Hi, We have one skylight with no blinds in our home. We have it at the top of a stair case so that the light shines down into the stairwell and lights upstairs and downstairs. It does I think make a large difference. The skylight size is maybe 4 feet by two feet. It faces North. (We are near New York City). I am not sure about heat loss, but it must be worse than a R30 insulation. It is a Velux unit and has two layers of glass. When it rains you can hear the pitter patter. That is usually not too bad. Hail is more noisy. As for TV glare it is difficult for me to visulize, although I must comment favourably upon your rather good diagram. What way is the roof sloping? Where are you in the USA, up north, or lower down like Miami? The thing to remember is that sunlight direction and intensity depends on time of day, lattitude, weather, and time of year. So try and imagine what the light will be for a full day, and for each day throught the year, and the typical weather you may get where you live. All the best, Mike.

I prefer the deep end.... :)

Lots of great replies. Thanks! Yes, I do most of my prep work at the island with my back to the cooktop. If the trash were in the #2 position I'd still need to use a temporary bag or bowl and then empty it into the trash later. I do see where having the recycle bin there is actually more convenient though. Yes, the fridge is directly across from the sink. Aside from moving the dishwasher I'm actually keeping the same layout I already have. There's really no other good place for the fridge. The cabinet right next to it is the tall oven/microwave center so it leaves me with lots of contiguous counter space. Unfortunately there's really no place to set a free standing trash bin. Right now I have a small bin under the desk in the upper left area but that's going to be built out with pantry units instead. I have considered that I could place a small pail under the sink later if the single pullout at #2 doesn't work out. I'm okay with small trash bins because it means I have to empty them more frequently, before they start smelling. In my current kitchen I can't fit any trash under the sink because it's jam packed with an R/O unit, disposal, and plumbing. My new sink will be a single bowl which eliminates some of the plumbing and I'm not sure if I'll add an R/O or not. Right now the island has a drawer unit that opens toward the cooktop and a regular lower unit that opens toward the outside. It all works well because the two cabinets are placed back to back to form a 3'x4' island. Rotating some or all of the cabinets so they open toward the sink and fridge wouldn't work as well and space would be lost. That is something I put some though into already. FWIW I only have 36" aisles so having the trash bin pull out into the sink aisle directly behind the sink wouldn't work so well either. I am considering making the island 6" narrower so I'd have 39" aisles instead. It's especially a problem on the fridge side now because it's a full size. I'll be replacing it with CD though. FWIW, here's the before kitchen Here's the desk and pantry closet in the upper left of the drawing. You can see where the trash currently sits. I'm going to knock out the closet so it's all one space and install two 24" pantry cabinets with pullouts flanking a 36" upper/lower cabinet. There won't be any space there for a trash bin. (yea!)

Hollysprings, making a statement with the space is something to think about. Thats what I love about GW, something unexpected gets presented to the post. With your concept of the "jewel box" in mind, I will ponder my options for this space. Dee850, That piece of wood is a piece of cherry that I had my carpenter put up to shield the LED that will go there. I may paint it or put it's plan wood "twin" (painted) up there instead. I think it looks sort of out of place as it is, but that feature can wait. I have left over tile that I could use. I visualize this area being used as an additional counter area to hold hors d'oeuvres during get togethers. I have hardly any counter space so this nook is a bonus. Other wise it will be holding tissues, phones, other smallish stuff.