I have a very similar kitchen layout. However, my kitchen has a smaller island without seating. We have a large kitchen table that always has 6 chairs, but we can easily fit 8 chairs, and 10 chairs if need be. Like your setup, the kitchen table is next to a window. There is 110" from the end of our island to the end of our kitchen and there is plenty of room for the table and the chairs to be pulled in and out. HOwever, like I said, there is not any island seating, and if there were stools it would be a tight fit with the table. I love this set up. We use our kitchen table all the time--for everything from meals, to crafts, to decorating cookies, internet surfing, reading the newspaper and doing the crossword puzzle, carving pumpkins, etc. We have free standing buffet type cabinetry under the window. It holds my kid's craft stuff and my laptop (i usually use my laptop at the kitchen table.). It also has a mail sorter and space to organize my kids school paperwork. We do have a home office, but this is where I keep stuff I use everyday. When we do a kitchen remodel, I may put a window seat there, but will have to really think hard as the server we have now is heavily utilized. My mother has a setup with island seating, then a casual family area, then the dining area. I hate it! Every Monday evening, when I am there for dinner, I think how inconvenient it is to have to carry everything back and forth through the living area. Her island is always covered with stuff (prep stuff as well as mail and paperwork) so sitting there makes me feel claustrophobic. Also, we have lots of kids in the family, and something always spills in the walk between kitchen and dining area. My husband has mentioned getting rid of our kitchen table and getting a huge island when we remodel, but once I pointed out that he would always have to sit on barstools vs kitchen chairs, and how much we use our kitchen table, he agrees that it stays. Good luck in whatever you decide. This post was edited by kristinekr on Wed, Feb 19, 14 at 23:20

What are thoughts on putting the cooktop on the bottom wall and the ovens on that same wall? We could make that area wider if we took out some of the triangle near the left. That alcove is 32" deep b/c we wanted extra depth for the Fridge. I think we are at a little over 96" currently, which would leave 30" for counter space in that area. Most of which I would have in between the 2 appliances. DH really likes the Fridge on the left wall nearest the dining table. We could put the freezer on the opposite side and then turn the larder into more of an appliance storage. Some of the pictures above show larger; both wider and taller cabinets, that could be used for this purpose. As biondanonima suggested, I probably will also be spreading out on the island for baking and other prep work. So making the larder smaller and more of an appliance storage function should probably work. What program/software are you all using to modify the floor plan I posted? I'm guessing the above would be more clear if I could do that too. biondanonima: This is a multi story house- we have both a basement and 2nd floor above. Venting will likely be somewhat of an issue. The exterior wall is near the seating on the plan. There is also an exterior wall going to the screen porch. Directly above the kitchen is our bedroom with a balcony above the screen porch. I'm hoping the HVAC team will have a good solution for this. We do need the entry from the living to the kitchen - the powder room is right there for easy access from kitchen.

Mantle Mount for above a fireplace. I agree with others to move the fireplace back to the wall opposite the kitchen and make the back wall all windows. You need as many windows as possible back there. Here's what I'd do if you can remove the nook and maybe pull the dining room down so it is on the same outside wall as the bedroom. It would mean making the front porch smaller, but that would help to bring even some northern light into the dining room. It would also give you a "hallway" from the foyer to the bedroom wing. This would make the back wall where the nook was all sliders to the backyard. This would help bring in more light to the kitchen and would make the whole back south wall windows. Plus since the nook is basically just a pass through to the master, it's basically useless as it was. I also moved the outdoor door from the master down further and added two windows on the east wall to the master. Moved the fireplace to the wall of the bedroom.

I completely agree with you about placement of the dishwasher. That's only one small part of your dysfunctional kitchen idea. This will be our retirement home, and I understand what you're saying about the prep% vs. cook% for the average cook. I guess I'm not average because I do stand in front of our stove much more than 10% of the time - it's just the way I cook - lots of pots/pans going at once. I'd still wager a guess that prep takes up more time. I do the majority of my cooking at my cooktop too. It's why I only went with a basic oven and didn't spend for a top of the line one. I rarely use one. However, most of my time is still spent cutting up meats, vegetables, spices, etc before bringing them to the cooktop. Cooking and standing in front of the stove actually takes only about 10%-12% of my time. Maybe you really need to clock several meals to see what the reality is. And remember just because you now prep next to the cooktop, doesn't mean you will always need to. I currently have about 32" between the cooktop and the prep sink for my prep area - are you saying that isn't sufficient?. No it's not. I don't think I'd mind losing the prep sink since the main sink is pretty much right behind me, and that would give me more prep space, and less expense. See my comment in my post above about thinking in terms of future ability. Another thought. Eventually my Mom needed help with the prep work but could still stand at the cooktop and cook the meal. Having that extra sink would have been so much better because Mom could have done some of the more simple prep tasks while the aide did the major cutting, etc. As far as the landing spot for the coffee/MW area - that's something I struggled with too... Where we live now, there also isn't a counter right next to the microwave or oven - the landing space is our island right across from them. Humans are quite adaptable. Just because you live with poor design now, doesn't mean you should when you're dropping 6 figures of your hard earned money on a custom built house. The idea of custom built is to get exactly what will work for you and your family and that shouldn't be taking hot food or beverages out of an appliance and having to pivot to put it down somewhere. Also know that pivoting is a major cause of accidents for the elderly. I'll read up on this and will work the plan to make a more convenient landing spot. Good idea. The only thing that I'd push back a bit on is your comment about angles... If having non 90 degree angles in a home is a mark of an architect who doesn't know what they're doing, then nearly all of the homes in the resort community where we have our lot were designed by architects that don't know what they're doing. Are you sure the homes were designed by an architect and not a "designer"? In reality most people don't know the difference. My guess is they were not in the majority of cases architects. I see plenty of million dollar plus homes with angles in my area and when I ask it turns out that none were designed by an architect. Thanks again for your feedback, and I'm always open to feedback that will help improve the design. Again, this isn't a plan that I intend to give to an architect & builder and say "build me this home" - it's more about conveying ideas, our likes and dislikes, etc. The best way to convey ideas to an architect is to put together a wish list of wants and needs and wouldn't it be nice to haves. Make idea books to show what style you want and like. Then put together a bubble diagram to show adjacencies of rooms. You can do a search here on this forum for bubble diagrams. Also do search on this forum for working with an architect. Then read up. Do you have your land yet?