, or can you just have 2 islands? It seems you'd want to be as open to the great room as possible. In that snack zone, I would consider a microwave drawer, which will be much easier for the kids to use for snacks as they get older - and if you are short, for you too (that's why I'm getting one), and easier to use when in the under counter position than a traditional microwave.

As for moving the peninsula, changing aisle depth, or increasing island size, I think I'd have to see it on paper to know, but that's just how I am.

Not only will you want them helping with baking and meals, but they'll eat more, be in the kitchen more for helping themselves, and eventually, they'll multiply as they bring hungry friends! It's such a blessing to have a kitchen full of kids and friends... Our kids' friends come here and want to bake. And I'm talking about teen boys, as well as girls. They have bake-offs, pizza feeds, etc. It's hard to think about those things when you only have 2 and they're so young, but those days go by fast!

Looking forward to seeing your new idea.

BTW...you're probably not receiving emails of follow-up postings, even though you checked the box requesting them. This is b/c you don't have the email option turned on in your profile. See the "Read Me" thread for more information. Scroll down to the post with the subject "Getting Emails Sent To You...3-step Process".

Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens! [Help keep on Page 1]

If this is your long term home don;t just think about what your family situation is today but also think about your kids aging as preteens and then teenagers in this home. Just what rhome410 said.

P.S. Better your builder hating you than you hating your brand new house in a year. Always pay attention to your nagging feelings. As you can tell, people here are always willing to give ideas. They may not work but they may develop into other ideas. Looking forward to seeing your new plans.

First of all, I can't believe how helpful you all are! Can't thank you enough for helping me with this.

Here's a rough sketch. It's not final! I just have to get it on paper to picture it and work from there.

In this layout, it bugs me a bit that the oven is on the other side from the cooktop, but I really don't bake much anyway, and it might be helpful when we get to the point of having multiple cooks and we split cooking tasks. I tried to put the oven beside the dishwasher but it made it too long, plus my water cups, vitamins and electric kettle (used in the morning) are used daily and seem to make more sense by the sink.

Cooking utensils would go in a crock next to the cooktop.

I don't think I can get away with any less than 6 ft prep area on left of cooktop. I need to fit my prep sink, potatoes/ onions/ garlic in wicker basket pullouts (B15) and B18 double trash can pullouts.

Speaking of which, I'm wanting double trash cans to have one for compost and one for regular trash. Being new to composting and gardening, is this the best arrangement? I create lots of potato/ carrot/ onion peels, veggie bits and egg shells (DH is a vegetarian who eats fish). But is a 35 qt. trash can for compost overkill? I can't think of what else I could do to keep the compost can close. The annoying thing in my present kitchen is the trash can is in the perimeter across my prep island, so I have to either put the trash can on the floor next to me when I'm prepping, or keep turning around. I fantasize about pulling out the trash drawer and sweeping my veggie peelings into it.

I'm choosing a separate cooktop and oven because I want a nice cooktop, but don't need a great oven. I can't afford a $7,800 BlueStar range, but I can afford a $1800+ BS cooktop and a cheapo basic oven. Also, the deep drawers under the cooktop can be used as storage. I feel having the oven in prime kitchen real estate under the cooktop is a waste, given the amount of use I get out of it.

The caveat is I hope to mill my own grain and bake bread someday (in a bread machine, or bread machine and oven). Never done it, so I don't know if that would be a good layout IF I ever got into it.

I tried out the idea of making the peninsula more island-like here. I think the snack zone will get a lot of use. I feel like I am constantly getting snacks for everyone, and my goal is to have a dedicated area for it. Whenever I've made single portions of snacks for the kids it's been a lot smoother and easier during our busy days. The under-counter fridge would separate the snack boxes from everything else in the main fridge.

Thank you for reminding me that the kids will "multiply" and be all about the kitchen too. It is so far from reality now that it is easy to forget that it WILL be reality soon. Throughout the design of this house, it's been trying to accomodate the present while anticipating the future and it's been a lot of thinking hypothetically, if you know what I mean.

In this layout, I lost all my wall space for my 3-tier hanging basket for fruit by the peninsula.

