Basically agreed with everything above---personally I like doors between 15" and 21", with 24" okay for a single large door. But I think she'd be fine anywhere in the range you're talking about. One thing to remember, too, is that your eye will not pick up small differences. In our old kitchen, no two sets of doors were the same width, but the main differences you noticed were the big 21" doors and the little 15-18" doors, not the distinctions between the 16" and 17" pairs next to each other. In our new kitchen, I only discovered this weekend that our doors aren't all the same---they were designed to all be 18" but apparently making all three equal meant the blind corner pullout didn't have quite enough space, so our cabinetmaker adjusted it in the shop so that there is a pair of 17.5" doors and then an 18.5" door. They're all in a row and your eye reads them as being the same (or at least, our eyes do). I only figured it out when I was measuring drawers and discovered we had an extra inch of interior space in the drawer over the blind corner! So you have some wiggle room.

It looks far better with a mix of open shelving, glass cabinets, and plain shorter doored cabinets in a skyscraper configuration rather than the yo-yo UPdownUPdonwUPdown shown above. Staggared depth is also a MUST for it to work at all or you get those silly crown returns that make it look amateur. It's not for a small kitchen, as it takes a lot of room to do successfully. It's also a look well past it's prime that didn't stick around that long to begin with. The dust issue is a big drawback with it, as is finding someone that can successfully plan something that works logistically and still looks a bit unfitted, which is what the look is attempting to recreate. Actual unfitted is a much better look that will never be dated. Cabinets to the ceiling would be more functional and be less dated.

My parents' house was built in early 70's, has original site-built dark oak cabinets with crown molding going all the way to ceiling. My mom just put in granite and tin backsplash a couple of years ago. Their ceilings are less than 8ft (7' 6" or 7' 9" I think?). I don't think there's a minimum ceiling height required for crown, though I think a maximum gap of 6" b/t the top of cabinets and the ceiling looks best if you're trying to bring the crown all the way to the ceiling. Any more, and you'd have a huge filler between the cabinet and the crown. With 8ft ceilings and "standard" 18" backsplash, you'd need 42" cabinets to go all the way to the ceiling. Crown would be less expensive. Something to think about. I agree that crown "finishes" the cabinets nicer than a factory (particleboard) edge, but if your cabinets go all the way to the ceiling then you don't need crown (though you might need a thin piece of some kind of trim to hide any gaps since your ceiling probably isn't flat). Do what you want, not what you think the trend is (I'm assuming you're not remodeling to sell).

MareLuce, I looked at the White Collar kitchen, it is very nice. Here's a lifestyle difference which may explain my location choice for fridge- 90% of our meal eating is at the countertop (we currently have a peninsula instead of an island and the only time I sit at the table is when there's no chairs left for me at the island). So in MY mind the ovens are 'out of the way' and the fridge is 'prime real estate' lol. In my mind if I put the fridge over there I will have snackers walking through the prep/cook zone to access the fridge. (I am frequently cooking dinner as the kids get home from school, and I serve dinner a couple hours later, it just depends on what it is I am cooking. Even a casserole or lasagna I prep early and put it in the oven later) Beuhl, thanks, I can move the aisle width. Is that 54" counter to counter or cabinet to cabinet? Thanks for the clarification, I hadn't noticed the counters were extra deep along BOTH walls, I just noticed it on the sink wall in your diagram. Yes, I did know the fridge had to stick out a certain amount for door operation. DW: I am familiar with prepping over a d/w as that is my current arrangement. Perhaps because we live in Michigan I don't mind the heat from it. Although I certainly won't be planning any prep over that 26" on the d/w side of the sink. I was planning for a 5foot prep space on the left side of the sink. Why does that seem too small of a prep space. On my diagram it's labeled 57" plus there will be 3" of counter at the sink because my sink is a 30" in a 36" base = 60" of prep space to the left of the sink. (left when I am facing the sink, so right as looking at the diagram on paper) Not enough? Other lifestyle things that matter to me: Toaster oven is an important appliance in our lives and we use it A LOT. One of our current bottle necks in our current kitchen is toaster oven close to the range. People trying to use the toaster oven to heat various items while I'm prepping dinner or breakfast. That is one reason I dedicated a good chunk of countertop for it (and the coffee maker). I really know that space will be used for secondary prep at least once a day while someone else is working at the other main prep area. mw drawer- I'm tall and I hate the idea of cleaning out a mw drawer that is at counter height. My husband is NOTORIOUS for not putting a cover on his plate of food and so I'm stuck cleaning up the splatters. Other than that I'm not opposed to a m/w drawer. As far as a pass through that's not possible- laundry room is on the other side (washer dryer back up immediately to that wall in fact). Several times you have mentioned dirty dishes on the counter. I am just learning that is something people do. We never do that. The thought never even occurred to me. Typically I have the d/w empty before I start prep. If there is a conflict, then the dirty dishes go right into the sink and I hand wash them. I still spend a lot of time hand scrubbing my pots/pans because either they don't come as clean as I like in the d/w or because they are not d/w safe (cast iron, non stick). Anyways, I'm going to continue to study your proposed layout. Maybe I'll even draw it out with chalk on our driveway. :) I'll show my husband some pictures of wall sinks. The main thing I hope you will still answer for me is addressing the prep space on my island. I really thought 5' was enough and that because of the depth of the island at 60" that the seating side could still be used for the rare larger projects. Please advise. much appreciated, illini.