Annkh, congrats on your anticipated new kitchen! My newly remodeled kitchen is about the same size as yours. In fact the middle of my U is 116". As you have planned, I have a 36" diagonal corner base cabinet in the left corner. I suggest my solution, a 27" diagonal corner wall cabinet above it. Three Rev-a-Shelf 20" D-shape trays with steel bearings are inside that wall cabinet. There is no center pole; each tray simply sits on a shelf. That baby holds a ton of stuff and brings more storage outward into a small kitchen. I even have seldom used small items, such as parfait glasses, sitting in the unused corners. In case you are interested, homewarehq.com has those trays for a great price, $33.50 each. I wouldn't leave a dead, unused corner in a small kitchen. My kitchen has a 33" "Easy Reach" cabinet in the right corner. This is something like the bifold cabinet door you now have in your left corner, except there is no lazy susan, just a shallow single shelf (18" deep) to allow easier access to the bottom. This cabinet only has an 11" wide opening but many items can be turned on their side. Mine holds a large cake carrier, a George Foreman grill, large Corningware pieces, muffin tins, cake pans, and baking sheets stored on their sides in tray racks, plus other items. This cabinet may serve your DH's issue regarding the need for shelf storage. Also, your 36" sink cabinet has room to store large items. Mine holds a bread maker, a Kitchenaid stand mixer, coffee maker, plus a pull out for cleaning items. That would then allow you to have a 27" wide drawer bank on either side of the range. On the left side of your sink, I suggest a 6" wide, 24" deep, 5 drawer "apothecary" cabinet. They're great for holding rolling pins, small items like potatoe peelers, rolled up tea towels, napkins, spices, or cake decorating supplies. If interested, you can google woodharbor.com + apothecary base cabinet. That should pull up a page of their cabinets. About 2/3 down the page, on the far right look for Apothecary base w/Dwr fronts-Bapth to see the cabinet I am recommending. A 9" wide tray cabinet could then fit to the right of the sink cabinet. A 1" wide folding stool could be stored in here for handy access to the top shelves, plus other things like a slide out towel holder. A 15" wide wall cabinet with a glass door and lit inside could go on either side of your sink window to help make that wall the focal point of your kitchen. One final thought, a counter depth refrigerator would make your kitchen look larger since it would not protrude much beyond the base cabinets. Anyway, these are just some thoughts for you to mull over. Good luck and can't wait to eventually see the final product.

Sorry, but IMHO, glass shades get lost against your cabinet backdrop. To me, I see "sticks" hanging from the ceiling. What about all bronze pendants? Or bronze with a colored (not amber) glass shade? I saw some really nice red, blue, even some multi ones online. This post was edited by canuckplayer on Fri, Mar 21, 14 at 12:05

I'm certainly not opposed to adding 12" to the back of the island - in fact that's a good idea. I do appreciate the other comments, but otherwise the layout is going to remain as is. Marji - thanks for the comments about the color. Natural cherry (not brazillian) is actually the other color we were considering for the floor or the cabinets. Do you think a cherry cabinets with the walnut floor would work better than walnut on walnut? Cherry floor with walnut cabinets? Lavendar_Lass, as I mentioned,we have considered cherry flooring as well. We were planning to leave the backsplash relatively plain, just a 4-6" band of granite. As far as lighting, we were considering 2 tracks of 5 lights each on either side of the island, 4 lights in the hood, task lighting above the sink, under counters and 6 cans in the breakfast area, so I think we'll be lit ok. Thanks again for all of the knowledge that was shared. This post was edited by archv6625 on Sat, Sep 28, 13 at 16:44

pcjs..I did see Premier cabinets at HD...the sales guy said to stay away as they are a bit cheap..and flimsy and difficult to install. There was a display in fawn glaze that I thought looked very nice. I don't have to have top of the line, nor can I afford it, I just don't want cabinets falling apart in 5 years! igloochic..that is the tone we may go for..there are 3 basic tones, orange/brown/red...my DH goes for the red toned ones (but he's color blind and always drawn to dark colors)..I think a brown town would look best but don't like any I see as they all look dull..so we're back to the orange toned stains.... mustbenuts..I do love that second photo..simple shaker cabinet but it looks so modern. I'd love to know the maker, but I'm sure I can't afford an Italian designer! Thanks so much for your comments..it's so hard as our granite is at the granite yard over 1 hour away and I can't just run over there and hold cabinet doors against it.....any thoughts to mixing uppers and lowers so DH gets his stained and I get my painted? Then of course there's the whole backsplash saga..and a floor...I'm not getting much sleep these days...I'm off to Lowes and HD again right now just to study the styles and colors. Yesterday I spent over 2 hours with a HD "design consultant" and she didn't know squat. I have "0" confidence that I'd end up with everything I want/need after an order was placed with her. I'd love to just order cabinets off the internet, but am too paranoid that when there's a problem (and there always is) how long it wil take to resolve. I may look at Buycabinets.com but it seems like a 50/50 shot at having luck with them. Any other ideas, I'd love to hear..thanks!