Do you have a current layout for us to see? Even if it's something you hand-draw to-scale on graph paper. (But you should have a current layout that you signed off on for the cabinet order... We had to sign off on the "flat" layout and every elevation layout when we ordered our cabinets.) In general, I would recommend making the change now rather than having regrets later, especially as this is not something that will be redone in a couple of years and as you are spending a lot of money to have regrets in the end. Kitchen remodels are expensive...even budget ones...and I would be very unhappy if I spent all that $$ not to get the best I could out of it. If you can still order new cabinets and you can work the countertop issues out, I would go ahead...assuming it really makes sense. (A current layout would help immensely!) (1) As to the filler needed next to the refrigerator...didn't the Lowes KD catch that? That's his/her job! That's basic design knowledge! If any appliance or cabinet is next to a wall, there's the potential for filler needed (depending on the cabinet/appliance, the cabinet style, and the cabinet the appliance is housed in). This especially true of a refrigerator! (2) As to countertop...don't they have to wait to do the countertop until the cabinets & certain appliances are there and installed/ready to install to "template" them? Yes, you'll have an estimate based on overall measurements, but the final can't be determined ahead of time...I know this is true of stone counters, but I would think it would also be true of wood, laminate, metal, etc. Maybe if there's a big change it would be an issue b/c the "slab" has to be at least a certain size (and maybe this is a bigger addition than can be handled w/the current order if it's something other than a stone.) [Wait for your DH to calm down & then explain to him that this is something that needs to be done right, even if it means a delay due to ordering new cabinets, etc. Explain to him what I said above, especially the second paragraph! Hopefully, he'll understand & agree with you. But, don't get too emotional, explain it calmly & rationally! (Some positive emotion is fine...so he knows how important it is to you.) Remember, this is something that you have to live with more than he does...assuming you do most of the cooking. To him, it's just a kitchen and no big deal; to you it's a workplace that needs to be very functional w/plenty of work space & storage, etc. Perhaps ask him how he would feel if you asked him to cut corners or make do for XXX XXX w/what's important to him...workshop, media room, audio/video components, etc. > ] I hope all this helps, and good luck! (Post that layout ASAP so we can give you feedback quickly!)

Do consider swapping the ref and pantry. It'll mean you don't need ref side panels as well as an easier reach to the island for landing space. Its a detail, but the island has seating for 3, not four. You need to allow a minimum of 24" of counter edge per person, but 30" is better for adults. I would deadend the cabinets near the micro into the corner. I would probably make the uppers deeper(15") and might add an appliance garage underneath or shallow shelves to store baking supplies. That run of counter probably isn't going to be one of your main prep areas - good for cooling and roast resting, but not as really active counter. So I'd force it to earn its keep as storage. I don't think I would put up more uppers on that side after turning the corner. I'd also try to have more easily accessible dish storage near the cleanup sink - meaning uppers over the trash and dw. You have a large enough space, so I would have a dead corner 12" square between the cooktop and sink runs. Run cabinets from the sink side to the dead area and then do perhaps open shelves on the range side. I'd end up with almost 42" of wall cabinets to the right of the sink and almost 30" on the cooktop side. Because of the dead corner, I'd be able to reach it all. Also in favor of swapping the dw to the other side of the sink- where it is now, it will cut off access to also all of those uppers and the corner base and the first base cabinet on the cooktop side when its open. Last thing, the 18" pantry is kinda a runt. If there isn't another pantry somewhere else, I'd be trying to make it 30-36" wide.

