Interrupting for the range trim, its gotta have something! Seriously - you need to choose one of them, island, normal or tall. You sound like you should get the island trim (1" tall). If you get the default (4-8" tall trim), it will cover over more of the backsplash than you'd like. For the hutch, remember that black is a pita for showing dust. I gotz the following stuff about the appliance garage - have you thought about how those doors will open? It looks like one will open towards you and without special hinges may actually block you from being able to get into it. It doesn't look like a good place for a mixer because it would need to be pulled out onto the little piece of counter towards one side of the sink - not a lotta room to sit other ingredients nearby. Remember to ask what the clearance height is for the appliance garage and know the height of your mixer. With framed cabinets and large mixers, it might not have enough height. When I used to own a kitchenaid mixer, I felt like I needed a certain amount of overage to be able to pick the darned thing up because it weighed so much. I don't know if I'd be comfortable using a toaster that close to a water source.

So, at the risk of responding to myself too much and becoming an echo chamber, I have some more thoughts after having 15 people for dinner last night. The first family arrived, and we all clustered in the too-small kitchen, which meant someone was in my way if I needed to take something out of the oven, stir something on the stove, grab something from the fridge, or put something in the sink/dishwasher. Once we moved into the dining room, the serving space was too small (the cabinetry on the dining room wall). And once people sat down at that side of the table, it was totally cramped and almost impossible to get food. Yet we all clustered in that area anyway, since there was really nowhere else to sit. As I was standing there, I realized we had NO ONE in the sunroom - our largest space - all night. Instead, we were all in the tiny kitchen or cramped dining room. So it's pulling me toward this expansion idea, with the intention to move the dining table into the sunroom (the table would have at least as much traffic space on either side as it does now, and it will only impede traffic to the bar or deck, rather than the hallway/rest of the house). We would also have more space in the kitchen for people to gather without getting in the way as much. Anyway, I'm leaning toward an island like this: The shallow cabinet at one end could hold cookbooks, and this would give adequate overhang and as-needed worktop/serving space with 25-30" depth, rather than the approx. 40" needed with a standard island. Math: 143" width - 25.5" (cabinet run) - 42" aisles (x2) = 33.5" for the proposed island solution. Any thoughts?

Mama_Goose: thanks for the reference pictures, with that style hood I like how it looks with the cabinets spaced away from the hood, it makes it feel more open. Buehl: We have a few more cabinets available than what I've shown in the drawings. In total we have: 4 - 30" base cabinets with doors and a drawer 1 - 30" base cabinet with drawers 1 - 36" sink cabinet (in my layouts, I turned a 30" base cabinet into the sink to enlarge the walk ways 1 - 18" base cabinet with drawers 2 - 24" pantries that are full height 1 - 24" base cabinet with just doors 1 - 40" upper cabinet 1 - 46.5" upper cabinet 1 - 20" upper cabinet 1 - 20" upper cabinet that is short because it goes under a load carrying beam. I also have a 60" base and 60" upper cabinet set that have different dimensions; the base cabinets are 1.5" shorter than the others and the uppers are 3" taller than the others. I have no idea why anyone would do this. The pink walls are load bearing walls. The load bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room would be easy enough to open up, but the one in the living room - kitchen area is not so easy. Benjesbride: I like your layout, but unfortunately we need 4 bedrooms and the office. My husband works from home most days so it's important the office is a separate room (although it doesn't need to be as big as it is now). We've played around with putting the kitchen in the office; but then we'd need to build walls in the current dining room to make that a separate office and I'm afraid that would make the house feel closed off. Zsmith : I'm not a fan of seeing the kitchen when you walk in either, but have kind of resolved myself to it unless we're willing move some load bearing walls. If it weren't for the cathedral ceilings in the living room, the kitchen would work well in the corner where the cherry built-ins are, then put the living room in the kitchen. But that would leave half the living room with cathedral ceilngs and half with 8' ceilings and that would just be weird. (Right?) The dining room is the only space we have for eating (it is not a formal space); we used to let the kids eat breakfast on the floor on the weekends but that ended when we got a dog. I agree that I'd like to create a separation for the entryway. I want to be careful that I don't specialize the dining room for just a dining room in case we change our minds in the future. I was thinking about doing something like this for the separation (someday):

Prep Zone...This is the zone where food preparation takes place. Food prep can be anything from making a sandwich to preparing a multi-course meal. It includes cleaning/rinsing food, cutting, mixing, processing, etc. For many people, especially those with small kitchens, their Prep Zone is also their Baking Center for rolling out dough, etc. 70% or more of the work and time spent in the kitchen is spent prepping. It's the most often used and longest used zone in your kitchen! So, this zone should be placed in the most desirable place – where you will want to work and will enjoy working. . Cooking Zone...This is the zone where you take the food you've already prepped and apply heat...cooktop, oven, microwave (MW). Only 10% of the work and time spent in the kitchen is spent actually cooking. This is the least used Zone, relatively speaking. Think about it, you usually don't spend the entire time standing in front of your oven or cooktop watching your food cook. Sure, there are some things that do have to be stirred constantly, but most things do not. And even then, you usually still spend more time prepping before you begin cooking. This is the zone that should be the most protected from traffic, especially traffic that's "just passing through". . Cleanup Zone...This is the zone where the dirty dishes are handled! Tasks include clearing the table and counters, loading the dishwasher (DW), wiping down the table and counters, sweeping the floor, etc. Since the DW is in this zone, it also includes unloading the DW, so Dish Storage should be nearby – more on this later. 20% or less of the work and time spent in the kitchen is spent cleaning up – most of which is not spent at the sink (see above). [In the past -- pre automatic DWs -- far more time was spent cleaning up because all dishes were done by hand. Today, the majority of dishes are washed in the DW and, with today's DWs & DW detergents, dishes don't even need to be rinsed! So, the amount of time spent in this zone is far less today! BTW, this is where the paradigm of "the sink must be in front of a window" came from – back when so much time was spent hand washing & drying dishes). Today, it makes more sense to have the Prep Zone in front of window or in the most preferred view/location.] . . OK, now we know what the primary zones are. So, how do we design a kitchen keeping them in mind? . Prep Zone...works best when it contains a water source (sink) and is next to or across an aisle no more than 48" wide or so from the Cooking Zone. Trash & recycle bins should also be in the Prep Zone. More trash and recyclables are generated during prepping and cooking and for much longer work time than cleaning up, so place the trash/recycling in the Prep Zone and near the Cooking Zone. It should have a minimum of 36" of counter space (with at least 42" much, much better) that is next to a sink that is uninterrupted by the Cleanup Zone (dirty dish "storage"). If you have only one sink, then the Prep Zone is on the side of the sink opposite from the DW. (The DW side of the sink is the Cleanup Zone in this scenario.) . Cooking Zone...works best when next to/across from the Prep Zone (see Prep Zone). It's also nice to have a water source as well as trash & recycling nearby. Note that a pot-filler does not count as a water source since pot-fillers do not have a drain, a sink bowl, or access to both hot and cold water. . Cleanup Zone...works best when separated from the Prep & Cooking Zones. This can be on the opposite side of a one-sink kitchen from the Prep Zone or it could be in a completely separate location (the latter usually only works well if you have two sinks). Obviously, it also needs a water source and the DW.