I-chic, I think you're right. Mixing finishes will probably date the kitchen so you just exorcised that particular demon for me. Thank you so much! I'm not going to use painted cabinets though, as beautiful as they are, because I'm just too hard on my stuff and I know I'll ding the heck out of them. I love how white quarter sawn oak can have a victorian feel to it, which I think will fit in nicely with the rest of the house. What I have in mind: Astidh, the prep sink is actually pictured bigger than it will be in reality. There's 4 ft of space on each side of the cooktop, and I was thinking a 13" prep sink installed only a few inches from the wall. I have been waffling between the layout above and the one below (which wouldn't need a prep sink). I would still find myself working where I do now which is to the left of the range, away from the corner, but that's not really a hardship. L-shaped kitchen So, where am I now? Thanks to igloo (btw, are you still in bed?) I know what I'm doing with the cabinets, but the question that remains is which layout is best. Pros of layout 1 No corners well defined zones with no one getting in each others way I love the symmetry on the cooktop wall I LOVE how open it feels it's not so run of the mill Cons of layout 1 gives up some storage space gives up some counter space but I think what you lose with the corner is gained by having 4 ft of straight run Pros of layout 2 more storage space sink isn't totally visible from dining room no prep sink needed Cons of layout 2 A corner I know I won't work in (but DH will) 4 ft of rather unusable space to the right of sink Can't do a farm sink (I guess I could move the sink down to where it is in layout 1 and keep the prep sink, hmmm) It would look like this: L-shaped layout with sink moved down (opens another can of worms...should the sink be centered in the run or with the opening to the dining room?) I'm beginning to believe there is no hope for me and that I will remain hopelessly indecisive. I'm really leaning toward layout 1, possibly without the prep sink (I could put a refuse receptacle there instead) but am not sure I should give up the storage/counter space of layout 2/3 (my cd player currently resides there). How am I ever going to make up my mind? Can anyone see any obvious reasons why one of these layouts would be superior to the others? All comments, even those which answer questions that weren't asked are deeply appreciated. TIA, again.

I'm just a fellow homeowner, not an HVAC expert. Running HVAC ducting through interior conditioned spaces (instead of outside walls) is viewed as a best practice, it minimizes the loss of conditioned air temperatures and leakage to the outside. The architect needs to design in duct runs, perhaps some drop ceiling and soffits, and vertical chases for the ducting up from and back to the basement. With two story houses, the best approach is a separate system for each floor. The basement can "borrow" from the first floor. That gives the best temperature control flexibility and long term is a more reliable approach than zoning one larger system. From experience, all that "open to below/open to above" space between the first and second floors will cause temperature imbalances between the two levels that will be hard to deal with in both heating and cooling seasons. Ceiling fans in the great room will help but I think you're still going to find it problematic. Layout wise, one bathroom upstairs for three bedrooms may not be enough. Additionally, the small "open to below" space right above the front door may look awkward and will communicate all front door noise to the bedrooms above. You might want to consider closing that in and making it a small bathroom between the two bedrooms. Good luck!

It's not my style to critique, dissecting a plan as you do, with rarely a positive comment. However, I find it funny (funny weird, not funny haha) that sometimes your critiques point out flaws that are also present in some form in your plans, which you fail to see or admit. For instance, "Keep in mind that her front door is near the island -- the first thing people see coming into the home will be the cleanup sink and Cleanup Zone -- where dirty dishes will pile up.... It's the reason I put the sink to the far left -- to hide it as much as possible from guests entering." Your clean-up sink placement is on a direct sight line from the front door so your comment that unless "MLB's family is, very, very disciplined and always immediately load, run, and empty the DW each evening so the DW is available during the day to stash dirty dishes as well as during prepping" is valid for your plan, too. "Also, with the sink in the corner, the island will be seen first and will distract people from noticing the Cleanup Zone in the far corner." Yes, which is exactly why I designed the island as I did. It's not going to entirely prevent people from seeing any kitchen messes from the front door - the only way to do that is to wall it off or move it to another location in the home - but my goal is to use its attractive details to pull focus away from any kitchen clutter or mess. "The CD refrigerator is fine -- I put in a SD more to help your budget than for extra refrigerated space." A SD fridge can be added to my design easily enough by reducing the island's length and adjusting the cabs and counter on the cook top run. Another option is to add a fridge to the basement rec room. Getting snacks and drinks out of the main fridge will free up room for meal ingredients. IOW, there's more than one way to address adequate fridge storage. My apologies for the side conversation, mlb418. Please take your time to evaluate the plans and suggestions offered and let us know what works for you and what doesn't suit your needs or style. IME, it takes time to arrive at a final kitchen design and it almost always involves a fair amount of tweaking and compromise along the way as you sift through all the great advice and wealth of experience shared here to find the most applicable bits to put to use in your kitchen. If you haven't already, take stock of your kitchen storage needs and keep those notes handy as you review options. I pulled like items together and measured how wide a drawer they would require as well as the best location for it. I also found it helpful to mentally imagine myself inside a design as I made a meal or cleared the table. I often did this standing in my kitchen, sometimes with my eyes closed, which brought a fair amount of teasing from my DH. I laughed along with him. = )

Thank you all! To add some context, we are working with a custom builder and will have the architect draft our plans however, we get only two revisions upon the first draft. That is why I wanted to come in extra prepared. I'm sure our process is not like a truly custom home -- but I agree I want to leverage the expertise of the architect. Sounds like you're using the builder's "architect". I'm guessing the builder's "architect" is really a draftsman and not a LICENSED architect. Why do I say that? Because our builder basically had us work with his "architect" who turned out to be a draftsman, and a very poor one. Can you instead get your own architect? Even if the person you're using is licensed, chances are they will make it easiest for the builder and not what is best for you because he/she is "paid" by the builder. You bringing him/her your plans is not how a REAL architect works.