Very nice looking plant beds. Posting the picture here for everyone ... I cannot tell from the picture - are the beds right next to the fence, or is there some space between the beds and the fence ? If you put up a trellis, would you be able to walk behind it to tend to your plants from the back as well as the front ? It doesn't take much room at all behind the trellis, but my bed is similar dimensions to yours (actually mine is skinnier, but the same total length) and I found it was easier when I tended the trellis from behind. It is perfectly fine for your squares to be slightly larger, maybe even advantageous. It is very possible to have 1sf per tomato IF you trellis your tomatoes AND if you keep the suckers pruned so there is only 1 main vine per tomato plant. Last year was my first year gardening and this is how I did it. I have read that you will have less tomatoes per plant this way, but more production per sf of space used. I use the nylon trellis netting and just weave the tomato in and out of the netting as it grows. If you will not have time to tend your garden, this may not be the best method for you, although it literally only takes a couple minutes once or twice a week. Since I am a new gardener, I am really not qualified to answer your other questions about rotation and how important is Mel's Mix except to say that it worked great for me last year. The FAQ's on this forum and the FAQ's on the other Gardenweb forums have tons of good info.

Thank you so much. I look forward to getting them. There is a lady on Instagram who has posted a ton of her photos. It is so nice to see what others have done. Thank you again! I was afraid this thread was completely dead.

Apologies for the delay in response, the past 4 weeks have been terrible for me. DH diagnosed with a sarcoma, favorite dog I've had since college nearly died of heart failure (fortunately meds and subsequent Addison's disease diagnosis and more meds have fixed him right up, at least for another year or so). So kitchen redesign went on backburner. And to add to the angst, we've experienced lots of engineering delays with the load bearing wall removal. I had to fight my contractor to go with column-free design, then wait for the PE to re-do everything the way I originaly asked. This is all going down AFTER they completely demo'ed the kitchen. Going on 4 weeks of bare studs. But now the huge, column free LVLs are going in, I need to be ready to order cabs the moment they are done! And happy to say that after the surgery to remove the tumor, biopsy revealed DH had a schwalloma and not a sarcoma, which is very good news. So, after long-winded story, back to layout. Overall concept stays the same but I've juggled a few things around. Bmorepanic - the fridge will now be a 27" all fridge column with hinges on the left. Sub Zero somewhat cantilevers in, so all we'll need is a 2" spacer to ensure plumb with wall and handle clearance. Intend to use the island as landing for stuff coming out of fridge. There is a very nice forested view out of the bay window over the primary sink, so we're leaving that in place. Fireplace is also fixed. We will play around with hearth room furniture once the kitchen is complete. I am actually very happy with where everything is now, thanks to everyone's suggestions, the one HUGE concern I have is symmetry around the door into the dining room. Due to the joist design from the kitchen that "juts" out past the dining room on the exterior wall, we can't widen the right side of the door between the two rooms without more expense. And potential functionality impact to DR. But at the same time I am not sure if the bigger space on the right side of the door with drive me crazy. I would give up landing space on either side of the range if I shorten the cabinet run to the left, which I would really like to avoid. Would the larger expanse of bare wall on the right side of the door be acceptable? One of those things that looks off in the schematics but in real life wouldn't be so noticeable? Or do I need to redesign the cabs on the RH side? Our cabs are completely custom, so anything is technically possible. Please excuse the disaster of finishes on my design program, all I am using it for is sizing / spacing. Thanks!

Without the cabinets and ref, 4 feet is adequate, wall to counter edge, 4.5 feet is better if you're going around the seated people carrying things - like to get dishes or service pieces to/from the dining space while the stools are occupied. With cabinets and chairs, the minimum is really about 5 feet - 3 feet for working space in front of the cabinets. With the ref there, it depends a lot on the exact ref and how irritating it will be when the corner is booked up by someone standing in front of the ref. With a little dash of the unwary trying to come in from dining having ref door open into their face. Typical for counter depth refs (as far as there is typical) is that the whole thing is about 30" deep. It's already using about 6" of aisle. Also, the poster is drawing a cabinet plan so the aisle decreases by about 3" altogether for counter overhangs. In the drawing above with a 42" island, the poster starts with a 3'10ish" aisle between a 42" island and the ref - but it is really drawn as a 2 foot deep cabinet. The poster might be getting a liebherr or subzero or similar where its really 24" deep including everything - dunno. But - again typically, the ref is 6" deeper and the island has another 1.5" to bring to the impacts-the-aisle-space party (it looks like the same omission of accounting for aisle space on the other side, so the island itself might shift some towards the ref to accommodate - up to a total of 4.5"). That would put the finished aisle between 38.5" with a strong possibility of it decreasing to around 34" - not plenty of room for occupied stool, a passage way and opening the ref doors or any size while the stool is occupied.