There is a 3 ft aisle between island and peninsula and 4 ft between window counter and island. I could shift it to make it more even. We are a very thin family.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I just want to clarify a couple of things and I'll look more closely tomorrow (although I'm not a layout guru as others are). You've redrawn this but it's out of context now so I don't know if you changed the orientation of the room.

This plan, the great room is now at the bottom right? with the dining room at the top. (i.e you've turned it upside down)

Are all the entrances into the kitchen as they were before? Is the peninsula where it was before?

What is the width between the peninsula and the wall? And what is that space for - just a walkway and bar stools?

I'd be concerned that you only have 3' between the island and peninsula on the oven side. When the oven doors are open you will have very little standing room for moving around. If you centered the island you would have 42" in each aisle which is fine unless you can move the peninsula over a bit. (which is why the question about the width between peninsula and wall).

What is really helping in seeing this is your really good explanations of how you are going to use the space. It helps to envision why you want things the way you do.

P.S. I don't know which number floorplan this is for you but I probably drew about 30 before I had it finalized.

Just a couple quick thoughts in answer to your questions about trash/compost--

We use our double trash pull-out for trash (in front) and recycling (behind). Our city picks up glass, cans and plastics all mixed, so those things go together in the pull-out. (We also keep a small bag for paper recycling under the sink.) Do you plan to recycle, and if so, do you need to make room for that in the kitchen?

I think that long before I filled a 35 qt. can with compostable material, I would have wanted to take it out. Yes, to me that seems like overkill. I like a compost container to have a lid, too. We use a bucket under the sink that probably holds about a gallon.

If you want to sweep peelings into a compost container, you might consider using the drawer that's above the trash pull-out, and find another spot for the trash bags and pot holders. Some people have lined such a drawer with an appropriately sized rectangular stainless pan (something designed for restaurant or caterers' use). There are also systems with a lidded cut-out in the countertop itself and reservoir below.

Did you consider flipping the island layout to put the clean-up sink and dishwasher on the snack zone side? That way you'd have water access on both sides of the kitchen. The oven would be closer to the cooking area. Food storage containers would be nearer the refrigerator, where most the leftovers are headed. Your dish storage seems scattered based on place of use, so it probably doesn't matter which side the DW is on, as far as ease of putting clean dishes away goes.

You now have your prep/cooking and cleanup areas back-to-back, sharing one aisle, and that is not a good plan for a kitchen full of helpers. You still don't have enough counterspace, IMO, to the sides of the cooktop, or to the sides of the main sink. There are certainly kitchens that have worse, but you have room for much better.

I feel that you're saving too much of your kitchen for the dedicated snack area, and crowding the main work and move-around spaces in the process. Maybe it's because everything is horizontal/undercounter. Meals will become a bigger deal as the kids grow, I'm guessing. I'm curious about the single-serving, prepared snacks...Not criticizing, just can't picture what that entails, or how it might work for the long-term when you'll have a larger range of ages.

I am afraid your dish storage is too limited (not enough and separated), and I wonder about other storage. Will you want to have to access the pantry for all of your kitchen food needs....flour, sugar, oils, coffee/tea, cereals, bread, peanut butter, etc, etc? We keep extras of things in the pantry, or less often used items, but keep some things in the kitchen at point of use...Like breakfast and snack items in the breakfast/snack center, and baking ingredients in our baking area.

I grind my own grains for baking our bread (love it and highly recommend it), and your pantry will be a big help there. But you'll want a decent oven, and the rate growing kids go through bread, I'm not sure a bread machine will continue to do what you'll need. I wouldn't want to go through the milling process to end up making 1 loaf of bread. I sure like my oven on the wall for visibility, as well as loading and unloading.

