Pretend your 90 year old grandmother who doesn't see so well is coming to visit. That's the amount of lights to leave on in the home for a showing. Add small lamps in unexpected places like a small one where your fruit bowl is in your kitchen and an uplight behind your chair next to the patio door. Turn them all on just before you leave the house for the showing. And I'd also eliminate the two small appliances in your kitchen corner, even if they needed to come back out for usage on a daily basis, you don't want them on the counter during showings. You also want to eliminate 90% of the stuff on top of the white cabinet in the den and (needless to say) the toys. A big basket that you can stuff everything in and stash in the car is a great timesaver on last minute tidying. You don't have to find a "home" for the remaining clutter. It goes with you in the car.

Re: cooktop on the island: I know you are starting to move away from this concept, but I want to emphasize how important I think it is NOT to have the cooktop on the island. This is from my experience, and I know everyone is different, but there is no way I would have the cooktop on the island simply from a safety standpoint. When my kids were younger, they sat at the island to do homework. They would have never felt comfortable sitting there if I was cooking. My mother had her cooktop on the island for 37 years, and she loved it, but the island was essentially a gigantic cooktop. She didn't do her prep there, and no one sat at the island while she cooked. Think of the times you are cooking and your oil spits. All it takes is one time...and your kids will never sit at the island again. And I wouldn't want them sitting there. Do you want your precious sweeties injured? No. Re: prep sink in the island even though you are not far from you main sink. My cutting board is in the island, and even though it is a mere 3-4 ft. from the garbage disposal, I remember the first time I used it thinking,"How do I get this crap over to the sink without making a mess on the floor?" Our house is 27 years old, and prep sinks weren't the thing in our area at the time it was built. There are times when I wish I had it, but if I would redo the kitchen, I wouldn't put one in, and here's why: our island is the perfect party magnet. Guests and family just love to hang out at the island when someone is cooking or just to socialize. When we have a large party, we use the island as a buffet table. I think I would just view the prep sink as being in the way in a situation like that. But that's me. Because we don't have a prep sink, the floor between the island and the sink can get dirtier than the rest of the kitchen. I joke that it's amazing how dirty the kitchen can get when you use it! But isn't that what kitchens are for? My mother washed her kitchen floor almost daily. But she made everything from scratch, plus she canned and froze her own vegetables and fruit. So if I have to wash that section of the floor more frequently than the rest, so be it. Another thing I would consider is the clean-up triangle. One plan had the clean-up area include the sink, DW, and table. But the refrigerator is a huge part of clean-up. There's a lot of 'stuff" you have to put away. Also think about your landing area for putting leftovers into containers. We use our, yes, you guessed it, island for this. We keep out containers in a cabinet in the island. I'm glad you are keeping an open mind about your plan. There are so many good ideas here. No kitchen plan is perfect. You're doing the right think by being more aware of your habits this week, so you can determine what your needs are. Oh, and one more thing. There are many things in our gorgeous, upscale kitchen, that are wrong, mostly due to placement. But after living her for 22 years, we have gotten so accustomed to it, that we would never spend the money to "make it right". Now that we are retired, we would rather use that money for travel. Just food for thought, no pun intended.

Hey, everyone! Thanks for your advice! We'll be changing the cabinets to white shakers. They definitely look like it would be a good match if we go with a lighter cabinet. I'm not sure about the floor material, but it was stained before. I've been running some looks, and I can't quite find a tile that I think looks too great here. We're considering trying to extend the floor, but we'll need to take a piece over to get it matched at a flooring store.

Visit, in person, not on line, a very large, well established lighting company. Talk to one of the lighting specialists there. Look at options. They can work within your budget. Your kitchen is a workshop, the most used room in your house so don’t skimp on this step and definitely don’t skimp on lighting. We remodeled our kitchen two years ago and I am still so happy with the lighting. We had been visiting our family in California when we visited such a showroom. The help we were given even after we disclosed the 3000-miles-away location of our project convinced us to buy the under cabinet lighting from that store. We looked at several options including motion on/off, touch on/off, continuous wired or separate workstation wired and this knowledgeable man patiently guided us through the pros and cons. We purchased all of this through him. Those big, old fashioned six inch can lights can be replaced with tiny LED “can lights” properly spaced so they don’t throw shadows onto your counters. I was skeptical of the value of under cabinet lighting, but I am now converted! I often turn on the light over my coffee station as an easy wake up light while I let the cat out, gather my IPod, and start the coffee. In the evening after dinner we often leave one set on to guide those late night snack trips to the kitchen.