MelissaStar, You're usually the only cook, but occassionally have someone who helps. You live alone, I seem to recollect, or at least there are no kids to accomodate at a family dining area, right? And as I recollect you do some heavy duty cooking and prep, thus the desire for butchering and baking areas and for storage of canning supplies, etc. Right? Your memory is fantastic! When it is used for dinner parties, I see no reason to think it would be any more inconvenient than a similar booth at a restaurant, and they are usually the most desired spots, because they facilitate converation and coziness, My thinking exactly. I certainly prefer a booth in a restaurant to a table - I just find it more comfortable and relaxing. I started the kitchen design process focusing on seating at a peninsula, which changed to seating at various islands, but then through all of the back and forth with everyone on this board, my thinking on my likes and desires sharpened quite a bit and the appeal of the banquette became more obvious to me. I'm designing this kitchen for my enjoyment and my ease of use, not for kids or guests. Taking my morning coffee, reclined in the banquette, feet up on the opposite side, watching the sunrise is a far more enticing prospect than sitting on a stool in front of an island either in the middle of the kitchen or buried deeper in the house. I'd rather watch what's going on outside my windows than turn my focus to what's taking place on my Big Screen TV. I don't have teenagers who need to be glued to the screen during meals, so a good line of sight from meal sitting to TV was a non-factor for me. If I ever develop the habit of desiring to watch the news while I'm having dinner I can always hang a small undercabinet TV right above where the dishwasher is situated. As for the casual guest - they can sit at the banquette and they're completely out of my work flow in the kitchen and with more than a few casual guests, even the messes in the sink are hidden for 2/3 of the span of the banquette. For more formal occasions the dining room is available. And for the rare "house is teeming with guests" events, I can fit 5-7 kids at the banquette, with 3 more kids sitting at chairs while the adults are in the dining room/living room. The banquette works extremely well for me and I had the most miserable time in trying to fit it in. It doesn't really work that well in the middle of the East wall and it doesn't work that well on the South end of the East wall because now it intersects traffic and work zones. Being on the North end of the East wall keeps it out of traffic. I keep thinking there should be a way to either overlap the butchering and baking areas (since they are unlikely to be in use at the same time) That's true. I find that I like hacking up meat close to a sink because it serves double duty - easy to throw waste into and convenient for clean up. Baking doesn't require sink proximity as much, at least the way I work, so I can make do with a smaller sink near where I bake than where I cook and cut meat. This means that if I combine baking and meat cutting, which never go on at the same time, then the big sink is really only used for pot clean-up and the secondary sink is more heavily used and it has to be larger, thus taking up more counter space. I'm just not able to fire on all cylinders here and get the "perfect combination" of all the features. The alternative would be to replace part of the counter between sink and range with butcher block. That would certainly make things simpler, as kateskouros so perceptively noted in the other thread. There's just something about the change of materials in the run of the countertop that unsettles me. Maybe I just need to mull over the idea a bit more - this solution after all just popped into my head last night. A appreciate the picture of your kitchen - it now makes real what I was only imagining. The placement of the prep sink seems awkward to me, in that corner. What about moving it to the other end of the peninsula? There are lots of islands with them at one end. I agree that the sink placement is a bit awkward. I hadn't thought of putting the sink at the end of the peninsula, so I fired up the software and did just that. I looked at it, I rendered a photo and I actually find that more awkward because it cancels out the fridge drop zone, a grocery from garage drop zone, it sits smack in the middle of a walk around zone if I need to work on something from different angles - I have a 180 degree work surface there. I think the question at the moment is whether to keep that sink where it is or move it a tad more towards the inside corner edge, with the attendant trade-off of creating dead space behind the sink. I'm wishy washy on that - I see the pros and cons of both positions. What would you do? Favor more work area or favor easier use of the sink for your baking needs? I would consider rejiggering the oven/refrigerator/storage areas to make the storage facing the banquette less deep and widen your aisle there. Also, as someone who has a "pinch point" with fridge doors opening across from the end of the peninsula, I can tell you it's not good. Can you switch the fridge and oven placement (you'll be opening them much less often than the fridge) and