I haven't studied Buehl's layout in complete detail (was waiting for your reaction to it), but she does a good job of separating zones for the different tasks and to allow a few people working in the kitchen at once.

blfenton - yes, you're right. The pantry & dining room are at the top and the great room is at the bottom. Sorry for the confusion. All the entrances are *about* the same as before. The opening to the Great Room has widened considerably with that fridge wall gone. And we are messing with the foyer and dining room based on feedback from the Building a Home forum. So that is still up in the air. Between the peninsula and stairs/ wall is just a large walkway with bar stools currently. However, based on how my kitchen and house layout ends up (still tweaking both), I might end up either a smaller walkway or, more likely, a nook for a small table/ chair or seat or cabinet by stairs.

buehl, how amazing are you? I actually typed out a whole post last night but it got erased! I like the clear separation of zones and ample space for each, esp. that clean up zone with dish storage. I am also intrigued by the idea of the cooktop being on that wall. I had thought of it but assumed it had to vent to an exterior wall. Might the ducting be especially complicated if it was there?

Also , I like the B18 for the prep sink instead of my B24. This would give me half a foot more counter space. Do you think a smaller sink would be fine?

If i kept the island as prep zone, I would prefer to face the great room where we have those big windows and the action is. Related to that, I would also prefer the cooktop to be closer the the corner (exterior wall) in order to open that view from the island to the great room. The microwave and oven make sense in those spots but the fridge would wall up that peninsula area, which I really liked open. I know - I can't have it all. That bulk of a fridge keeps getting in my way. I've tried to put it everywhere. Initially I wanted it behind the island beside the pantry door, but my builder said I wouldn't have enough clearance. (and I think it would have looked awkward anyway), then I wanted it where the cooktop is now, but he pointed out that I'd hate it being in a corner - couldn't open the door fully, etc. I don't like it standing in the middle of counters either, preferring it at the end of a run of counter space.

The issue we keep running into in this house is we love the openness but we are seriously lacking in wall space and storage because of it. Everything has a trade-off as they say. I'm trying to keep the openness without making it frustrating and non-functional.

Did you notice that in my new plan I've lost wall space for a wall hanging plate rack too? Grr. I think the peninsula would be nicer with the curve in it, but don't know how I'd pull that off without jamming up the clearance to the island, and making the "straight side" too far from the island.

mnerg - I love your idea about sweeping the veggie scraps into the top drawer. Genius! I am definitely doing that - thank you. Now that will allow me to make my trash pull out a single B15, giving me extra 3" somewhere else.

I did think about switching the sink to the other side of the island for the reasons you mentioned. I think it would be more practical, honestly. However, my thought was, I dislike doing dishes (& cleaning in general) and cleaning up will be done mostly after lunch (our main meal) when DH is there and would talk to me over the peninsula, and after dinner, when it's dark and the kids are inside. So it would probably be more motivating to me to clean up while I am facing people and interacting, than feel isolated looking at the darkness out the window. (I'd be prepping looking out the window, during the day when the children are likely to be outside where I can watch them. And I don't need people around to enjoy prep time.) I was also thinking, the sink on that side would give me the option of facing people while I prep. esp. if I cover half the sink with a sink cover cutting board. If the sink were on the other side, I'd have both prep areas facing the window.

rhome - you've brought up some things to think about. From a more experienced mother's point of view, how does a larger, more grown up family "typically" work together in the kitchen? I guess from my limited experience, I can see one person cooking, maybe another prepping or baking for a meal at the same time. But maybe I'm overlooking that someone else might be cleaning up during the prep/ cooking time?

Would you put the main sink closer to the center of the island? My initial thought is that it'd interrupt the available 2nd prep counter space. I like having the sink on one end to "get it out of the way" so I have nmore uninterrupted counter space, but what are your thoughts?

The daily-use breakfast & snack items that you mentioned, I was planning to put in the deep drawers in the peninsula (B30). Baking items - I use a handful of times a year, so they can go in the pantry.

To make more counter space around the cooktop, what do you think of moving the fridge to the peninsula wall? And move the snack dishes so they share the island cabinet with the tupperware/ baking pans? That would make the tiny peninsula wall a corner wall.

