Jeri, Since I only used Paint to adjust the given drawing, not a drafting software that I'm used to, or even graph paper, I can't provide exact dimensions of the island or aisles as drawn, just close guesses and an explanation of my goals. I tried to make the cooking aisle 42" (but would actually prefer 36" if it were my kitchen). I tried to make the cleanup aisle at 48" to give room for open dishwashers and traffic...to discourage traffic in the work area. Using the 13-5 1/2" measurement in the drawing that begins at the front of the fridge, this would leave the island at just about 45 - 48" wide. It looks to be about 10 ft long, but it could be adjusted, as I just stretched it to where it seemed to fit. The idea here is to have different zones, which are especially helpful in a busy, multi-worker kitchen, which Marmoreus' will be in the near future. In my similar kitchen someone else might be working cleanup while I cook and while someone bakes, and we all need our separate spaces. This is not necessarily the perfect 'efficiency kitchen' for 1 cook, but I don't know how to have perfection, and there always have to be compromises. When I do work alone, I don't find it a problem to collect things to the side of my prep or bake area on the island, then move them to the cleanup sinks and get them out of my way.

Peace, I don't have much time this a.m. (Saturday is our busy day, and I don't have any rendering software at home--to keep the job and home a bit separate.) but I have to say, that's a much busier roofline than your line drawing would lead me to suspect! And, it's surprising that the gables run N-S rather than E-W. That's why advice from an experienced contractor on the scene is so much better than an anonymous internet person! But, having suggested that you think out of the box, my first suggestion to you would be to try to live within the current plan without any expansion. That's always the cheapest, and it's the best investment for resale since additions won't "pay you back" unless you plan on living there for 10 years or longer. The chimney and the stairs really eliminate much of the potential openness between the family room and the living room. But, if you eliminate that wall all the way to the chimney, and use the sunroom space, I can see turning your current kitchen into a very efficient galley style arrangement that will still be as open as possible to the living room. Keep the sink in the same location (always a LOT cheaper!) or scootch it down towards the family room a bit, and just run that run of cabinets all the way along that new wall between the patio and family room. THe range would go on that wall between the sink and a full sized glass door (single "french" door") between the kitchen and patio. Put a pantry where you show the fridge, and put the fridge on the new "mudroom" wall (and maybe laundry?). That is, make a wall extend east from the stairwell through the porch (right about where the post is in the rear shot, I'd imagine) to create the other wall of the "galley" where you create a "snack zone" with a microwave (and maybe a beverage sink?) for all of those snackers coming in from outside. The new small "mudroom" would give a place for coats and boots and flotsam to drop before it hit the kitchen. You wouldn't have to change any of your footprint, and you'd get a very efficient kitchen that would be as open to the living room as structurally possible, with minimal structural issues to be solved. No, it doesn't give you an island, or seating in a kitchen, but it will literally probably be a minimum of 50K less of a project, which if you plan on moving in less than 5 years, might make these changes be more in the realm of being able to be recouped. Like I said, Saturday is my busy day at the showroom, so I probably won't be able to check back in until Sunday to see your response to my radical rethinking. And, I'm probably making a few assumptions about you that may not be entirely correct, such as this being more of a first or second home for you (I noticed the young kids toys.) rather than a home for a mature family. If this is a home from which you will never move, then the dollar amount "invested" in remodeling is less of an issue, as you will get years of enjoyment out of creating a larger and more functional space to live in. You might post your current home's layout with a request for other input about creating the optimum kitchen from what exists and you'll get a LOT more input from some very talented forumistas with a more specific appeal to a layout challenge.

I think the garage is too small (at least the double part - there are no dimensions on the single). Our garage is 22' x 22', and it is cramped for DH's minivan and my Jeep. If you expect to have any storage at all in the garage (or a lawn mower), 24' wide would be a lot better. The double garage on your drawing doesn't appear to be rectangular - perhaps the wall shared with the house is that long, and you can just move the 3rd stall to the left. I don't care for the access to the closet - I change clothes when I get home from work, and I would hate to have to weave my way through the bathroom to grab a sweatshirt. I would cut the entry closet out of "her" closet, put the bedroom door on the fireplace/foyer wall, and access the master closet from the bedroom. Maybe "his" can be a reach-in, facing west, and "hers" can have clothes hanging on both sides. Again, hard to tell without dimensions, but it looks like there's room. Hanging clothes in the corner of an L doesn't work very well anyway, so I think you'd come out about even for storage space.

