Hello everyone, I've gotten my updates back and I think everything is much improved! Please note the Laundry/Mudroom which has some much more efficient space. Still thinking about what will be what in there (may stack washer/dryer, like I have now), need a shoe storage closet, etc.. Also, the kids bedrooms have been reconfigured so I now have a window in the kids bath (yeah!). My daughter gets her walkin closet and the kids furniture fits nicely in their rooms. I just tweaked the kitchen island. Recommendations from the kitchen forum is for the fridge to go at the end of the long row of cabinets, but I really would prefer to have it closer to the deck/living/dining area, even though I have to 'minor-ly' cross through a walkway to get there. I would really like the exterior to be all stone in the front- see 'inspiration' pics with the exterior shot. I think the exterior needs a bit of work too... Thanks for your opinions! Walkout basement will be what I tackle next.

Thank you everybody! Good points from all of you. I've decided to keep the corner pantry. I'm going to make sure I don't have wire shelves though. And I'm thinking on putting some frosted glass or the like in the door to lighten/soften up that corner a bit. I've never had anything bigger than a small reach-in pantry, and it wasn't IN my kitchen. There came a point where I needed to get rid of the wall oven and counter top stove OR the corner pantry to allow for more counter/cabinet space. I decided to keep the pantry then and looks like it wins again now! Plus it would have been tough on my cabinet designer, and myself to get it all redesigned so quickly. AND I would have went back to a wall oven/countertop stove, and that would have sucked considering our appliances are bought, paid for, and ready for delivery. I've put alot of though into the organization of the cabinets of this design, and don't want to start all over and make any un-thoughtout quick decisions anymore on this kitchen! Honestly...I had much bigger dreams for my kitchen in our new home. Seemed every houseplan I liked, DH didn't like. (he was more concerned about how the outside of the house looks). I finally told him to find a few that looked like he wanted, we'd pick once of those, tweak it, and I would deal with it. DH is the bread winner...so it really seemed only fair! This one really had everything I wanted, except the large spacious kitchen. I came to terms with that since the plan was nice and open. Plus most things can always be changed, renovated down the road sometime if I'm not happy with something...I am woman, I think that way! Men would rather just whine about it! I didn't want to go 5 years down the road and have him whining about this and that inside and outside the house. This way...if he whines, I'll just remind him that he picked the plan! ;-) Honestly...I'm going to love my new home. Lots of space for the family, and for company. Office space, laundry room, 3 stall heated garage, upstairs completely for the kids, big bonus room, out in the country, the list goes on and on...it's more and nicer than I've ever had in my life and I'm thankful for that...even if it isn't my dream kitchen!

Thanks, Marcolo! I'm working my way toward the FKB... No sooner was my kitchen finished (last month), than I proceeded to lose my camera. Above shot was taken with my phone, hence the haze. My other hesitation is I went off these boards for nearly a year while our reno got delayed, so I feel like a bit of an interloper now. "Hey! You don't know me, but check out my new kitchen!" Which is ironic, since I lurked here virtually hours a day back when I was in the planning stage 1-2 years ago, often posting questions just like newbie's. And what a godsend all these brilliant, generous minds were to me then. So I'm trying to get over my shyness, offering one personal experience at a time, hoping to "give back" a little, as they say... Oh, and did I mention I tend to overthink things?

I don't know where my pics are, but we have three(!) blind corners in our kitchen, 2 of which are angled. One is a small stack of drawers. On the counter, we keep our flour/sugar canisters, and above is a small TV. The other angled corner is a prep counter made of maple, with no cabinet underneath so you can sit and do prep work. Cutting boards are in a rack hidden underneath. We have 32 drawers and a baking sheet pull-out in our kitchen, so wasted space isn't really an issue. Also- we have no uppers at all.