Rhome, I agree. It just looks odd to me to have it between the door and the sink. Actually, it's not that often that we do have that door open--early spring/summer, late summer/fall--the rest of the time it's really hot or too cold--so I wouldn't think it would be a huge inconvenience. I was thinking of an outward swinging door, too. Code here requires a 4 foot cement slab in front of it, which we could do. I guess I'll live with this one for a few days and see how it sits. Does it look odd to anyone to have cabinets behind the door? Thanks, everyone! Any other suggestions are most welcome. I hope I don't get any other surprises on Monday! I will check back over the weekend. For those celebrating the holiday, Happy Easter! Cj

You said that 2 of you often work in the kitchen at once...What do you each do? With the sink, dw, and stove so close and in the same aisle, you have potential conflict issues with doors and with people trying to use and stand/walk in the same areas. That's what side-by-side task areas with an open island, or, even better, the 2-sink plans, were trying to avoid. The open island, or island with prep sink would allow prepping/chopping at the island as you visit, rather than cleanup chores and dirty dishes gathering in front of your guests. Do you get dirty dish pileup, and other things sitting around your sink (soap, dish detergent, sponges and rags, water glasses)? We do, so having the main sink in the island will put those constantly on display to the other room..But maybe you're neater. I'm not trying to argue the main sink in the island, but trying to point out possible downsides for this particular plan...So you don't say "Why didn't anyone tell me?" If we point them out and you decide they're things you want to live with over other options, then you won't have regrets or 2nd guessing later. In any of my plans, the oven and micro could be stacked again...I'd just wanted to suggest the counter space, but there is room for them to go back up. If you did them next to the fridge (As in adjusted plans 2 or 3), I'd avoid the corner cave-like counter by bringing the rest of the uppers down to the counter for pantry space. With windows only under the upper cabs, you're only concerned about lighting on the counter and not more natural light for the room, in general, or the view out? I think I speak for more than just me when I say we'd still rather see your plan on graph paper, because I can't tell for certain what's going on with your cabinet sizes/configuration or aisle widths.

You did great with the images! If its possible to post a floor plan of the cabinets, people commenting will be better informed. For example, it's not possible to know spacing from looking at a 3d view - they are wildly deceptive at trying to figure out stuff like how wide the aisles are. 3D views are good for checking elevations and mass. I am a critical person, so hang in there! I'm not trying to be snarky - except in fun. I'm saying all this stuff so you know and can choose well. The very first thing that hit me is there needs to be a relationship between the height of the windows and the heights of the cabinets (matching heights and perhaps a small crown on the windows). Can your windows be taller? Also, I'm not sure there's any reason why the one wall cabinet on the sink side is taller? The micro, the ovens, the pantry and the ref form the Bermuda triangle of doors. The oven and pantry doors can collide and using one prevents using the other. The oven and ref doors can collide and using one sometimes prevents using the other. The micro door looks like it can hit a seated person. I'm not really sure what will happen when people are seated at the island while you're trying to finish up a meal? Between the ref doors and the micro and the seated person, how much room is left for the chef to get to the ref and take something out? As I said above, its not possibly to evaluate the aisle widths, but you'd need something like a 5' aisle on that side to accommodate all that stuff and actually be able to use it. This is a crazy thing to say, but partly because a lotta stuff is piled up together in that corner, I think there is a lot of walking attached to this design. People who want something to drink have to walk around the island to dish storage and walk around the island to the ref and then go back to their place. The chef gotta walk to the ref, at least half the time back to the sink, over to the island for prep and then to the cooktop. So I wonder if dish storage and ref and micro could be on the same face of the island. I wonder if clean up should be moved to the longer run of counters and storage that wraps the outer corner. I wonder if the island needs a sink? Because without it, I wonder if you'll use the island much. I realize that your answer on moving the cleanup sink might be horrors! But, as you work in your current kitchen, notice how much of the time you're near the sink for preparation tasks versus actual cleaning of the dishes. Lastly, I wonder if the room could have more windows?

I don't think it is a problem. I think your eye travels into the room more readily than to the threshold. That being said, I know nothing about slate (except that I like it, especially w/ your brick), but 1+ inches seems like a decent size piece of tile. Is the concern because it is on the edge of the stairs? If it really bothers you, could you shift farther right, not centering three tiles, but increasing the visible piece presently at the left of your doorway to show a bit more? Could that eliminate your "finger"? Again, I really don't think it is a problem.