Sorry for the delay in responding; I was away till this morning. bmorepanic: Thank you for taking the time to rework the plan. The hot water rads never get too hot so we're ok that way. Silly I know... I admit that the reason I didn't want to go around the corner with cabinetry etc was to keep that end wall clear to have a place to display my artwork. We do need 2 chairs & table. Currently we have a 54" round table (pre this house purchase) with 2 chairs and it is a very tight fit with a utility cart too behind the north chair along the long wall. Definitely a tight fit. We've been living with it for 7 1/2 years so downsizing to a 28" square bistro style will feel positively spacious! I close the door when seated at the table, but have thought of putting in a pocket door instead. David: I hadn't thought of an island 3 different widths. I'll give it a try. laxsupermom: Due to placement of stairs to the basement & to upstairs attic/loft bedroom the DR door can't be moved over. The appliances have all been ordered. I went with the KA convection micro/oven combo for the features of having a dual oven without having to purchase a double. buehl: I don't mind at all the personal question. I realize I should have given more background. My DH & I are empty nesters (mid 50's). Our 2 children (1 grandchild - 2yrs) live at a distance and visits to here are about 4 times a year for a weekend duration. I have a non-functioning ankle (fusion or ankle replacement hopefully in my future). This causes issue with inability to bend correctly from the knee to reach down & lifting. A raised oven will be so much easier & safer. This injury also causes instability in balance, so having to move only a couple of steps when carrying anything hot like pasta water to dump in the sink is important. A place to sit to chop veggies etc is necessary from time to time. jejvtr: Good question about soundproofing, but not an issue. The music studio is only a couple of steps down from the kitchen level, cinderblock wall with the hallway in between and a door on each side. It is almost completely soundproof. lascatx: I mixed up my dates and the cabinet guy comes next Saturday. It's good the hear from someone who has lived with a similar setup. Even though I'm the only cook, there is at times 2 of us trying to do things in there at the same time. Thank you everyone. I will take all your suggestions & work on more layouts and see what revisions I can make that will make me happy. Jazzie

MareLuce, I looked at the White Collar kitchen, it is very nice. Here's a lifestyle difference which may explain my location choice for fridge- 90% of our meal eating is at the countertop (we currently have a peninsula instead of an island and the only time I sit at the table is when there's no chairs left for me at the island). So in MY mind the ovens are 'out of the way' and the fridge is 'prime real estate' lol. In my mind if I put the fridge over there I will have snackers walking through the prep/cook zone to access the fridge. (I am frequently cooking dinner as the kids get home from school, and I serve dinner a couple hours later, it just depends on what it is I am cooking. Even a casserole or lasagna I prep early and put it in the oven later) Beuhl, thanks, I can move the aisle width. Is that 54" counter to counter or cabinet to cabinet? Thanks for the clarification, I hadn't noticed the counters were extra deep along BOTH walls, I just noticed it on the sink wall in your diagram. Yes, I did know the fridge had to stick out a certain amount for door operation. DW: I am familiar with prepping over a d/w as that is my current arrangement. Perhaps because we live in Michigan I don't mind the heat from it. Although I certainly won't be planning any prep over that 26" on the d/w side of the sink. I was planning for a 5foot prep space on the left side of the sink. Why does that seem too small of a prep space. On my diagram it's labeled 57" plus there will be 3" of counter at the sink because my sink is a 30" in a 36" base = 60" of prep space to the left of the sink. (left when I am facing the sink, so right as looking at the diagram on paper) Not enough? Other lifestyle things that matter to me: Toaster oven is an important appliance in our lives and we use it A LOT. One of our current bottle necks in our current kitchen is toaster oven close to the range. People trying to use the toaster oven to heat various items while I'm prepping dinner or breakfast. That is one reason I dedicated a good chunk of countertop for it (and the coffee maker). I really know that space will be used for secondary prep at least once a day while someone else is working at the other main prep area. mw drawer- I'm tall and I hate the idea of cleaning out a mw drawer that is at counter height. My husband is NOTORIOUS for not putting a cover on his plate of food and so I'm stuck cleaning up the splatters. Other than that I'm not opposed to a m/w drawer. As far as a pass through that's not possible- laundry room is on the other side (washer dryer back up immediately to that wall in fact). Several times you have mentioned dirty dishes on the counter. I am just learning that is something people do. We never do that. The thought never even occurred to me. Typically I have the d/w empty before I start prep. If there is a conflict, then the dirty dishes go right into the sink and I hand wash them. I still spend a lot of time hand scrubbing my pots/pans because either they don't come as clean as I like in the d/w or because they are not d/w safe (cast iron, non stick). Anyways, I'm going to continue to study your proposed layout. Maybe I'll even draw it out with chalk on our driveway. :) I'll show my husband some pictures of wall sinks. The main thing I hope you will still answer for me is addressing the prep space on my island. I really thought 5' was enough and that because of the depth of the island at 60" that the seating side could still be used for the rare larger projects. Please advise. much appreciated, illini.

