just my 2 cents.. i currently have the set up of your first drawing. where you have the pantry i have a wall to the living room, i put a 6 inch deep 5 foot high free standing shelf along the wall (easy to make) and i keep anything in glass jars on that, i have a reach in pantry.(where your deck is i have a bed room with a bathroom next to it, door facing the kitchen, and the pantry is between the bedroom and bath), the shelf i have is narrow enough not to impede the entry next to the peninsula, and it keeps me from worrying about having a glass jar break in the pantry, everyone who sees it thinks its a great idea (i keep remains of boxes of pasta in canning jars etc). my kitchen is open to the dining room, which no one who i see with this design uses as a dining room because the walk way to the sliding glass doors eventually takes precedence (Florida = Lani), or if they do, the table is pushed up against the wall which leaves seating for 4. i also have a slim cabinet and a semi-corner upper cabinet(s) on the wall to the right of the sink,my dish washer is in the spot of your original drawing, i have a lazy susan corner on the bottom in the corner. The over hang of the upper cabinets makes a spot to park the appliances with a clean up area right next to the sink which keeps things from sprawling, i have a set of drawers instead of a cabinet on the outside of the dishwasher, very handy.. . It seems to me that some people are sit-down-at-the-table types and some are more casual island eaters.. when my daughter was younger we used the large area of the peninsula to make bread and such from the dining room side, that way she could sit up and reach and it was a nice area to use for lots of things. the actual work flow on this for me is parking the grocery's on the peninsula and on flat stove top to load fridge, the biggest problem i have is with the microwave. first had it on the Pinn but if two people were in the kitchen there would be an issue with doing anything with the sink, i moved it to the other side of the sink, between it and the stove, its a better location but it uses up a lot of room and its awkward to get things in and out, for that reason alone i liked the idea of a microwave area. it looks like you currently have a microwave installed in the wall next to the fridge? My neighbor put his on the counter and then made a huge space above for an appliance garage, (think just one big shelf), you'd only have to close off the underside of the stairs really; the cool thing is he used a painting hinged on the corner side as a door. i would say live with it for a minuet first, and then if you were going to do anything i'd put a pantry at the end of the room like in the 3-D model Anna has, also the peninsula, if you are not going to use that room then you might want to shorten it, mine is a bit tight and the other issue is where to put the trash.. if you are an under the sink person then fine, but otherwise i ended up putting it at the end of the peninsula, now its tucked under on the outer side with a stool in front. what is really amazing is that so many people spent so much of their time to help you with this, and that i actually sat here and read each post.. it had a coffee table conversation feel to it, very well done everybody :) best of luck with the new home, the only other thing i would say is, you have to decide if you and SO need a break from the stress of actually buying the house before you start tearing it up (warning: only do ONE ROOM at a time) or if you are the kind of folk who like to get it all out of the way so you can be done with it.. may your home always be filled with love (and big ideas).. Lin

