Regarding the rose, a BIG problem with putting roses in prominent spots is the dreaded BLACKSPOT, and yes carpet roses are indeed susceptible to blackspot. For that reason, I would skip the carpet rose. Other roses to consider instead are one of the Knockouts (pretty darn resistant to blackspot!) - Blushing Knockout is a lovely soft pink, or a rugosa rose (resistant to blackspot as long as you stick with rugose varieties - i.e. non-smooth-leaved rugosa hybrids). Rugosa roses have outstanding foliage all season, the fragrance of many of the varieties will knock your socks off, many varieties set hips, and the thorny craggy bark is attractive in winter (IMO). They bloom heavily in late spring, intermittently through the summer, and pick up again in the fall, whereas the KO rose will bloom more often through the summer. Regarding the caryopteris, I really like mine, and yes it does add interest towards late summer with the lovely purple blooms. No winter interest, though (don't know where you came up with that idea - ?).

Well, yes cost could be a factor. If it's $10 grand I don't know if we'd still want to do it but we can find that out. Either way, the fireplace isn't centered. Even now, without any reno, our furniture is larger on the left side (chair, table, lamp) than the right side (chair only). Furniture is another factor I agree. I've been moving furniture around and looking at measurements of new furniture trying to see what works. One reason we were not sure about stairs was b/c we'd be gaining space but it's not too usable like others said above. (b/c of a door for the stairs, too) An idea would be to put the door at the BOTTOM of the stairs and although we'd have to leave some space we could put a chair or something on the yellow wall on the left. Without moving the stairs we still are taking 2.5' off of that corner and even our love seat wouldn't work that well b/c the sofa isn't lined up well with it. It's possible though. We have a really nice coffee table that isn't being used in this house b/c the 12' LR doesn't allow room for a sofa/loveseat/table and still a good walking space to get into DR. Thanks for your comments. There's pluses and minuses to everything of course. We'll have to weigh it all out.

anele, i haven't got the buffet yet, but it'll be difficult to convince me not to use that buffet as inspiration because i'm in love and love isn't always rational. :) what did you have in mind? also, to paint a bigger picture, this dining room is open to the kitchen and family room, and the family room will have a large fireplace covered floor to ceiling in an old european style dressed fieldstone, large casual comfy sofas... the kitchen will be what i'm dubbing "farm glam" - white shaker style cabinets, black chunky hardware/pulls, large white cast iron sink, chrome finish on farm-style plumbing and light fixtures, shiny aqua backsplash from ann sacks, curvy stainless vent hood with chrome accents. as you can tell, i'm really comfortable with all my individual items not being the obvious choice or matchy matchy. :) i'm sure it's a peeve of plenty of folks on this board to not keep within a period or genre or architectural integrity, but it makes me happy. (i'd post pics, but we just broke ground, so all i've got to show you is a pile of dirt!)

Excellent on taping out the layout!! I hope you also taped up, or will do, a "hood" and uppers. One of our members did that years ago when she was trying to decide where to put it and it made a huge difference. There's an old bias from the middle of the 20th century, and before, not to put the oven near the fridge because the heat from the oven would make the fridge work hard, or previously, melt the ice in the icebox. Additionally, it's not nice to have the stove (cooktop) right by the fridge or any wall because it cramps your handles, elbows, etc. It has definitely become an embedded cultural trope. Today's ovens are well insulated. Between that and the cabinetry, there shouldn't be any side heat warming your fridge, which, itself, is very well insulated. Warm air will be blown into the room to cool the electronics of the ovens, but it shouldn't be an issue. There are no warnings from manufacturers to separate them, and there would be weasel words (lawsuit preventers) if this were a problem. The big issue with putting them next to each other is if the fridge door swings to cover the oven. I don't think we talked about swing. I would put the fridge opening toward the eating area, because it's more convenient for taking out armloads of the stuff that gets put on the table (condiments, pickles, drinks, salads, etc.), where as stuff for prep gets put on the island, which is the same either way. The biggest problem I foresee would be a gigantabird that you want to clean in the big sink, if that sink is going in the corner, because you wouldn't be able to just shovel it over. If you'd prefer to have the door swing away from the kitchen, then you have to be sure that there's enough swing room. My Advantium is right next to my fridge. The fridge opens really wide, but the oven handle is angled. I assume it's just for this reason. If your handles aren't angled, you can either put a stop to prevent the fridge door from opening too far, or put a spacer between the two so they don't bang. The issue is not putting dings in your fridge door. Having the door swing across the ovens also means that you have to be careful to fully close the oven before opening the fridge, which isn't usually a problem, but could be with competing kids. Train them while they're young to be aware of can't open the fridge when the oven's open, and when they're older it shouldn't be an issue. If any of this makes you uncomfortable, that would be a reason for moving the ovens, but you really will be upsetting the visual impact you're trying so hard to achieve. There's no one better than Buehl for a well working layout. If there were a functional issue with the one you and she developed, I promise you, it would have been fixed. What we've been working on here is taking what to my (experienced) eye, and Buehl's excellence, looks like an optimal layout and adapting it to your desire to make the kitchen fit a different aesthetic. Putting aesthetics first is not a bad choice. None of your options will be awful. The worst is that big sink in the corner, and, as you have already experienced in other kitchens, it can be lived with and worked around. There's nothing in G that makes me say, "That kitchen makes me want to rip it out," which I really have said many times in the last five years. I'm seriously blunt when people are going seriously wrong (though recently I did it because I didn't absorb a prep sink that was in the words but not the plan, and I thought she was specifically trying to make it work with a barrier island and no prep sink--my bad.) You're not in that situation here. Whatever you do will be good enough. I just think, equally bluntly, that if you're going to sacrifice optimal function for looks, you'd better optimize looks, or you're just getting middlin' everything. Nothing really great. Nothing really horrible. But who wants to go through all this for meh?