There is a category of small and medium kitchens in the finished kitchens blog. It might help you to visualize the size of thing and get some ideas if you browse through that. There are a variety of appliances and designs to see, actually quite an eclectic mix of things. It really does put some perspective on the size of things. Also, just as a general note, an 18 cuft fridge is rather small. The suggestion was made to me that you should start with approx 5 cubic feet for each family member after a basic fridge of 12 cubic feet. Most modern day stand alone fridges are approx 20 cubic feet as an average. many are now up to 29 cubic feet, though I believe the largest counter depth stand alone is 25 cubic feet.......

Wow, lovely home. Try to go with 30" deep counters on at least the bottom wall, although I would do both. You can do this inexpensively by building a 2x6" frame behind the counters, or more expensively by ordering extra-deep countertops. You will incur the extra square footage cost on the countertop materials, but it's sooooo worth it. I grew up in the tiniest kitchen but never really noticed because it had 30" deep counters. This will also make the kitchen easier to work in by virtue of shrinking the middle aisle. Also, those uppers over your prep space will be much less in your face, although I would try to get rid of them altogether or at least not let them come down to face height.. it's miserable prepping with uppers in your face. As for layout, I would make the bar sink 6" larger, the cleanup sink 6" smaller, and switch their positions. Like this: Top wall from left to right: 24" DW with dish storage above, 30" cleanup sink w/ trash underneath, rest of wall as shown in your plan. 18" lower next to Fridge becomes dish storage. Bottom wall from left to right: 18" dish storage overflow/cookbooks, 36" cab but with larger square prep sink instead of small round bar sink and trash underneath, two 27" cabs for your prep for a total of 54" inches of prep space (you gain 6" because of the loss of the DW from this wall), rest of wall as shown in your plan.

Thanks for the awesome advice ladies. I have been away from the forums..we were out of town dealing with family illness. ANyway, on a brighter note..back to the reno! Jeri: I am not familiar with the designated broom closet thingy. I would love to see it. I am having a closet set up for that in my kitchen area, too. FirstHouse: Any idea who it was that put the cubbies underneath? I'd love to see pictures. I can somewhat visualize since my current W/D is up on a pedestal but curious how useful they would be if I had to stand on my head to see in them. YKWIM? I am getting nervous abt the 3x3 space. I guess I never thought abt that! I am so thrilled to be getting it changed, I am blinded to the downsides... Jsweenc: Thank you for your thoughts...Where are u in NC? We r in CHarlotte...been here abt 5 years after being out in the midwest for most of our married life.DH is a USC alum/fan so we have the running.."real" Carolina discussion a lot! Of course, there really isn't any discussion since *we* know the answer! Anyway, you are very kind to play with my layout. That wall between the two rooms already exists. We had just planned to cut a hole in it for the door. The front part (where the powder room will go) is my current laundry room and the back part (cubbies) is a storage room that backs up to the laundry room. We are stealing that space from the garage if you will. The back wall is approx 10 ft wide. W/D are standard front loaders at 27" but GC said allow 30" for each one. Not a lot of space. It looks a lot bigger on paper!! We are moving our entrance to the house to back area from a door that is currently on the other side of the commode wall in the drawing. I am putting a coat closet there.So I will have additional storage for coats besides the ONE they are to put in the cubbie.(yeah, right...I'll need to do an inservice with the kids on that!) I am not married to closing everything off in cabinets. I am leaning toward wanting to close my laundry area off from the powder room with a pocket door though. I'd like to think my LR will be neat and clean but it really never is.I suffer from CHAOS which is an acronym for "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome" because my house is always a mess.I feel like that back area will suffer the most even with additional storage. I thought about switching the kid's zone to the file drawer area but worried about the mess. I also have that window right in the middle. Both of those windows currently exist and moving them would require a lot of additional expense. I toyed with the idea of putting the powder room on the window side but figured it would make it dark down the hallway. That would free up cubbie space on the other side. I'd LOVE to hear what you guys think about all of this....My GC emailed me yesterday and wants to finalize things next week!!!!! Yikes....I'm getting a little panicky...

Thanks much for all the comments - sorry the excel layout leaves a lot to be desired to understand the flow to the rest of the house and the exterior - which is pretty important. I'll try to lay something out - but basically, the backdoor comes in off the driveway which is at say elevation 0, then there is a first step down into the first part of back yard, about where the steps down are from the EIK that takes you down to -4...to a lower bluestone patio that goes into a walkout basement right below the butler pantry. Then, the backyard slopes down yet again another 4 get to -8 total to the right of the end of the house. I will draw up. What do you think right min. size is for a 4-top round EIK? In my "excel" lingo, the black rectangles are doorways and the orange are windows, so the thought was to create a floor to ceiling glassed in EIK, which is the best view of the backyard. (Top of plan is north, so is going to be south facing which is a concern). The door out of the EIK is the secondary access to the backyard - and the grill. Good point about the location of the refrigerator - thanks again for all comments...