Thanks Avanti. Thinking about it again, it might make more sense to have the linear drain at the blue line (against the long wall), because if we had it at the red line, that would mean I'd have a step down crossing the threshold (drain location would be the lowest point in the shower), defeating the purpose of doing a single-sloping shower...

I would probably pick option 2 if I couldn't put the main sink on the perimeter areas of the kitchen. I would want my prep sink between the fridge and stove. When I do prep I use the sink to rinse everything off. That said I would want the counter space between them to be a fair size. I use my main sink for overflow food prep but mainly for clean up. So I would want my main sink and dishwasher to be situated close to each other and out of the way of my prep area. I would advise you to do a mock up cooking scenario. It other words pretend you are cooking a meal and see where it makes sense to you. This sounds like a many butt kitchen but you want everyone to have enough room and not to cross over one another while in the kitchen. You've hit on many of the important points bottlenecking Etc. A way around not having the room you want on the Gathering Island is to have a cover for your sink so that it becomes another flat surface. There are some quite nice sinks like that nowadays. I believe there are ones where even the tap becomes quite invisible. Or at least low profile. I would cover maybe only half of the surface of the main sink that way you can slip dishes in the sink to hide. Just to note you might have better luck with more answers in the kitchen forum. This is the Home Decorating discussions forum. Although there are a lot of experts here there are even more there interested in kitchens. :)

Thanks, cpartist and lisadlu16, for your guidance. I have started a new discussion that I think includes your suggested items. If you have a moment, I’d love your input. Thanks for taking the time to tell me how to help people help me :)

Hey KEN, thanks for your insights. Those R4 steel shelves are 41" high and about 36" wide, weight 36 lbs., so it seems very stable. They are about the same height as the top of the railing. I also intend to velcro-strap the uprights of the shelving units to the railing, so it won't be going anywhere. The fabric grow pots I chose have handles on each side. I'm thinking I could bungee cord through the handles and around the wires forming the shelf to anchor the top shelf's plants. There is like 15" between the middle shelf and the top shelf, leaving ample room to get in there to water, remove bad leaves, etc. And there is 17" between the bottom and middle shelves, leaving plenty of room between the middle shelf and the top of the bottom shelf's plants. I spoke with the leasing manager today, to confirm my calculations about the actual working space within the balcony railings, which turns out to be about 6'. I'll have to put one shelving unit on the eastern narrow end and and one in the corner of the front railing. While speaking to the leasing manager, I found out that we are allowed to hang plants from the railing as well. So cool! So that's where I can add in some annuals for a bit of color pop. She also confirmed that lots of people grow lots of different kinds of plants on the balconies, and that my apartment is located on the side which gets more sun on the balconies. I will box up all the hostas & heuchies the day before I move and head out the the Greyhound station on Long Island. They have a Greyhound Express package service which is actually very reasonable. I can ship the boxes of plants and have them delivered to my door in about 3 days. Perfect!