Monica, Yes, the sales rep at Porcelanosa told me that we could use the glass tiles (2x2)for the floor. However, teh rep doesn't know if the tiles will lose their shine overtime. I will only use very sparingly, probably no more than 8 for a space of 60 square feet. I am curious if anyone who may have used glass tiles on the floor, and how they may have changed over time. Thanks,

Rhome, I agree. It just looks odd to me to have it between the door and the sink. Actually, it's not that often that we do have that door open--early spring/summer, late summer/fall--the rest of the time it's really hot or too cold--so I wouldn't think it would be a huge inconvenience. I was thinking of an outward swinging door, too. Code here requires a 4 foot cement slab in front of it, which we could do. I guess I'll live with this one for a few days and see how it sits. Does it look odd to anyone to have cabinets behind the door? Thanks, everyone! Any other suggestions are most welcome. I hope I don't get any other surprises on Monday! I will check back over the weekend. For those celebrating the holiday, Happy Easter! Cj

I am going to dissent for 3 reasons, though I am not sure I am seeing everything accurately.... If the current wall lines up with the rest of the wall to the right of the hall (can't tell with DH's feet there), I might leave it as is. Depends on the size and shape of the main room and whether that 'bump in' would look funny in that room. Two, consider the doorways and hallway headers. The opening to the room to the left (the one with the HWF) and to the hall will be affected by the 'bump in'. Right now the openings are framed, giving you options for casing or paint color changes room to room. Think about that before you axe the defined transitions. Three, since the chair will move forward when the wall does, the "gained" space will be behind behind you when you sit at the desk chair. You could always put storage on that back wall - but the space is then the same size as it was, and that storage is visible from the main room. Careful design will affect how much storage and function you can squeeze out of the desk area as is. I think there is enough there to work with. Instead of moving the wall, I would concentrate on ceiling to desktop storage. Open or closed. that could hold a ton and would be visible only from the desk chair. A return of 1-2 feet would allow a 3 sided recess above the desk for 'mondo storage' and still leave excellent sight line from the desk chair to and from the larger room. Opposite the desk, make the area visible from the main room attractive and simple: a framed print with a wall mounted sliver of a credenza below. I really like designs that give a work area 'mondo storage' and sight lines that manage to conceal that storage but not the worker. You have that option here. Transoms would be great, but only if they look good from the main room.

You did great with the images! If its possible to post a floor plan of the cabinets, people commenting will be better informed. For example, it's not possible to know spacing from looking at a 3d view - they are wildly deceptive at trying to figure out stuff like how wide the aisles are. 3D views are good for checking elevations and mass. I am a critical person, so hang in there! I'm not trying to be snarky - except in fun. I'm saying all this stuff so you know and can choose well. The very first thing that hit me is there needs to be a relationship between the height of the windows and the heights of the cabinets (matching heights and perhaps a small crown on the windows). Can your windows be taller? Also, I'm not sure there's any reason why the one wall cabinet on the sink side is taller? The micro, the ovens, the pantry and the ref form the Bermuda triangle of doors. The oven and pantry doors can collide and using one prevents using the other. The oven and ref doors can collide and using one sometimes prevents using the other. The micro door looks like it can hit a seated person. I'm not really sure what will happen when people are seated at the island while you're trying to finish up a meal? Between the ref doors and the micro and the seated person, how much room is left for the chef to get to the ref and take something out? As I said above, its not possibly to evaluate the aisle widths, but you'd need something like a 5' aisle on that side to accommodate all that stuff and actually be able to use it. This is a crazy thing to say, but partly because a lotta stuff is piled up together in that corner, I think there is a lot of walking attached to this design. People who want something to drink have to walk around the island to dish storage and walk around the island to the ref and then go back to their place. The chef gotta walk to the ref, at least half the time back to the sink, over to the island for prep and then to the cooktop. So I wonder if dish storage and ref and micro could be on the same face of the island. I wonder if clean up should be moved to the longer run of counters and storage that wraps the outer corner. I wonder if the island needs a sink? Because without it, I wonder if you'll use the island much. I realize that your answer on moving the cleanup sink might be horrors! But, as you work in your current kitchen, notice how much of the time you're near the sink for preparation tasks versus actual cleaning of the dishes. Lastly, I wonder if the room could have more windows?