Actually, the more I think about your hidden sink counter, the more I like the idea. I would love to see a drawing of it in the open position to get a clearer idea of how it will look and function. I'm not big on designing for resale either so I get it. This is your home and if you plan on being there for awhile, you should design it the way you want. I suspect some of my design decisions aren't going to appeal to everybody either. However, I do think all people appreciate good function. So, to the hood....the distance the hood should be from the cooktop depends on the manufacturer's specifications. If you're committed to the cooktop/hood at the island, this is something you'll need to be aware of while choosing your hood. But really do your due diligence and read reviews. You might want to search around here at GW/Houzz for more feedback on island hoods. For example, there is a ceiling hood system that does not drop down but, rather, is more like a bathroom fan in that it doesn't project down from the ceiling. Sounds great, right? Except I've read time and again bad reviews. Even though it's a powerful and expensive system, it just defies the laws of physics regarding how smoke/grease/steam rise and can be captured. In general, people just seem to report more problems with the capture and noise with island hoods. If you're aware of this and choose carefully, you may make a choice that minimizes these issues and that you'll be happy with in the long run. You bring up hood noise. Yes, it's a much bigger issue with an island hood. As you're standing there cooking and speaking with guests at the island or the table beyond, the hood is right above and in-between you and your guests. The noise is being generated right there. So, yes, there will be more noise than from a wall hood 4-6 feet away. It's a reality. Also, many people don't use their hoods correctly to minimize grease build-up in their kitchens. I learned here that it's best to turn the fan on low several minutes before you start cooking in order to generate the proper air movement to capture the particles. Then cook. Then wait until about 10 minutes after cooking to turn the fan off. It makes a big difference. Not only do cooking smells disappear better but, also, grease and grime on your surfaces are greatly reduced. For those of us who really don't like to clean, this is fantastic! Hopefully, the low, quieter speed handles everything well by using this routine. If not, you may have to change to higher settings which are always going to be louder. So, with an island hood, if you use this routine, think about how long that fan will be on while visiting with guests. If you buy a better hood with lower noise output, it might not be too loud or a problem. But, depending on what you cook, it could be. Just something to consider. Another thing to consider is that, per time studies, most cooks spend about 70% of their time doing prep, 20% cooking, and 10% on clean-up. So, if you want to visit with guests while cooking, you'll actually have more face time with them if your sink is in the island and you're prepping while visiting. And, if kids are ever in the picture, it is harder to keep an island cooktop safe for them to be around. If that's a future concern, you might consider induction which doesn't get hot and is super-safe compared to gas or electric cooktops. 48" is the suggested minimum aisle width for multiple cooks. In our family, we prefer wider. We were going to do 54" but have recently moved our temporary peninsula out to 60" and like that even more. So these are things you need to play with. I always suggest mocking up using furniture or boxes to simulate and then do some pretend cooking sessions to see how the different widths feel. I hand wash so few items that I just put down a towel for drying which I then use to dry the few things I hand wash and put them away immediately. My hand washing is limited to large pots and knives and a few other obscure things. For example, I might hand wash a bowl I've just used if I need it again in the prep process. My preference is to keep the DW door open while prepping and cooking and immediately plop things into it after I'm done using it. If I empty the DW immediately upon finishing, I rarely have more than a few dishes waiting for the next load and they are easily hidden in the sink. So I rarely have items, dirty or drying, cluttering my counters. (Of course, the rest of the family isn't as good as this so it depends on what all they did while I wasn't around to keep up after them, darn it anyway.) DW's, especially the newer, efficient ones use less water than even the quickest, most efficient hand washers per studies as they usually use less than 5 gallons of water for an entire load. Believe me, none of us could wash that many dishes with that little water. DW's also use less soap. So they are cheaper to run and usually gets items cleaner while sterilizing, too. And it's a waste to rinse prior to plonking something into it as the detergents need the enzymes from the food particles to work best. You should, of course, still scrape. So my feeling is that if you change your dish washing habits to something more like that, you won't have to deal with a drying rack of dishes on your counter. I have no upper cabinets so everything, including dishes, glasses, and utensils are kept in lower drawers near the DW. Yes, your DW should be placed near those types of storage areas. When my remodel is done, my DW will be on one side of the sink and the drawer stack with those items will be on the other side of the sink. Most cookware and prep items will be just across the aisle from the DW. The only things I have to walk a bit farther to put away are my items specifically for baking (9 feet away) and items used in my coffee/blender center which are a few more feet. Hope this helps a bit.