Wow ... thanks for getting the gears turning. With the early layouts (island including, storage along wall opposite sink/refrig/etc), would it be possible to stick a single oven/mw stack in at the end (toward the window)-- how close to the window could that go? (And yes, if we switch the eating and cooking sections, we would have to build out the wall to increase the 21" section, I agree.) Another thought ... what about taking a table out of the kitchen entirely, enlarging the island to include seating, and leaving the wall for "tall storage" empty. Then putting storage (maybe a corner walk-in pantry) and other miscellaneous (coffee bar, wine cooler) down in the corner where the mocked-up banquette is? I'll have to figure out how to draw all this on the computer now ... it's my understanding that there aren't a lot of kitchen design software choices for a Mac? I guess I'll try the Drawing component.

Yes, the wall with the sink on it is an indentation. The family room was formerly a sun porch, which the previous owners enclosed. When they did that it created this small alcove. I had thought about bumping it out, but then thought that would be really expensive. The air conditioning unit and the main electrical connection are in the alcove, sadly. Maybe I'll get some estimates for it, though, since you think construction itself might not be so pricey..That would be the ideal solution. I believe the wall between the DR and the kitchen is not load-bearing, so yes, the doorway could potentially be moved. I'd rather find a way to fit a full sized dishwasher. Also, the actual cutout space to the right of the sink is only 16 inches, so even putting it there would require butting it out into the walkway. The half-bath would be hard to move, only because I don't have another place to put it on the first floor. Thanks for all the feedback!

If you move the entrance to the stairs (so they end in the same spot in the basement but start in a different place on this floor) and turned the biggest window on the back wall into an even-bigger sliding glass door, you could actually fit nicely-proportioned kitchen, dining area, and living area with plenty of space to walk around and through all of them. Like so: Every layout always compromises in some area. In focusing on making the living areas generously sized for furniture/cabinets/counters/walkways/human traffic, I compromised a bit on the experience guests will have when they first walk in the front door. As you can see, when guests walk in, straight ahead is a staircase and the kitchen. It's not the norm to have a barrier of sort directly in front of you when you first walk in the front door rather than a straight shot down a walkway or into a room. It's also not the norm to have the kitchen be the first thing you see when you enter a home, and a lot of people feel really strongly that they don't want guests to be able to see the kitchen sink/dishes when the guests first walk in. I think the barrier-in-front-of-you-when-you-enter thing isn't a huge deal because people entering have almost 10 feet of walking space before they hit the staircase. It would be very natural for foot traffic to flow diagonally to the right to enter the living spaces rather walking directly into the stairs, and you wouldn't have any issues with people feeling cramped or blocked. However, I'm concerned you won't like the immediately-visible kitchen aspect of this. I found a picture of a relatively similar kitchen to what I've drawn and edited in a staircase in front of it so you can see what that would look like if you simply do a half wall behind the big kitchen counter. This is what would greet your guests: Picture a huge window above the sink and a stove where the fridge is. Having a half wall behind the big counter would preserve maximum openness if you want your big counter in the kitchen to feel like an island and/or to be able to keep an eye on kids in the family room and/or to interact with people in the family room. However, that would also means your guests' main view when they first walk in the house would be of the kitchen. If you don't like how people would see the kitchen when they first walk in, you could always do a full wall there. It'd be an ideal place to hang a piece of statement art to greet your guests. Like so: P.S. In case it is not obviously to you, in the kitchen where the pantry cabinets overlap with the counter is an appliance garage situation like this:

I would strongly suggest posting a floor plan of the entire floor the kitchen is on (including all adjacent rooms) where everything is drawn to-scale on graph paper. Let us take a look at the entire space and make some layout suggestions. I've helped people with a lot a lot a lot of kitchen layouts, and you're waving two red flags with this question. Kitchens (a) generally need walls and (b) generally do not benefit from lots of 90 degree corners. You're proposing something with minimal walls and lots of corners. It's sort of like telling a bunch of bakers that you're trying to make a cake for your birthday and are there any good examples of bacon and toothpaste cakes that we know of. People who know cake are going to immediately recognize that maybe you're not headed in a terrific direction and that the best help would not be to provide bacon and toothpaste recipes but to suggest some alternative ideas. Post a floor plan and let us try to come up with something better. It's a free exercise and can be very helpful.