It depends on the ceiling height of your room regarding the cabinet height. If you get rid of the cabinets (visually lighten) the sink wall, I think you can use taller cabinets on the range wall because the room will feel lighter even with the taller cabinets. You need to simplify the trim. I would make the trim the same size and feel as the stiles (or rails) of cabinet doors to visually simplify the elements that are introduced. I actually LOVE this type of look with very thin stiles (or rails I am not sure of the term) on the cabinet doors. (again, emphasizing the light) Often that is expensive because they are not stock cabinet doors. Regarding your kitchen: even though you would like your DW to be on the sink wall, I see this is counter intuitive to how an average person/kid would behave. My kids would dump dinner plates on the large counter space which would be the island.... I would be asking them to drop it next to the sink every day. My kids never stack anything on the counter when they drop off dirty dishes in the kitchen. Even adults don't stack. You see this at parties. It takes an anal retentive person like me to stack dirty dishes at a party when the entire kitchen counter has been covered with dirty dishes... With my kids, there would not be quite enough counter space around the sink to use it effectively as a clean up area. I think you would be frustrated.... (at least I would be) Regarding concrete counter top: the edges will be too heavy. Concrete edges are often 2 inches thick. The counters in these Euro kitchens are quite thin, less than 1 inch. These are standard 2 cm slabs. The thinness is what gives the sense of airiness and light feeling.

We are working with very similar issues/designs, so I feel your pain! The EIK depends...it's something I am struggling with. My realtor said I needed to keep it. But it makes my work area so small and not useful. So I am opening to the DR and having a breakfast bar. I'm hoping the open space and functional kitchen will be what people see and not the fact they can't stick a kitchen table there. Besides, the counter gives a space to eat breakfast/lunch, do homework, socialize with guests - all things a table can do. But it took me a loooooong time to decide to go this direction. I would say you need to keep seating at the bar to make up for the lost EIK. I like the KM design. I think I'd switch the fridge and the oven (do it as shown in the architect's rendition) - you aren't gong to be able to open the right fridge door all the way where it is. I'd also loose the island. You don't really have the space to support it - th aisles will be very narrow and it's so small, it's not going to be that helpful. That can save you money and you can add one at another time. There are tons of nice work table/islands you can purchase - it doesn't need to match the cabs. This was also something I struggled with b/c I felt the space was a little too open without it, but everyone here convinced me to leave it out and if I find I do want something there, go for the work table. To save money you can also do furniture/particle board cabs - most everyone here agrees it's a great way to save about 15% on cabinets! Also, GW is the land of drawers! Ditch the cabs with rollouts and go for drawers. Easier to pullout one thing than to open doors and then pull out. Though probably won't save much $$ b/c I was told cabs with rollouts are about the same cost wise as all drawer bases. The architect drawing - did he give you a price? His plan is very similar to the KM plan and you could just ask him to do furniture legs on the end for the dog bowls - every line carries something like that. He might be able to get you a better deal on another line (or he might not!) Good luck! I am at the same point as you right now so I know how frustrating it is! I go back to my KD tomorrow to make some tweaks and see if I'm ready to take the plunge!

Thank you all for the feedback, especially bmorepanic for the plan! If we decide to go with an island plan, we will definitely use the north wall rather than the south wall. I think a common comment was about the play area not being necessary. It would be our long-term plan to turn the "play area" into a study area with desks in the future. @kaismom - Thanks for the tip about getting the cabinets now to ensure that they match, we will certainly do that, if that's what the space is used for. The area we had labelled as the play area was previously the eating nook. I should also note that you can see into the family area from the former nook area, as the wall has an opening about four feet up so the family room is not really private at all. My husband actually grew up in this house (buying it from my parents who want to downsize). There is a rec room upstairs to spend time when the kids want to stay away from the parents. That room will still be up there as a rec space and was used as a computer area also. There is also another computer area as my husband is a consultant that works at home and thus will have a room dedicated to his home office upstairs. The reason we like having the dining room table on the west side is because it can be extended to seat six on that side (12' across even with the angled wall) and there is space in the living room for an additional table or two if necessary if we want to entertain (the room is about 15 x 30 - not measured, guessing). As suggested, we would likely use the room for a large folding table when we want to host events. Also, we feel that having this setup would encourage us to use the living room more often as the room has vaulted ceilings and nice large windows. The room wasn't used very often previously as the dining room and family room were only used when entertaining guests (which I guess doesn't seem that uncommon in all honesty). There is a large walk in pantry (with a slanted roof under the stairs) whose entry is just to the left of the north-west door. Not sure if we'd miss having a pantry in the kitchen but there is a lot of space to leaving things in that room which is the plan for now. We toyed with the idea of building access to the room directly from the kitchen but realized that the angle of the roof line would not accommodate access a door from the kitchen very well (there are stairs going up which run parallel to the kitchen wall from east to west). Nobody in the family currently plays music, historically there has been a piano in the living room but if it was played, you could hear the piano throughout the house except in the family room. Thanks again!

First, let me say I am hugely not a fan of the open concept where kitchen, DR and living room are merged into one large space. So add in some windage for my bias against it. But perhaps my strong bias can also serve to illuminate two reasons why I would not shorten the wall: 1) Shortening the wall increases the problem of having the prime living and entertaining space exposed to the visual, aural, and aesthetic chaos that is a working kitchen. I think being able to be cook in a separate space from the sitting room is very valuable. 2) Shortening the wall will create a sense of physical exposure to a larger space when cooking. Walls, even partial-wall partitions, serve to enclose and shelter spaces, giving them a valuable sense of place within the building. Instead of having a room (albeit largely wall-less, but a defined space nonetheless) devoted to cooking, it will turn your kitchen into just a corner vignette of kitchen cabs and appliances. In the same way the LR will lose a valuable space-defining wall. Sitting rooms without a sense of enclosure lose their feeling of intimacy and take on more of an air of an airport lobby, IMO. Just my two cents worth. L.