I love lots of pantry space. I also love a butlers pantry. So I really like these changes. I suggest putting the door to the pantry on the side closer to the dining room and flipping the shelves from the dining wall to the kitchen wall. Use 6 inches of your pantry space 36" wide to recess the fridge into the pantry. Then you can have counter depth look fridge for the MUCH cheaper price of regular fridge. Plus, the interior will be deeper so you can fit that large pizza box. Lots of people on GW recess their fridges. You will still have shelves behind the fridge, but not quite as deep as the rest of the shelves. Do away with the pocket door into the dining room. On the dining side inside the pantry, have "1 can deep" shelves built between the studs. This would only be sheetrocked from the dining side, but not inside the pantry on that little section. There are so many pantry items that can be stored one deep !!! Gotta love found storage by using the space between the studs. There is lots you can do between the studs with open shelves or hooks or built in medicine style cabinets such as ... beside the toilet for spare toilet paper roll, toilet brush, comet ... In the master closet for jewelry, hanging scarves, belts (think behind the door where it swings open or at the end of hanging facing hanging or shelves) ... In a bath for a full height version of a medicine cabinet ... Under an upstairs bedroom window for a chain ladder which can be rolled out the window for a fire escape ... I've even seen a between the studs mini liquor cabinet ... For a wall safe or gun cabinet ... For a cute little display niche ... I could go on & on !! I would recommend doing at least a small overhang (7-8"?) on the back side of the island so you have the option to pull up a little stool if you ever want to. Personally, I ALWAYS want to be able to pull up a stool to the island or peninsula. Even if there is a table right next to it. When we have people over and when we go to other's houses, everyone always seems to gravitate to the stools at the counter rather than right next to it at the table. You certainly have enough space for an overhang. Also, when I decorated a wedding cake for 300, I was on the stool !!! No way I wanted to stand for hours. You have a lot going on in the last plan with the range, sink, and DW all opening up into one little space. I would like to see these spread out some. Like putting the DW on the other side of the sink and moving the range a little ways down the wall toward the pantry. Dishes could be stored to the right of the range - easy access unloading the DW and easy to access from the breakfast nook. What do you have planned for the section of cabinets across the aisle from the end of the fridge ? You could have an appliance garage there for the coffee maker and things you want to keep hidden. Agree with evening up some of the jogs around the sides and back side of the house to save money on construction costs. Also, continue the living room wall that is shared with the master BR all the way to the hall/living room bath wall. Having the door into the master opening there gives you a little ante-chamber into the master BR and a place for the door to swing so it doesn't use wall space swinging into the BR. It also gives privacy from the sounds of the toilet in the master bath. Can you give up a foot or so for the shower to recess into her closet so you can have a larger master shower ? The back side of the shower could be shelves in the closet which take up less room than hanging clothes. I think the garage is deep enough at 21' but I would add to the length to make it 35 or 36 or 37' long to allow storage on the sides. I am at the football game ... Gotta go !!

I'm offering the following as a devil's advocate. Both positions for your kitchen are viable choices with nice reasons to go each way. That's why you need to draw up all possibilities to consider. If the middle is right for you guys, this will end up reinforcing that decision. Versatility and size? That 15x30 room is looking very, very nice as it is, but the far end is prize square footage with all those exterior walls (light/views in up to 3 directions), and right now you plan to actually dine there very little--pretty but underused. If you put the kitchen down there, that addition would be used as intensively as it deserves to be. The living area for furniture placement would be the same, but it would be more strongly defined. Nevertheless the whole should still appear very spacious because it would still be part of a 15x30 room with kitchen on end and still be open to the north, which would extend additional living activities that direction, instead of east. The dining room might well end up used more for various activities in the middle of the house. In considering this alternative layout, how about a pretty door to the outside from a middle/dining room, French perhaps? And for that matter, are you sure you wouldn't have a door directly out from the kitchen? You have an entry in that end that looks as if it would need some reconfiguring too. Would it enter the middle/dining room? Last night I also thought of one other -- possible -- advantage to switching the kitchen and dining room: the step down. This could be a design asset for a dining room, setting it off as special as viewed from the living room. Since you don't plan to eat there a lot, even with young children you could have a nice rug under the table if you wanted it. You'd take that step mostly on the way back to the children's rooms--longer journeys. For the kitchen, you guys'd be making all the many, many little daily journeys between the living room and kitchen on a level floor. Morning sun in kids' hallway? Have sunshine everywhere and you eliminate the pleasure of entering a sunny room. A dim hallway is often a design asset because it makes the rooms opening off it all the more inviting. I can't see what that cabinet in the hall is, but with a little attention to attractiveness and interest, the hall looks pretty good to me. The only way I could imagine to improve it would be to extend it to come back around on itself -- children love to run in circles. :) As it is now, though, the hall enters a sunny middle room in the mornings, setting that room off really nicely, however it's used.

calidesign, can you please explain 'vastly superior'? It seems to me that there is a smaller work triangle and better traffic flow in plan #2 (with pal's minor change, and a CD fridge). Plus, in #1 the fridge needs filler between it and the wall, in order to fully open the door: Adding a pantry to the right of the fridge would improve the plan, but the range hood would make a better focal point from the LR, and having the range on the sink wall would get it out of the traffic from the entry to the left: