I would keep the microwave where it is or flip it and the prep sink so it is easily accessible to the actual cooking area. I am constantly melting butter, softening cream cheese, etc. when I cook/bake. Also, why not consider adding a round table to the island so you can seat more people? This is easily done with granite, marble, quartz or any solid surface countertop. There would be a seam, but if properly installed, this would not be visible or at least minimally so. To avoid the seam, you could raise the seating area for stools or lower it for chairs. If you started at the end of the cabinets, went out at an angle to 1' or so within the 2' you are already showing, then continued on around into a round table about 3' out from the existing 2' overhang you are showing, and back on the other side, it would not impede either your dining room with the 6' cased opening or the back door. This would allow about seating for 5. It would be great for entertaining or just casual dining by the family. You could use one large post in the middle of the round table to hold the weight, whereby allowing necessary leg space. It would be attached at the cabinets at the other end. One way to ensure this option would work is to go to an appliance store, get one of their boxes, cut it to size, then place it where it would go. Walk around that for a few days and see how you like it. (I can't rememeber or know how to go back to the post to see if this is a remodel or a new construction, so I am basing this on a remodel). If you don't like the round table, you can do a rectangular one like the photo attached shows. Imagine this in your countertop if you don't like the modern look.

Okay, after seeing your beautiful inspiration pictures and reading some of the concerns...mostly about the wet bar...I have an idea. If it's not for you, just disregard :) If you opened up the doorway through the wet bar, so it was an easy access from the dining room into the kitchen, like the pantry area, you could easily get to the wine and wet bar, from the kitchen. This would leave you with a doorway between your cooktop and sink...bad idea. So, could you split your fridge/freezer combo and put one on either end of your outside wall, with the sink and dishwasher, in between? This would give you a sink set up similar to your second inspiration picture and how often do you open the freezer, so it shouldn't block the pantry area too much. The wet bar sink's current location, would now have a door in it...so the sink would move to the pantry wall, shortening the pantry a bit, but giving you a much more accessible wet bar. The sink would now be where the back of the pantry used to be, so the cooktop could be centered on the wall that's left betwen the two doors to the dining room, with the steamer still plumbed into the wet bar sink. The opening to the family room (the solid wall part) is where I would put the ovens. I would make the space to the right of the oven a baking/snack area, with a prep sink and even use it as an extension of the bar, for parties. The island would be for prep and seating. I wouldn't necessarily have another sink, but that's up to you. I think a built in garbage area would be a good idea...and make it easy for the kids to toss stuff in, as they get older. The microwave could be part of the oven stack, a drawer in the island, or on a shelf, built in next to the fridge, depending on what you decide you want to use. The island drawer makes sense, but it would be more of a challenge with young children, so higher up might be better. Anyway, if someone could draw this out, I think it would make a lot more sense, but I do not have any floor plan software. It would give you a baking area with prep sink, access to the wet bar, a cooking area with the steamer, a prep island with seating, and a lot more light from windows over the sink...make the fridge/freezer a little less bulky...and make clean up a lot easier, whether it's from the dining room or the breakfast area...and did I mention access to the wet bar! :)

Thank you buehl. Seeing it on "paper" really helps! I woke up husband to show him : ) Ill have to look into prep sinks. I love the idea of having that sink wall all open with a large expanse of counter. little or no upper cupboards which will give me room for my double sink double drainboard SS sink Im trying to source...(unsuccessfully on this continent.) Moving the fridge may even allow for the over the top ( in my opinion) SS side by side full freezer/full fridge set up that husband seems to covet. (Frigidaire professional series) We seem have lost our pantry somewhere in this new design. A place to store some dry goods/ broom, etc.. any ideas where we can out it to maintain the sleep balanced look? We are hoping for a "cottage-ey" with industrial accent look. Also what is the consensus on upper cabinetry? I think Id like to keep it to a minimum but husband thinks getting glasses and mugs out of a drawer is "just weird".

So, some things I see as issues and questions I have: The island is too small to house both your Prep Zone and Cleanup Zone. You don't have enough prep space in the Prep Zone (on the non-DW side of the sink) and even the Cleanup Zone (the DW side of the sink) needs more space. If at all possible, I would want both the Cleanup and Cooking Zones on the wall. The Prep Zone can be in the island with a prep sink if it's oriented so it faces the range. Can the island be extended? Is there a wall behind the island? Do you have a pantry elsewhere? (Pantry cabinets are arguably the least efficient and most expensive option for storing food.) Can that short wall come down? Can you "merge" the areas to the left & right of that short wall? Where are you flexible - can doorways be changed? Window? What is your family composition now and over the next few years? How do you plan to use your Kitchen? Just cooking? A gathering place? Homework while you're cooking? What we really need is a fully measured layout of the space and a full-floor sketch. The full-floor sketch will show us how the Kitchen relates to the rest of the home and how traffic flows in, around, and through the Kitchen. Here's the layout help link again: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2767033/how-do-i-ask-for-layout-help-and-what-information-should-i-include