I'd orient the island so that it's most functional and most pleasant. However, I was confused by your contemplated changes, and your picture is too small for me to tell which way that would be...

Is one way more functional? and the other more pleasant?

Do you normally have company when you prep? (Want company?) What about when you entertain? Do you entertain in the kitchen?

Thanks for pointing out the small pic. Sorry, I forgot to post the blow up of the kitchen. Here you go.

I guess I don't know which way is more functional and pleasant. Sorry for that awful answer but I've never had a good kitchen.

Whenever we entertain, which may be once or twice a month, it's usually two or three other couples and everyone is in the kitchen standing around the island until we have dinner.

We can still tweak the measurements on anything so I guess that means we can make either side of the L as functional as we want. I guess?

Because it's an open floor plan, we want the best looking and cleanest wall to be on the left/west because that will be the view from the living and dining rooms.

I see the bonus of having the island facing the south window is it's a gorgeous view and I'll be in the house with just my husband most of the time so looking straight at the view would be amazing.

But, we'll still be able to see out of the window off to the side if the island is facing the living room and it seems like the kitchen would have a cleaner look if the long side of the island faced the living room.

I could use any input because I'm really blocked on moving forward with the house until I figure this out. There is a great argument to face either direction.

The first picture is of the island facing the living room with no walk in pantry

The second picture shows the walk in pantry behind the cooktop which creates a longer alley on the west (left) wall. I think I would nix that option regardless of what we do

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I'm still having a hard time really reading your layout but initially I prefer the island oriented to the cooktop on the top run. However, if that is your frig in the cooktop run, I'd move it to the bottom of the west wall. I would not want people coming into my cooking area to access the frig. Now that said, in a perfect world I would then want to add frig drawers for veggies and whatnot that I frequently use for cooking to either the cooking run or island.

Good morning Remodelfla,

Sorry it's so hard to read. It's from the architect and I think it's hard too.

I'll try to recap for clarity. It's an open floor plan. The kitchen, dining, and living rooms are open to each other in a rectangle. The long wall beneath all three rooms is windows.

My kitchen counters will be on the left wall and top walls in the rectangle. I'll have one big island.

I can move cooking appliances to either wall at this point. I thought it might make sense to first decide which way the island should face and once I do that, then decide where the cooking wall or cleanup sink should be. Unless of course I should definitely keep the cleanup sink at a window.

In looking at the room, would you like the island facing it or the window. I just wasn't sure about looking into the side of an 10ft island from the great room. I haven't seen that view from a living and dining room in this kind of set up before so I'm unsure how it will look. I alway see this kind of rectangular great room with the guests facing the long side of the island so the kitchen is a little more 'blocked'. Maybe I just haven't seen this other arrangement. So I'm calling on all of your experience to help me with that decision.

I want the open plan but am insecure about not having it look at clean as possible. I know how islands facing the living rooms accomplish that, but I just don't know if the other can look as nice. I'm assuming because each side of the L counters can be the same size, that my function could be equal depending on what I chose. If I could make the overall room look as nice and function as well, I think it would be really nice to face the view when I prep. I just know because it's a verrrry open plan, I want the room to look the best and most inviting so I don't have any regrets.

I've never had anything new before so maybe I'm just inexperienced and none of this matters.

I'd love some advice because I know you all have lovely homes that house your super functional kitchens.

I don't like the functionality of the 1st plan at all...with no sink near the cook top and the fridge off on the side like that.

I like the functionality of the 2nd plan better, but I don't like the look as much.

I don't like looking at the side of the island from the DR and I don't like the banquette just stuck there.

Have you considered a completely different shape for the island? You seem to have the room. Not sure I can find a pic of what I'm imagining.

Have the island run counter depth in an "L" shape, parallel to the sink wall, then turn the corner and parallel the cooktop wall...making the length of the sides equal. Then on the inside of that L, create a table height counter (or make it counter height) in the shape of a quarter circle to fill that space that can be used for eating and entertaining. That way for working, you can face both the DR and the windows at various times, you will have working counter space near you at all times, and you will have an eat in area and a well defined entertaining space for company. The round shape will add softness and the seating area will add practicality. And it will be more attractive to look at from the DR.

Go to houzz.com and look up round island....you'll see quite a number of variations that may get your thinking outside the "box" that you're in now.

