I'm offering the following as a devil's advocate. Both positions for your kitchen are viable choices with nice reasons to go each way. That's why you need to draw up all possibilities to consider. If the middle is right for you guys, this will end up reinforcing that decision. Versatility and size? That 15x30 room is looking very, very nice as it is, but the far end is prize square footage with all those exterior walls (light/views in up to 3 directions), and right now you plan to actually dine there very little--pretty but underused. If you put the kitchen down there, that addition would be used as intensively as it deserves to be. The living area for furniture placement would be the same, but it would be more strongly defined. Nevertheless the whole should still appear very spacious because it would still be part of a 15x30 room with kitchen on end and still be open to the north, which would extend additional living activities that direction, instead of east. The dining room might well end up used more for various activities in the middle of the house. In considering this alternative layout, how about a pretty door to the outside from a middle/dining room, French perhaps? And for that matter, are you sure you wouldn't have a door directly out from the kitchen? You have an entry in that end that looks as if it would need some reconfiguring too. Would it enter the middle/dining room? Last night I also thought of one other -- possible -- advantage to switching the kitchen and dining room: the step down. This could be a design asset for a dining room, setting it off as special as viewed from the living room. Since you don't plan to eat there a lot, even with young children you could have a nice rug under the table if you wanted it. You'd take that step mostly on the way back to the children's rooms--longer journeys. For the kitchen, you guys'd be making all the many, many little daily journeys between the living room and kitchen on a level floor. Morning sun in kids' hallway? Have sunshine everywhere and you eliminate the pleasure of entering a sunny room. A dim hallway is often a design asset because it makes the rooms opening off it all the more inviting. I can't see what that cabinet in the hall is, but with a little attention to attractiveness and interest, the hall looks pretty good to me. The only way I could imagine to improve it would be to extend it to come back around on itself -- children love to run in circles. :) As it is now, though, the hall enters a sunny middle room in the mornings, setting that room off really nicely, however it's used.

Khj- We were discussing a similar situation on another thread. Two dishwashers can be more convenient together, but if one is for mixing bowls, utensils, pots and pans...and the other is for dishes, glasses, silverware...then the two dishwashers can be in separate locations. It only gets confusing when you start mixing them together...and then have to walk all over the kitchen, to put stuff away. I think my favorite plan so far (given your building restrictions and DH's input) is Buehl's latest Plan B. It's really an excellent plan and I think you would love cooking in it. The only thing I might change is to put one of the dishwashers, by the prep sink in the island, just for pots/pans/mixing bowls and utensils. This way, you can clean up as you're cooking...but DH (or maybe kids?) can load the dishes after dinner, into the clean up area, by the pantry. This also gives you excellent dish storage area, by the dishwasher and close to the beverage center. Easy for other people to help/clean/or prepare snacks out of your main work area. I would also keep the two doors and leave the pocket door by the cooking area. You can close that off during parties and also close off the mess. When you're not cooking, you can leave that door open, for more light. So, Khj, can you see yourself in that kitchen? Can you visualize all your finishes? Working in the space? Making dinner or setting out a buffet? If so, I think you have a winner! :)

Sena I absolutely love the pantry idea. Right now our pantries are actually two closets 20" deep (I couldn't show it correctly in the planner) so that aisle is only 38" which is fine most days but when we have people over and they stand around the island it feels very crowded. I actually was planning on doing a beverage/wine fridge under the counter where the coffee bar is. When we are entertaining I thought it'd be nice to have a spot for the kids especially to grab drinks. I'm hoping to get a counter depth fridge because I really don't like how our current one stinks 9 inches into the isle. We are going to purchase a second fridge for the garage to make up for the lost space. I shop often enough that I think we'd be fine with counter depth. Do you think 33" is deep enough of an island to accommodate a sink? I love the idea of the prep sink on that wall... I just wasn't sure I'd have enough cabinets if I kept it and the window.

Can you take some space from the living room? If the stub wall must be 30", you could put a full-height cabinet on the LR side, and extend a peninsula to the point where the door was. If you need a support post for a beam, it could be incorporated into the seating overhang (plan on left). However, if the stub wall can be eliminated, or if only a support post is necessary on the exterior wall, you could extend the peninsula farther into the LR, and make the remainder of the room a dining area. With seating at the peninsula, the nook could be converted to storage and serving. areas (plan on right). Another option (on right), would be to keep the sink under the window and put the fridge on the stair wall. The fridge would be a trek from the range, but adding a sink to the peninsula would give you a better prep space, and the fridge would be more convenient to the FR and new DR. NKBA guidelines New to Kitchens? Read me first.