I agree that the dining room is a bit tight. But what would bother me more than the size of the dining room is that, from one end of the island, one has a straight view of the powder room toilet if the PR door is left open. See the red line below. I also don't like that angled doorway into the tiny little hallway by the PR. That whole area seems cramped. I would turn the PR by 90 degrees and move the PR door into the hallway across from the pantry door. That would actually hide the view into the PR much better than what you have. Then I'd get rid of that angled door and incorporate the tiny hallway partly into the utility room and partly into the kitchen. To increase the size of the dining room, I would get rid of the built in buffet... when you need a buffet for a sit-down meal, it is unlikely that anyone will be sitting at the island so you can move the stools away and use the raised portion of the island as your buffet space. Then,I'd push the island about 12 inches toward the dining room and move the cased opening about 12 to 18 inches closer to the kitchen end. I'd also rearrange the kitchen significantly to make it more convenient. To me, the fridge needs to be readily convenient to the stove top. The oven can be moved somewhat out of the main cooking zone because dishes that cook in the oven are usually completely "put together" before they're popped into the oven and, once in the oven, they cook basically unattended until ready to be pulled out and served. Here's a sketch of how I might revise...

Anytime you can put money into your shell, it benefits you in various ways. Sure, there is the typical reduced energy costs. But there are things that you do not put a price on that you gain from. A lot of people put in elaborate hvac equipment to provide comfort. However what about instead, spend less money on shell upgrades that will give a bigger effect on the performance and not require maintenance? Upgraded shells actually require less elaborate hvac and makes your home more comfortable. drafty and cold spots are eliminated in the home. This means you can sit by your wall on a cold night and not feel a radiation draft off the wall. One size doesnt fit all with the design, however most homes can benefit with similar applications depending on climate. One that works in all climates is air sealing. NEVER let a contractor tell you your house is too tight and it needs to breath. Make your home as tight as possible and then you can control the air inside the house. its easier to control humidity. easier to control fresh and stale air. spray foam is the typical go to for a lot of people. while its a great product, does not give you the gains many claim, still can give you the cold draft feel I am talking about, and you can achieve a similar air tight effect with cheaper products. While I have done some fairly extreme energy saving design, its obviously a commitment for the home and design does suffer due to it. But you can still greatly boost the performance of the home without adding much cost. A cost that would pay for itself in a very short amount of time. At a minimum, try to achieve these goals. They are not too hard, but can provide a life time of comfort and lower bills as we all know energy will continue to increase in cost. 1. Air seal. Number one. Stop air moving through your walls. This is coming from everywhere. sill plates, through the wall, around windows and doors, through outlets, can lights lose tons of energy. List goes on. ALl of these locations need addressed and there are plenty of products on the market to do so that in most cases do not cost much more. Make your exterior sheathing your air barrier plane. Caulk and tape the exterior sheathing (Huber Zip sheathing is a great product I recommend). Stop the air before it even enters your house. Note- not to be confused with a vapor barrier. Do not forget your ceiling. Just as important. The common trend is to load the ceiling with can lights. Google thermal imagining for can lights and you can see how much for your energy goes through can lights. If you must use them, use air tight insulated cans, sealing the gyp to the can rims. This will reduce (not eliminate) energy loss. eliminating it requires a little more effort. Electrical boxes both in the ceiling and walls should also be sealed for air infiltration. 2. Insulate. Add exterior foam board insulation. Consider at min. 1", 1.5-2" all the better. Once you get over 1.5" however, you need a designer familiar with the details. That will help seal the exterior wall if joints are taped and foamed. This reduces some of the air infiltration. More importantly it creates a small thermal break at your exterior studs. You have studs going 16" oc (some cases 24" if you want to add more insulation). So every 16", you have next to no insulation. On most houses this accounts for a framing factor of 20-25%. Lots of big windows, this factor increases due to support studs and headers. Assuming 25% for your design, a typical r19 batt (2x6 framed wall) actually reduces its whole wall r value to around r14. Adding 1" of exterior foam board adds a continuous r5, bumping that up to r19. This puts insulation on the oustide of the stud and helps to reduce the cold draft off the interior of the wall. More foam, the better. It doesnt matter what you put in the wall, it all gets reduced by the framing factor. Advertised r value is never what you actually get in the real world. For the interior of the studs, consider a blown product such as cellulose or fiberglass. Batts are cheap, but you get what you pay for. They are rarely installed correctly. blown products fill all of the voids, around outlets, pipes, etc. Blown products will come with an upgraded price, but still a lot less than foam walls and gives you similar r value. If you stop the air at the sheathing line, spray foam is useless since you are already stopping the air. (FYI- fiberglass or cellulose does not stop air movement like closed cell and open cell foams can) if your head is spinning, its probably normal. There are many ways to enhance the performance of your shell. Remember, if you increase r values and add exterior insulation, get your hvac company to recognize that and run their manual J calcs to reflect that. You will most likely be able to down size their equipment, which reduces the upfront cost of the gear, sometimes offsetting some or most of the added insulation costs. Check with your local utility. They often offer energy enhancing rebates. For example, mine offers up to around 7200 in rebates to hitting certain energy efficient goals. Oddly enough, a code min. 2x6 wall will not hit it. Adding insulation and air sealing to hit the goals, factor in the rebates, and your upfront cost of construction is LESS than a code min, worse performing house. Take your time to read and research. Green Building Advisor is a great resource. They are freaks about conservation there, but lots of good stuff to pull from. Check out Building Science website as well. see the link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Building Science high r assemblies

