I like the idea of switching the stove and frig runs except I would possibly put the frig on the end of the run closest to the DR. If I remember correctly, your window comes down too low to have cabs in front of it? I have that same situation and worked my design around it. Where is your DW? I'm trying to see a way to put a prep sink in but cant' find one unless you choose to forgo that awesome prep table and put in an island.

Another South Floridian!!

OOPS!! forgot dishwasher....it can go on either left or right of the sink....at this point of the game it can go either way.

remodelfla....i will try looking thru links for your design layout. did you move walls or change windows?

remodelfla: What gave away my S.Fl status? Could it have been the hurricane shutter strip on my windows??? I live 5-10 minutes from Dadeland Mall. Living in S. Fl you can understand what it is like dealing with the Miami-Dade Permitting Dept. They don't necessarily make it easy. No wonder so many homes have things done without permits.
Our house being older doesn't have a family room so our eating is either in the dining room or kitchen.....mostly kitchen.

Buehl: Your kitchen came out beautiful. I did consider replacing the window with another one. The window does bring in light but it is on the west side of the house so ALOT of heat comes in as well. Cooking dinner (early, mind you at 4:30ish/5:00ish) is a hot experience and not because of the stove. I could literally cook in my bathing suit and get a suntan at the same time ;-) I have to cover the window with blinds to block the sun so that kind of defeats the purpose of letting light in.

Maybe your first sentence told her you're in S. Fla? Just a guess... ;-)

Most things go from fridge to sink, so blocking that path is probably the worst, although I like quick access to the sink from the stove, too...Maneuvering around the island with a full pot of almost boiling water might be dicey at times. At least you plan for your island to be movable, so if it's a pain you could move it out of the way.

mustard... I"m in NW Broward but the home we're remodeling is our home down in Hollywood. We use to have it as a rental. The prior renters absolutely completely trashed it. We decided to extend, gut, and completely remodel. Broward County follows the State of Florida's regulations. Thankfully, our architect seems to know how to navigate the system. That'll help since we too have somethings that were done without a permit.

When you search... you'll find I did 40 layouts... yep, a pathetic beginning designer; it too me 40 layouts and the extraordinary help from people on this forum to get to something I love. We're using 2 opposing islands in our space. The area that will keep one of the window and have an 8' french door will be our eating area.

Below is a lllooooonnnnnggg thread that shows the layout I submitted to my architect. I'm waiting for him to get back to me with something "official".

Here is a link that might be useful: layout thread

rhome410: you made me go back to my original post and make sure I hadn't lost my mind. In that post I hadn't mentioned S.Fl but RemoldelFla saw similarities in the original house layout. ;-)

remodelfla: read your layout post (wheewww!!!)I agree the double island looks great!!!

Now I am just going back and forth in my head Plan A or Plan B.

My worries about Plan B is the long walk from fridge to sink ( I think it is almost 6 feet). I need to go to the house and measure the distance. The walk from the sink to the stove is long too but prep area would be the corner in between them.

{{!gwi}}

Have meeting with electricial later.....lets see how much that will be for the moving of 220V for stove plus lights and new outlets.

Open to all suggestions.....

"ok in the hopes of the keeping the window and making my life easier by not having to deal with permit office in S.FL. here is a revision"

I'm really not psyhic (or psychotic either) mustard. You mentioned "the permit office in S. Fl. in your post!!

Question: Are the french doors in your layout in the DR? Or is there something else below where you have the DR referenced? If it's DR... I have an idea.

Yep, the french doors are located in dining room. What side do your windows face? Mine face west and boy does it get hot in the afternoon.

Off topic: What grade do you teach? I am also a teacher and will be teaching Kindergarten this school year. Still have 15-20 more years to go before retiring. Your last five years will go by fast.....they did for my mom.

OK... this isn't the best 'cause I just learned how to take someone's layout and save it into powerpoint (thanks to buehl I think) to "tweak" it. I'm sure it's not to scale and I don't have fancy design software but here's my idea.
What if you were to move the entrance to your DR down and created an "L" in the north end of the kitchen. You could leave your window and add an island cabinet with a small overhang. You should have between 36" - 42" clearance on either side. You could use a cabinet with drawer/doors for the extra storage yet put it on casters so you can move it, I think you could do a 12" overhang which technically, is only room for one stool. OR... stay with the prep table if your not worried about storage. Do you plan on any narrow depth shelves in the utility room for extra storage? I'm turning my laundry room into a walk in pantry.

Please excuse how rough this is. Its' my first attempt at doing it this way.

I'm having a tough time following the different plans/layouts.

I just have 1 point/recommendation: choose a 36" French door fridge/bottom drawer freezer instead of a 42" side-by-side. I've had both and the 36" holds so much more and more options, like large platters.
If you're going w/ the last plan, you can pull the nearby base cabinets out and get a standard-depth French Fridge.

If you're having seating at the island ("eat cereal"), I would suggest more room to walk around the stools/people sitting.

Good luck. I think I'm on layout #40, and I'm still tweaking it.

Amanda

OH... and I teach 2nd grade. Last year I looped up to 3rd with my kids because I had such a terrific group and we just really had such a great dynamic going. I went back to 2nd this year.