liriodendron, here is the repeated text -- Our kitchen remodeling is happening much sooner than I have hoped. I am very excited, and would like to gather your wisdom. :) Here is some background: The house has 6 staggered levels (built around a hill). The kitchen is on the 3rd level, right above the garage (1st level) and right below the master suite (5th level). The house was built in the mid-1980's, and the previous/original owner enclosed a couple decks on the kitchen level in the late-1980's. That's why you are going to see some exterior walls in my drawing for the kitchen. There is only my husband and me in the house, but we expect to add two little ones in the next few years. Usually there is only one cook in the kitchen, as husband and I have learned over the years not to get in each other's way. Here is the current layout: My drawing below is a layout that I came up with for the new kitchen. I will explain where things are right now -- the gas cooktop is on the island (where the dishwasher is in the drawing) with a downdraft vent; the gas oven and microwave and pantry are on wall H; the fridge is exactly where it is in the drawing; there are upper cabinets along the sink run. The door to the backyard cannot be moved. The doorway that goes from the staircase to the kitchen cannot be moved either. The windows can be changed, but I hope we won't have to. Here is what we are dreaming (well, mostly me): We want to open up some walls, add a fireplace, replace old appliances (only the 35" fridge is new), replace old laminate cabinets, and change the kitchen layout somewhat to accommodate a rectangular dining table that we haven't ordered yet (it will be approx. 36"-40" by 6'-7'). I want to have a Bluestar range (probably 30" or 36") instead of separate oven and cooktop. I want to put the range on an exterior wall, and add a powerful vent hood above. Both husband and I really like doing stir-fries, so I am sure we will appreciate Bluestar's 22K BTU burners. We like grilled food too, and don't have an outdoor grill, so we are also considering the Bluestar 36" range with a grill in the middle. However, from what I read, the grill would require a beefier ventilation and make up air system that might cost an arm and a leg. Husband is also concerned about the flame when the grill is in use. I'd like to have a hutch or buffet for storing large items like serving plates. I want to have fewer built-in cabinets, and more freestanding pieces, if that makes sense. I also want to have no upper cabinets. I don't mind having some open shelves. Husband understands why I dislike uppers, but thinks it might be a mistake not to have any. My argument is, we can always add shelves or uppers if we regret later. So below is what I came up with. The dimensions are not exact, but very close, and I forgot to add a pantry and a microwave drawer... Anyway, would you please take a look? Your inputs will be highly appreciated. I am sure there is lots of room for improvement. Thank you!

Thank you, bmorepanic, I appreciate your response. I will try to answer your questions first. The family room is pretty formal and traditional with dark wood antiques and I am hoping to make my kitchen more transitional and lighter in feel, with slab cabinetry, so I think it important to keep the wall up between the two spaces. I also use that wall to hang art on the family room side, and cannot figure out where those paintings will hang if the wall is not there. The sunroom is currently where we eat almost all our meals, on a Moroccan tiled table that is 39" x 78.5" and I hope to incorporate that table into the new kitchen/sunroom area as it's a very functional piece. I am ok with the sunroom becoming more of the hang out place, but am not sure where the table will go if that happens, as it seems too large for the breakfast area. We currently have three stools at the island but the overhang is only 7 inches so knee bumping is a regular occurrence, and the gas cooktop is there, so there is not much room for plates, etc. I only use the dining room when I am entertaining, and when I have the extended family over we split up and sit down to our meals in three different rooms (the dining room table, the sunroom table, and the living room sofa and coffee table.) It isn't ideal, but it works. Problems with current kitchen are too little usable counter space (microwave, toaster oven, juicer, coffee maker, drying rack, etc. occupy too much space), and lack of storage. I also have all of my 12 year old builder-grade appliances breaking this year. We seem to be in each other's way as a result of the layout, getting stuff out of the fridge, using the sink, getting to the pantry. My garage has a ton of stuff I never use that belonged to my husband, old gallons of paint, old chandeliers, etc. I think I can clear out the back part, and still have enough room in the front half for the stuff I do need, ie. trash cans, recycling bins, bikes, scooters, etc. We are able to split up responsibilities with one person needing prep and oven and the other person using cooktop. By my count there will be one regular electric oven (30" Wolf) and one microwave/speed oven (Miele or Adv) and one warming drawer (also 30" Wolf). Finally, the load-bearing wall that separates the kitchen from the solarium holds the HVAC return and I don't think I want to deal with the expense of re-routing that, so it will probably remain as is (behind and to the right of the current ovens). I was thinking the bottom half of some of the load bearing wall could remain, at least for additional counter space and now that you mention it, to stop people from coming into the kitchen prep/cook area from the family room, what do you think of that idea? I like your sketch but don't know what P1 and P2 refers to, please forgive my ignorance. Thanks for clearing up the dimensions and aisle widths, good to know that 48" is the minimum for two cooks. Currently, I have a couch and table in the breakfast area, and my boys sit there all the time and use the table for coloring, legos, etc. I am having a tough time imagining that area gone, especially if it means I have to replace the windows in that area with ones that start 42" from the floor (which one designer tells me is necessary if I am to put the clean up area there) and deal with the exterior siding of the house being matched to the 12 year old pre-existing shingles. If I can keep my existing windows, then I would be more amenable to the idea. I look forward to your response. And thank you again for taking the time to come up with a plan.

