Awww! thank you so much birdgardner - guess I was looking for reaffirmation that that is the optimum set-up. In fact that is the current layout pretty much, except for the 90 degree rotation of the toilet in the revised layout; and the other big change as noted in first post above is that this space actually comes from combining a teeny ~5x8 MBTH and a ~4x8 sink/vanity/dressing area by removing a current dividing wall/door attched to the vent enclosure. We actually do have a full sink too in that small alcove next to the shute enclosure (which explains why the toilet currently faces the shower which is currently a narrow 2x4!!! pitifully teeny space!!! Actually might be nice to have some little breathing space when everything is opened up! And the toilet dimensions - shd lookup on gliffy where I did this - think it was supposed to be 20"x28" or something..maybe I messed up some calc converting it to their graph paper dimensions...you seem to have a good 3D spatial sense!!! (you shd set up a layout evaluation service - free only to gardenwebbers :) thank you!!!) And dekeoboe - the shute enclosure is a laundry shute enclosure which is accessible from the hallway but juts into the MBTH.

Am I correct in thinking that the pantry wall is where it is and the island extends farther out into the corridor so as to allow a relatively generous view down the length of the house to your windows across the back? I.e., the view from the front door would be over the island and the dining table to the end of the living room? If so, would you consider having the island crafted with the vertical surfaces of the two ends and the corridor side length running six inches or so above the countertop. [The photo shows this kind of arrangement to provide an eating area, but the whole surround could in fact be just a couple inches deep.] Then you could have all the plumbing -- the majestic Rachiele sink and the dishwasher -- in the island. This would allow you to have more space for small appliances between your fridge and your range, as well as more work area, on the outside wall. One thing I am not clear on is whether you plan to have have upper cabinets in the outside wall run or are going to primarily use the pantry for storage. If you have nine- or ten-foot ceilings, uppers to the top on the outside wall might look nice. If I am totally misreading your intent, never mind. I too live in a long narrow townhouse, but with the kitchen at the back where the dogleg narrows it to 11 feet. I love to see how people deal with the challenges of these spaces. Cheers.

Welcome Kellym2! When you say you don't want to change the footprint, I assume you mean you do not want to change the location of any appliances or the locations/sizes of windows and doorways...is that correct? If so, you may not have many options. However, if you're willing to consider other layouts, you may get more input. You do seem to be open to swapping the refrigerator & range...which would help with a point I was going to bring up...that your range would be better protected on the other side. It would also make it easier to drain pasta, etc. if you don't have to walk across the room to the sink....you could even "slide" it if you needed to! If you don't move the refrigerator, does the cabinet b/w the wall & refrigerator have to be 9"? Could it be 4" or 5"? 4" is big enough for a 4'' Broom Closet and it would give you another 5" to use b/w the DW & sink...a 14" cabinet (or 12", if 14" not available in your cabinet line...which would then give you a 6" broom closet). Do you know the dimensions of the space...wall lengths, window/door/doorway widths, distances b/w walls/windows/doors/doorways? It's a little difficult to put it all together. It would also be helpful if we knew what rooms adjoin the kitchen in all directions. BTW...if you just sketch your kitchen out on graph paper and label the walls, doors, windows, etc., it would be easier to get the whole picture. Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

lisa_a... I am flabbergast! The ideas originating from this forum never cease to amaze me. That folks are able to take layouts and turn it around in a matter of hours, or less, and churn out something completely different simply amazes and delights me. Alright, DH loves your layout. He likes having a dedicated area for our kids near us, and especially one that is directly across and in line of sight of kitchen. We will likely still make our guest bedroom upstairs our office so kids aren't mucking in our stuff (missed bills are not a good thing!). While we'll keep the main floor office for our kids. It just makes sense to give them a space for arts & crafting/reading/playing while we cook. It'll also be easier to help them with homework later on, and yes, definitely easier to keep an eye on them surfing the internet. Concerns... We do entertain and have BBQs often in our backyard during the summer months. The most used path to our backyard is via the kitchen. Will the 42" entryway be sufficient space for people to go in and out of? Also, I'm not sure about putting a down-to-counter dish hutch by that backdoor. Post-BBQ, it's often a steady stream of dishes back into the kitchen for clean up. Would maximizing counter space here be more practical for post-party clean up? Did you perhaps mean an upper cabinetry-only dish hutch? That would afford me both cabinets and counter space. I really like the fridge location in your layout. Makes for an easy path to unload and store groceries when we get home from shopping. Should prep sink be relocated to fridge end of island instead? The current layout has both sinks so close to each other that I wonder if it's worth the extra money to put in two sinks. Also, assuming my dishes are stored in cabinets/drawers near the sink. Is that too far from the dining area? If I store them in buffet counter area, then I'd be carrying them across the kitchen from dishwasher to dining area. No matter what, a trek seems unavoidable. Any tips on how to get around/minimize this? Note, one of my kids' task when they feel up to helping is to put away dishes in dishwasher. So I've spent the past few hours trying to rework the layout to see if I can keep the existing wall between dining room and kitchen. This would save us a good chunk of money since that is a load bearing wall, whose removal would require us to put in a recessed steel beam. I've tried making our current dining room into kids' office/play area with pocket doors (we're loving the pocket doors!) and our office the dining area with perimeter counter space, but just haven't been able to make it work. Sigh! So it looks like the money will have to be spent. One improvement though (I think). I loathe the narrow hallway we currently have. It just seems like dead space to me. So rather than keep it, I've modified your layout to put our coat closet and duct work in the existing hallway space instead. This allows for a wider entry to the dining/kitchen area. This new closet would also be deeper that what we currently have, so I'd be willing to forgo the closet nook as I can stuff things into the deeper closet and also in the main floor office. I'm also tempted to extend the powderoom to 72" so the sink can go across the toilet, thus making the powder room foot print narrower and opening up the entry to the dining room even more. If I do this, I can then reposition the door as debrak2008 suggested to prevent toilet views.