That's pretty bad drainage. I would guess the issue is clay soil because caliche and/or hard pan wouldn't be responsible for keeping water in the hole. The water would still soak into the soil horizontally. So if you did have the chimneys it doesn't sound like the water would make it to them. My personal thinking is you could dig a 10' wide hole and amend the soil but you'd still have a hole that didn't drain, nothing would really be solved. I'm a "it is what it is" kind of person. A mesquite has the best chance of finding its own way, they do this for a living. So I never add anything for natives, and a mesquite, hybrid or not, is close enough for me. If it helps at all I grew thornless mesquite from seed this summer in a bucket with no drainage.

Thank you all so much for the diagrams, link and ideas. This is exactly the type of info I was looking for! Gooster - I am concerned with the space looking tight visually as you point out. I don't want the seating area to look squished into a corner. That chair with it's back to the french doors would have about 34" of space from my calculations. I have it set up that way now, to see how it feels. I am very interested in learning more about your movable storage banquette with padded back. Do you have any photos you could share with me? Lavender_lass - I can't do without the peninsula in this floorplan. But, what do you mean by not being able to access the banquette? Which part? Thank you very much for your help. Scrappy25 - I really like your idea of doing a furniture piece rather than a build-in, I hadn't thought of that. Cost-wise that is very appealing. I would need it to have back support, so I'm going to look at what options might exist for that. Overall, my concerns are making it look appealing and well designed, rather than squished and that the seating would be comfortable for someone with back issues.

By comparing measurements on the plan, it looks as if you have ap 47" aisle, counter-to-counter, between the range wall and the island. Maybe 34" between island, and fridge door handles, which appear to be elbow height. That's pretty tight, but just workable with a side-by-side or French door fridge, IMO, as long as someone isn't trying to get past while you have the fridge doors open. You can bring the cabinets out to 30", but that does not leave room for the corner susan, unless you give up the cabinet to the right of the sink. And the fridge still sticks out 8.75". Can you move the island a few inches, and/or recess the fridge (as long as it's not on an exterior wall) as fori and weedmeister suggested? Can you get shallower handles? Can the stub wall be cut back to 30"? Here's an option where I've cut back the stub wall and moved the fridge against it, thinking that might keep it from looking as if it sticks out all by itself. Also moved the base cabs out to 30", and uppers out to 15". I moved the island down and toward the sink a few inches, and you still appear to have 48" on that side. I rearranged the prep sink in the island, so that it's not back-to-back with the range. If that's not an exterior wall, you still could gain a couple of inches more by recessing the fridge. Any chance this would work?

9" sounds better--I misunderstood the measurement of the island depth on the last plan you'd posted. There are many pics of cooktops under windows (I linked some above), and a few GW members have done the same. Angie_diy and cotehele are two that I recall. You might do a search, and message them to find out how they feel about the issue. If it gives you a better layout, I think it would be fine, and although glass shows spatters, it is durable--more durable than my bead-board backsplash. I would assume that any solid surface behind the hood would help contain the steam and grease plume better than the open cooktop first considered. Where would that grease have gone? I've never had a cooktop under a window, though, so I can't add any first-hand experience. One GW discussion/pros and cons cotehele (and a few others) weighed in on this discussion