5' deep? Is it one of those cases where the "U" is 5' but the actual distance between the window to the opposite side, say an Island, could be more. If that distance is about 12', you have room for a table and circulation. I am having hard time underestanding that the architect or a drafter allowed 5' for table and circlation when some hallways are 5'. I have seen small breakfast nooks that are 9x11 and they work nice, depending on the placement of the door. An ideal size, is 11x12, or bigger, depending on the size of the house.

Since budget is a big consideration, I think it's great that you can solve some of the issues by trimming. Rather than adding to your budget in the bookshelf corner, I agree that keeping it to the wall mounted shelves and the Boos cart is an excellent idea. Much easier on the budget, and useful for all the reasons you mentioned. You can put some big, nice looking items on the shelves so that it doesn't become visual clutter, and is still useful storage. On a lower shelf like that, a single large roaster can be more visually appealing than a bunch of bowls, for example. You can't plan for everything and things change. For instance, if your rolling needs outgrow your little lowered rolling station, you can, at some point, switch out the cart for a marble topped one at rolling height, and put butcher block on your built-in marble to raise it to counter height. Since you have the lip, you probably wouldn't even need to secure it. Oh! You could actually do that now, get a butcher block to fit there. It would extend your counter space, be convenient to the sink, and protect the marble when you're not using it for pastry. I'm still concerned about that whole end with the fridge but it might just be something you'll have to live with, since you can't move it to the bookshelf area. I really suggest you do a mockup using cardboard boxes and tape to make sure it's going to work for you. It would be a shame to do this whole remodel and then be unhappy. Much better to slow down a little and be sure now. You might find that the corner beside the fridge is just fine and the layout works really well for you! But if it doesn't, better to know now. Or it might be that you can use some of the money you saved on the window seat to put a narrower, built-in fridge in the bookshelf corner. Whatever you can do to make it comfortable, and make it work. BTW, I have a cupboard that opens into a doorway in my currently-being-installed kitchen, and I just love it! Another BTW, if the issues with your hands are soft tissue, I highly recommend Feldenkreis therapy.

OneRidgeOff: fabulous idea! We use blankets on our couch so I can take them off when guests come over, even though our dogs are the non-shedding variety! benjesbride: We thought about moving the stove because we don't love where it currently sits (or the fridge for that matter), however if I move it next to the sink, I will have virtually no landing space next to it and certainly no space to prep between the sink. Even if we move the sink to the peninsula, the stove would still be next to the window and behind that is a laundry room and the roof above is where two points of the room meet, making venting for the hood difficult as well (there would have to be some jigs and jogs to get it out through the roof in a good spot). The walk way goes to the laundry room/garage and the other door is to the dining room; so not much flow through there except taking food to the dining room (only on holidays most likely) or doing laundry. However, if my husband is cooking, I can go through the dining room and into the laundry without ever disturbing the path from sink/prep to stove, which is why I favored saving money on moving everything versus sticking to the NKBA guidelines strictly. Also, making the peninsula the whole width of the kitchen (which I still want to do badly), still means I won't have 48" between the counter and my pantry for the main pathway into the kitchen if I keep the seating behind it. However, you have made me think and I will have to play around with those ideas in the Ikea planner; just have to weigh the pros and cons of the "best" layout versus cost. cpartist: thank you; I value your opinion. My thought was that a table can easily be set up in our three seasons room for large holidays and still be plenty connected to the kitchen without having to be "in" the kitchen. chocolatebunny123: we may have to just take the loss, as our needs are very different from most others as we don't have children and don't generally sit in our kitchen to eat. However, I know when we sell in 10-15 years, there will likely be families with kids moving in (our neighborhood is mostly owned by the original owners from the 80s and most have grown children and retiring). We also have a fourth bedroom in the basement I'm thinking about removing (gasp!) when we renovate the basement in another year or so and I know that will affect our home value considerably. I have been enjoying hearing the differing opinions in response to my post though. I feel like I have been seeing a lot of people who are building with just one large area off the kitchen for a large table and a lot of island seating, rather than our current setup from the 80s. Interesting how times change! Maybe when we sell, our kitchen will be "back in style!"

Dining chairs with arms are much more difficult to get in and out of than those without arms, and must be scooted back a ways to do so. The depth of the curves on your chairs makes them almost as deep as arms. The metal protectors that came on my "good" dining set slide very well on the rug. The plastic ones we bought for the kitchen set can get dirt/sand imbedded in them if not used on a rug. My kitchen table is the same width and length as yours, although it's a rectangle so has more surface space at each end. We usually have 6 to 8 people for birthdays, holidays, etc. and with 8 people, putting the serving dishes on the table gets very crowded, but that may depend on how many offerings you have. Anne