I understand better now mtc... thanks for taking the time to explain. I have a question though and I"m looking at it from my lifestyle. Do you live in a part of the country with an outdoor lifestyle? I ask because it looks like there is an porch all the way right? Do you spend alot of time hanging out and entertaining outside? Of course I'm thinking about this from a S.Fla. perspective. It makes me wonder about traipsing through the dining room and living room with goodies, ingredients, and whatnot while heading out. I could be reading this all wrong though.

Looking at the bigger drawings...

For the first one, I'd put the stove on the left wall, behind the island, and the prep sink at the top end of the island, near the fridge... with the clean up area on the north wall. The island is so great for prep and having the nice, long side face the cleanup sink is a little sad when it could face the stove, and be so useful for prep, baking, and cooking, IMO. I have the end of my island facing the stove, and often wish I'd oriented it so the longer side faced the stove instead.

In the 2nd big drawing, which I think is the original, this is OK for me, but switch to the fridge to the dining/living room end, so people aren't streaming from the living/dining area past the cook to get something out of the fridge. And did you say what that is to the right of the island? You can easily look to the side to keep track of things in the living room, but still keep kitchen tasks a little separate.

Hi Annie, Remodelfl and Rhome!

Annie,

Sorry to confuse you by not having the appliances drawn correctly yet. I just had the architect flip the island just to get a visual without spending time on planning where functional things should be. But I'm with you, I love the idea of facing the view when I prep but because it's open to the living room, I was concerned about seeing the side of the island too.

Funny you gave me that suggestion (and thanks for taking the time to post the pic) because when she heard I love booths, she suggested the island facing south with a big booth connected to it facing the view. The ideas seem similar. It partially solved the problem of looking at the side of the island because you were just seeing one big mass, but there were a couple of things that concerned me. I was mainly worried that it would be too much of a reach for me to try to clean the far side of the island on a daily basis without walking around. To create a separation from the living area, you'll see she also drew a big buffet that would also help to create a visual barrier like an island facing the living room, I supposed. But it would still be low so I'm not sure if that works in practice? I think the buffet would be fantastic to serve on when having a dinner party. My concern was that with the south side of the island taken up by the booth and the buffet on the side, then everyone would be squeezed between the buffet and island if they wanted to talk to me. That isn't a bad thing, but I was thinking, and please tell me if my thinking is wrong, if I'm going to have the very open plan, creating little aisles and things to have to walk around and not having big open places for guests to stand seemed to defeat the purpose. Am I wrong on this? I

Here is the pic of that idea.

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Hi Remodelfla,

Great question.

This house will be in northern CA so we will be able to be outside a lot of the time. I'll tell you what outdoor areas we have to see what you think. That porch you see at the end of the living room is a screened in porch that can be accessed next to the fireplace. I was thinking that location was good because it's blocked by the fireplace and it's central to the living area and bedroom. I can see hanging out there quite a bit.

But, your point about how far to take things is excellent. The other spots, so far... we have a big entry courtyard and I picture having some furniture there because it's very windy where we are and sometimes it might be nice to be outside but protected. I like how we will be able to peak througn the front door and out the back entrance to see some view too. All the doors aren't drawn in yet.

And then we currently have a screened in porch left of the entry door on the south side. I'm thinking we don't need two screened porches and we can just make that an outdoor area with the grill. There is a door to get there from the kitchen at the bottom of the page. Does it seem better knowing we'll have multiple spots now?

Rhome, thanks!

When you say keeping tasks separate, I'm interpreting that to mean you think it's okay to have the short side of the island facing the living room so it's not as a part of the main room. That is a relief. To the right of the kitchen is the dining and living room. To the left of the kitchen is an outdoor space.

I'm also soooo glad you commented on which side to have the cooktop in relation to the cleanup sink. I've been spending weeks and weeks trying to go through this in my head to decide which is most beneficial (currently my cleanup sink is not near either ... don't get me started!). I was never quite sure but I was starting to think exactly what you advised. A friend told me you have a great kitchen and fantastic organizational sense so to know that you wish yours was oriented differently carries a lot of weight. I had actually looked up your kitchen and saw your cooktop wasn't on the long side of your island so I thought, oh, I guess it doesn't matter! :) So thanks for mentioning that.