Drawings or pictures would really help. There are lots of ideas in everyone's heads, I'm sure, but we need to see the rest of it. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking you could make that entire wall a "wall of tall". Meaning that you can put the fridge in the middle, wall oven/micro (if using those) in a stack to one side, and a pantry on the other side. But that would require you to have an island or other substantial landing space nearby.

just my 2 cents.. i currently have the set up of your first drawing. where you have the pantry i have a wall to the living room, i put a 6 inch deep 5 foot high free standing shelf along the wall (easy to make) and i keep anything in glass jars on that, i have a reach in pantry.(where your deck is i have a bed room with a bathroom next to it, door facing the kitchen, and the pantry is between the bedroom and bath), the shelf i have is narrow enough not to impede the entry next to the peninsula, and it keeps me from worrying about having a glass jar break in the pantry, everyone who sees it thinks its a great idea (i keep remains of boxes of pasta in canning jars etc). my kitchen is open to the dining room, which no one who i see with this design uses as a dining room because the walk way to the sliding glass doors eventually takes precedence (Florida = Lani), or if they do, the table is pushed up against the wall which leaves seating for 4. i also have a slim cabinet and a semi-corner upper cabinet(s) on the wall to the right of the sink,my dish washer is in the spot of your original drawing, i have a lazy susan corner on the bottom in the corner. The over hang of the upper cabinets makes a spot to park the appliances with a clean up area right next to the sink which keeps things from sprawling, i have a set of drawers instead of a cabinet on the outside of the dishwasher, very handy.. . It seems to me that some people are sit-down-at-the-table types and some are more casual island eaters.. when my daughter was younger we used the large area of the peninsula to make bread and such from the dining room side, that way she could sit up and reach and it was a nice area to use for lots of things. the actual work flow on this for me is parking the grocery's on the peninsula and on flat stove top to load fridge, the biggest problem i have is with the microwave. first had it on the Pinn but if two people were in the kitchen there would be an issue with doing anything with the sink, i moved it to the other side of the sink, between it and the stove, its a better location but it uses up a lot of room and its awkward to get things in and out, for that reason alone i liked the idea of a microwave area. it looks like you currently have a microwave installed in the wall next to the fridge? My neighbor put his on the counter and then made a huge space above for an appliance garage, (think just one big shelf), you'd only have to close off the underside of the stairs really; the cool thing is he used a painting hinged on the corner side as a door. i would say live with it for a minuet first, and then if you were going to do anything i'd put a pantry at the end of the room like in the 3-D model Anna has, also the peninsula, if you are not going to use that room then you might want to shorten it, mine is a bit tight and the other issue is where to put the trash.. if you are an under the sink person then fine, but otherwise i ended up putting it at the end of the peninsula, now its tucked under on the outer side with a stool in front. what is really amazing is that so many people spent so much of their time to help you with this, and that i actually sat here and read each post.. it had a coffee table conversation feel to it, very well done everybody :) best of luck with the new home, the only other thing i would say is, you have to decide if you and SO need a break from the stress of actually buying the house before you start tearing it up (warning: only do ONE ROOM at a time) or if you are the kind of folk who like to get it all out of the way so you can be done with it.. may your home always be filled with love (and big ideas).. Lin

Thanks, David, but I figured this out thanks to advice from my KD. We moved the 2 cans to the other side of the joist. She had designed them to be 54" OC (9' ceilings, forgot that part of the formula when I was stressing yesterday) and in their new location, they'll be 57" OC. Close enough for the remodeling game. If we run into a similar situation for another room, I will definitely keep disc lights in mind.

@mama goose_gw zn6OH do you think the French Hutch would look ok where you had it next to the sink? By not using it, I'm sad to loose the contrast of style/finish but it would fill up the entire space between window & wall. I just can't even visualize it. Its 62 wide, 24 deep on bottom, and 91 tall. Would also love anyone's input on finishings based on the look of my range, white shaker cabinets. The floors are heart of pine. The backsplash is a white painted brick. I have a living brass faucet and white farmhouse sink. I'm starting to look at countertops but will do a white carrara or quartz that looks like marble. I definitely love a "french farmhouse" look Please make suggestions on: 2nd sink & faucet Lighting over island & sink Cabinet/appliance hardware Island stained or different color? Y'all are so great and have taken so much stress off of me this week! THANK YOU! I'm overwhelmed with making decisions!