Oh, I am not as good at this as many on this forum, but I really think you should think long and hard about having better flow into the family room! I know you wanted to keep that room separate, but there are ways to achieve visual separation while maintaing a comfortable flow. Also, which way is your house oriented? I am worried about how much light you may or may not get with the entire back of room facing covered areas. You will get better advice from others, but these big things jumped out at me! :) Good luck with your building process!

Hi Schmeltz! (I loved your Golden Oak mood board, but probably only because you virtually obliterated the oak itself. ;-) ).

You appear to have a very good handle on your needs, and this will be a great challenge for the many brilliant layout gurus on this forum. Just a few questions to narrow down some parameters:

What climate do you live in?
How high will your ceilings be?
What's the overall style (exterior/finishes) of the house?
What will the island be used for? Seating and prep?
Do you plan on any more kids?

I could see a whole bank of clerestory windows above your back kitchen wall overlooking the porch. This might include sink, stove, etc.

I only have uppers to the sides of my stove and love it that way. Although not short, I find uppers highly overrated and much prefer shelving. This depends, though, on your own tolerance for the feeling of "clutter" - if you're a corbels and frufru kind of person, you might not actually like lots of practical things stacked out in the open? How OCD-ish are you?

I tend to agree with nini, the family room might become a sort of closed-off man cave if you're not careful -- and the proposed radical (?) difference in style between that 'rustic' room and the rest of the 'pretty' house might get a little schizophrenic, contributing to the division? With the otherwise open welcoming kitchen/porches layout, it might be odd to have one room so closed off; I once lived in a rental with a converted garage placed in about that spot -- it was a little claustrophobic with just one door and we tended to avoid the room.

Depending on your habits, it might also not be optimal to have your kids off playing out of sight/earshot whilst you cook? I could see them migrating their play into the living room so as to be closer to you.

But these are all just first random thoughts thrown out there - it will be a fun journey, and welcome to the forum!

I second nini. I definitely think you want the doorway to be from the kitchen area to the family room. How often do you think you would be going from the living room (formal) to the family room? I think not that often. It would be a pain to walk around the corner twice to weave your way to the family room. Do you definitely want a full height wall between the kitchen area and the family room?

What would you rather see from the front door? The table and chairs or the kitchen cabinets? I think you may want to separate the laundry and pantry space. While I agree that they could utilize that footprint, I think of laundry and the dampness and don't think it would go well with food storage.
If you definitely want a dining room table in the dining room/kitchen space, I envision an "L" shaped perimeter with a larger one level island for your project space.

If you shift the doorway from the kitchen to the LR to the far left of that wall, I think you could put your dining room table near the pantry/laundry wall and have your main kitchen space in the right area of that room. The island could face the family room with a door to the family room right where the family room wall meets the kitchen and living room. The hallway that starts at the master bedroom and laundry room could continue through the kitchen forming a direct path to the family room which I think would allow for nice flow. What do you think?

Definitely I can see a large bank of windows but I have to ponder layout a bit more. The one thing that jumps out to me is the downstairs bath. I would want it toward the back of the house. With 3 little girls xfriends as they get older I would want easy access to the potty without them traipsing through the entire house from playing outside. ALso, figure even when inside the family spends most of their time in the kitchen/family room. I think I'd relocate the laundry room to the front of the house and tweak the closet area current bath area. You have room for both. Plus then the laundry won't be smack against the master bedroom wall. That will give you a bigger pantry wihtout using space. Master bath... if I had that much room I'd want 2 sinks. Pocket door to the rustic family room so you can leave it open or close off without impeding on room space. That's all I've got for now... shopping time!

Remodel has a good point. What about swapping the location of the coat closet and the bathroom. At its current location, the bathroom is REALLY far from the family room and kitchen.

Is there a door from the kitchen out to the porch? (For bringing food to/from the porch and the grill, if you use one.) And if so, will this be the 'family entrance' for kids coming in from playing, school, etc? Your kids are young now (fun ages!) and as they grow you may likely find that their stuff multiplies - shoes, jackets, backpacks, sports equipment. When they come into the house, you'll want a spot for all that stuff to go, and hopefully not into your beautiful new kitchen. So maybe the laundry gets a door to the back, and becomes a combo mudroom/laundry. Or maybe you have a walkout basement and will have a mudroom down there. In any case, please think about having a space for that.

Regarding the openness (or not) from kitchen to FR: have you considered big sliding doors? They will give you some flexibility for closing off the space or opening it up. They can be rustic, mod, fancy, etc. Some pics:
{{gwi:1985009}}

{{gwi:1985011}}

Picture these with frosted glass, to share some light between rooms without sharing the view on the other side:

Now finally, back to the kitchen. If you've been reading GW for awhile you've probably read about drawers vs. regular lower cabinets. In case you haven't, I'll put in a plug for the wonderful functionality of drawers, especially if you're not keen on uppers. I'm linking to a thread below with some info and great organization pictures.

