Additional View

Additional Views Kitchen

Additional View

The island would be much more functional in a large square shape (with a prep sink) instead of the L. The L shape places it pretty far from the work points and will ensure that it won't often get used for prep. In addition, it looks as though you have quite minimal clearance on that one leg, which will be the highest trafficked section to the fridge.

The logical place in this kitchen for dish storage is the cabinet above the DW, but it's awfully small to hold anything. Could the cabinets continue down that way further in order to add additional storage?

Also, if your budget can handle it, use shorter cabinets with small ones stacked on top to take the whole to the ceilings.

What is the area to the right? A laundry room?

Yes, this is a laundry room. The one cabinet is to the left of the passthrough window. Currently there is a no cabinet there. the reason for the L shape is that we are opening up the room to a dining room that will rarely get used and most of the time people will be hanging around the island.
To the right of the sink will be a pullout garbage drawer and we are going to have a microwave drawer in the island. Thank you for your thoughts, this is very helpful.

I second the opinion of LWO - too far between long leg of island and the stove wall. Make that island a huge rectangle and you can still put seating around two sides but it'll be closer to sink and stove for prep. Gain storage on both sides, too.

I also think your fridge is too far from your sink, but I think the only solution for that is putting a prep sink in the island on that side. I'm not personally a fan of two sinks but if the kitchen is big enough and you have multiple people navigating in there at the same time, I could see it being good to have. Never had that luxury!

Is agree that the rectangle island is probably best and would give me more storage. I am not a big fan of the prep sink. Most people I know say they never use it. Since we are opening the wall up, we had to move the fridge. One of my concerns is that it is too far from the sink. Any suggestions?

Square island. Prep sink. For sure.

Rectangular island with prep sink closer to fridge, or switch locations of sink and cooktop. If you don't mind the exercise, then still rectangular island, but without the prep sink.

Where would you suggest I put the microwave drawer in the island? Is the cost worth it to install a prep sink?

Thoughts on this layout with the rectangle island.

I'm not sure I love this island design yet? Any suggestions? The flow and functionality is getting better.

i don't have an island and i am only in favor of them in very specific kitchens or they just get in the way. that said, to me, your island is in the path of the frig to sink to stove triangle. i agree with no prep sink. i love my L and use the space between sink and stove for all my prep. you have plenty of sink to stove prep space but your frig might be better if it was closer to that space.
i would say think about how you cook most. i am a baker and wanted a baking zone so i have one long run of counter that is just for baking, no real meal prep (ok maybe some junk collection too, haha) if you bake a lot, that island could be your baking space or your eating/lounging space if you add stools on the back side. i guess you need to decide how you want to use it.
or you could create a U shape by eliminating the island and doing a peninsula. then the whole middle is open for spaciousness. the are some amazing U shaped kitchens on GW

Would it be better to put the island at an angle?

Nope.

I would suggest an easy reach cabinet for the corner. Also, where is the mw in your latest plan?

The microwave will be a microwave drawer in the island.

I definitely like the rectangle island better. I'd put micro in island across from fridge.

I am struggling if I need a prep sink since the fridge is far away. On the other hand the island is very close to the sink.

What are the dimensions - how far is it from the refrigerator to the sink, and from the sink to the island? A friend of mine had a very large kitchen in her previous home - designed by her (so not something she inherited). The refrigerator was at one short end, the sink was in the middle of the long end, and the main cooktop and ovens were on the other short end (there was another set of ovens on the other long end). There was a long skinny island in the middle. She never ever felt the need for a prep sink, despite the fact that her kitchen was probably 19 or 20' long.

The kitchen is approximately 13 feet wide x 15 feet. Each square is 12 inches... Based on the most recent design there is 48 inches from the sink to the island, 8 feet from the corner of the sink to the corner of the fridge, 5 feet from the stove to the island.

I wouldn't do the prep sink, but I like having a big island to spread out stuff on.

I am wondering if I should place the dishwasher to the right of the sink, closer to the upper cabinets. On the other-hand, we store most of our dishes in our drawers. If I do that, I think I have to have a very small drawer next to it.

A couple of things - 5' from stove to island is actually just a little TOO wide. I've had as little as 39" and currently have 48", and I think 54" would be the widest I would want.

Second, I too would forego the prep sink.

I wouldn't move the dishwasher - it would be in the way of the oven.

How big should I make the island? I would like 42'' walkways around it. Should I have the island seating facing the window? This would give me the most prep space close to the sink, or should I keep it as it is and have the long side closer to the stove/fridge?

"I would suggest an easy reach cabinet for the corner."

I'd certainly have one of these!

if you're the only cook and live alone than you probably don't need a prep sink. I don't - I live alone and my kit is very small. I'm not usually a big fan of prep sinks unless the kit is very large.

my sister's kit is 13 x13 and they have one in their about 4 x 4 island. it's on the corner by the stove /ovens. my BIL uses it a lot! while my sister can be at the other side of it rinsing dishes and loading/unloading the dw.

