Since we're a family who loves to cook together, we thought about this one very carefully. Planning for separate zones was what made this work for us. Zone #1 is my main prep zone. It's the largest prep space, faces the family room and has the bank of prep drawers, pull-out double trash, MW drawer and knife drawer . Zone#2 is the secondary Prep area. It's between the sink area and my prep zone. Plenty of space, although it's long and narrow. It has the best views though! Zone#3 is the sink zone. DW to left, dish drawers and cabs are there, too. Zone#4 is the cooktop area with counters on both sides. Food storage, pantry cab, pull-out spice/oils & vinegars are in this area. Zone#5 is the bar area. It has a nice counter with bar glasses above, bottles and bar tools below. It's right next to the fridge, which is very handy for getting ice, as the freezer is a big drawer with the automatic ice maker and bin right there. Zone#6 is the French door fridge & the double ovens. There's tray and platter storage above the ovens and bakeware storage below them. The end of our extra wide peninsula is directly across from this area and there's the counter right next to the fridge for another landing/prep area. Zone #7 is on the far side of the island and, technically, in the family room. There's three bar stools and storage cabs below for my many cookbooks, small appliances that I don't use weekly and two more sets of dishes. I sit here and thumb through my cookbooks to plan meals and shopping. I also put seated guests to work there, if need be ;^ P

''is there anyway to change the entrance to the 1/2 bath (ie close up that doorway and have it enter from a different room)?'' Unfortunately, the only other room it could open to is the dining room. ''Have you thought about building up? That is, place a series of half-width shelves above your island, similar to a baker's rack but centered (or not) on the main workspace and without the back.'' Like the slide in a restaurant kitchen? I'd love that, I think. I'm not sure what SMWBO will say. ''Minorly civilized version of a restaurant work table -'' What a great idea. I'd not thought of using slide-in sheets. ''here is a picture of my Boos Block "island" which sounds like something you are describing. I love it.'' I like that a lot. Not just the design, but the striking black color too. Thanks for all the ideas and pictures. I see that something like this can be function and attractive, so I will humbly petition SWMBO for an audience to present the proposal. Got to get my PowerPoint ready.

"kats meow, I completely missed that bit of info about your husband using the dining room as the office." Well, actually I think you have it. I met today with a designer to discuss all the potential remodeling of the house. We had a lengthy discussion about the kitchen. Of course, we talked about opening the kitchen to the family room entirely or greatly expanding the pass through. The problem (even though all of that seemed awesome) is that it ate up the budget and I still have a master bath that needs to be redone (separate thread on that one). I wanted to preserve as much of the kitchen footprint as I could while improving storage and workspace. Having a more open kitchen was basically more of a want than a need. That is, I don't really need a fully open kitchen although I might like how that looks. So, what was proposed is something that I think I can make work with my budget and will meet my real needs. The first idea is, yes, to move the dining table and chairs to the formal dining room. Yes, DH has his office there. Basically, the suggestion is that we use the family room as an office. Make the formal living room the main living area for guests and use the family room mostly as an office with a sofa in there for talking/TV. DH would move to my current office and I would move to the family room. Probably put in French doors between the breakfast room and the family room. The pantry would be moved to the bottom left hand corner of the breakfast room and would go from the corner to the window. New cabinets/counters in the kitchen. The new cabinets with adjustable shelves and drawers on the bottom would improve storage. For my workspace, basically extend the countertop that the cooktop is on make it deeper. it would go into what is now the breakfast room and could have countertop seating there. The counter and cabinets would extend to where the pantry is now giving me more counter and storage space. An alternative that I would like to find a way to work would be to move the refrigerator down to that area (probably to where the breakfast room opening starts) and then extend the counter/cabinets to where the refrigerator is now. The issue there would be to have enough clearance between the refrigerator and the peninsula with the cooktop since it would now be much larger and deeper. It might be better to leave the refrigerator where it is. There would be no table in the breakfast room but there would be counter seating at the peninsula. What I like about this idea is that it greatly increases my storage space and workspace. It also doesn't move around a lot of stuff in the kitchen. My house is on a slab so moving stuff around like water lines or vents can be expensive. This doesn't move around a lot of expensive stuff. We discussed the possibility of a range or moving the cooktop but those involve having to deal with venting. Of course, this means using the family room as an office. That is fine as I never felt we needed two living areas. And we move the dining to the dining room next to the kitchen. That looks better for people coming in than having people see DH's office. No one would really be going to the family room/office unless they were specifically being asked to go there.

A floor plan is needed to give any advice. If you post a thumbnail sketch with overall dimensions and all dimensions around the room, I would be happy to do a proper floor plan we would be able to work with. Scale, form and function is the trick with open plans. As another poster asked: Is this the main tv viewing room? How many people? Kids? Dining for how many? Where is the entrance? I always advise my clients to have a Wish List for any project. Add houzz pics to your idea book. This is a good reference for you to stay on track for a Master Plan. Would love to help!