I don't care for the fridge stuck perpendicular on the end of that run. You're creating a cave with unusable space in the corner, top and bottom. Top could be an appliance garage, but you're not really gaining anything. I'd put the pantry to the right, then the fridge. As for the bump-out, I think it's too deep to put a whole row of cabinets in front of the bump-out. If you are raising the window anyway, how do you feel about setting the sink and DW into the bay, then having a diagonal counter for prep space between the sink and range? The trash pull-out could be set on the diagonal, too, with voided space behind the cabinet faces. You might even have space for a narrow slot for cutting boards beside the range. The sink is off-center to the window, so the faucet is centered to help disguise the asymmetry. A couple of other issues: With no upper cabinets adjacent to the range hood, it should be 6" wider than the cooktop, to provide a wider capture area for steam and grease. Secondly, the passage between the island and stub wall should be at least 36". I redrew the island a few inches narrower, with the 5th seat on the short side--8' will be sufficient for 4 seats. The aisle between the island and perimeter should be a minimum of 42", so setting the sink run back into the bay will help with that. You have extra space in front of the fridge run, so that counter could be made extra-deep to match the depth of a standard fridge box (30"). NKBA guidelines New to Kitchens? Read me first. Discussions--Extra-deep counters Discussions--all drawer bases Discussions--dishes in drawers

Jan, Thank you for clarifying your post. Yes to the pocket doors! I was even picturing doors with beautiful leaded glass or some sort of a stained glass insert that would match with the home’s era too. What are your thoughts as to the walking distance between the garage entrance and the new kitchen location for bringing in groceries? No big deal? Get your steps in? 👣 What about enlarging the mudroom so it would include a nice big walk-in pantry space as well and then slide the garage entrance closer towards the new kitchen space? Just a thought. JC, Sorry, I know I am getting ahead of myself. I am just having wishful thinking that you might be able to swing the kitchen moving to the FR idea. I know it might be a complete non starter. It would look mighty pretty, just sayin’! 😉 Rabbitt, I posted the PDF and I even think I posted a DWG of the home earlier on, so everything is dimensioned there in a lossless format See now this is kind of what I am talking about.…. ”DWG” and ”lossless format” Huh??? 😵‍💫 It similar to what I am trying to explain regarding your layout format. It is like you are speaking in a foreign language. A language in which only another professional architect (like yourself), a draftsmen, a GC, an ID, or someone familiar with your specific computer design program can understand. It is fine if your program does not have the ability to show the layout in a simple to read gridded format. I just figured it might have that ability since it seems like it is a very high tech fancy program you are using. BTW, while looking for your ”DWG”, I did find another good example of a layout format that is very simple and easy to read. This layout was posted earlier by Sena. See how there is a grid like graph paper? The different measurements we need are labeled in inches making it very easy to figure out that each box is equal to one foot. Sometimes the grids will show each box as 6”. So your program doesn’t do something like that, showing the grid and the walls, windows, doors, and isles being labeled like hers above? Ok, now as I am looking closer at your rendering, I see how the island you drew does not have a seating overhang. I didn’t catch that. Maybe my brain figured JC’s family had super short legs with enormous torsos to sit in a stool tucked underneath those little shallow drawers and wine cubbies??? Oh brother! 🤣 I don’t think it is a problem though. You could just make the overhang start after the island cabinets. I believe JC also said that the FR was a little bigger then you had it drawn. So with 16’, I am thinking there should be enough space for the seating for 5? I know she really was wanting the island seats.