Got it! I had the same initial reaction to all the seating at what i thought was bar height - thought it might be harder to get in and out of. But now that you guys mention it, I can see that the work end of the island is maybe slightly lower than counter height and then goes up to counter height for the seating. I sort of like the look as its less "choppy" looking b/c you don't see the step up/down when looking from the open end of the kitchen like you do when the height drops down for the table part. When our house was built, we actually had our perimeter cabinets, which are staying, raised a few inches b/c both my husband and I are tall. Never thought about a lower area for chopping/baking. Hhhmmm...something to think about. Including eating area (which will no longer be eating area, probably now "sitting area"), and when we take out a too small laundry area, my walls run 17" 7' wide by 28" 9' on one side and 17"7' by 19"6' on the other long wall (a powder room wall comes in to the area on this side). At 17"7', I estimate two feet for cabinets on one side of the room, two feet for cabinets on the other side, about three feet for width of eating part of island, than five feet for walkway on either side b/t eating island and counters (10 feet for both). So, that gets me to 17 feet. I'm hoping I have enough width to have an island like mommyto4boys! This forum is awesome, so many idea to make things better that I wouldn't have thought of. I have now have lots of ideas for when I meet with the planner tomorrow.

You guys are the best. Please keep the ideas coming. I don't have a good drawing of the room yet. When I make a better one I'll post it. SheilaJoyce and Patti "Federalist" was one of the styles that interested me, and I simply couldn't think of the name. And I hadn't considered white. That just might work. The breakfast nook/sliver (LOL) is at one end of the living room. The two areas are separated by the undefined pathway from the front door into the kitchen. White furniture in the nook might help separate it even more from the "L/R" area. Gayle I love your cabinet! "Ugly Pine" is my very favorite wood. Wait till you see the buffet cabinet I built many years ago. It's still waiting for it's hutch. They will live on the sunporch; no room in the front part of the house. I would feel so blessed to know I had something made by my great-great grandfather. You daughter is one lucky gal! Adellabedella I'm going to try to make a to-scale graph drawing to show just how tiny this space is. I'll post pictures when I move things around. Sharon I like you idea of the one wide panel drawn back to one side. Do you mean to pull all the fullness to the right of the window...over toward the small bookcase? I'll try that to with an old pair of curtains I already have. Lydia Would a rectangular rug be better than a round rug under this table? Thanks for the coupon code; I'll be using it. Here's the floor plan of the entire house...maybe you can get an idea of the LR space from it. The drawing says "12 feet wide," but it's more like 11", 8".

@suezbell: No countertops along that one wall (that's a window to the outside, not a pass through) as it will become a breakfast nook... so there will be a table facing the long built-in bench, and two chairs opposite... leaving space for the fridge to open. Tested the veggie drawers etc in the store, looks like it will behave like the old fridge and come out. Great point about the bathroom vanity... So I measured my largest pans as well as other appliances like the instant pot, deep fryer, etc (as the new unit will also need to store these) and after reading all your feedback I'm thinking I should do 18" cabinets opposite the stove. This allows for a 45" aisle. At the moment, my regular pots and pans fit into two 21" (inner depth) x 30" (outer length) drawers. So I'm hoping they might all fit if I turn the entire bottom section of the new unit into storage for pots/ pans/ appliances. Something like 3 sections (24"/ 30"/ 24") of double pots and pans drawers.

How many people need to eat at a table? You have space for a cozy nook IMO Or maybe a cozy reading nook. Can you open up some of the space under the stairs to create more depth or space for book shelves behind the seating area?