Still digesting the actual plan, but one comment first: don't store your potatoes near your onions. The onions will make your potatoes go bad much faster.

Thanks artemis_ma! Keep it coming!!

I'd move the DW to the other side of the sink so it won't be in the middle of your prep area.

sena01, I think if she moves her DW to the other side of the sink, the sink will no longer be centered by the window. An option of course... centering is not essential... but she could put her drain board on the left side, and put a cutting board or food prep station over the DW...

Put the wall ovens where the pantry is and then do shallow pantries where The wall ovens were to increase the aisle clearance. It's not sufficient. The island needs a prep sink.

Thanks live_wire_oak, artemis_ma and sena01! Love these suggestions and discussions! Keep playing where's Waldo and finding issues . This was terrifying to post initially, but I am so excited to hear what the community has to say! House Reno terrifies me but having you all on my side makes me so much more comfortable!

What's more important to you - function or looks?

Both should ultimately be important, but are you willing to sacrifice function for looks? (E.g., the DW issue)

I can't tell what your aisles are or your island seating. I suggest reading the following FAQ if you have not already: Aisle widths, walkways, seating overhangs, work and landing space, and others

This one might also be useful (to understand the DW and prep sink comments): Kitchen work zones, what are they?

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If you do not have a prep sink on the island (and I don't understand why you're against it), then you really should move the DW.

Your Dining Room is really far from your Kitchen!

What's the room in the middle of the house?

considering you don't want components in your island and the DR is soooo faaarrrrr awayyyyyy - maybe a wonderful farm table in the center for more seating and great storage where you have the seating currently?

ehh..scratch that. The windows are amazing .... don't want to lose that visual.

Where would you guys put a prep sink on the island? Maybe I never used the one where I lived at one point because there were no obstacles in the way of the sink. Since the dishwasher is an obstacle, I am rethinking prep sink. I don't think I could live with the sink not being centered in the window, so shifting it to change the location of the sink would be a rough go for me.

The foyer is the big open space in the middle. I'm not worried about the dining room being a ways away, we won't use it often, we like to eat daily in the kitchen. We currently use the dining room as a playroom, lol! We won't do the remodel of that room for several years when the baby can play in the basement.

that said - it might become a wonderful study. I would suggest figuring out how to get more kitchen seating as that is how you roll. Something that seats 6-8 and can be expanded for larger gatherings. Your children will grow and have big friends. Lots of celebrations. Do you really want to be carrying all those turkeys and all those cakes with all those candles (God willing) through the foyer? If this were me, I would accept the kitchen is the place to be, design around those seating needs, and call the dining room "the room that was once a dining room." Good luck and I am sure it will be a lovely kitchen no matter what you decide.

Switch the oven and pantry so that you have a transition place to unload grocery (ie island).

I would make the sink under the window a prep sink. It would give you perfect flow for food preparation as you move from fridge to prep sink/counter to cooktop. I would then put a clean-up sink and the DW in the island. Separate zones. It should work great. However, you do need to have a wide aisle to make that work without butt-bumping.

If you need to remove the seating on the island to make that aisle wide enough, so be it. You can have island seating around the right end.

Another idea: That's a huge foyer. I'm sure it's grand. But I agree that if you tend to eat your meals in the kitchen, you might as well make the kitchen big enough for a nice size table. Have you considered carving a few feet from the foyer and living room to expand your kitchen a bit?

Can the door from the kitchen to the back patio be moved at all? What is represented on the kitchen wall on the right, maybe a desk? A banquette?

Great ideas guys!
There is a banquet in the south wall of the kitchen. Seats 6 with chairs at the head. We only have one son. We cannot eat space from the foyer without major structural and stair changes :( Just not in the budget. I don't mind bringing my food into the dining room across the foyer. It isn't perfect, but I'm not willing to switch the dining room and living/family room locations to accommodate a once in awhile situation. When we entertain our family, it is 40 people at a minimum, so we clear all the furniture from the first floor to set up banquette style in the living/family room/"dining room".

We will switch the pantry and wall oven/ microwave. Still thinking about the prep sink...

Is the view from the bay window wall better than the banquette wall?

Sorry. I always have a ton of questions. Did you and your designer already explore putting the banquette on the bay window side of the kitchen and putting the back door in the left opening? There are so many traffic patterns around this kitchen, I was going to play around with shifting the heart of it into that upper right corner.

This community is amazing!!!

Yes those are radiators.

I like Funkycamper's idea of moving the prep sink to the bay window. Then have the clean up area on the island. This gives room for two 'blue stick people' to prep at once :)

Floor plans are my "quiet hour" activity while my kid are napping/quiet, so I thank you for giving me a plan to play with today :-)

The direction I was going in was fueled by sight lines. Your range wall is going to be such a beautiful feature and it seemed off balance to me to have it next to the bay window, so I put it on the wall where the proposed banquette is. I thought it would be best appreciated if you saw it when you came in through the mudroom, when you sat at the banquette and entered the kitchen. II just moved things around from there.

I like the view from the front door through the banquette and out the bay window instead of a straight shot to your sink.

From the living room, I thought the focus through the kitchen would be on a large group of windows behind the sink.

Of course, moving the work zones to the right side of the kitchen had a domino effect of having traffic flow from the living room into the working part of the kitchen, so I played around with island placement and ended up with counter seating between living and kitchen to direct traffic around the kitchen proper and it also adds a lot of counter space.

I don't think this is the perfect plan and I'm sure I'm missing something, but I had fun with it til the kids got up and I'm posting it in case it sparks any other ideas for you.

I know you said you originally didn't want a prep sink on the island and that you wanted a big island with no components on it, but have you looked at the Kohler Stages sink? It has a cutting board and tray that can fit inside the sink and provide a smooth, covered up look. That might be good for you since you wanted uninterrupted space on your island.

" Those people look just like us!"

oh, you guys are soooo cute!