Can you please draw up a layout of the house?
it's way easier to read than to align all these different views together.

The main thing I think I'm seeing is that with 4 active boys (I have a 10yr boy and 9yr girl) is that I don't like how you have the range in an "unprotective" area. Not sure what the flow traffic is around there, but someone will be walking by when you're frying or boiling pasta and need to turn around guessing 9feet to dump the hot water.

That's a no-go for me w/ kids around.
Yes, they do grow up, but until then, that's a red flag for potential accidents.

A full layout will help better to come up with suggestions.

good luck,
Amanda

So, in your KD's design, you take the food from the refrigerator, run around the island to get to the sink, and then run back over to the range. Great workout! Not so great for kitchen functionality.

Do you have a layout of the entire first floor so we can get a better feel for traffic flow as well as how that wall that comes down will affect the flow? It doesn't have to be a meticulously measured layout, just a general layout with all walls, doors/doorways, windows and labels as to what the rooms are.

Is that an alcove where the refrigerator currently is? If so, I don't see it on your layout with the existing walls.

Also, could you please add measurements to the wall that has the door to the Office/Master Suite/Powder Room?

There's a reason it's "tight" in your kitchen - there isn't room for that island with seating + refrigerator and cabinets. If you want seating at an island with your kitchen's depth, then you need to eliminate everything on that back wall.

You need a kitchen at least 16'7" deep to adequately accommodate the island plus items on both walls:
25.5" perimeter cabs/counters (sink run) + 42" aisle + 41.5" island + 60" aisle + 30" deep refrigerator = 199" = 16'7"
Your kitchen is only 13'7" deep...3 feet short of what you need.

Islands are all the rage right now, so often KD's put them in just to say the kitchen has an island - whether the kitchen can support an island or not. In many KDs' defense, their clients often demand an island, so they're trying to please the client.

So, you want:

• A large pantry - do you have another place for a walk-in or reach-in pantry? Or, were you planning on pantry cabinets?

A table in the kitchen - yet you are opening up the DR to the kitchen - do you really need two tables so close together?
A Message/Command Center. Do you have a Mudroom? Which brings up the question - where do you bring in the groceries (i.e., where is the family/garage entrance?)

I'm not sure you can get all that and still have decent work zones, etc. I thought of a banquette to get you your kitchen table, but unless you can move doors, I don't think a banquette will fit. With the wall to the DR down, it will be a different situation with table seating in that room - it will be open to the kitchen and will be easily accessed/viewed. Visitors will be able to sit there and still visit with you in the kitchen or you can keep an eye on your boys from the kitchen if they're at the DR table. The table in the kitchen is the biggest item that impacts what can be done.

I'll see what I can work up.

Refrigerator...unless you have another refrigerator and/or freezer someplace else (basement?), a 36" counter-depth refrigerator will not be big enough for your family. I say that based on two things (1) your boys are all going to be teens at the same time - have you seen how much they eat?! and (2) you say you...

I'll see what I can come up with on a layout of the first floor but my drawing skills leave much to be desired...I'm ok with losing the island at this point. It's actually not designed to have seating around it; the current island does have seating and it's way too crowded. The thought is to put seating on the back side of the peninsula that's going where the wall is coming down.

As for fridge space: I have the full size fridge in there, a full size upright freezer, and another fridge/freezer combo so no shortage of food storage :) And the reason the cubby where the fridge is currently (along with the pantry with bi-fold doors that is beside it) isn't represented is because it's being ripped out. The pantry is a total waste of space the way it's currently designed. I would love to have a walk-in pantry but don't see where I have the real estate. The house doesn't have a mudroom which is difficult with 4 young kids and colorado weather. The garage and front door both dump into the foyer so that is where groceries come in from.

Stove placement is proving to be the more difficult option as everyone tells me not to put it on the peninsula but I don't love it being against that wall and having the large expanse of space behind it along with a major traffic point.

Here are three options - the first is my preferred option. If I have time, I'll work on other, different configurations. Unfortunately, I don't have time for an in-depth analysis of the layouts. If I have time later, I'll edit this post and add the analysis.

[Select/click any picture to see a bigger version.]

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[Added around 11:00pm, 01/06/2015]

Analysis

• Primary Work Zones: Prep Zone, Cooking Zone, Cleanup Zone

• There is nice separation of work zones where needed. The Cleanup Zone is separated from the Prep & Cooking Zone - allowing someone to be cleaning up or unloading the DW while others are prepping and/or cooking.

The Prep and Cooking Zones are protected from through-traffic by the peninsula. To go through the kitchen, people have to veer away from the Cooking and Prep Zones to pass b/w the peninsula and the sink wall (with the cleanup/main sink)
The Prep Zone and Cooking Zone are next to each other but do not overlap by much, if any. This is the ideal setup.
Because you have two sinks, you have multiple options for prepping. You get the primary one near the range :-) and others can use the cleanup sink! When your kids are old enough to help, this will become very important!
Water is a necessity when prepping and, often, cooking - so there is a prep sink is in the Prep Zone. (If there is no prep sink, then prepping will occur next to the main sink and you'll be running around the kitchen -or- a different layout will be needed...one, IMHO, that would not be as functional as these.)
The refrigerator is also next to the Prep & Cooking Zones - where it's used the most.
Ditto the 2-bin trash pullout (1 bin for trash, 1 for recyclables). Note that the location is also near and easily accessed from the Cleanup Zone. More trash & recyclables are generated while prepping and cooking than any other time and for a longer period of time, so it's best located in the Prep Zone.

