Thanks to all for the advice so far. For anyone else trying to make the "mixing cups and pulls" decision, I found a great OLD post that included pictures of another kitchen where both were successfully mixed. Unfortunately, I can't post a link because it is archived, but it can be seen in the public clippings of user "abananie" (about 3/4 way down the page.) The kitchen pictured belongs to "jsweenc". So -- as of now, I am thinking of keeping cups on desk drawer and sink drawer, with pulls on all other drawers and knobs on doors. One thing that still bothers me is that most of the "mixed" photos I have seen tend to mix cup pulls with very simple, modern pulls. My pulls are more traditional/transitional (see link above) -- will this be a problem? I am visiting the KD to make the selections TODAY, so any advice/opinions are welcome!!

Thanks for all the great responses! I appreciate you all taking the time to chime in. Oakleyok, the child's chair belonged to my DH's grandparents -the matching "adult chair" resides with his uncle -- no one sits on the little chair, but we like having it on display Rosie, I will work on a floor plan. I have been busy with other things but decided I need to do this so we are ready to entertain this fall. We rarely if ever actually use the fireplace (maybe 3 times in the 25 years we have lived here). You stated it beautifully "You need a room that invites people in and allows them to circulate freely and then find a seat that fits them and, in a few cases, that can be turned to join a conversation or face a speaker, like that nice scroll-arm chair. " My question is how to create a "room that invites people in". Ellendi, we do have a love seat and sofa now because that's what we had when we lived in New York -- 2 sofas sound appealing to me because we can always use more seating -- when you say to line up the sofas with the fireplace, I assume you mean perpendicular to the fireplace and not parallel -is that right? -the chairs are just near the round table because we brought the table from NYC and then my MIL gave us those chairs when she downsized -- we love the china cabinet -we bought it when we were first married and lived in London - it might fit in our dining room but unfortunately that it is the one room in the house that is small -we do sometimes bring in dining room chairs for our meetings and parties Teacats -thanks for the advice about how to use our existing furniture -our sofa is shot, so we will be replacing that and probably the love seat at the same time --it is an excellent point about covering up the air grate -i will have to find something that can be in front of it without blocking airflow -maybe a table with slim bench chairs underneath -and i like the idea of a tall mirror over the fireplace Camlan -i love your suggestion of moving our current furniture around to figure out what works for us -we do not use our dining room much as we have a breakfast room connected to the kitchen where we usually eat -we never go to the dining room from the entry way -and i don't think our friends do so often either One other point -- we are willing to consider a different rug - I like this rug a lot (it has some of Omar Khayyam's Rubiat on it) -but DH thinks we should get something more modern -and we could, of course, get a different size Thanks again!

We are incorporating some of the suggestions from here. For example 1) the prep sink idea. 2) We decided to keep the corner pantry. I simply like the feel of a walk-in pantry I would get out of the corner pantry. 3) We have made the island bigger - it is going to make the clearance a little smaller - but we saw some homes with that much clearance and decided we would be okay with it. 4) Fridge - We are moving the fridge to the extreme right so the clearance being less due to bigger island will not impact the opening of fridge. We are creating a cantilever in the garage so even though it will be a full-depth fridge it will look like counter depth. Moving the fridge away from the oven/microwave means a couple of extra steps from the cooktop - but it is now closer to family room - so kids are not entering kitchen to get water. With prep sink we think the distance should be okay. My favorite part about moving the fridge is that it creates a nice little nook now between oven/ microwave and fridge. 5) Adding tons of drawers. We love keeping the trash closer to prep sink - we have asked our designer - she feels it won't fit in well. We are going to press her to try...but not sure if that will happen. The distance between cooktop and island is only going to increase with bigger island - because we need a healthy distance between island and the corner pantry door (I know corner pantry design is killing us - but I like it). My husband and I both cook at the same time - he cooks I chop etc...so having that distance is in a way better for us so we don't constantly get in each other's way. As for deep upper cabinets - I probably should have mentioned this - but I am barely 5 ft tall....I can only reach the front half of the first shelf and may be a little bit of second shelf. That is the reason why I swapped upper cabinets for additional windows near sink. We also have at 7 ft butlers pantry in the area between breakfast and dining - so that should provide good storage. Can't wait to share the design once it is complete. Thanks again for all the wonderful suggestions. You guys rock!

For WalnutCreek... I was already away by the time I saw your request, but did manage to con my husband into snapping a couple quick photos. First photo shows the 12 inch dishwasher handle. Other handles on the photo are 5 inch. For scaling purposes, drawer stack is 15 inch wide, sink base is 24 inches, and dishwasher is standard 24 inches.(Ignore the primered window trim!! Seems this reno is neverending.) Second photo shows our pantry cabinet, which is 30 inches wide, as is the drawer stack next to it. Door is 50 inches high with 9 inch handles. Drawers (both sets) have pairs of 5 inch handles. Knobs on the wall cabinets. These two banks of cabinets are on opposite walls, about 10 feet apart. For poolroom... fwiw, my old kitchen had handles very similar to what you're proposing. They weren't my cup of tea style wise, but I never found that they got any dirtier than other handles. Mine were oil-rubbed bronze though, so that might be a factor.