Truthfully, I'm not crazy about the back-to-back seating right down the center of the kitchen... and I don't think 4 ft is enough room to have it on both sides? Seating on 1 side usually calls for a 5 ft aisle.

I know we all have different habits, but it'd be a pain to me to prep that far from the stove and drag all the chopped veggies around the corner to the stove. I don't mind prepping to the side of the stove, or directly across, but what you have planned is too far for me. Also, if the dishwasher is being loaded or unloaded by someone else while you're prepping, your prep space and access to the sink is compromised. You have a lot of counter space beside your range and on the island straight across...do you have plans to utilize it much if your prep is between the sink and fridge?

It's a long haul from baking counter to range oven.

I really think this plan is trying to get too much into the kitchen. You have so much room and such a wonderful space, you should be able to have a layout that isn't crowded and doesn't give you big challenges when it comes to completing your tasks.

I hit 'submit' instead of 'preview' and wasn't finished!

What do you have planned for the outside corners by the fridge and freezer?

I think a prep sink on the range side of the kitchen (maybe to the left of the range, or twins on each end of the island?) could help you use all that great counter space to better advantage. A prep sink is handy for far more than hand washing...prep, of course, draining pasta, etc., tossing dripping or messy utensils in a hurry when you don't want to walk to the main sink, adding water to a drying pot of beans or potatoes... Also, if it were mine, I'd go back to one island with the seating on the outside edge, looking in.

Best wishes.

oy. i give up. before everything was too far apart, now too much crammed in. this is obviously beyond my abilities.

who wants to design my kitchen? ...but will i LOVE it?
when do i know when it's right? do i just go pick up any 'ol KD off the street and throw myself at his or her mercy? i saw five and each was more mediocre than the last.

can anyone recommend a GOOD KD in NJ? i'm in central but will travel! thanks for trying to help rhome but i think i give up...

Oh no young lady... you most certainly DO NOT give up! Get pi@#$$ed off... walk away for an hour... cry if you have to... but you will not give up. It took me approx. 100 layout tries... literally. Most of which I embarrassingly admit to posting. So now, back to work.

I love two island. I'd have islands like that if I had the space. Now, let's tweak the idea. I have you open in two browers so I can talk and look at the same time. I don't have drawing abilities as good as the others so I'll try to explain.

I agree with rhome that it doesn't make sense to have the baking counter so far from the range/oven. Why can't you make the island by the range a dual purpose prep/baking center? You'd be close enough to the main sink for handwahsing. Do you use the MW while cooking? I know I do. I'd maybe put the MW (drawer?) next to the range under the counter and the garbage where you show the MW. Eliminate the eating area in that island. Make the other island for storage and overhang. What if you made the long run where you show the baking center now pantry and dish storage? With such a huge fabulous space you may have pantry somewhere else that I'm unaware of... if so, I apologize for being redundant. I might even consider doing that run all 18" depth since I dislike real deep pantries unless there closets. Then I'd put all the overhand seating on the outside portion of that island. What does the hutch area you show back onto? Is that a bearing wall? If so, could you do a message/computer center and TV there? Great space to hang some art work?

Just some ideas to get you thinking again... I was and always will be a "baseball mom"... so it ain't over till the fat lady sings!

I really like your sink wall elevation.

The two islands aren't quite there yet. I really think you're better off with a single island. Rhome said most of what I would say about the current plan. This is the stuff I'd like to know before drawing anything.

Is range v. rangetop completely settled and what did you choose? Is it special and specific or just a big range?
Are you trying to hide the turbochef?
Does the baking center have an oven?
Is ok to switch big stuff - ex. the hutch with the baking center?
Add sinks, add ref drawers or such like stuff?
How many seats do you want?
Do you have a floor plan of the room with the adjoining rooms?
How much do you bake?
If you close your eyes and see yourself moving around your dream kitchen what do you see? Family and friends, equipment, making a pie or what?

Off the top of my head, after reading the other responses.

If it were me, and it's not so take it with a grain of salt, and I wanted to keep the sink and range locations like you do, this is what I'd do.

1. Move the fridge down next to the freezer. I think that would drive me nuts I'd have to walk the length of the kitchen to get ice cream and whipped cream for my sundaes!

2. Make one island, with seating on the hutch side and workspace on the inside. The seating arrangement you have is odd - not really enough room in the aisle for back to back seating, and back to back seating doesn't really encourage good conversation anyway.

3. Put an oven in the baking center. You can still have a lovely range, but add an additional in the baking center. You'll be happy at Thanksgiving, for sure.

Good Morning!