Here is a link that might be useful: Drawers vs pull out shelves

Everyone, Schmeltz posted on the Building a home forum, too...and trust me, you don't want a big doorway, into the family room. It's a trophy room with animal heads, etc. That's why she does NOT want the kitchen, open to that area.

That being said, can we open up the kitchen/dining area, into the living room, a bit? That would bring more light from the back, into the front and I think it would make all three spaces 'live' a little larger. It might be nice to make a bigger opening, between the dining and living areas and decorate all three, to work together. Then, your husband's 'man cave' can be very different...and closed off a bit, from the rest of the space :)

I think keeping the kitchen and dining area as one big space is an excellent idea. It will make it much easier to work in your island, with seating for five and still have room for the table.

Hopefully, we'll get some more people responding, who can post some great floor plan options. Did you want any marble, for your candy making? Do you prefer granite or another surface? Do you want a shorter counter area for baking...or for the girls to use?

Our climate: Indiana weather. Zone 5b.
The kitchen faces the east, but it faces the ravine behind the house. So while there will be some sunshine, a lot of it will be blocked by trees. Especially in the early morning, which is fine, I'm not much of a morning person anyways. It will have 9ft ceilings, or just under when finished. The overall style of the house is barn-esque. We wanted something that would blend in with the setting. Brown metal gambrel roof and wooden vertical siding with a large stone chimney off of the family room. I don't want the interior to match the exterior, and it doesn't bother me that it doesn't. I actually like the idea of formal rooms inside of a barn, kind of a pleasant surprise when you walk in the door. I'm sure others will hate it, but it's the look I'm going for. I would like the island to be the majority of the countertops in the kitchen. I would like for it to be used for prep as well as seating if possible (my husband wants an eat in kitchen, I want a formal dining area, and I'm willing to do both even in the same room if the areas can match well. I would be insane to have any more kids, but I thought that after the first, and the second, and still managed a third. So while highly unlikely, there is a rare chance that I'll miss having little ones around when they all are off to school in 3 years.
The front entrance will be the most used. Our actual yard will be in the front of the house where the kids will do most of their playing while they are young. It's defined by trees right now. I would love to keep it that way. As the girls get older, they will probably hike around in the woods more, and instead use the basement entry. We plan a walkout basement in the side of the hill with a porch off the front of it. I think the hill is too steep for the basement to walk out directly at ground level. We do not want to change much of the land. There is a small creek and a large trail that will run behind the house.
I would have loved to put a half bath under the stairway, but that stairway will also lead to the basement, so there isn't enough room for a bathroom there.
Honestly, I don't think we will use the family room much. I just labeled it family room, because as lavender_lass stated, it's a trophy room. If a door is necessary, I don't want to be able to see through it. While I personally don't mind the taxidermy (I hunt as well), I would love to have a place for it in the house. I have family that isn't a huge fan of seeing it, and it does get a little overwhelming in our current tiny home. Mostly, because it's spewing into every room in the house except the kitchen and dining room. I think we will actually use the living room more often. We're not too big on formal around here, although I love the look. And I think the living room can have a formal sense to it, and still function as a heavily used area. That being said, I don't mind opening up living room to the kitchen more, as long as there is still a defined space. I do not like open layout floorplans, and love to be able to get away from a messy kitchen if needed. That's my biggest concern with a combo kitchen/dining. Although, I love pictures of fancy eat-in kitchens.
Chicagoans- I love the sliding doors with the rail at the top. I have the current setup in my new temporary kitchen here at our current home. I would love to do this on as many doors as possible. I would also love for their to be French doors to the porch from the kitchen/ dining room area.

I haven't decided on countertop either. I saw some gorgeous black and white marble that I loved, but marble makes me a little nervous. My husband is well known for throwing down tools and anything else on the kitchen countertops now. Thank goodness they are pre-cut green laminate pieces that I actually enjoy watching getting demolished a little bit at a time. I'm thinking something very durable that will last forever would be ideal. I would prefer to have a kitchen that will last for the next 10-15 years, at least, with little change.

Here was my little board of some materials if I went with off white cabinets.{{gwi:1985013}}

Sorry, I got carried away trying to answer all of the questions, and forgot about the laundry room/ pantry. Honestly, I wasn't sure where to put everything. I was thinking I could possibly put the laundry where the half bath is now and just basically leaving room for the washer and dryer. I just like to keep the mess in there, but typically fold clothes in the living room or on the dining room table at home. Even though I have a lot of counterspace in the laundry room. I have my washer and dryer stacked now, but wanted to make sure that I could easily fit them side by side. I was wondering if I could leave the current laundry/ pantry wall open and possibly make it a hair bit bigger and make the west room a half bath with door off of the hallway and the pantry in the east room. But I hated to take away from the kitchen and dining room area any more than I had to.