move them a foot or so to the left, losing the small closet? I'm going to play around with that tonight. I had never thought of placing the oven right at the entrance to the kitchen. I recall from past commentary that there was a consensus opinion that having the fridge placed deeper into the kitchen was less than optimal and that it would be better for the fridge to be placed nearer the entrance so that access to the fridge didn't require disrupting cooking/prepping activity. However, because it's just me that I have to worry about your suggestion might bear fruit. I won't know until I try. MrsPete, I adore your seating area. I wanted something similar, but my space just doesn't work. Thank you. I'm starting with a blank slate here so I have more flexibility. I've scrapped so many plans because of kitchen design issues, and even in this latest iteration, due to trying to make that seating area work. I wonder about switching the butchering area with the baking center. I say this because meat goes with basic meal prepping, while baking has a different set of "stuff". You'd have space for baking pans, your big mixer, your canisters over in that separate area. One of the reasons that the baking area is where it is is because just off the bottom of the plan is a wood fired baking oven, hence pizza and bread and when everything comes out of the oven that peninsula is only 6' away to use as a drop zone. Secondly, in terms of baking I'm currently used to working on a large surface - I've never actually done a lot of baking on a 2' wide counter, so I'm going with what I know. Pressure canning supplies -- have you allotted enough space for this? I have two canners and various accessories, and I couldn't fit it into one upper cabinet. How often do you use these things? I currently have a greenhouse, so my growing season is extended, but it's certainly not a year round production chain for items coming from my gardens, however, I do put up non-garden derived food throughout the year and once this house is constructed I intend to focus more effort on that activity. This house is really kitchen-centric. When I embark on a kitchen project it's usually pretty involved, so the design I'm trying to achieve is catering to my extreme uses rather than to my day-to-day uses. I'm faced with two alternatives - design for everyday ordinary needs and then be cursing at the limitations of the design when I need more space or design for big projects and then don't use the kitchen to maximum potential for the following 5 days. That's a huge refrigerator, yet I'm hearing that you have only two people in the house. Is that size really justified? The space for the refrigerator is a placeholder. I come from a science/engineering background and I tinker and design machinery as a hobby and instead of hot-rodding my car I'll be hot-rodding the fridge, amongst other systems in the home. If the design is finalized as it stands now and I kick the bucket or decide to sell, the new owners can close up the fridge space and enlarge the hallway closet if that's to their liking. Secondly, I put a lot of stuff into my fridge. When I'm making cheese, I need ready access to a lot of milk. That has to be stored somewhere. When I'm making salami, I need to store the meat until I need it. So I'm pleased to make your acquaintance but as you see, MelissaStar already got the lowdown on my oddball ways earlier in the year. Your kitchen is soooo large. Everyone keeps saaaaying that! :) But you know what, I've spent a lot of time analyzing how I'm using my current kitchen, which I didn't design, and I'm reflecting on my youth when I worked in restaurants, and I just don't see that the kitchen is to large for how I use my kitchens. I've seen large kitchens showcased on this forum, by which I mean that they're too large for how I would use them for myself, but they're probably just right for the families that use them daily. From fridge door to wall and from sink wall to edge of peninsula counter is 11'6" x 16'9" and that doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Could you move the penninsula "up" towards the sink, making the "main kitchen" smaller and more space-efficient . . . and have sort of a "working pantry" in the are that you're now calling the baking area? It'd be just a small, not so fancy spot for these two activities. I'm going to play around with this idea because it's one that I haven't thought of. Thanks for suggesting it.

Marcolo's ice-water-stone-fire has ruined me for layouts with the fridge and range close together. It's the first thing I check when I look at a layout. That said, my IWSF flag goes up looking at this latest floor plan. You may have nixed this layout, it is basically one of mamagooses above, but I think it has advantages: 1) ice-water-stone-fire 2) fridge on the living room side of kitchen, so folks don't have to walk through/around kitchen to get to it 3) Range and open counter on the dining room side for easy service from stove to table 4) More full use of the island with fridge-sink-range evenly spread around it 5) view from the living room might be more lovely with a centered range hood on that back wall only. It looks like your island may have been entered to wide in your planner. I *think* island depth is 41.5"