lyfia, thanks, and we agree. The glass company said building codes only require us to use safety (tempered) glass for the two end panels; the center three could be annealed, if the glass started 18" off the floor. How crazy is that? We'd never want to take that risk, either. Yikes. Fortunately the bid for tempered glass was only about 15% higher than annealed glass (which really surprised me.) So we'd only consider tempered 1/4" if we use glass. Laminated glass (with the plastic skin in the middle) would be the safest, but it's super pricey. I think safety glass would be OK. Another option is 1/4" plexiglass, which I think would work as a substrate for the glass mosaic, as long as I didn't go too big with the panels. (I think big plexi panels might flex, which isn't good for a grouted mosaic...?) At some point I need to go ask the folks in the stained glass/mosaic forum here. So far the pricing for thick plexiglass seems comparable to tempered glass. There would still be small grouted glass pieces on one side of the divider (we could put it on the low traffic side) but I don't think the surface would be risky for kids, since all the sharp edges would be embedded in grout. And it would be pretty hard to break. We considered colored plexiglass panes too, but it just seems so "mod" for the informal, earthy textures in the house. Colored tempered glass and frosted tempered glass are way too expensive (pushing $1000 just for the frosted glass idea, for five 5' panels.) I considered frosted films and frosted spray paint, but I think those ideas have a limited life span (especially if the house has active kids) since the spray frostings can scratch off. And DH keeps wishing for color, and he's got me agreeing. It has to be somewhat transparent or it blocks too much light. So, now considering a fairly open wooden framework, with smallish glass mosaic panels scattered. Still playing with ideas...!

Hi, Buildinva. I really like the layout of your island, which allows the area to right (on your picture) of the sink to be the scullery, leaving the nice large area on the left for your cooking prep. The back wall seems pretty nice, especially the way the stove is centered on the opposite media wall, but is there room for a little tweaking here and there, working toward improving the balance even further? My home-grown philosophy is normally more that good function will explain placement and make functional placements look right, but the rest of my philosophy is that being visually pleasing IS a very important function (not just "form" as in form vs. function). This is especially true for kitchens like yours, as it will be a major feature of that terrific room. Regarding room for tweaking, for instance, that doorway to the office/garage is very wide. I suspect there's something nice about its 6+ feet you specifically want to keep since you're not narrowing it even a foot or two to gain more width for that side of the stove, but...? (The other side is wider, although perhaps that already looks quite right looked at from within the whole?) On that other side, do you have a particular plan for that long stretch of counter? Would it be your main work space, or the island? If you plan mostly working on the island, I'm wondering if the mass of the refrigerator on the left could be balanced with a similar, not equal but similar, storage mass on the right, while still leaving good work and open visual space on each side of the stove. Still musing on the right, what's behind that wall? Could the refrigerator and/or other storage, such as pantry pull-outs or broom pullout take a foot or two from the area behind and be set flush into the run of cabinets? Or, for that matter on the left? If so, a built-in look could be accomplished with a regular refrigerator. Oh, and 45" between island and back counter? Some people really want and need it. I made mine 35" counter edge to counter edge and it was a very good decision for me. (No surprise--I laid the whole thing out with boxes and plywood first.) DH and I bump bottoms now and then, but mostly it's me there, with just a brisk step-pivot from one to the other. Just a way of saying, the only good "rules" in your kitchen are the ones you make for yourself. :)

Okay, you all have convinced me to not spend money on adding the sink to the existing laminate. Thank you. I guess I was too eager to get a kitchen that would be a functional multi-cook kitchen, and I felt that without adding the sink, all that counter space on that side of the island would be wasted. (We're not kosher, there's just a lot of us, and having two sinks would make it a lot easier for us to work together in the kitchen.) I also figured that I'd want to put the clean up sink in that location when I have the money to do it right and put dishwashers over there, so the money spent on adding the pipes wouldn't be wasted. I'll also admit that I am tired of looking for the right house with a kitchen that would work. But you are making me concerned that what I am envisioning for the final kitchen may not be as good for us as I was hoping, so I am going to post that layout on another thread with a title asking if I should buy the house at all. In the meantime, I'll post an amusing response to cpartist's very valid concern about noise, which would probably be no worse than what we have now. This is a recent conversation that occurred through the door when we heard a knock on it and thought the children were asleep: Husband: What is it? Seven-year-old: Mommy is making noises, is there something wrong? Husband: No, nothing's wrong. Go play and Mommy will make breakfast soon. Five-year-old: I knew that there was nothing was wrong. I've heard that noise lots of times.

@ SapphireStitch While it would be nice to wave a magic wand with an unlimited checkbook - I don't have that. I do have access to some money (got a HELOC). If some of the changes need to be done in stages and can be done effectively - we can do that, because the more money I have to pull upfront from the HELOC, the more I'll end up paying in interest. (yuck). I'm also not averse to acting as my own general contractor/project manager, if needed; I've done that before (successfully) But I'd rather not have to overall manage the project, just because my current employment is a boatload more demanding than my previous employment. The nice thing is that we don't have a defined deadline where "this must be done by" - no one is getting married, boatloads of relatives aren't coming to visit, etc. However, the kitchen as it currently stands is a source of daily irritation. We're getting to the point that if anyone is already in the kitchen, we try to avoid going in there until that person has left the kitchen. Tempers flare....we've got my boyfriend (who was envisioning a quiet, child-free retirement), my teenager (while she's not as much of a drama queen as some teens - she's just starting the teenage years, LOL), and me - frustrated as the primary food purchaser, preparer, organizer, clean-up person. And if my boyfriend happens to suddenly realize his blood sugar has dropped - get the hell out of the way in the kitchen. He's not very good at listening to his body - he literally passed out one time when his blood sugar dropped too low - he dashed into the kitchen, grabbed a glucerna and the last thing he remembered was opening it up - but he woke up on the floor sitting in a puddle of the stuff. (I wasn't home at the time). When either I or my teen are in the kitchen and if boyfriend does the mad dash into the kitchen - we pretty much have to drop what we are doing so he can grab something and while he stands there and he starts shoveling whatever down his throat. And since the space is so tight - it can mean leaving stuff cooking on the stove, etc. One time he dashed in, grabbed a breakfast sandwich out of the refrigerator, yanked what was already cooking in the microwave out, and threw his sandwich in. Anyhow, I digress. I know that some of the things we want are going to be big-ticket items - new cabinets, granite or quartzite countertops, slide-in induction stove. That's why I'm also looking for cost-efficient plans, such as instead of moving the sink to the middle of the room, let's keep it on the same wall and just shorten the distance from the hot water heater to the new sink location. Let's not blow out any of the exterior walls, and we can keep the current windows, dishwasher, and refrigerator. If replacing the 10'x13' current laminate would be cheapest to match new hardwood to the existing hardwood, rather than ripping it all out and putting tile down in a 20'x13' space, I'm fine keeping hardwood. If a nice, medium-stain maple cabinet is cheaper than white painted cabinets, I'm find with the the stained version... I prefer it, personally. Rather than a huge pantry cabinet, if building a pantry closet with adjustable shelves is cheaper, I'm fine with that (plus with all the small appliances and bulk-purchases from Costco and BJ's - I think it would suit our storage needs better). If getting an island fits the layout, but is out of reach - I'm fine holding off on installing island cabinets and countertop and using a kitchen table in the meantime. And because we don't have a "get it done by" date... once I have a really solid design/layout... I have the time to shop different cabinet lines and stoves, wait for sales and then to be ready to capitalize on hopefully a decent deal. I don't know if it's true, but I did see some articles that indicate the best time to shop for kitchen cabinets is November to early January.