I'm not a fan of building a kitchen tailored to the very short time when kids are toddlers (adamantly opposed, actually) but I do recommend that you pursue the idea of the nook or table you mentioned, unless you're also planning table space in the great room or only ever feed the kids in the dining room. It's a very very long way down from a bar height stool when you're small, as I found the other day at the sandwich shop with one of my four-year-old twins. If you're planning more kids, it could be many years before those high stools are safe for every member of the family. Also, older people often have trouble with or qualms about climbing up so high.

I understand your reasoning about the direction you want to face at the clean-up sink, but think long and hard about this one. As it's set up in the last plan, half of your kitchen is designed for one worker (in a space that you might find too cramped to want to allow any others in) and the other half is given over to spectators. Is this the dynamic you want, long term? Some cooks do, and would brandish a chef's knife and sizzling pans at anyone who tried to enter their territory.

You asked for examples of how an older family might use a kitchen. Here's what ours looked like yesterday evening: I was making soup, my 8-year-old was baking a strawberry shortcake, the 11-year-old was setting the (dining room) table for supper, and the two 4-year-olds (who simply could not wait twenty more minutes until the meal!) were retrieving, eating, and cleaning up after eating, some yogurt -- all without getting in each other's way (except for my need to get done with the soup vegetables at the one sink before my son needed to use it to wash the strawberries), all in a kitchen much smaller than yours. We could not have done this without having followed Buehl's wonderful advice (much of it in the Read Me if You're New thread) about avoiding zone overlap.

Dispensed with the under-counter fridge, switched clean up zone to other side of island, moved spice rack pullout to left of cooktop. Reduced width of prep sink cabinet and trash can pullout so I can put B12 storage on right of cooktop. Hmm, maybe I should flip the main sink and tupperware cabinet.

you've brought up some things to think about. From a more experienced mother's point of view, how does a larger, more grown up family "typically" work together in the kitchen? I guess from my limited experience, I can see one person cooking, maybe another prepping or baking for a meal at the same time. But maybe I'm overlooking that someone else might be cleaning up during the prep/ cooking time?

Would you put the main sink closer to the center of the island? My initial thought is that it'd interrupt the available 2nd prep counter space. I like having the sink on one end to "get it out of the way" so I have nmore uninterrupted counter space, but what are your thoughts?

I wouldn't put the main sink in the island at all. You are right that it's prime prep (and possibly baking) real estate and a bad place, IMO, to have dirty dishes gathering. As the kids become older and there are more of them, having no space to one side of the sink would be very difficult. The island is a great place for the prep sink, and a good place to think about which direction to face to keep an eye on kids, see a view, and mostly, converse with others in the room.

In our house, similar to what Mnerg describes, any number of activities can be happening at once. During dinner preparation, there certainly are people involved with the cleanup sink, dishwashers, and dish storage. They may be doing a cleanup as we go, or at least, clearing dishwashers and setting the table, so it's great for them to have a clear path to the dining room. Someone may be baking while someone is cooking and someone else is making salad. The island serves as prep space on one side, baking area on the other, and on Friday, "Pizza Night," the whole island is in use, and people surround it from all sides. At any time, there may be others in there to get a drink of water, grab some fruit, pack a lunch for the next day, tell me about their day/plans, etc., etc.

There are 10 of us in the family, and more with fiancees and friends, and our kitchen works as well for several as for 1 or 2. I'll attach a link to my blog page that shows the kitchen zone layout and photos.

You have a lot of room for kitchen, but have it smooshed to one end to allow the snacking area and wide walk-through to the great room. You do need some good wall space for fridge and other tall storage or items, and in the right places if your priority is to open the kitchen to the great room more.

Here is a link that might be useful: My kitchen: floorplan and pics

rhome - I absolutely love your kitchen. It is so organized and makes total sense. There are too many things I like about it for me to list now. Thank you for sharing it.

I'm back to prep and clean up zones being back to back again... sigh... having said that, I like the fridge recessed into the dining room wall, getting the bulky thing out of the way and making an alcove/ niche for the dining room buffet to sit in; the new half-wall height cabinets in both sides of the peninsula (instead of normal half-wall) offering more great room storage, and the new bar that connects the great room with the kitchen so kiddos can do schoolwork there while I cook.

