Thanks for all the great ideas. I am glad I found this forum but I am as indecisive as ever now :) To clarify some things ... The windows across the front of the house are only about 22" off the floor. We though about the sink on the front wall but it would require a much shorter window resulting in a less attractive exterior look. Wee also wanted to keep the existing "side" window since it opens to the parking area and children play area. I like the idea of moving the sink but wasn't sure how the window would fit in with this design (I will see if I can find some examples) Maybe I'm wrong but it seems a corner sink compromises the design/look. It seems it would make the one window look out of place or odd. The drawings are not to scale, but the dimensions are correct. The room is 192" wide and 234" long. We were allowing for 40" clear on all four sides of the island. It will be a little tight on the table side but we can move the table as needed. The old kitchen had a layout real similar to option 1 with no island. There was a window right next to the end cabinet facing the stove but it was not symmetrical on the exterior and with the new cabinet run being longer the window was in the way, so we had the idea of the "hidden" window after deciding not to do the shorter sink window on the front of the house. This was also due to wanting to keep the side window for viewing. It is not uncommon to have a window that small by itself breaking up the wall cabinets? Would you recommend the prep sink facing the front of the island or in the end of the island? The wife didn't want anything in the island but she is flexible (just wants it finished :) If we did this we could remove the sink in the bar/snack area which I think would get in the way more than be useful. Any suggestions for finding a KD or ideas of pricing?

palimpsest - I can actually move the wall to the right a few more inches, and move the the island. How much space would be idea between the island and the frig? Thanks for your thoughts. blfenton - Thanks for your suggestions. I think you are right, if I have the range, instead of the cooktop, I could have more cabinets on the right side of the sink, and the DW would work better on the right of the sink. Probably better for resale. OTOH, if I left the DW on the left, I just turn around when I unload it and put the dishes in the drawers. I unload dishes with no help most of them time, but then again, there's resale to consider. grrr What do you think about the island layout? Any thoughts on ways to improve? Would the sink be better on the end? I also thought about having it raised to bar height on the eating side and on the end cabinet that holds the MW. Also, I plan on the cabinets on the sink side being 28-30" deep. (another idea I got from GW). (Seems I'm questioning everything the closer I get to "build time". : ) All of a sudden, nothing seems right.)

