I had bad experiences with KD's (most were worst at bath design, but not great at the kitchen either) and finally gave up and designed my own (baths and kitchens). But, when I finally did order cabinets, I did use a fabulous KD who went over my plan with a fine tooth comb. Her knowledge of "what's hot" and what's available far outweighed even months on GW :) She was able to add a couple of my wishes into my design, and tweeked a couple of things for me to cut out most filler pieces. She typically charges for her design work, but didn't charge me because I came with a mostly finished plan, and ordered some high quality (expensive...so she made bucks LOL) cabinets from her. If you like your design, keep it ;) You paid the architect good money for it, but if that architect isn't a Kitchen Certified architecht (most aren't) I'd have a KD look it over for tweeking at the very least. Or go the free route and have us look at it and comment...then take that to a KD :)

Having the DW against corner seems inconvenient to me, tough to reach over the open DW door to get to the cabinets. However, having the trash further from the corner also makes sense to me...we generate a lot of trash and having all the kids traipsing through my area to get to trash would bug me. Could it go in the island? Maybe lose one seat on the island and put trash and beverage fridge back to back?(I'd put trash where bev fridge is and bev fridge on other side.) And move DW to right of sink? It means added cost of another lower cab, and not sure how many seats you need at island. If your family is less trashy or it doesnt bother you, then I'd say yes, just switch them for sure. The island with range seems narrow to me. 9" on either side is not much space for prep stuff, thinking - egg wash bowl, bread crumb bowl, then into fry pan. No room for that. 9" isnt even really room enough to set a plate down to transfer food to. How wide are your isles? Can you get to 15" on a side? You spoke of budget in the other thread...is the venting for an island hood setup cost similar to that of an exterior wall vent hood cost? Not a professional, just a user! Good luck with your remodel, if you have never lived through a remodel, it will most likely be more painful than you expect...but worth it in the end. I heard someone describe it like childbirth, painful during, but you forget it all when you see your beautiful baby.

Are you only asking about the sink? If so, in a kitchen this size and the other large items, I would not go bigger with the sink. You want enough room for dirty dishes, etc., on the right side of the sink so they don't get in the way of the primary Prep Zone b/w the range and sink as well as a wide enough cabinet to the right of the DW for silverware, etc. Taking 6" away from that cabinet could be a major impact. I hope that isn't a blind corner cabinet in the corner - they're cabinets "of last resort" when no other cabinet can possibly work and you desperately need the storage space (so you can't void out the corner). I would rather see a corner susan with a 90-degree cutout (pie-cut) front. . "...I didn't like the weird regular cabinet where you can't see into the back of the shelf..." What do you mean by that? Are you talking about the upper or the lower corner? Are you talking about a corner susan or something else? . Regarding uppers: Get rid of the narrow wine shelves and incorporate that space in the adjacent upper cabinets. They're intended for wine, but be aware that you should not store wine near the range like that. If they're for "variety" as well as wine - they're not very good at that - they actually look out of place, as if you put them in b/c you ran out of upper cabinets or you mis-measured/mis-ordered the upper cabinets. Corner, upper -- yes, I do recommend eliminating the diagonal upper cabinet. It's too deep for easy access, even if you're tall. It's also "in your face" if you're working in the corner - which you will be since that's where your primary Prep Zone will be (unless you put a sink in the island). Instead, put in an "easy reach" - a 24"x24" upper cabinet that has a 90-degree cutout (pie-cut) in the front. . Island: Are you putting a sink in the island? I'm asking b/c right now if there is no sink in the island, your kitchen flow is... Refrigerator --> Cooking Zone --> Prep Zone (w/water) --> Cleanup Zone ...instead of the actual Kitchen workflow when working in the Kitchen: Refrigerator --> Prep Zone (w/water) --> Cooking Zone --> Cleanup Zone If there is water in the sink, then you can prep on the island, assuming it's wide enough. (The bare minimum recommended prep counterspace is 36", with 42" much better.) You'll need enough width for: Landing space/buffer of 8" to 12" (or more) + Sink base width of at least 18" (21" would be better) + Counterspace of at least 36" (42" would be much better) = ============ 62" (5'2") [Better: 18" + 21" + 42" = 81" (6'9") -- I would go with another 3" for the 1.5" overhangs on each side of the island for nicely sized cabinets, so = 84"]

I agree with all of AnnKH's points. I'd move the island down a few inches, to provide more space in the aisle for the open DW door, and unless you need the pony wall specifically for plumbing, I'd eliminate it, and support a 15" overhang with brackets or integrated steel framing, which would give you a few more inches in the aisles--it looks as if there will be traffic through every aisle, because of the entries, so wider is better. I included a MW drawer, opening toward the DR, which will help keep anyone using it out of the prep area. I'd have all base cabinet drawers, except under the sinks, with wide drawers on each side of the range, for pots and pans, bakeware, small appliances, etc. You can use dividers inside the wide drawers, if necessary, but less space is lost with one wide drawer, as opposed to two narrower drawers of the same width. Dishes, flatware, kitchen linens, utensils, etc. can be stored in drawers on the clean-up wall. GW discussions--all drawer bases