We are a couple of empty nesters with kids far away. We frequently entertain with small groups of less than ten. Family is small, so even holidays do not bring a big crowd. Working in the kitchen - one of us is the prep cook, moving between fridge and sink area, then to countertop next to sink for chopping. The other is the cook, moving between the chopped food and the stove. We could most days of the week and every weekend. Our friends do not work in the kitchen, but like to hang out close by. We expect them to hang out in the new sunroom adjacent and open to the kitchen. Layout - water and gas can be moved fairly easily. Moving the sewer could be done, but would be a major headache. We cannot move the walls, windows or doors. Tiny walk-in pantry at far end. Appliances - 48" stove and hood, French door fridge set into alcove to appear as counter depth, standard DW, 30" apron sink, MW behind cabinet door. Goal - we've lived with chaos so long, simply having a real kitchen again is my goal. Definitely going with function as the main driver. Want to minimize the clutter left on the countertops. Other - would like to hide the coffee pot, but can't figure out a space that is close to the fridge and the sink to do so. (Heavy coffee drinker wants a spot of cream in his coffee.)

Dear Nctn, Hopefully, whomever you decide to buy your cabinetry from will re draw your kitchen layout and add fillers and end panels you’ll need to actually get all of your cabinetry to fit and your appliances to work properly. And produce 3D perspective drawings so you’ll know exactly what to expect before your new kitchen shows up so you can make all of your mistakes on paper. I’m assuming you want a permanent long term solution to your kitchen design dilemma. You’ve done a good job but there are some common mistakes you’ve made in drawing your kitchen. Let’s Review: You’ll need fillers to the right of the refrigerator so you can open the door 90 degrees and not hit the wall with the door handle. You may want an end panel on the left of the ref to stop the counter top coming from the left. And to more easily attach the wall cabinet above the refrigerator and give your refrigerator a built in look (create an enclosure to slide the ref into). You do not want your refrigerator to open to the left. You’ll have to open the door get what you need, back up and close the door to get to your counter top. Your island is 4 feet away and with seating there is not much room to work there. To do all this extra work will suck hours from your life you’ll never get back. Loading and unloading this refrigerator will be the bane of your existence. How many times a day do you use your refrigerator? You may also want to add end panels to your oven cabinet for a more finished look (like your refrigerator). A plain one the right and a wains end panel matching the door style you select on the left end that is fully exposed. Your oven appears to be too high in your cabinet. You’ll want to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations. The bottom of your upper oven is over 4 feet off of the floor, and controls over 6 feet. I agree with mama_goose if you move your ref your kitchen would be much more efficient your work triangle is much smaller. And fewer bigger cabinets give you greater utility and could be less expensive too.You may also want to make your 6 - 18 wall cabinets, 3 - 36” wide cabinets. The one 36” wide cabinet should be less expensive than two 18” cabinets and the 34 ½” wide interior will give you greater storage capacity and your elevation will look almost the same. You’ll need a filler to the right of that run of wall cabinets right of the cook top. And one on the left by the oven cabinet so you can open that left wall cabinet door 90 degrees. You may want to add end panels to the wall cabinet ends to the left and right of the hood. It may also look odd to have your wall cabinets die into the wall as opposed to turning the corner of the sink wall. Since you have a wall cabinet adjacent to your refrigerator. I don’t see a pantry, and don't see how the adjacent spaces, including outdoor space affect your kitchen's layout. Do you really want 4 foot isle way between your island and cook top wall, and 5 feet between you island and main sink wall? How many different combinations of appliances and cabinetry have to tried that would work to meet your needs and the space you have to work with? Are these your construction documents for your new build? Do you have a plan that shows your kitchen and all the adjacent spaces it serves? Your kitchen design drawings are the instructions and directions everyone will use to build your kitchen from. What you see is what you get. These drawings are your absolute proof you’ll get exactly what you really want or not. You can see an example set of Kitchen Interior Design Drawings here. http://www.kitchendesignco.com/kitchen-interior-design-drawings/ Hope this has been helpful Sincerely, Joe Brandao