Thank you so much Co-Co! :) This is a great thread! Especially since we are discussing my two favorite things - homes and birds! Robotropolis - great pic! It did come through! I think my workplace must have blocked them as I see them fine now from home. LOL@your companion. What a cutie! I love the pic of the scooter and the birds. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one posing their birds on things! That scooter would look great in my carport btw. Yes, they are bougainvillea! I love them. They do seem to do well in AZ. THey are not so pretty right now, as they are not in bloom. Ravencajun - yes please please post pics of your house! Also, I had an architect out here yesterday who said it was okay to just to do the one window. I'm having a friend whose a great contractor look at it tomorrow. I am a little worried at how much work it will entail. I'll let you all know tomorrow in case anyone else plans to do something similar.

Our architect will be doing us a favor by making plans at a reduced cost because he has a relationship with my husband's fire department. So I don't expect him to spend hours and hours with me while I figure out what we need. Trying to do that before hand. I do get that a dysfunctional kitchen that's pretty isn't worth much. But I know an off centered sink will forever bug me, otherwise I'm very open to functional choices that may not be the ideal design choice. I don't feel like bumping the sink maybe 3 feet is worth that sacrifice for me. My current sink isn't centered in the kitchen window and it still drives me nuts (5 years in!). Although the offset sink with centered faucet is a good thought. I still think I'd rather center it over the few inches that gains me. My other problem precluding me from being able to adapt one of these plans so far 100 percent are microwave related. I don't want a drawer because I have little children who looooove buttons (and we plan to have more) and I feel like it should be close to the fridge because of how often I go between the two. I don't love the clean up sink in the island because of potentially displaying dirty dishes but I'm willing to do it if it functions better. The sink in front of the window is another great idea but I struggle with how much dish storage that limits me to near by. I can see value to the sink being on the non window wall but I would want deeper cabinets for face space (genius idea I wouldn't have thought of!), but I'm concerned about the cost of that forcing me to go totally custom. Two sinks is a new concept for me, not sure I'd love it... I have a small sinkless island now that I love so I'm not too worried about that. But my kitchen is smaller currently so everything is close and maybe that makes it function well still.

"Don't put a backsplash around the window." Paul, if you decide to go that route, be sure to let your fabricator know in advance so that they template accordingly. This will require a much more precise cut than most jobs because you won't have backsplash tile to cover any gaps at the wall. There's no guarantee, even with new construction, that your walls will be perfectly plumb. We dealt with a similar issue for our hutch counter because the tile we'd selected for this areas was thinner than the majority of backsplash tiles. This wall was slightly bowed out (21 yr old home at the time) so it was a bit tricky but they did a great job. That might not have been the case if I hadn't known to tell the fabricator beforehand. Because I need to see things visually... #1, no tile around window, end tile at left edge of upper: #2, tile even with bottom of uppers #3, tile even with bottom of hood #4, tile to ceiling I vote for #2 or #3, I'm leaning towards #2. IMO, #1 looks like you ran out of tile before the job was done. I ruled out #4 because I'd like to see the wall color on the window wall for continuity around the room. HTH!

They have Certified Kitchen designers in Lowe's that can help you. If your Cabinet dealer dosn't have a certified designer on staff I would find a dealer that does. That sould be part of the service they are offering you when you buy the cabinets.