Oh, I so don't miss those days, now that we finally placed our cabinet order I feel like a weight has been lifted! Have you thought about where you will store things? That really helped me out and is often recommended at this stage. I have a 27 inch drawer base between the sink and range for pots and pans. I wanted 30 or 33, but once I figured out they are now stored in 2 x 18 inch regular cabinet with 1/2 shelves in them, I realized they would fit fine. Some of the current space is taken up by sheet pans and such, and I will have a tray pull out for them, and there will also be more storage above that section if needed as I have a 12 inch spice pull out, and currently all the spices are in the 18 inch cabinet above that space. I also wanted a dish drawer. I was going to have a 30 x 21 deep drawer, which worked fine when I mocked it up on cardboard with our dishes. I'm happy to now have a 30x24 drawer, but it would have worked the other way too. You may be fine with what's pictured. Mock it up with markers if needed, just be sure to account for face frame (if applicable) and drawer sides when determining inside dimensions. The 36 inch drawers should be fine, you may want to make the 24 inch stack 27 or 30 if you can, depending on your needs. I ended up giving up the thrash pull out to get other things I wanted. I will have a small recycling pull out under the sink though. Everything's a trade off. Once I figured out what I needed where, it was easier to make choices. Still not 100% there, but I know the important things have a home, and the rest will definitely fit, just not sure exactly which space will have which things yet so I haven't ordered dividers.

#5 is my favorite as well! That's why I chose it for the Zone/Traffic illustrations! :-) You have room for pot/pan storage next to the range, dish storage above the DW, plenty of prep workspace as well as cooking landing zone/workspace, and, with the ample upper cabinet storage, room to store most-used food items, etc. Dish Storage...If you notice in the last 3 layouts, I added a "dish hutch" style cabinet b/w the windows. it's a 24" cabinet that goes down to the counter. It's over the DW and partially in the corner area (but not too far since you want to be able to reach it), so it shouldn't take away from your Cleanup Zone's workspace or that wonderful expanse of workspace you have on the peninsula. DR Wall...Yes, you need to take the DR wall down for the refrigerator to fit. I tried a smaller one (33" wide), but then you really need to get a full-depth refrigerator and that takes away another 6" or so of aisle space b/w the peninsula & refrigerator, making the peninsula too narrow. (It cannot be recessed into the wall b/c it's on an exterior wall.) I suppose you could leave the wall up in front of the peninsula, but I was trying to give it a more open feel that I think will help encourage your family to use the DR more and be happy using it. We were never that happy with our closed up DR even w/the 53" doorway b/w it and the LR (there was only a 33" doorway b/w the DR & kitchen)...it always seemed isolated and cramped. Now that the wall is down, the DR seems bigger, even though the peninsula overhang actually takes space away (*sigh* another measuring issue forced this!). Maybe if we had a big DR we might have felt differently, but our DR was only: 13'8" x 11'1". (With 12" of the the peninsula overhang now extending into the DR, the DR is now only 12'8" x 11'1".) Another nice thing about the fully open area + peninsula is that the peninsula is a great place for staging food & dishes for setting the table, taking food to/from the DR, and clearing the table. Even if you moved the doorway, you will be dealing with structural issues, so I'm not sure how much you'd save by not taking the entire wall down...unless it's load-bearing, but I don't think it is given the layout of the walls... I think the load bearing walls are the ones b/w the kitchen/DR and LR/Foyer and b/w the FR and Laundry Room. BUT, I'm not a structural engineer so do NOT take my word for it! (I'm just guessing based on what I've seen here & in my home!) If, however, you did want to keep that wall, you could do something like this... OR

I think you'll really appreciate those extra inches as it would give more space for someone to be at the sink while someone is cooking. Two people may be a bit crowded if one is prepping but you could also prep to the right of the stove, if needed. Not as convenient as it's farther fro the sink but it is do-able. I like how you changed the cabinet by the door as well. I know some people will shudder at your blind corner cabinet. They're not popular here. I have one and I don't mind it as I only store things deeper inside it that I rarely use. I rarely make a bundt cake, for example, but I'm reluctant to get rid of my pan. So the once a year or so that I have to get on my knees, remove the items directly behind the door that are more frequently used, and dig for the bundt cake pan isn't a big deal to me. If you decide to use the blind corner, consider your storage needs and ensure that you won't have to put things in there that you use often that would make the blind corner very annoying.

Here's a rough suggestion. I recommend thinking of the dining area side of the space as a minimum 9'x12', protected space that you do not crowd. That's pretty much the smallest area you can comfortably have a dining set and a traffic path. You might be tempted to crowd the exterior door, but it's recommended you keep at least 18" of clear space to the side of a door's knob. This layout compromises on the preferred location of a fridge. Ideally you should have 48" between the front center of the fridge and landing space/counter, this plan is about 6 feet. The benefit is that your primary prep space between sink and range looks like it would be much improved. In the drawing below I voided out the corner so there were wider drawers, but you could also do a susan. *** I widened the doorway to the living room to 60" and widened the dining area window to 60". I think these changes would be a huge improvement to how you enjoy your living space as well as how the natural light comes in to these spaces.