I'm no expert but I think only a tiny bar size sink can fit into that corner and I'm not sure how comfortable it would be to use that sink right next to the ovens. Maybe you can have a sink next to the cooktop and prep b/w the sink and the corner and use the corner to spread out. Although it's not ideal, it can work. In our summer house, my single sink is very close to the cooktop and I prep on the other side. Oh, I think I forgot to mention deedle's corner solution. I'm not sure if it can be convenient for the corner next to the ovens, but I believe it can be doable for the corner next to the main sink.

Too many is better than not enough! :) In the grand scheme of things, multiple shut offs isn't a big deal and it may have made sense to do it that way as things were added on. Having the outside spigot being able to be shut off separately is a good idea. Where I live, it's required because you need to shut off and drain the outside spigots in the winter so that they don't freeze and break. You wouldn't want anything else shut off in that case. If it was all being done from scratch, then it may have made more sense to move the green handled shut off over to the washer feeds. Then the kitchen sink could be shut off separately from the washer/outside spigot. But on the other hand, I find that those silver handled shut offs get corroded pretty easily and that one time that you actually need to shut off the water quickly, turning the handle is near impossible and when you do, it leaks all over the place. So having the higher quality green handled shut offs could come in handy. :)

Found a possible solution to protecting countertops such as soapstone and granite while manipulating doughs on the surface = Silpat, a silicone, non-slip mat. You can knead, roll and cut without making slice marks on soapstone or worrying about porosity with granite. Silpat would also be better for kneading and rolling doughs than a cutting board which can move around with applied force such as my heavy marble cutting board does. For the person or two following this thread and interested in quartzite as an alternative to soapstone and granite, this article is a must-read: Quartzite Countertops May be Gorgeous, But There’s Something Your Stone Dealer Isn’t Telling You. The author had easily-etched calcite installed in her kitchen that had been mislabeled as quartzite from a major stone yard in Dallas. In her research after this mistake, she discovered that it is common practice for commercially-available "quartzite" to have been doctored with resin and that mislabeling other stones as quartzite is rampant. As to cost, the author states in a follow-up article linked to the original that quartzite runs $4,000-plus per slab and an additional $30 to $60 per square foot to cut, polish and install. While she encourages someone who loves quartzite's appearance to do their research and pre-test a sample for etching (something she apparently failed to do herself), she also concludes that granite is a safer choice due to widespread abuse of quartzite labeling. This is reflected already in comments in this thread about how necessary it is to get just the right composition of quartzite in order to have a positive experience with it, not to mention the issues that may crop up with different qualities of the pre-applied resins, a practice that is so common according to the author's research that it is next to impossible to buy un-resined quartzite commercially.

Have you considered turning that part of the wall across from the bed between bedroom and the ?patio? outside the living room into some kind of a window wall -- perhaps creating a garden bay window area with a glass roof : http://www.renaissance-online.com/photosCloserLook2.asp?iCategoryID=5&iPageNo=3 Check for windows weather rated in your area or at least be sure you choose double pane glass. If excess heat/cold might be a problem, you could build it to enable you to close it off with bi-fold doors as if it is a closet using the same wood finish you use for your window trim. Creating a niche with a comfortable window seat would be a plus.