So much depends on how you use your space. We use our bar area every day -- we usually eat breakfast and lunch there, but dinner at the table. We also like to have people over several times a year, both large and small groups, and that area gets used for every gathering. So for us, the bar area with a lower level for prep works out great. The height of ours is non-standard: we are tall and I hated my standard height counters. So all our counters--bathrooms and kitchen--are 39". We couldn't raise the bar area too much higher than that because it would have felt weird to sit at, so we lost the room to have outlets at the back of the prep counter. (They are on the sides now.) If our prep counter was lower, I would have liked outlets at the back of it instead. Prep counter is 24" deep; bar counter is 15" deep. Island is 81" long. Because of the way our kitchen is arranged, the drawers open in 3 directions: warming drawer plus 2 drawers for pots and pans open toward the wall with the fridge and stove. Multiple drawers with flatware, napkins, and random kitchen stuff like tape open toward the area where the table is. The end by the sink has a pull out for garbage/recycle and a shallow drawer for foil, sandwich bags, etc. The side view shows the amount of the step-up, which as explained is not much on ours: View of the bar side, seen from the FR (the benefit IMO is that from the FR you don't see any kitchen mess; just the pretty wood panels):

I'm going to start posting here soon - my journey of renovations here and there in my home; so this is my FIRST post! I've received tons of inspiration reading other people's posts, and stayed up waaaaay into the wee hours to do so some nights. I had to reply though, because no one else has suggested it. Here's a pic of my kitchen in progress (note the "bombed out" look of the walls). We got this super easy to install thinner granite from muranocollection.com The cheapest one is $10 s/f, the "Modena". I really wanted that, but it'd look better in a white/black kitchen so I went with the next step up which was $12 s/f "Milano". I have a HUGE kitchen, plus added an island, and spent about $1,600 total, including the slide-in sink. I'd really been eyeballing the formica fx180, but because of my island it would've been MORE than this cheaper granite! That being said, Lowes carries the Formica FX180 in a bigger variety of in-stock stuff, and it looks like you could do a straight run of that in-stock stuff for pretty cheap. Honestly that's what I'd do AND do an inexpensive glass tile backsplash. I just saw some at Home Depot that called out to me - that they'd look great with these cabinets. I really like the pics I've seen of the gel treatments to the cabinets; I think you could honestly do the gel treatments, buy some hardware off of ebay (I DID!), murano countertop and cheap glass backsplash for way under $1K. I included a link to them - not exactly what I saw today but at this price it'd make a beautiful and cheap upgrade! Here is a link that might be useful: Home Depot glass tile

Like Holly says, it is a function of how you live. My stuff collects on the desk/tiny office which is not in the kitchen but slightly outside of the main kitchen. If the stuff lands on the island, we just move the stuff to the desk.... We don't ask anyone to claim it, we just move it... Dropped junk does not bother me since I don't need the surface to cook. I clear it daily but it does not impede the 'kitchen function'. So it works for us. Many people are taking the kitchen desks out of their kitchens. I actually like having a designated drop zone/kitchen office area because it keeps the junk out of the kitchen. If your habits do not change, the stuff will get dropped on the upper zone of the island just like they do in many homes I walk into. When I see that in people's homes, it just seems like a huge waste of real estate where the upper level is a huge planned drop zone and nothing else. I like my way where there is a 'planned' drop zone slightly outside of the kitchen. Most people need a safety net. To me a well planned drop zone is a safety net for those of us that cannot be so disciplined about everything. I pick up my stuff at the end of the day, but it allows me the latitude to leave it there couple days without driving me nuts or getting in the way of cooking. Most homes that manage to keep the kitchen counter clear have a near by office/desk/drop zone where there is a pile of junk/paper. I know very few families that can live pile-free. Fourkids4us: one of my first remodels was to cut up my gigantic pantry into a smaller pantry and a kitchen desk/office/command center. This was the best thing I did. I made sure that I kept that functionality when I did the big remodel. I can't imagine not having a command center near the kitchen in a family home!

BLTx, I would say for something that has as big an impact on your daily life as major kitchen fixtures, quibbling over a couple hundred pounds of shipping weight is a false economy. If you have a compromised subfloor, it should be an indication that you need to reinforce your floor, so I'm assuming it's the consumption aspect that makes you concerned about weight. The "perfect" solution is to buy old fridges that are new enough not to run on freon and to have a fairly benign electrical draw, from close enough to you to wheel them home on a hand truck. Use one up and expect to replace it when it fails. All the major resource consumption has been accounted for already, and you're piggybacking on someone else's usage. When it comes to kitchen remodels, unless you're going pure salvage, there's going to be resource consumption, and getting too bogged down in the particulars will just bring you to a standstill. It's also stymieing to worry about the distance shipped. Concrete countertops poured in place, assuming you have a gravel yard within a reasonable distance, or a local or reclaimed wood, or local salvage, will give you a lot of good in terms of limited shipping. Refrigerators come from where refrigerators come from, and unless you live near the factory of a unit which will suit your needs, the transportation is just part of the global economy, and if you're buying new, you should just accept that and choose the best fit for your needs. Your stated purpose of getting something that will be durable and repairable makes sense. You don't want a disposable fridge, so the cheap ones are out. I'm not currently up on the mid to low-high range units, especially in terms of their history with maintaining parts for older units. Keep in mind that a new CEO sweeps clean, and a company that always did keep parts backlogs could clear them out to control inventory costs without notice. At some point, some enterprising third party outfit might pop up to make discontinued electronic control boards on demand, or be able to come retrofit your otherwise fine appliance with their own versions, but I haven't heard of that happening, yet. From that point of view, I'm thinking SubZero might be a good bet for you. Besides being American made (no boat--I'm assuming you're in North America), they no longer can distinguish themselves as the built-in or the dual system. They still make great fridges, and from what I learned recently it sounds like they're making incremental improvements to their function (though that's yet to be proven). What they do have is a huge track record of repair in place and running for 30+ years. In my opinion, they need to maintain that reputation to maintain their market share. As it is, some of the gloss is gone, due to a few problems in the past (which have been addressed). SubZero is also known for using tried and true technologies, rather than being big on the latest idea. That's part of the reliability you're looking and paying for. If you have a good SubZero service provider in your area, and if there are a lot of SubZeros installed in other houses, I think it's more likely than many to be reparable in the future.