It's easier to get stuff out of drawers than out from behind doors. But there are times when a door is best. What you need to do is inventory what you have in your kitchen now, and figure out where it will go in your new plan. Pots and saucepans go in deeper drawers; frying pans in shallower ones. Cake pans and pie plates can go on their sides in a drawer, with dividers in between to keep them from falling over. Items can also be stacked in drawers. I'm planning a drawer in my kitchen for rectangular canisters of sugar, flour, rice, noodles, oatmeal, etc. I measured my tallest container, and the cabinetmaker is building my bottom drawer to accommodate that size. Same with my Super Susan - one turntable will have enough clearance for my crock pot. If you have items that you think would work best behind a door, put one in. You'll be much happier in the end if you decide what is going where, and what you need space for, and design around that.

Frankly I'm no fan of a U shaped kitchen because two corners are one extra useless corner. Working off of Mama's excellent plan, I turned it into an L shape. 1. I moved the fridge to the opposite side. The reason I did so is your mudroom and your pantry are on that side. Coming in with groceries would mean lots of steps back and forth to put foodstuff away if your fridge is so far from the pantry. The same holds true when grabbing food to make a meal. Great exercise but really do you want to walk across your kitchen to get stuff from the pantry and then back again across the kitchen to get stuff from your fridge? 2. I moved the microwave shelf to that side too. I did it since it's closer to the fridge and it's out of the cooking zone. 3. I widened your island. 4. I added a 42" dish drawer facing your dishwasher so it's easy unloading to your dish drawer. 5. I moved the trash drawers to next to the prep sink. You didn't mention if you plan on having a disposal unit in your sink? I have a prep sink and a cleanup sink and put a disposal unit in both. They're not too expensive and I felt it was well worth it. I'm also planning on putting a small trash can UNDER my clean up sink. Most trash is generated by the prep area, so the trash under the clean up sink is only for the occasional food stuff that can't go down the disposal. 6. Next to your air return, I added narrow shelving. This can be open or closed and is good for storing stuff one can deep, so would be good for stuff you use more frequently like cereals, etc. One other thing I noticed not related to your kitchen but your pantry/powder room. You don't want the door to your powder room opening into the powder room because think of how you will need to be a contortionist to try and get around the door to use the toilet. Get a pocket door or have the door swing out. Additionally I would not angle the corner where the sink is in there as it will feel quite congested as it's a small room already. The space out of the pantry is minimal but will make the powder room feel larger.

However, if you usually cook using the cooktop, and if you, say, cut your onions and soften them as you cut your chicken and then brown the chicken as you cut your vegetables, in the pattern that the vast majority of cooktop recipes call for, having the cooktop behind you is incredibly annoying if you don't have a helper. So for cooks who use the cooktop heavily, prepping with your back to the cooktop IS a major issue. I know that a lot of people don't really cook, but if you do, it matters. You have several options: prep next to the stove as soon as you start using it and turn your back on the people at the island that you put there so you would face them; prep everything on the island before you start cooking and add 20 minutes to your cooking time every night; or turn your back to the stove and either burn things or switchback and forth a lot, also wasting a lot of time. But I suppose CPArtist is a special person with eyes on the back of her head. Or she doesn't really cook. I do cook, although not frequently. And if you had spent lots of time on this forum like myself and most of the other regulars, you'd know that Kitchen work studies have shown that you spend the following amount of time at each major kitchen activity: Prepping - 70% (some studies put this number higher - more like 75%) Cooking - 10% Cleaning up - 20% So based on that study, most cooks spend the majority of their time prepping the food, not cooking it. And most people prefer to prep while they are facing their guests, family, etc. So once again, prepping with your back to the cooktop is not a problem. And quite honestly, most people I know, including the chefs I'm friendly with, will tell you to prep everything in advance and not as you go.

@mama goose_gw zn6OH I was not planning on extra cabinets under the seating overhang, just the pony wall for support & for looks. Extra cabinets would be nice but I don't think it would work well with the seating. If I have to choose between comfortable seating or more cabinets under the island, the seating will win for us. The spice idea is neat but I agree that I'm not sure if it would work or not. I will keep it in mind though, for sure! I like the idea of the wider drawers. Suggestions on depths that are best? I like to store things vertically, when possible. It may not always be possible though. And, good idea about framing the panel out by the microwave. lol! @wilson853 Thank you for the suggestions! I'll see about the spice idea if there is any room in the design for it. Good to hear from someone who has the storage idea I had mentioned with the utensil bins. It seems like such a good use of storage because my utensil drawers get very messy fast, within 1 meal after organizing it. So, I though just put it vertically and not worry about it. lol! It should make my ocd self happier. I think.