What a beautiful home, Jess.

I read your previous thread and feedback. I do like some of the suggestions that were made, but I'm not sure you're open to things being changed and are only asking where to place a prep sink? Not sure.

I agree that you won't have proper ventilation above your cooktop at ceiling height.

The thought of eliminating the short wall of cabinetry and cooktop and having a longer island sounds great, but I'm not really sure you would be adding much length to the island considering the angle of your dining wall.

I personally would rather have a 36" refrigerator and utilize the area where your freezer drawers are for more drawer storage (perhaps drawers for mail, etc. to be hidden). But, I believe you said the appliances were already bought.

Can the mail, etc. go to the area where it's marked "desk", by the closet and stairs?

Only you can decide whether a prep sink in your island is more important to you than an expanse of countertop. I chose the latter, but I don't prep at my island, I prep between my sink and stove which is laid out similar to yours. And I also don't have small children at home anymore.

Another thought....you said there were open shelves in your dining room where the black boxes are. Are there shelves on the kitchen side as well? How wide and deep are they? I ask because if they are wide and deep enough, perhaps they could be made into enclosed cabinetry for your china, etc on the dining side, and mail area or pantry area on the kitchen side. You could make them match your cabinetry, or even have glass or antiqued mirror inserts for the center panels. That would free-up storing china above your freezer drawers.

Can we see a 2d with measurements?

For example what are the measurements between the island counter and your perimeter counter? What are your room measurements? What is the measurements to the windows? How high are the windows? What about the doors?

How much counter space between the end of your cooktop and where your cabinet to the counter is?

I found your other thread, in which you say you are open to considering other ideas, so I'll post a few. I can't speak to the issue of having the vent hood installed above the windows, but I'd consider moving the cooktop to the other window, with the clean-up zone on the short wall. That would allow you to have a clean-up zone separate from the cooking and prepping zones--a helper would be able to load and unload the DW, and gather dishes to set the table, without entering your work zones. I'd put a glass door dish hutch on the corner, with extra dish storage in drawers across the aisle, on the island. Or, you could also have a glass door on the upper to the left, and store dishes there.

I drew a trash pull-out on the end, since that cabinet would be very narrow for drawers, but it could be a door cabinet to store large platters and trays on the vertical. A 30"-36" tall upper cabinet could be used there, to store larger serving pieces (or table cloth, placemats, napkins, or schools supplies if kids do homework on that table), but turned to open toward the nook (red lines).

If you keep the separate fridge with freezer drawers, I'd suggest moving them as far left as possible, and just keep a small triangle for the chargers and mail drop. The cabinets above the freezer drawers could then be taken to the counter, for use as a pantry. I left them at 12" deep, but they could be 15" or 18" deep, to increase storage.

I would grow to hate that fridge in the middle of what could be a long beautiful stretch of counter. The end can always be a drop zone, the fridge doesn't make the end a drop zone or improve it.

That looks SO much better, mama.

practigal's, cpartist's, and designsaavy's suggestions combined--a 36" fridge, moved to the end, and the cooktop and hood beside the window, with a longer island:

That's Beautiful mama goose. And if more storage is needed long drawers can be put under the banquette seating in the nook.

I'm curious....is there only one entrance to the downstairs staircase....thru the half-bath? :-/

Wow, thank you all so much! I think that I have been so convinced that I like the current floor plan that I haven't been able to see past it. I've probably said "I just love it the way it is" enough times that the two designers I've worked with haven't had the nerve to burst my bubble and suggest something else. Hmmm...I think I need to reflect on my communication style! ;)

I now totally see how walking to the clean up area from the nook means going through the cooking zone, though it is just as common to come from the dining room (rarely more than 2 kids at the nook, big dinners with tons of dishes 4-5x per week in the dining room) so I have to think about that.

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to reply with more measurements and details. My elderly MIL took a bad fall a few days ago. She's been in and out of hospital and that has put everything on hold. I'll be back at it again soon.

Quickly, to answer your question designsaavy, yes the only way to the basement staircase (which is outside) is through the powder room. It's a really amazing house by a well known architect here, but there are a few oddities and this is certainly one of them. We will redesign that area eventually. For the time being, it actually kind of works because the house has several other doors to the outside (which go to nicer parts of the garden/patio) and we just put an outdoor shower near the powder room entry. We have a pool as well and I don't mind that the kids leave the pool, shower, then enter through the powder room rather than dripping all over the more formal rooms in the house. But having the door enter into a mud room type space would make a lot more sense!

Best wishes for your MIL.

Okay I can't tear myself away... putting some thought to switching the sink and cooking zones but am stuck on a few things. Given the following factors, would you leave them as I had them originally:

- we bring more dishes to clean up from the dining room than the nook (nook is only ever a few plates and a mug or two, dining room is masses of dinner dishes, though admittedly less often)

- i would really prefer to have a less-than full depth counter at the edge of the nook because I feel that the 27" that is there now juts out too far and I'm always bumping into it

- we can't always clean up right after working in the kitchen and putting the big sink under the larger window means that mess would be in full view as you come in the front door (everyone naturally turns towards the kitchen rather than stairwell). i feel like I could keep the cooking zone (smooth induction top set into counter) much tidier and more attractive and this would be nicer to come home to. silly?

- I thought that the fridge should be close to the sink for prep, especially now that you've shown me how I could have a lot more counter space to the right of the fridge. if i put the cooktop on the long side and sink on the short, this would absolutely necessitate a prep sink in the fridge end of the island, is that right? I know this would be super useful but I also really love a big blank island so jury's still out on it (back to the initial dilemma that started all this rethinking).

This group is amazing - it moves me that you all would take valuable time out of your day to help with this. Thank you again!

You can get a wood chopping block to cover the sink or even a piece of your countertop. If you get something like a ledge sink, you can use the accessories to cover the sink. I think when you have a kitchen the functions well, it is so easy to pop the dishes in the dishwasher rather than in the sink after dinner.

I would really recommend not having the cooktop under a window beyond the NFPA recommendation and code. I personally look at every window in the home as a possible egress window in the event of an emergency. Also, there are some risks with having an operable window over the cooktop. These risks are minimized a little bit because you have induction but they still exist. Someone reaching over the range to open the window could seriously burn themselves in the process of opening and pushing out the window (I assume they are outswing casements?). A rush of air when you have a gas cooktop could cause the gas to go out and some units automatically restart and that occurs at the highest settings which can be really dangerous.

Thank you for being open and receptive to feedback!

Good luck with your decision!