The other side of the island (facing window) could function as a secondary prep zone if necessary and dish storage is a straight shot to the dining room. Fridge is accessible to "outsiders" without zone crossing.

DH and I "practised" washing dishes and prepping back to back in our current kitchen, which has 3'3" clearance between the sink on perimeter and island. (This new layout has between 3'6" and 3'8" aisles all around.) We didn't even know the other was there, so I'm wondering if it might be less of a pain for our family (I am 5"2' and 95 lb, my DH is 6' 2" and 160 lb, and our children are small for their ages, so I wonder if the prep/ clean up zone being back to back may be a not-so-big deal for our family?)

Proportions for other rooms are off, I think.

Thanks...The organization and ability for so many of us to work and be together without traffic tie-ups is priceless.

In addition to the back-to-back thing, figuring in helper kids of ages like 6, 10, 16...different sizes and abilities, plus knives and hot pots of water, in this latest plan you have to cross the cleanup zone to access the fridge when using the prep and cooking areas. The open dishwasher with unloaders will really fill that space and traffic aisle... And I'm still worried about the stove and cleanup sink sharing side counterspace. As I said, some can't avoid this, but you really can.

Your baking space and snackers are far from any water source, the cleanup area, and dish storage, requiring a lot of running around and more crossed paths. Sorry to be so negative, but I know you can have so much better in this space.

We're a family of four (and often 5, 6, 7, or more, depending on how many friends & family are visiting!) My children are just-turned 15 and 16.

Our evenings go like this: Someone is emptying the DW and clearing out breakfast and after-school snack dishes (and lunch dishes if there's no school that day).
Two or three others are prepping and/or cooking.
Yet another person is setting the table (going from dish storage to DR).
Meanwhile we have a dog underfoot (just waiting for someone to drop something!)

We do not have an island as our kitchen isn't wide enough for one (started out 11'1" deep, now 10'6" deep or so b/c we had to "build-in" a wall to accommodate venting in a wall that didn't have enough room b/w the studs to fit the ductwork and to hide most of the waste pipe from an upstairs bathroom).

Instead, we have a wide "U" with two short peninsula legs and a row across from the "U" with a corner pantry off to the side.

Not only does it work wonderfully well for us, but it also worked great when I had sixteen 12- and 13-years old girls working on their Girl Scout Cooking badge in my kitchen (twice)!

We no longer have seating in the kitchen-proper, but we do have 2 stools at one peninsula. We opened up the wall b/w the DR and kitchen and now use our DR for all our meals. Not only is the DR now being used year-round (instead of just at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), but it also has given us a bit of "formality" to our meals and my children's manners improved quite a bit! (Plus there's more room around the table and it's nice to eat away from the dinner meal prep mess.)

The combination of taking down the wall and converting the entire kitchen to a "kitchen" has made the DR/Kitchen area look & feel much more spacious and both are much, much more functional!

I'm not saying eliminate the island, what I'm saying is think about alternatives.

As to the cooktop in the plan I did for you, it's on a wall segment approx 12" wider than the hood on each side with the rest of the area open to the Great Room. I show the counter going into the Great Room to the depth of the wall (it could be deeper if you wanted seating there). Is it difficult to vent from there? It depends on the direction your studs run.

As to the comments about the "raised counter" in your plan, I agree wholeheartedly with them. Plus, a raised counter reduces the functionality of the peninsula area a bit b/c of the counter overhang into the kitchen (usually 1.5" to 2") and over the workspace that's counter-height. Having the peninsula all one height would give you another deep workspace for large projects such as baking, homework, science fair, gift wrapping, etc. with the added advantage of being able to sit at that counter while working (your current plan does not appear to have seating at the island).

[Your most recent pic is much too small to see and I cannot access the pic to see if I can see an enlarged version. I recommend putting your pictures on a true photohosting site such as Photobucket, Picasa, Webshots, Flickr, etc. and putting them in a public folder so you can upload a bigger version and others can navigate to it w/o putting a huge picture inline here.]

