Seems from the pics that the cabinets have a slightly pinkish cast -- is this accurate, or is it the pics? If it is the pinkish cast, I'd consider painting them, though I know that would be expensive or rather difficult (if you DIY). Agree on changing the hardware -- easy, nice fix. I think once you swap out the counter, it will make a big difference. If the home is historical, you may want a backsplash and overall look that is in keeping with the style/age of the home, but that's a very personal choice. Subway tile could look great, I'd think. Good luck.

I enjoyed looking at your plan and seeing the concrete results of your family's needs worked in so well. Now, I'll segue into my wood-stove fire-safety spiel: No matter how "high-tech" or "easily regulated" a woodstove is, it still will have some surfaces that are fiercely, even dangerously hot. You didn't describe the wood stove as a masonry heater, so I'll assume that it is some variety of cast iron/sheet metal even if it has some soapstone facing. What I write below applies to all of the above, except a true masonry heater. We heat our upstate NY farmhouse entirely with wood so I have more than 40 years experience with them. I also have dozens of small burn scars on my hands and wrists from accidental contact with the stove while loading it. Woodstoves when properly running are so hot almost any contact will instantly burn some skin right off. You mentioned that some members of your household are challeneged. Are you absolutely sure they will be able to appreciate the potential danger and protect themselves? I have had members of my household where that was not true, though I had thought so initially. In addition to potential human contact, I have a cat at present that will jump up on to a burning woodstove (650F)- resulting in terrible burns on her pads. I have had dozens of cats living here (I do rescue fostering) and this is the only one who has done it (and more than once). Now we have to have the stoves "walled" off with exercise pen caging to keep her safe. Finally, all woodstoves have minumum safe clearance distances to combustible materials (walls, wooden furniture, soft upholstery and books and papers) these must be observed or you risk starting a house fire. The manufacturer of your stove will have this info in the specs. While it is fine to draw up a chair closer to the stove while you are sitting there, and awake, you need to build in safe guards so that when the stove is burning any combustible material cannot be inadvertently left closer than the specs allow. It is easy to forget the requirements when busy with your day. Woodstoves do NOT turn on and off quickly, they often require hours to wind back down so whatever is used near them has to default to safe distances without needing too much second thought. If you are thinking of having a hearth, but perhaps want to avoid some of the extreme temperature risks of a wood-burning appliance, then you might consider a stove or insert that burns wood pellets. The surface temps are generally much lower (all our cats fight to sleep on top of the pellet stove while it is burning) so it safer to be around. The wood pellets are easy and clean to move around (come in 40 lb bags), which is an improvement on the messiness of wood fuel. The chimney cleaning issues with pellet burners are less intense, etc. The only downside is that I believe all pellet burners require electrical power to run their fuel feed and combustion blowers, so they don't work in power outages. Many have very nice fire-viewing glass fronts. Another option (though a good bit more expensive) is a masonry heater. These rely on massive amounts of stone warmed by short hot fires, perhaps only two per day. As a rule masonry heaters are completely safe to touch, sit on, etc. I'll add this as a teaser for your DH: some masonry heaters also come with wood-fired ovens for pizza, bread- making, etc. They do not require power to run, so during power outages can be counted on to function as your oven as well as heating the room. For some reason, wood-fire ovens are perennial man-pleasers; there's some atavistic draw to them, I think. HTH, L

If that's a major walkway from the garage/mudroom/laundry I'd keep the fridge as originally drawn. You can move the stub wall back 12", and the pantry's front wall back a few more, to gain aisle space, and make the island 102" rather than 106" to gain 4" more, then have seating on three sides. The art niche would be narrower, so if you already own a special piece for that space, this suggestion might not work: If the goal of moving the fridge to the top wall is so that you won't see it from the great room, then buehl's suggestion would work much better than that option. I like the extra storage she has under the island, but I forgot to include it in my drawing. If you want to keep the extra oven, I'd still suggest tucking it in the top corner, invisible from the great room. You'll probably just use it for the side dishes while the turkey is in the range oven (or vice versa), so I'd put in on the periphery. And BTW, I'd love to have an extra oven, so I vote to keep it. ETA, and unless you have a really unpleasant view from the window, I'd suggest making it larger. I missed the window and seating questions the first time. : /

itsourca, my dining room would be rather large is I put it in the living room. Not sure what my view would be from the DR. I wouldn't want to look at kitchen mess from the DR. I don't know. I will give it more thought. suezbell, in the process of trying to remodel our kitchen, I have allowed myself to dream. So I am imagining my kitchen in the space of my living room. I'm sorry, but I can't do it. I am not sure where my living room would go, but most of all, my LR window gets a minimal amount of sunlight before the sun swings over. I would find that depressing. Also, my south side has no windows. I don't quite understand your second post. The divider looks nice. Not sure if you realize that there is no wall between my LR and DR and those rooms are at different levels. My LR and FR also have a fireplace. Design Girl. I hear what you are saying. Years ago we went to an open house. That house had exactly the same layout as mine. We believe that the kitchen was renovated in order to sell the house. They had removed the family room wall and put an island in. At first sight it looked very nice. But there was no furniture on the first floor. I quickly took a couple of pictures and I can show them to you. Picture of kitchen while I am standing in the FR. They moved the doorway to the dining room to allow for a larger fridge. They removed he wall oven and put in a slide in oven and stove. There are minimal cupboards. Looks like the pots and pans have to be stored in the island. Pantry is still in the hall. Family room. Photo probably taken from the same spot as I took kitchen picture. Not sure if other walls had been removed. I didn't think FR furniture would fit very well in order to be able allow access to the sliding door. I considered that the house would be desirable for a young couple with small children. But for four adults with different schedules, I would like to have more privacy and quiet in my FR (my room pretty much). The kitchen can be a noisy place! Yvonnecmartin, I think eating all meals in the dining room is a possibility. Partim, my FR is my TV room. That's probably why I don't really want to remove the wall between the FR and the kitchen. So you are saying put a wall between my DR and LR and extend the kitchen area into the dining area. Have one table and one island and not close any doors in the kitchen? I think I could see something like that working. Our LR and DR windows need upgrading. Maybe put in a sliding door or french doors in the DR?