gongerjenny--I'd call design #2 'open to family room'. There are pros & cons to doing a split level design--Pros-easier to find bar stools the right height, hides the mess at the sink. Cons--the raised portion is 15"+ of space that you could have had at counter level for work space, harder for little ones to climb up on the higher bar stools, more backsplash ($$$) required. The cabinet question you had--instead of just having cabinets on the kitchen side of the island, put cabinets on the back side of the island too. Standard base cabinets depth is 24" (that's what will be under your island as drawn), standard wall cabinet depth is 12". Basically, you would need to decide how wide you want your island + countertop overhang--as currently drawn, it is around 40" wide. With 12" deep cabinets on the back side, it would be about 52" wide & with 24" deep base cabinets, it would be about 64" wide. We went with 12" deep on the backside for ours due to a space limitation. If I could have accomodated 24", I would have. We debated back and forth about split level countertop & ended up deciding on all one level. With the undermount sink, I have 10" of deep sink to hide the dirty dishes from view in--works great, so the island always looks tidy. On another note--The door from the breakfast room to outside seems ill-placed as it will make accessing the door or the table seating difficult in it's current spot. Have you thought about doing away with the breakfast room altogether? Do you need 3 dining spaces? The island (or peninsula based on which plan you choose) will have plenty of seating + you have the dining room. Deleting the breakfast room may be a great place to save square footage ($$$) + gain another wall of counter/storage space + bring more natural light into the kitchen. If you wanted a more "table" atmosphere for dinner every night, that would give you the perfect excuse to use the dining room more than 3x a year! Just something to think about. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the great feedback so far! Keep it coming!! The original island was 8'x3'8'. The new version is 4'6x8'. It was initially supposed to be a workspace/table combo, but I realized to Lisa's point that it will really be only used as a table if we keep it like that. I also had the concerns about more appliances than storage, and that's part of why I started modifying the island. If we were to use the architect's design as is, we would add an additional workspace, much like you did. We were thinking something less fixed, like this: [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/architectural-portfolio-eclectic-kitchen-portland-phvw-vp~2936999) [Eclectic Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/eclectic-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2104) by Vancouver Photographers Shawn St.Peter Photography However, our concern is that with 2 islands and the corner nook, it starts to get very cluttered and busy. That led me to want to move the dining area to the nook and use the island as a work station w/ more storage. There are only 2 of us for now, but with house guests and entertaining, we would want to be able to seat 4-5 regularly and 6+ for special occasions. You make a good point about the limited side seating, so we will remove it. I'm glad you all pointed out the issue with the dinnerware being so far from the dishwasher. My concern is that if we move the sink/DW back to the corner, there's not really any more storage over there, and then the sink is really far from the fridge. We could put the dinnerware and glassware in the uppers over the DW in my layout to resolve the issue, and then would just need a place for the flatware - either over the tupperware or back in the corner by the ovens. I could also probably get 18-20" of drawers next to the DW if I cut the tupperware/wraps drawers in half and take the extra 6" from the drawers on the other end (which would also put more counter space between the sink and ovens). OR the dinnerware/flatware could go in the drawers on the end of the island. So let's assume we can solve the storage location issue - would you still move the sink? (I don't think we could do a second sink because of the costs, so let's assume only 1.) How does the pantry on the left allow more space for the fridge doors? We would have french doors on the fridge, so I assumed it wouldn't matter which side. I actually wanted the left originally so I could put stuff from the fridge directly on the counter to the right, but since the laundry and pantry are paneled it looks better to flank the fridge with them. I guess if we kept all cabs the same color, it wouldn't matter as much. We put the fridge and pantry at the same depth as the laundry for 3 reasons: 1. a 36" deep fridge would look built-in without built-in prices 2. deeper pantry = more storage and 3. if we put the "tall things" in a contrasting color to the other cabinets, we would want them all flush so they form a wall. We haven't seen the ovens under the counter in person. We are planning on using the new Bosch swing door ovens, so hopefully that helps with some of the bending issues (only down vs. down and over). It does mean that we would want 30" clearance on either side, though, for the door to swing out. There is also a chance we may not be able to use both ovens because we only have 100 AMPs and it would be very $$$ to upgrade, so we could reduce to a double wall oven or just a single. I'm not a huge fan of the double wall oven because it seems like the top oven is too high to easily see and reach inside. However, I don't have personal experience using them so maybe it's not really an issue? Here is the link to my other post for reference: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/remodel/msg0812432221051.html I plan to add an update as soon as we make a final decision on the contractor!

Neither. Unable to tell which is the front entrance and/or what doorways in what rooms lead to what other rooms. Need full floor plan for that level. Not usually a fan of a large single sofa sectional in your second pic (they limit furniture placement and if any part gets stained, you have a lot of seating to replace. Also, few people actually like sitting for an extended time in a seat w/o arm rests. If, however, you're going to have that much open space -- no wall or pony wall to put furniture against -- you're going to need something as a room divider. Are you intending to separate your living/sitting space into two rooms -- one with the fireplace and the other for the tv? If so, then consider making either the living room or the family room a second room, separated from the kitchen, perhaps w/French doors or at least a room dividing cabinet or a penninsula. Design your layout, including a downstairs bath, in a way that gives you the option to use the separate space/room later as a formal dining room or, as your joints age and you don't want to climb stairs to your bedroom daily, perhaps as your downstairs master bedroom suite.

My front entry door is from Pella. Looks like wood but isn't. My front also faces west. I have no sun damage at all and the door looks great. https://www.pellabranch.com/windows-doors/doors/entry-doors/fiberglass-entry/