In case anybody is still following, lol: I've been thinking of Sena's fridge placement concern. The fridge I ordered has a door that can be reversed and is actually 26" deep with door. So I think we'll try it for awhile where the current fridge has been, on the end of the short L. We can inset it into the wall with the door reversed so it swings left and, thus, won't crowd the person at the sink. I'm wondering if we do this if it will be back far enough to now crowd the line-of-vision to the window? We should be able to get an idea of that without actually before we tear out the wall to see if it will be worth it to inset it. Although i do hate to lose that long baking counter. But we can also take out the side wall to the broom closet and play with the fridge there. If we don't like that, I figure we can get cabinets to fill that spot. They could uppers and lowers with counter and a better landing spot/command center than I currently have. Or just a pantry. Might also make a good place to put a small microwave a bit closer to cooking area. Anyway, just mulling options. It will be fun to play with all this. Went to a big home show in the Big City a 90-minute drive away. Hoping to see some unique and interesting ideas. Well, that was a waste. Didn't really see anything any different or better than what I see at our HD. Bummer. But had a nice visit with my friend that came with me so that's good. Won't waste my time on home shows again if this is all they have. My next venture out-of-town will be to some of the bigger Habitat Re-Stores. I've been told that a couple have amazing selections due to being in areas more flush with cash and a lot of high-end remodels. After looking at photos online, I kinda wish I'd thought to check them out sooner for my fridge. Hoping to find some nice cabinet boxes in the sizes I need so I only have to order door/drawer fronts from Barker. I don't mind multiple trips for the right cabinets as this will save hundreds over buying new cabinet boxes. Wow, I can't imagine building a whole house. A kitchen is enough work for me!

I've added a few staged MLS photos of 1&2) Living/Dining room, 3) Kitchen, and 4) Kitchen/Family Room. It is a 1996 Southern CA tract house with 1750 square feet and 900 square feet in the downstairs area (comfortable but not big). We discussed repurposing some of the rooms as several suggested earlier in the thread and I think we want to leave them as they are. A little bit of divergent thought is always a good way to get a good solution. We don't want the TV under the high ceilings of the living/dining room and we do not find the distance from the kitchen to the dining room to be a problem given that we only use the dining room about 6 times per year. We treat the living/dining room like a sunroom (reading newspaper, etc.) and use the family room for watching the TV. We like having the kitchen and family open to each other. At this point we've made the decision to leave the kitchen within the same basic footprint. Swapping the kitchen and family room isn't a cost effective option for us. We like the windows in the family room and aren't open to removing the fireplace. We think the basic layout of the existing kitchen is OK and are open to ideas to make it better within the same general footprint. Sorry to impose constraints but we want to keep this as a kitchen remodel not a whole house remodel. Any thoughts on the original design I posted and how to better use the space in the kitchen/breakfast area? We appreciate your help.