I also think more room is needed to the right of the stove. when a preteen is observing the cooking of a meal they'll need room to remain 3 dimensional! if you 'work' to the left of the stove, you won't want them standing there to watch you.

are you left handed?

do spend a little more and get an oven above cheapo grade. You will want it to heat and bake properly - and hold enough for growing family. even if only for the bread! I agree with rhome - baking bread for a family (even one of 4) will most likely take more than a bread machine over the long haul. pizza? garlic toast? cookies?
and get one that has convection. You can get a good one for a good price if you look for a floor model / last yr's model.

rhome, buehl and desertsteph, the crossing/ jamming of paths, cooktop competing for counter space with sink, and no water source by snackers/ bakers makes sense, as do the issues "raised" about the counters.

Thanks buehl, rhome and mnerg for sharing what a typical meal prep time looks like. That really helps me to picture a typical day in my kitchen in a few years. "Seeing" that as reality is helping me more than you know. What a blessing to have many in the home, and working together as you have described.

Btw, we are homeschooling too, so it'll be 3 meals a day at home - breakfast and lunch with everyone, and dinner with me and whoever's not at daddy's workplace. We also plan to have friends over sometimes, and our friends' families are multiplying rapidly.

In this latest plan, what do you think of moving the clean up area to the left peninsula? That would allow me to give my cooktop more breathing room on the window wall, make the right side a more focused cooking/ prep zone, and provide a water source for the other side. People setting the table would have a clear path left of the fridge into the dining room, without crossing the prep/ cooking zone. It would share space with the snack zone but it'd prob. less hectic during the busiest, meal prep time. Negative is dirty dishes *out there* in full view, but maybe they'll get done quicker!

So right side of kitchen: prep and cooking.
Left side: clean up, snack/ breakfast.

Oven - either on right, on same wall as cooktop, or in the left side of the island, for a separate baking zone. (I suspect bakers will share many of the cooks' utensils & mixing bowls though).

I will try to upload a better pic later.

Thank you all again. I am so thankful I don't have to figure this out all by myself or think this through AFTER moving in!!

Looking forward to the new layout. We homeschool, too. Having everyone home all day really does put more stress on getting the kitchen 'right' for family use. You'll probably even do science experiments and art projects there. Our kitchen is the largest room in our house. It was a top priority to make it a space where as many who wanted could fit, and join in, at a time.

We spent years, as our family grew and the kids grew older, in a kitchen that was smallish and where we competed for the one best work area. Even small, the kitchen offered a long section of countertop away from the sink and stove, and along a raised bar. But that area of counter was never well utilized (mostly collected stuff and dust), because it wasn't near enough the crucial spots...range, fridge, and sink. More counter isn't better unless it's where you need it.

A smaller kitchen with overlapping and crossing zones can work, and with limited counterspace by sink and stove, but it's not as fun, and if it's not necessary, definitely something to work to avoid. That type of situation also discourages growing interests in cooking, baking, and helping out...in kids and adults. When meal prep, utilitarian baking (vs cookies), and cleanup tasks become bigger jobs in coming years, you'll want the kids to know they're an important part of that...Not just that the snack area is where they belong.

It wasn't long after moving into this house and using the kitchen, I realized that I never really paid much attention to what it looked like, but I sure appreciated how the layout worked and flowed so nicely for us. Function first.
:-)

Alternative Layout Idea:

- As the latest above, but center the cooktop in the middle of the room. This will give more counter space on both sides of the cooktop, and allow the hood and backsplash under the hood to take centerstage. I've been wondering how to do the backsplash without running it up to top of window height otherwise.

This is way better. I'm still a little confused about what is going on with the shallow cabs and the skinny sections to each side that form the U with the cooktop and sink runs. If you explained those better, I missed it.

For the alternative plan, do you mean leaving the cooktop on that wall, but behind the island? That would be better. Would you just move the oven down more toward the fridge? I could also see swapping the oven and cooktop.

I might swap sink and dw, so that if you bring something to the sink from the cooking area, around the inside end of the island, the possibly open dw isn't in the way. I suppose one could argue about it being in the way if you move it, too.

I think you're still short on dish storage. One base cab might fit dishes, but what about cups, glasses, and serveware?