You know, I don't see your toaster / kiddies' fridge on your plan -- are you still planning on having those on the far wall (where you're showing your china hutch)? If yes, then I think the microwave would be much more conveniently placed down closer to all that -- I know your children are young now, but I'd imagine that soon enough they'll be using the microwave plenty and you probably don't want it right in that trafficky corridor. So either on the same wall as those kid-friendly appliances, or in the end of the island directly facing those appliances.

As a baker, I'm also concerned about the placement of the oven you'll use for baking and your baking center. I like to joke that I prefer to get as little exercise in the kitchen as possible, but I really do think that it'll get real old, real fast, to have to schlep your pans / sheets across the kitchen whenever you bake. If you had one island, then you could still have your baking center on the opposite side of the oven but just slide the pans / sheets across the island. ??? Can you have an undercounter oven over in your baking area? That would eliminate the need for tons of walking.

And if you had one island, then you could have lots of seating on the end (with the backs to the china hutch and them facing the sink wall) but also out of the way.

What about putting a dishwasher next to your prep sink? That way you won't have to carry your baking supplies over to your main sink for your washing and then carry them back again for putting away. And ... I promise I am not trying to increase your budget, but what about putting another sink on the other side of the island, or to the right of your range? Oh wait, I just went and reread the responses and see rhome already mentioned that.

Are your dishes / flatware / glasses (whatever you'll be washing in your dishwasher) going to be kept nearby? Or will they be housed in your hutch wall? Again, I'm just thinking of an economy of movement, and how unloading and walking across the kitchen could become a real bore. If you had one island then maybe across from the main sink you could have a ton of drawers for dishes, etc., so unloading the dishwasher would just require a swivel of your (children's) hips.

How do you feel about posting your layout again but with more annotations, like where you plan on keeping everything. (Have you seen erikanh's plan? See how she noted where everything is going.)

You are really lucky to have such a large space with all those windows with which to play and plan! But I really do appreciate that the layout can also be more difficult the larger the space: you don't want to end up having to duplicate everything (as I know I am suggesting), but you also don't want to combine triathlon training with preparing dinner.

I don't know what the width of the room is, only see the 22' length, but what if you turned the islands so they ran parallel to the sink wall and had the seating on the outside island, like marciab10 and cbfromga? Or would that infringe on the china cabinet?

When you had the 1 island, where was the seating? Maybe if you can post the original layout?

OKAY!!! so let me see if i understand: i posted and now i am not permitted to just throw this on some poor, unsuspecting KD's lap, is that right? fine. but you've all given me an unsurmountable amount of prep work to do in order to answer your questions ...at least at this time. i just woke up (since i went to bed at 4:00 am this morning -up all night obsessing) and i need to go to J.Jill to see if things are on sale. in case you don't know, the stores are closing which makes me even more upset than the unorganized state of my kitchen. i will be back later and get to work posting the plans for the rest of the house as well as where i want to put everything and even a full listing of my appliance choices. ...but PLEASE do not make me buy another faucet. i want my dh to LIVE through this! i appreciate you all for wanting to help. you're my new best friends and promise to invite you over for the big soiree when we're finished! so, thanks again, guys. very good eggs, indeed!

What about asking artteacher_nj who she used for her kitchen?

I remember seeing on the HGTV series I Want That! Kitchens Canterbury Design, Reinboth and Bill Noval of Spyglass Design, Inc., 31 West Broad Street, Hopewell, NJ 08525
phone: 609.466.7900 e-mail" wvnoval.spyglass@comcast.net

The homeowners were on talking about their kitchens and how their kitchens really suited them (and happened to be beautiful).

???

Took me a while to find - momto4kids's kitchen has two islands and was one I really liked (hope it is okay to link her kitchen photos here). The islands are placed as suggested by mahlgold (parallel to sink wall). If she still posts, you could maybe find out how she likes working with the 2 islands as opposed to one.

Here is a link that might be useful: momto4kids' kitchen

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. ;^(

Assume you are facing your range, what are you planning for the counter area immediately to the left of it? Could you put a little prep sink there with a faucet that could also act as a pot filler? Or could you put a prep sink where your Turbo Chef is and move the Turbo Chef toward the end of the island? That way you could more easily empty pots of pasta water, etc. than you could if you have to go all the way to the Shaw's. Also, will your frig door be hitting your counter?

You could do a 9 1/2' x 5 1/2' single island, oriented as I suggested earlier. That would give you 48" aisles on the three sides that now show 42". Put the baking center where the hutch is and the hutch where the baking center is. Then a prep sink in the corner of the island could be shared between the range area and the baking area.