Thanks, live_wire_oak! Let me find some more details to post. You've put your finger on exactly what I'm worrying about ... I'd like to make sure the island cooking zone is functional for teaching children. And teaching my friends, who all seem to be turning gluten-free and/or vegetarian. They repeatedly ask for lessons instead of the boxed meals I give them now - but that's all I can handle from my tiny rental kitchen. I am planning a 42" w 27" d high CFM island hood with a remote blower, so that I can do some of my "grease" and "spice" cooking there, without smoking up the house. What I'm worried about is counter space and accessible storage for my spices, lentils, pots and pans, since I'll have no upper cabinets. Thanks again, and more soon!!

Yes, entry is movable, too, it's kind of nice at this point that everything is mainly on paper. I'm sure I'll feel a lot more panicky/tied-down once we actually start (hopefully 1st week of March). And thanks for the ideas. I don't think I actually want a message center, I thought about it but DH and I are thinking it will be more a magnet for clutter than useful to us. We have a full study/den downstairs (next to the foyer) which is where computers and bills and the like go. I'm thinking of putting the kitchen phone at the end of the buffet (end closest to kitchen) and maybe using a drawer there to hold a phone book or message pad or the like. But I don't think I want more than that. That said, though, it is interesting to think that the space could be expanded that direction for whatever we end up using it for. I guess I should double-check with the architect, though, it may be that little short wall is load bearing - that's the top edge of our existing house, and I know the columns (square dots in the buffet) are load bearing, so maybe it has to stay? Or at least would be expensive to move. I was reading another thread where someone posted about the various work zones and the way things should flow and thinking that my latest proposal, a few pictures up, might actually be pretty functional. With zones near each other and ideally going around the kitchen so you don't interfere. They talked about incoming/storage, where we could put grocery bags on the island and then store into fridge and pantry. Then next is prep, where food comes out of those and onto the island near the prep sink. Then cooking, where we go to the range and ovens. Finally I think was clean-up, where we move on over to sink and dishwasher. Anyway, made me happy to think that at least I'm not thinking things that are completely dysfunctional :-)

1) I don't like the relation of the cooktop to the sink in option one. The island is starting to impede a straight walk between the two. 2) Your microwave should be closer to the fridge. Usually whatever you are microwaving is coming out of the fridge, so it makes sense to group the two. 3) Is there a specific reason why you want the ovens near the cooktop? Do you make a lot of dishes that start on the cooktop and finish in the oven? Unless you do, there isn't a functional reason to group the two, and it can actually be nice to have the ovens a little more out of the way. Takes a bit of pressure off the main work area -- can mean someone who is just baking can set up in a different area away from the cooktop action, etc. 4) You will get the best feedback if you post the floor plan for the entire floor this is on, not just the kitchen close-up. It is easier for us to consider traffic patterns in and out of the room if we can see all the surrounding rooms too. 5) There is a desk in the pantry? Is there a window in there too (which is not typically a good idea when it comes to keeping food fresh)? Because I cannot imagine wanting to sit and work in a dark closet when I could be out in the light and beauty and space of the dining room and using that big dining table instead. 6) This is quite a large kitchen, and you should be wary of creating a kitchen where the key components are too far away from each other to be convenient. You'll hear often people joking about needing roller skates to get around, and you are veering into that territory here. One thing that really would help cut down on that and also make it easier for multiple cooks to work at once would be a prep sink. If it is spread out from the clean-up sink, you won't ever be far from a water source while working, no matter where you are in thr kitchen, and that will be more convenient. 7) To the same point, having a lot of counter between the sink and cooktop is ideal, but you are almost verging on too much here. It's putting the cooktop and sink slightly too far apart to go back and forth between them easily (like to dump boiling pasta water). Definitely mock that distance up in real life and see if it feels comfortable for you. You might look more at having a deeper counter there (30-36" deep) rather than such a long counter. A deeper counter means you can line up your ingredients and appliances and still have room to work in front of them, yet you can reach everything without moving around as much, and the sink and cooktop could also then be a bit closer together. 8) The island is a barrier between your sink and your fridge in all of these. Imagine taking produce out of the fridge and wanting to prep it, which is almost always the start of any cooking process. The first thing you'd need to do is wash what you just took out of the fridge, so the first stop after you go to the fridge is almost always the sink. Currently, you will have to walk about 16 feet and around the island just to go from step 1 to step 2 in your normal cooking process. It's going to be annoying and feel a little ridiculous, especially if you forget one or two items from the fridge and start running back and forth. Ideally, we usually aim for kitchens where you might take, like, 3 steps or maybe one step and a pivot to go from the fridge to the sink to start prepping. For kitchens where the fridge gets a lot of action from non-cooks (snackers), it can be desirable to place the fridge a little farther away to keep those people out of the kitchen work zones, but we're talking maybe an 8 foot walk from the sink and still a straight line from the sink in such cases.

Your dining room is far from the kitchen and not too easy to bring food and stuff from the kitchen as you have to go through your foyer. Can you move the windows in the kitchen? If you can then ideally the fridge could go on the wall to the right of the sink, then have your dishwasher and the range could go where the fridge is now shown. (see revised drawing) Right now as it's designed you walk in from the mudroom and you're practically in your workspace. I would move the door from the mudroom down as far as it can go as shown below. I would also switch to a counter depth fridge.