It is, however, sometimes used in the Cleanup Zone so it should either be positioned so it's accessible from both the Prep and Cleanup Zones (as it is in this case) or you could have two trash pullouts (assuming cabinet space isn't an issue). The second one, in the Cleanup Zone, could be a single-bin, 15" wide trash pullout. However, as it's located so it's convenient to both zones in this layout, you don't need the second trash pullout.
Dish storage is near the DW so the DW is easily unloaded. The location also means someone setting the table will not need to cross into the Prep and Cooking Zones.
There's plenty of counter space where it's needed and no wasted counterspace.
There is good amount of pantry space in an arrangement that maximizes storage potential and access - especially in Layout #1. Yes, the shelves are 12" deep - but that's a good depth. I talked about it briefly in a later post in response to your questions.
There is also a 12"...

Buehl you rock! I actually really like the thought of moving the peninsula to the other side versus making the L with the sink. Ok, now to really examine everything :)

Buehl in the first layout, which is my favorite of the 3, what's going on in the corner with the peninsula? Is the corner just blocked off? If so, my thought is to make it accessible from the back side of the island for stuff that's only used a few times a year; is that what your arrow means?

It's a 30" cabinet turned 90 degrees so it faces the LR. Note the arrow - it indicates the direction the cabinet opens. It's 30" so it acts as its own filler - you need at least 3" on the kitchen side, so instead of 3" of filler (like you see on the wall side), the cabinet with its back to the kitchen is wider. I made it 30" instead of 27" b/c you may need extra room to ensure there's no interference with the range. You would probably be OK with 27", but I was just being "safe" rather than sorry. If you want to take the chance, then make it 27" and make that 24" cabinet next to the prep sink 27".

There's also 1/2" to 1" of filler b/w the wall and that 30" cabinet facing the LR so the doors open freely w/o bumping baseboard and any other trim that might be there.

For that cabinet, I recommend a cabinet with full-height doors (i.e., no drawers) b/c the overhang will make it difficult to access drawers and/or roll-out tray shelves.

The only concern I have is storage with a pantry depth of only 12 inches. I guess I need to go play with one with pull-outs to see how much usable space there really would be. At one point I floated the idea of removing the 6 ft. patio door and either closing it off (there are 2 other sliders to the deck) or just making it an single door but I'm afraid to see the construction costs on that wish...

I recommend you check out the Pantry thread on the Gallery side (see link below). Most of us have found that 12" is deep enough for just about everything. On my 12" deep shelves, I can fit cans 3 or 4 deep, I can fit all my small appliances except my toaster oven - even my breadmaker fits when turned sideways. We have found that when pantries have shelves much deeper, items get lost in the back and to find something, you often have to move many things around.

Please read the Pantry thread below - you may find it enlightening!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pantry photos/ pics of pantries

I love Buehl's suggestions and agree that #1 is probably the best of a good bunch. I have nothing to add to those great plans.

Re pantry: Do you have any space near your other freezers for overflow pantry storage? Once those cute boys reach their teenage years, you will have a hard time keeping food in the house. Especially if they bring their friends around. However, it doesn't all have to be in the kitchen. If you buy in bulk, you can have auxiliary storage elsewhere and then just move items into the kitchen as needed.

So if it's only 12 inches deep is there any benefit to pullouts? I can't imagine there would be. I've tried to come up with any configuration that would allow me to create a step in pantry and I just can't find it without major sacrifices or construction costs.

But, I do have plenty of other food storage space available in the basement room with the full size freezer. Ahh the trade offs of remodeling!

Ok so this is pretty much where I'm at; is there anywhere logical that I could add a wall oven/microwave unit? I like the idea but can't seem to find the right spot? Also most likely moving to a 36 inch cooktop/range (depending on wall oven). I've expanded the length of the room by 36 inches (not reflected in the attached picture) so that helps relieve the pinch a bit. If I were to put any kitchen stuff such as a huge built in refrigerator on the wall where the command center currently is, is that just entirely too far out of the triangle and work space?

And PS: how long do you give a KD to respond before you move on? We had 3 extremely productive meetings but now she has fallen off the face of the earth and keeps saying she's very busy but that it's coming.

{{gwi:2144314}}

"Once those cute boys reach their teenage years, you will have a hard time keeping food in the house"

with 1 teenage boy in the house we had to get a freezer...3 younger kids but that teenager made the difference!

You could turn your message/command center into a small serving buffet and dish storage area if you have "good dishes" that you don't use daily. You could put glass uppers there and store pretty dishes and glassware or even just serving items. The lowers could store more serving pieces or linens. (In my dining area's buffet, I have a 42" -- maybe 44" -- wide lower cabinet with two huge rollouts . . . it stores TONS of serving items. Love it. Very practical.) If you're coffee drinkers, that spot could house your coffee station, too, on the counter.

If my kitchen were that size, I'd go with an OTR microwave to save space. Plus, i don't like where the drawer microwave is in the traffic flow. The drawers take a moment to open and shut (you can't just shove them . .. they self-close at their own pace), so having it open in the traffic flow seems like a bad idea.

If you really want to keep the drawer microwave, I'd move it (and the little 12" cutting board cabinet) to the left of the dishwasher. I know that'd move your silverware over to the other side of the sink, but that's not so hard to unload a few steps away from the dishwasher.