Two things jump out at me - I would move the microwave drawer across from the refrigerator/freezer. I would also move the narrower of the two trash pullouts (the one next to the current location of the microwave drawer). Then I would make that entire side of the island (facing the large sink and the dishwashers) drawers for dishes and maybe even glasses. If you need two trash pullouts, I'd put the second one either under the large sink, or at least on the same side as the large sink (which might mean relocating the 2nd dishwasher - it looks like you could slide it over. Lastly, I'd switch the fridge and freezer, although that one wouldn't be critical.

I actually like the original more than this iteration. This island seating plan looks very impractical and just plain uncomfortable to me.

The seat near the microwave is too close to the cabinet behind; I think (per NKBA) it should be at least 60" from counter to counter. A 15" overhang is recommended for counter height seating. The leg room for the two seats on the corner overlaps.

I can't imagine that four stools lined up on a counter at 24" on center will actually get used. It's like the middle seat on an airplane-no one wants to sit there.

sjhockey,

Great suggestions! We will take out the narrow trash can and put a trash can under the large sink. We'll make the whole side of the island across from the large sink drawers and move the microwave drawer across from the R/F. Will look into flipping the R and the F.

benjesbride,

Is the original design that you are referring to our second iteration from a previous thread (shown below)? The first draft (below the second iteration) was tore apart pretty good by many members of this site. Many had issues with the 3 bar stools on the side of the island near the range with only 44" between the counter and the island so we removed stools from that side of the island. Others also had issues with the island being a barrier and overlapping work zones. The second iteration used many suggestions from a sketch from buehl (greatly appreciated!). Lavender_lass, annkh_nd, blfenton, sophie wheeler, laughable moments, desertsteph, and funkycamper also provided great feedback that was used to redo our first draft. Both are shown below to give a better illustration of the changes we have made.

second draft:

first draft:

The only real change we made in this final iteration is the addition of the fourth stool on one side of the island. That sixth bar stool is very important to my wife (not sure why! :)). We also added some more details. That sixth bar stool will likely rarely get used and will usually be pushed under the overhang. The four bar stools will actually be spaced at 25" and not 24"! :) I get your point. To improve the spacing, we could probably add about 6 inches to the length of the island without encroaching too much into the walkway to the garage/pantry/mudroom and will be able to steal some space from the rarely used sixth bar stool.

Anyone else have any suggestions or feedback?

I'm sorry, Kevin. I just reread my comment and see that it was kind of rude. I apologize. I got hung up on the counter seating in your most recent drawing.

The floor plan I like is Buehl's Layout 1 from February. I didn't read all the posts, so I'm not clued in to your decisions between then and now.

By Buehl

Benjesbride,

Definitely didn't think you were rude in your response! Agree about your concerns with adding that 4th stool but it's important to my wife. I'll lengthen the island a bit to make it a little more spacious for the four stools on the one side. Not too worried about the 44" between the counter and the island because that one stool will be pushed in most of the time.

Stole a lot of ideas from the layout you referenced, but we put the range and R/F on the other wall because we wanted to keep the wall between the kitchen and stairway only as long as needed to separate the stairway and kitchen because we want to minimize the "U" shape of the kitchen in favor of more of an "L" shape.

I would move the prep sink more towards the other side of the island so you have clear counter space directly across from your range.

This is a new build, isn't it? Why not just make the kitchen bigger so all this actually fits? A few more feet in each direction would uncramp everything.

A "few more" feet added even in new construction often has "ripple effects throughout the plan, though!

I haven't studied your plans thoroughly, just wanted to say we've found a 12" overhang to be perfectly adequate, but it is correct that 2 people's legs cannot occupy the same corner space. If you just want to store an extra stool there, I suppose that would work. Sometimes people move stools around when they actually congregate, whether or not it makes sense on a floor plan.

We don't want to add a few feet in each direction because that would add a lot of square footage on the main floor, second floor, and basement - adding several hundred square feet to the house, affecting adjacent rooms, and affecting other floors. After looking at the plans, we can easily add 6" in each direction by stealing some space from the garage and moving an exterior wall 6".

I have incorporated most of the suggestions made here and added 6" in each direction to give more space.

Another question ...

What do you guys think about not having any upper cabinets on the wall with the main sink. We'd like a lot of window on that wall. We also wouldn't have to mess with upper corner cabinets - assume we would run upper cabinets all the way to the wall on the 97" leg and 167" leg right?

We like how the kitchen has evolved from our first attempt. Thanks to all for suggestions and we welcome more feedback!

What a great large space!

1. I'm short and love light, so I'm all for no uppers and more windows - down to the countertop.

2. I'm not a fan of corner cabinets, so I would recommend dead-cornering at least one of them. I'm thinking dead-corner left of the range, then you can put in a 3-drawer base cabinet and put in great spice storage like this:

(which I prefer way over a skinny spice pull-out where you have to bend down to read/reach for spices)

Breezy's example for spice drawer

3. where do you plan on doing most of the baking?

Where will mixer, toaster, etc go?

So if you have no uppers on the sink wall, perhaps bring the upper (to the left of the hood) down to the countertop so you can put in an appliance garage:

Mamadadapaige's upper cabinet down to countertop as appliance garage

4. I know you have the 48" range in the design, but has anyone tried to convince you to consider induction?

SOOO much easier to clean than than honking 48" gas range.

Safer for your 3-future cooks too. my 10.5yrs old son loves making grilled cheese on ours.

You can always add a 15" wolf gas hub.

GW was very helpful in convincing me to go induction, when I was all set for gas (I grew up in Chinese restaurant businesses). But I am very grateful for the switch.

I love my 2 DWs; so will you.

Amanda's wall of window, dead-corner, double-decker appliance garage

good luck,

Amanda

You will love the dish drawers opposite the DW. I envy you the window wall if you have enough storage without wall cabs there. It looks as if you do.

Four minor suggestions:

1. If you decide on a window wall, I urge you to consider 15" deep wall cabinets on the two remaining walls. They hold so much more than 12" deep cabs (some larger plates and serving dishes do not fit in 12" cabs). Your prep will be on the wonderful window wall and on the island, so the deeper wall cabs will not crowd your working space.

2. Also be sure to order at least one more shelf than is standard for all wall cabs. Sometimes using even two more allows for more efficient storage without stacking.

3. I would put the trash beside the prep sink and the MW on the corner. That is what I have, and I would not want to have to move dripping refuse over two feet to toss littler from the prep sink.

4. Do you need three trash cans? I have two and usually use only one, which we empty daily if we have generated moist waste. I wish I had made a narrower pullout and added the difference to the adjacent drawer stack. But I cook for only two adults, my kitchen is smaller than yours, and we cannot recycle; that may justify the three containers if you will use one or two of the containers for recyclables.

Your kitchen is going to be such a joy. When you move in, be sure to share it with GW.

Bellsmom, you can't recycle?

We live in a rural area. The garbage pick up claims to recycle, charges extra to pick up separated trash, paper, etc., then dumps it all in the same truck! We can take paper (no cardboard) to a recycle location that is about 10 miles away and only open a couple days a week and during work hours. Really a pain! Aluminum cans go to a teen age friend with a pick up truck who stores cans until he has a huge pile, than makes the trek to a recycle center. My brother and his wife from Oregon are shocked every time they come visit.