It would be possible to put a play corner in the first two drawings but not in alternative 2. I would recommend a corner of storage furniture to corral the toys. I am usually a fan of built-ins but not in this case because eventually the kids will outgrow their toys and you won't need that storage there anymore. The built-in exception would be a window seat under one of those windows on the plans. Some of the storage could be cabinets or bookshelves for bins or toys underneath a window seat. I'm not a fan for toy box style storage because they either become a black hole or the kids throw everything out of them looking for what they want and then do't put the rest of it back. As for the kitchen placement, near to the deck would be best in you like to eat outdoors on the deck or entertain on the deck. We entertain a lot and the kitchen is on the other side of the house from the patio. It's a real pain and a big part of my design brief for the architect was for the kitchen to be next to the patio. I even wanted a pass-through window from the kitchen sink to the patio for ease of clean up but unfortunately I wasn't able to work that out.

Welcome Missyjo! I have a few questions and comments to start. I don't have a lot of time right now, but I thought I'd ask them/make them now b/c others may have the same questions/comments (and if I have time later, I will have the answers for further work on the layout). Why are you not willing to change the cooktop and sink locations? This will severely limit what you can do. The less flexible you are, the less we can do to fix issues we see. Honestly? I think the Kitchen looks cramped. Aisles... The aisle in b/w the sink wall and island should be more like 45", 42" at the very least (42" for one person, 48" for two people, 45" to be able to pass b/w an open DW door and the island). You don't have a wide enough aisle b/w the kitchen table and the island. You need more like 48" with no seating on the island on that end (which you don't appear to want) - assuming you have seats on the island side of the table. The aisle behind the seats is also too narrow - with seating, you need at least 44" b/w the refrigerator door and the island. Even 44" is going to be tight. Please see the "Aisle Widhts" FAQ (linked to at the end) to understand what I'm saying. Corners... Better use of the corners would be pie-cut cabinets, not the diagonal, especially since you don't have much space b/w the sink and cooktop - which is where your primary prep space will be if you don't have a prep sink in the island. A pie-cut will give you more counter frontage and better access to the corner and, for the upper, won't be so looming as the diagonal (as well as much better access to the storage!) Pantry... How would you feel about an actually pantry instead of a less-efficient/much more expensive pantry cabinet? (KDs like pantry cabinets b/c they make much more $$$ on them than they do a built-in pantry.) A built-in pantry is much more useful and, IMHO, much more "high end" than pantry cabinets. With a built-in pantry, you have access to the entire space (floor-to-ceiling), you can see where something is at a glance, things don't get lost in the depths, and you can actually reach everything! Pantry cabinets, OTOH, are too deep and things get lost, it's difficult to see/access anything more above your head - so it limits what you can/should store in the top. Think of how inaccessible storage above a refrigerator is other than the very front. Same thing. If you must have a pantry cabinet, 18" is better b/c you can than have a pullout instead of roll out tray shelves (ROTS) - so you can at least see & access things better. You still don't have some of the advantages of a built-in pantry, but it helps. I would do two 18" pull-out pantry cabinets if this is the only pantry space you have. (Pull outs are when the shelves are attached to the door and all pull out when you open the door. ROTS are the shelves that you have to pull out individually after you open the door.) Seating & Island size... Do you really need 3 types of seating w/2 practically on top of each other? Island (with too shallow an overhang *sigh*) & kitchen table space on top of each other + formal DR. That island should be at least 41.5" deep if you want island seating (1.5" overhang + 24" deep cabinets + 1" decorative door/panel on the back of the cabinets + 15" overhang). Skimping on overhang like that means either your KD knows an island won't fit in the space as-designed and is trying to cram it in there, or your KD doesn't know any better. . For reference so you understand the comments: Layout Help: How do I ask for Layout Help and what information should I include? http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2767033/how-do-i-ask-for-layout-help-and-what-information-should-i-include Kitchen Design FAQs: Kitchen work zones, what are they? http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2767031/kitchen-work-zones-what-are-they Aisle widths, walkways, seating overhangs, work and landing space, and others http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2767035/aisle-widths-walkways-seating-overhangs-work-and-landing-space-an How do I plan for storage? Types of Storage? What to Store Where? http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2767036/how-do-i-plan-for-storage-types-of-storage-what-to-store-where . Ice. Water. Stone. Fire (Looking for layout help? Memorize this first) http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2699918/looking-for-layout-help-memorize-this-first

Thank you for your designs and comments! My phone is on the fritz and I wasn't able to open house and have not been near my computer. Anthony, I like how everything is lined up but that would give me a 7' island and I was hoping for a large one since we have the space. so I think the island would need to start closer to the slider wall. Will that look strange, things not being lined up? damiarain, I had thought about moving the kitchen to the front but our windows are low, 17" from the ground. Nothing would fit under them and hardly any uppers would fit there and I already struggle with lack of cabinets.

"change flooring with dark wood tile" Not what you asked about, but I wanted to give you a heads up that dark floors in a kitchen are high maintenance. They show every teeny crumb like a boulder, and every tiny bit of dust. You will get frustrated with the amount of swiffering you will need to do. If that is fine with you, great, but I just thought it would be good to warn you.