Actually, on Hollyspring's member page she says, "Im on the Board of Directors for my local Humane Society and work as a vet tech to assist in the low cost spay/neuters that a local vet provides. I also volunteer as a tutor in literacy programs and aid in fundraising to assist with finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. Being a vet tech, volunteering as a literacy tutor, and helping to raise funds for MS are all wonderful contributions to society and I'm sure HollySprings is a fine person... BUT unless she is also a trained architect on the side, she is no more qualified than any of the rest of us amateurs to trash someone's dream by calling it a "travesty". Renovator8 is a trained architect and I'm sure his tastes are very refined. When he offers advice and makes an attempt to explain WHY one design choice is better than another, it can be very helpful. That said, I can't help but think that perhaps the reason why there are so many internet floor plans with a similar "great room with kitchen to one side with an angled bar dividing the two spaces and a breakfast nook toward the back" is that so many people LIKE this layout and find that it WORKS so danged well in everyday homes where everyday people live and raise families and entertain friends. Is that particular layout a little bit hackneyed in the sense that it is lacking in freshness and originality? Maybe. Will a house with that particular layout ever win any architectural awards for creative design? Probably not. ---But then again, after taking look at the home designs selected by the American Institute of Architects for their prestigious 2011 AIA Housing Awards (linked below), I for one happen to think being a tad less creative is a GOOD THING! The bottom line is, a house with that particular layout be beautiful and functional and a very warm and welcoming home. Okpokesfan, I am not an architect - but I did successfully design my own home (without having to beg for mercy from any approval boards because my design failed to meet some of their requirements) and I get scads of compliments on my home from every person who visits. I like your design. There are a few things I might try doing a little differently but overall, I think it works. Here is a link that might be useful: 2011 AIA Housing Award winning designs

thanks for the comments - I will defintely think about moving the sink. I wanted a little landing area just before the dining room - that's why the 12" cabinet. [this picture is not quite to scale] We eat every dinner and most breakfast's in the dining room and I thought some landing space would be needed as the kids take things to the table. With the big farmhouse table in the kitchen we may eat breakfast and lunch there. I'm planning dish storage in the uppers and lowers around the dishwashers. Right now all the kids stuff is in lowers so they can empty the DW. My son can reach the 1st upper shelf too. I will have a 2nd small microwave for the kids on the counter near the end of the long cabinet run by the pantry entry. The micorwave in the island is for me. Once the kids are out of the house (they're 8 and 11 now), I'll get rid of the counter microwave. We have food allergies so I make many dishes most nights and need lots of burners and at least 2 microwaves. In my present kitchen if I run the microwave and the toaster oven at the same time, I trip the circuit breaker. Almost all ceiling lights are on pull strings. Some rooms don't even have permanent lighting (bedrooms, living room,...) Our house was built before electricity, plumbing and central heat (we still have 11 of the 14 fireplaces - some still have coal in them). I cannot wait for my new kitchen and updated house! We're getting a home automation system mainly on the 1st floor - what a huge step up from no room light fixtures!

Great comments. Funny, you've all hit on some of the things I've stuggled with. @juliekcmo -I've played around with swapping the oven and the fridge. I'm not completely tied to it this way, but my thinking is that when I cook, I'm constantly going back and forth to the fridge. I often 'wing it' with recipes and they need a little splash of this or squirt of that. @michiganrachel - Yes that is a little cramped with the table. I've struggled with the rest of the furniture layout. The table is somewhat of a place holder and would be nice to have, but we would probably wait until everything is built out to see how much space we really have there. (BTW - former michigan girl here, transplanted to sunny california) @remodelfla - I don't think there's a good reason for the longer sink run in the second layout. I guess I had to move things down to fit the stove along that wall. Everyone commented on it, but I didn't notice until now :-). I could do the same with the other layout and that might make me feel better about cabinet space. I'm also uncertain about the prep sink. It would be nice to have a place for dirty stuff (and maybe DH could start cleanup sooner). I've just started to have a moderately successful veggie garden, I've been trying to figure out a work flow that doesn't involve fresh from the garden veggies sitting on the counter. I've always been a single sink person, but maybe a nice large double instead of prep sink would work. Oh and the stove will be a cooktop, with beautiful pot/pan drawers below. The wall oven will be a single oven with microwave above. I'm hoping to put a pullout shelf - like a cutting board, between the two, so I have a landing area for the microwave, since we tend to have lots of leftover nights. Thanks so much! -Karen

May I ask more questions? 1. How frequently do you think you'll be baking? I absolutely agree that you do not want to go on a two-island walkabout to place batter in the oven. So, I recommend that arrangement be reworked. Since baking usually involves intensive prep followed by long term oven time, during which you don't need to hover over the oven, I like out of the way baking centers (relatively speaking), and I like them to have an oven included. However, take care that the oven will not open into a major traffic area (see question below about where doorways lead). 2. I take it the areas that show up on either side of the hutch are doorways? Where do they lead? I ask because my kitchen is sized somewhat similarly to yours, but one side's opening is closer to the butler's pantry and dining room, while the other is closer to the breakfast room. What ends up happening, at least in my household, is that people who clear the table bring the dishes to the sink closest to the room where they ate. That means, if they ate in the breakfast room, they tend to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher in the island; and if they ate in the dining room, they tend to pile dishes in the big cleanup sink on the wall that backs up to the pantry, or into the dishwasher next to that. When I put the dishwasher in the island, next to the prep sink, I did it because I foresaw having dirty prep implements that would need to be washed, not because I accurately foresaw the traffic pattern from the breakfast room. However, "if it's convenient, they will come," so, I recommend a dishwasher near the prep sink, especially if that will be closer to one or more of your post meal traffic patterns. (The kids will be old enough to help one of these days.) Some would disagree, but I thought you'd want to hear all viewpoints. 3. I try to avoid any kitchen aisles less than 42" if more than one person could be in the kitchen. You'll have kids in there baking and prepping with you, eventually? Or hubby? Or caterer? Have you looked at the NKBA aisle guidelines? 4. I agree with everyone about not wanting to corner an island to use the three basic sink/prep/stove points. I only gave a cursory glance at above posts, so forgive me if I repeat others' suggestions. 5. The back-to-back seating arrangement is not conducive to social interaction. Too narrow an aisle, wrong orientation for conversation. Also, I prefer island seating to be at the distant end of an island, furthest away from the prep/cooking action. I believe that's the safest placement, for cook and kids/guests. If that would be too far away, I would consider reorienting the island or islands so that they are rectangular with long sides paralleling 36" sink wall. 6. It's going to be a wonderful space! I need to get back to chores. ;^(