Getting there! A few comments: The refrigerator needs landing space. Regarding the peninsula -- you still need enough space to accommodate the table you plan to put in the same room. Windows -- I highly recommend wide, counter-height windows to bring in as much light as possible and to take advantage of the view. Regarding children -- do your grown children ever visit and give you a hand in the Kitchen? Will you eventually have grandchildren who will want to help Grandma (or Grandpa) in the Kitchen? . How about something like this? It gives you everything you asked for and fixes the issues I saw above: It still has a counter-depth refrigerator, but if you really want a bigger refrigerator, you could put in a standard-depth. (But, do you really need a larger refrigerator if it's just the two of you?) In addition, there is no worry about a bottleneck at the refrigerator. (I do have to ask, though - you say it's only the two of you and that you do not work in the Kitchen at the same time...so, why is there a bottleneck?) The primary work zones are nicely separated so there is no contention for counterspace (e.g., dirty dishes stacked on the counter will not be in the way of the Prep Zone/workspace) The sink is large enough to handle both cleaning up and prepping - it's a Kohler Stages 45 (http://www.us.kohler.com/us/Stages-45-x-18-1-2-x-9-13-16-under-mount-single-bowl-with-wet-surface-area-kitchen-sink/productDetail/kitchen-sinks/427383.htm?skuId=405416&brandId=432902) It gives you plenty of workspace in the primary Prep Zone. There is plenty of dish storage and it's close to the table space. The MW drawer is next to the refrigerator in a "Snack Center" - so someone not preparing a meal can use the MW without getting in the way of someone preparing a meal (or even cleaning up) - not bottleneck. -- I highly recommend a MW drawer b/c of how easy it is to use, especially as we get older. It is opened by giving it a gentle tug and is closed by giving it a gentle nudge - the drawer then opens/closes by itself. To stir food, you do not have to take it out, just open, reach down to stir, and close. It's also easier and safer to lift it up to the counter than taking it out from above the counter (risking sloshing it and burning your face with splashes). -- If you don't want a drawer, then I recommend a MW sitting on the counter in the Snack Center. The sink wall cabinets and counters are 3" deeper than standard to give you more storage as well as more counterspace. 3" does make a difference! Those 3" also give you more space b/w the sink and window so it's easier to clean behind the faucet as well as increases your faucet options b/c you don't have to worry about the faucet working properly with a window sill right behind it. (Sometimes the window sill gets in the way of the faucet handle and does not allow full use of the handle.) -- If you cannot get deeper cabinets, then pull them out 3" from the wall - you will still benefit from the increased counter depth. Note the 3 corners are all handled differently. -- The peninsula corner has a cabinet turned 90 degrees so it is accessible from the dining side. You can store tablecloths, napkins, placemats, etc. - those things used in the DR only. When you do this, you do have to ensure you have 3" of filler on each side of the inside corner so the drawer fronts/doors and pulls/knobs clear the same on the other side of the corner. In this case, simply increase the width of the cabinet - the back of the cabinet acts as filler inside the Kitchen. This is the most efficient use of corner space. -- The corner b/w the sink and range wall is voided out to give you wider cabinets on each side of the corner. As with the above, you need 3" on each inside corner. -- The corner b/w the range and refrigerator wall is a corner susan for storing small appliances. This is a great way to store small appliances as you have two shelves split b/w the top & bottom of the cabinet and anything you want is always in front and easy to remove/put away - simply rotate the shelf until the item is in front of you! -- Stay away from blind corner cabinets - they're the worst use of corner space. Access is rarely easy. With the (expensive) swing outs, if something falls off the shelf, you cannot close the swing out until you retrieve the fallen item - and that usually means crawling inside to retrieve the item. . Layout #3: . Layout #3 Zone Map: .

It's not my style to critique, dissecting a plan as you do, with rarely a positive comment. However, I find it funny (funny weird, not funny haha) that sometimes your critiques point out flaws that are also present in some form in your plans, which you fail to see or admit. For instance, "Keep in mind that her front door is near the island -- the first thing people see coming into the home will be the cleanup sink and Cleanup Zone -- where dirty dishes will pile up.... It's the reason I put the sink to the far left -- to hide it as much as possible from guests entering." Your clean-up sink placement is on a direct sight line from the front door so your comment that unless "MLB's family is, very, very disciplined and always immediately load, run, and empty the DW each evening so the DW is available during the day to stash dirty dishes as well as during prepping" is valid for your plan, too. "Also, with the sink in the corner, the island will be seen first and will distract people from noticing the Cleanup Zone in the far corner." Yes, which is exactly why I designed the island as I did. It's not going to entirely prevent people from seeing any kitchen messes from the front door - the only way to do that is to wall it off or move it to another location in the home - but my goal is to use its attractive details to pull focus away from any kitchen clutter or mess. "The CD refrigerator is fine -- I put in a SD more to help your budget than for extra refrigerated space." A SD fridge can be added to my design easily enough by reducing the island's length and adjusting the cabs and counter on the cook top run. Another option is to add a fridge to the basement rec room. Getting snacks and drinks out of the main fridge will free up room for meal ingredients. IOW, there's more than one way to address adequate fridge storage. My apologies for the side conversation, mlb418. Please take your time to evaluate the plans and suggestions offered and let us know what works for you and what doesn't suit your needs or style. IME, it takes time to arrive at a final kitchen design and it almost always involves a fair amount of tweaking and compromise along the way as you sift through all the great advice and wealth of experience shared here to find the most applicable bits to put to use in your kitchen. If you haven't already, take stock of your kitchen storage needs and keep those notes handy as you review options. I pulled like items together and measured how wide a drawer they would require as well as the best location for it. I also found it helpful to mentally imagine myself inside a design as I made a meal or cleared the table. I often did this standing in my kitchen, sometimes with my eyes closed, which brought a fair amount of teasing from my DH. I laughed along with him. = )