It works good for the 2 of them. It's a good place to rinse/clean veggies away from dirty dishes. Or for BIL tp drain the pasta w/o carrying the pot to the big sink.

No angled islands! I agree that you don't need 5' for aisle between stove and island.

how many cooks? how many in the family?

What's the longest you would suggest I make the island based on my layout? I want to have a minimum of a 42" walkway. I am thinking 4 feet wide...

I am leaning more towards a cooktop and an oven below. As much as Imwouldmlove to have a wall oven, I do not want to give up my pantry cabinet to an oven. I have read that the oven vents to the front and this is a little concern of mine, but I I think the look is much better than the slide in range. If I do this, would it look better to have an overhead vent, or a downdraft and have cabinets above?

Cooktop and oven below is a much more expensive choice, both from the appliance selection costs to the added cabinetry and counter costs. That also will require adding electrical circuits to handle 2 appliances instead of one. It requires someone who actually knows a thig or two about cabinetry to do the design and install, and it requires close coordination between appliance choices as many are incompatible to pair that way.

As far as ventilation goes, a downdraft would be impossible with a cooktop over a wall oven, and should always be the last gasp resort choice in any other situation. They are pretty horrible. Overhead venting, routed to the exterior is always the best and first choice.

Here's how I interpreted live_wire_oak's suggestion of a rectangular island:

I moved the island a foot closer to the range wall. As sjhockeyfan pointed out, 5' is too wide an aisle between island and range for the island to be as useful as it could be. I could have reduced the aisle to as little as 42", counter to counter, but since a range and fridge protrude a few inches beyond a counter, I didn't want this aisle to become too tight, especially since the kitchen is wide enough to have a generous work aisle here.

As others have suggested, I added a prep sink to the island. This gives you a very nice work triangle between pantry, fridge, prep sink and range. You have a secondary prep area between clean-up sink and range so this kitchen will function for multiple cooks.

I increased the length of the island, increased the aisle between island and laundry room wall and added seating, with generous 18" and 17" seating overhangs, on two sides. I also added a large, full depth cab below the center of the island for storage of seldom used items (holiday platters, etc). You'll need to do doored storage, not drawers, so it will work very well for large items.

The MW drawer is still in the island with an 18.5" wide drawer base between it and the prep sink for prep utensils.

I decreased the aisle between clean-up sink and island by 2". This width is just wide enough to allow you to have the DW open at the same time as the island drawers across the aisle so you can unload dishes into these drawers. Or you could use the cab to the left of the DW for drawers. If you can widen that drawer to at least 28", it will function better for dishes. See these links for discussions about dish drawers:

Love or regret dish drawers?

Dish drawers -- placement in relation to dishwasher

How wide are your dish drawers?

Dishes In Drawers

As live_wire_oak also suggested, if you can widen the upper cab to the left of the sink, it will be more usable. It will also look more in scale with your very wide window.

I kept the DW to the left of the clean-up sink in order to keep the trash cab to the sink's right so that it's handy to both clean-up and prep sinks.

I eliminated the angled upper corner cab in favor of an easy reach upper cab.

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[Beach Style Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/beach-style-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2110) by Ridgeland Kitchen & Bath Designers Center Point Cabinets

I tweaked the above plan slightly for version B.

I rounded the seating overhang to allow room for a 5th seat. You'll need to check with your GC and fabricator to determine how to support this overhang.

I voided the corner base in favor of wider cabs on each side of the corner, maximizing your storage potential.

I also eliminated the upper cabs on each side of the window, purely for aesthetic reasons. Can you reduce the size of the window by 3"-6" at each end? That would allow you to increase the upper cab widths for better storage and better balance with the window.

Not only will installing an oven below a cook top be more expensive, as hollysprings pointed out, it also places the oven lower than a range's oven. Before you commit to this configuration, go try it out at an appliance showroom.

Lisa_a thank you so much for your input. I have included a microwave drawer in the island across from the sink and included an easy reach cabinet. The windows have been ordered, so I am stuck with replacing it with the same size.

I have an additional photo

This is the design that Lowes came up with today and I had it priced out.
For the Schuler cabinet line ( lowes top quality) For materials only I was quoted $19,000. I have been warned that Lowes was the most expensive when profit out cabinets. Does this seem high for this kitchen? Would I pay roughly the same to have the cabinets built by a cabinet maker?

This is the design that Lowes came up with today and I had it priced out.
For the Schuler cabinet line ( lowes top quality) For materials only I was quoted $19,000. I have been warned that Lowes was the most expensive when profit out cabinets. Does this seem high for this kitchen? Would I pay roughly the same to have the cabinets built by a cabinet maker?