Thank you all for your feedback and suggestions. Sorry it took us a while to respond, it takes a weekend for us to have enough hands to work on this and take care of a very active kid. We’re long-time lurkers here, so the FAQs are familiar and we used them, and some of the other internet lists of dimensions, in our planning. Benjesbride – thanks for posting the layouts; I’d run out of space by the time I’d pasted in that huge description and gardenweb would only let me include links. I’m reposting the diagrams somewhere more useful, and will add a few more in a moment. Buehl – yeah, we agree that less than 12” next to the range is too tight, which is why we’re here :). I went back and relabeled the diagrams to ensure we had the right measurements. Turns out we had missed 2 extra inches in width (it’s 160 not 158 – which makes sense as it’s a rounder #) – doesn’t help the range situation, but will help in other ways. I’ve also labeled everything down to the other end of the room, as I hadn’t expected someone (sena01) actually trying to render the whole layout for us. It’s a big room, fitting 60” of range shouldn’t be this hard, but really what we want is 96” of range+counter (18+60+18), and that’s trickier. Debbie B. – we are having fun with the space, and hope to have fun in the space. I’m sure there’ll be another kid down the road, and they’ll be expected to participate in cooking. My wife was cooking early, so it’s family tradition. I suspect, however, we’ll have them help from outside the work aisle. Funkycamper – buffet/butlery is the area left of the fireplace, 15-24” depth with the extra sink in pictures 1 & 2. Sena01 – thank you for all your thoughts on our layouts, and your recommendations. We hadn’t thought of switching the pantry door and it may be worth doing. It’ll depend a lot on whether we put cabinets on that wall (12” or 15”, as you’ll see in a moment we think there’s enough room). The closet isn’t quite wide enough to walk into so if we put cabinets there it probably makes more sense to have 2 shallow storage spaces rather than one extra-deep one. If we don’t put cabinets there, flipping it around makes a lot of sense (though visually it creates a row of doors). I’d also tried for a while to figure out if I could use its space for the fridge. I like the idea of the corner-sink. My biggest concern is the proximity of the range to the windows on either side (3”). I’d read that there may be limits on how close a range can be – any ideas? I notice you have relatively wide aisles in the layout, and I think there’s actually more width to the room that we could play with in your design. We tried it out one night this week and are entirely comfortable with a 41” work aisle. The passthrough aisle seems OK at 41, provided there’s no fridge on that wall. Continued in next post...

I love the clean, uncluttered look of your home and you've made some great furniture choices. My first thought, though, is that I would try to rework the sofa/sectional placement. It really is unwelcoming looking to me to have the back where it is facing a wall, when it could be oriented to look into the room and out the windows. It seems like if it were placed in the corner under the stairs that it would feel open and invite you to come in and sit. I'd hate to be cooking in the kitchen and have the family or guests with their backs to me. If you are having a TV in another room close by, do you need one in that room, too? If, so placing a 70" unit will probably only work as you have it. But, to me, it's not going to look like a living room but more like a movie theater, which is fine if that's what you're going for. It seems like it won't be a cozy conversation area, though. I might actually flip the rooms and put the dining room where you have the sofa now. I was looking at lights used with dining rooms and ghost chairs and saw this, maybe would work in the living room? Kind of fun. don't know if it would look as good without the colored walls though. And I thought something like these were interesting to consider for over your table:

Do you have an accent chair that you can move into the space? Deco had an excellent idea for hiding the equipment and cords in the credenza and moving the TV. Since that isn't in the plan right now, get an accent chair with arms so that your Dad has a place to sit and can get up comfortably without having to sit on the low sofa you have there now.

Kristy - I think the new flooring you picked looks good. What do you think of the four club chair pic just posted below? Honestly, those set ups remind me of institutional settinfs like an airport lounge or a chain hotel lobby. I dont think they look all that inviting. I’d prefer two chairs and some other kind of seating.