Schmeltz- I really like your choice of granite, with the wood floors, backsplash, hardware, etc. I think the cabinets might look better in an off-white, with less glazing. Something not quite so heavy, so they don't overwhelm your backsplash choice. And, I'd want that granite, to take center stage :)

With the plate racks and glass uppers, in many of your pictures, do you want those included in the plan, as well? I think the darker island will be beautiful with the lighter perimeter cabinets and the other finishes. I would just take the glazing down a bit and just have a hint of the corbels and other traditional touches...so it doesn't overwhelm your space...but still brings in the style you want.

That being said, it sounds like your biggest need is to get a functional layout, so did you want just one sink? Would it be a single or double bowl...do you need a prep sink? Did you want any wall ovens or just your range? Do you need any special items/counterspace for canning? Do you want big windows over the sink? Three (either even size or larger in the middle) might work better, than one big one, with your other choices...but that would be up to you.

Do you want to have the wood floor stretch into the dining area, living room and entry? Or are you planning to have carpet in the living room? Did you want to take the same moldings and traditional elements into these other areas, as well?

I do like the idea of glass uppers, but I would ideally like the uppers to be minimal. I wouldn't be sad if I only had two next to the range. I like plate racks, but definitely not required. I agree with the less glazing. But I did love the look of the very dark crown. I love the little details. I also love staggered height cabinets, and don't really love the look of cabinets bumped all the way to the ceiling. I think it's more visually interesting to see the different heights,and makes crown stand out more. I also love the dark island, but wasn't sure what color to do if I went with the black walnut flooring. We have already had it cut and I would love to use it, but would I use walnut on the island then? Or is that too matchy? The walnut flooring, if used, would be natural, no stain. And I would prefer to run it through the entry,dining and kitchen and could definitely do it in the living room as well. We only plan to carpet our bedroom. We have a lot of walnut now, and can have a lot more cut. Is this too much? I could always stain the island a shade or two darker. Or possibly do catalpa to match the dining room table? I'm not sure if the two actually match or not though. I think the granite was my favorite in all of the pictures. I would love to go see it in person and see if it does truly match the walnut as well as it does in the picture. My original sink is a cast iron double bowl with double drainboards, but after seeing a similar sink in my mother-in-laws kitchen, I think I will save it for somewhere else. Ideally I think I would like to have a double bowl and with a possibility of a small prep sink in the island, but definitely on an edge where I have a lot of uninterrupted counter space. I'm not a huge fan of stainless, but I have a huge stainless range, so I'm wondering if stainless sinks would look better? My dishwasher is black so if I could hide that somewhere, maybe in the island?, that would be nice. It does a great job and I would hate to replace it. I love having a larger window with two smaller windows on the side. I also love casements, but I'm having a hard time finding casements with grilles that look right. We have a local window shop that carries cheap windows. We will be buying all of our windows there. They are all customer returns. Nothing functionally wrong with them, and they carry some very nice windows, but they are all wrong sizes or wrong colors. Almost all are white vinyl. But at $50 to $300 for windows, I am going to just have to get an approximate size and keep checking in from time to time to find what I want.

As far as moldings, I would like to keep the most in the kitchen and dining room. Maybe run the same baseboard and crown into the living room.

I keep forgetting to add things here. Sorry. I plan to do all drawers except for possibly under the sink, and maybe go with the idea of the doors on either side of the range. Doors will make a little drop in cabinet prices, and I don't have a ton of money put back. I also don't know what the price of that granite is per sq. ft. I'm also not sure if I want to know. I also plan to do all pulls, no knobs. And I hate corner base cabinets. My corner base is empty. I don't like the lazy susan. It's wasted space and an expensive cabinet to buy if you don't use it. I was trying to figure out if I could put a range in one corner, fridge in the other and completely get rid of corner cabinets, and still have enough room for a dining table.

Schmeltz--
There are some awesome two-stage pullouts for your corners. I like mine much better than a lazy susan, although frankly a lazy susan wouldn't have fit my configuration. Your contractor can get them for much less than you can with a discount.

Sometimes the better stone fabricators keep 2-3 popular granites in stock and these are still good quality. The other option is to ask the stone yard if they have any remnants. One might work for your island and then you would need a different color for the perimeter.

colorfast- could you please lead me to the two stage pullouts? My husband and I are the contractors and we're having a local cabinetmaker custom build our cabinets, so I would like to have a picture to show him if I could ever figure out a layout. I need to be thinking quickly, because I have a month worth of kiln drying before he can even start on them. And I have to choose the wood to use before I can have it dried.