A few questions about architect's drawing, your planned use of the area, and your use of the kitchen. 1. What are the shapes numbered 13? My best guess was skylights. 2. What do the areas bordered with scalloped lines indicate? No guess here. 3. I assume the squares in the breakfast room area indicate a coffered ceiling. Is that correct? 4. In your plan, does the ''desk'' match the kitchen cabinets? 5. Do you cook a lot? Do you prepare large meals? Do you want to? The usable kitchen area if you do not use the bottom wall is only about 12 x 15. That isn't tiny, of course, but neither is it spacious, especially when it is limited to only two usable walls. I hope someone can see a better way to make use of this expansive area. If you answer these questions and Marcolo's, it may help GW's outside-the-box thinkers come up with a great idea.

Regarding the "openess", I think it's a very good setup - open to the Family Room but not the rest of the house. This is a good compromise b/w too open (e.g., open to all first floor rooms) vs isolated by itself. I like it! I don't know your whole-house design, but I have some general design tips that I've realized are important over the years - (1) A reach-in or walk-in pantry somewhere nearby, (2) DR placed near the Kitchen (even if you have a Breakfast Nook) (3) A nice size Mudroom off the family entrance (garage?) that is not also the Laundry Room. The Laundry room can be next to it, but have doors that can close b/w the Mudroom and LR (or LR and rest of the house) - I don't like the idea of dirty laundry always on display! (4) For the Mudroom - a cubby for each child (and, maybe, each adult) + closet + boot/glove/scarf storage + bench; with hooks in the cubbies for school backpack and winter coat (winter coats take up the most space, so size for them) As to the kitchen, do you have a design of the entire first floor? Right off - this kitchen is screaming for either: adding a prep sink along the perimeter or moving the sink + DW to the perimeter and adding a prep sink to the island (my preference). Maybe even turning the island 90 degrees - but I would have to work with it so the island doesn't become a barrier island b/w the refrigerator and Prep Zone (on the island). Moving the range/cooktop to the other wall and moving the Cleanup Zone to the top wall might also work - again, I would have to play with it to see what would actually work. How flexible are you? Can windows/doors/plumbing be moved? Regarding "ease of venting", you can pretty easily vent from an interior wall, especially one that's perpendicular to the outside wall unless the ceiling joists are running parallel to the outside wall - b/c then you have to cut through all the joists to run the duct work. Or, you can duct out the roof (it works for some people). So, I would not immediately eliminate something for that reason. Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ: How do I ask for Layout Help and what information should I include?

Your Prep Zone will be b/w the range and sink and doesn't have enough workspace. If you plan to put the coffeemaker in the corner b/w the sink and range, you're reducing your workspace even more. Why b/w the range and sink? A water source is a key component of a Prep Zone. The island as no water, so it won't make a very good Prep Zone - at least not a primary Prep Zone. I would remove at least one pantry altogether and then move the refrigerator and range over so you have a decent amount of prep workspace. Ideally, you should have 42" to 48", but if you can at least eek out 36" to 39" it should be enough to make do - not great, but doable. I would also move the trash pullout to the range wall next to the corner cabinet so it's in the Prep Zone and near the Cooking and Cleanup Zone. Unfortunately, your Kitchen does not follow the kitchen workflow, but it cannot be helped b/c you cannot move the sink and DW and, to be honest, with so many tall items and not much wall space, the best place for the sink is either in the island or peninsula. Regarding the overhang on the peninsula - why not put in a set of 12" deep cabinets behind the sink/DW to increase your storage and give you more space behind the sink to help prevent knocking things off and splashing? If you have a separate DR and plan to open it up to the Kitchen, won't that be plenty of seating w/o that table? I was going to suggest a banquette to help save space, but with all the doors and the big window, you can't fit one in. For seating at the island, keep in mind that you need 24" of linear space per seat and at least 15" of clear leg/knee space for the overhang. If your island cabinets have a decorative door or finished end panel on the backs, then that means your island will be 41.5" deep: 1.5" counter overhang on the front + 24" deep cabinets + 1" decorative door/end panel + 15" seating overhang = 41.5" . Is the opening on wall B the large window? Or, is the window on the left end of wall A? . . I suspect you probably don't want to hear a lot of what I've discussed, but if this is your forever home and you want to get it right, I think a few things need to be thought out more b/f you begin. Think about not just now, but how will things work 10, 15, 20, or more years from now. Good luck on your project!

First, is the second overall picture what the reconfiguration of the rooms will look like as opposed to the first overall picture in your original post? Yes. Kitchen comments/questions: You said you were merging the two designs…what about the pantry/pantries? Which one are you using? It looks like open shelves to the left of the refrigerator in the first layout and it looks like a row of pantry cabinets in the elevation image in your second post. Which is correct? We are moving the pantry to the wall across the kitchen and borrowing from the back of the master closet for the space. It will begin where the angled part of the closet begins and will be built out to be rectangular. The extra pantry cabinets will be used for small appliances. It looks like your counters are two different heights. That's OK and even encouraged if you plan a Baking Zone, but if you move the range to center it on the island, how much space will you have to the left at the same. Is that what we see in the second elevation? If so, then there looks like you have plenty of room. Yes, where it is on the second elevation is where it will be. There will be space on both sides that are standard counter height. How wide is the aisle ...All isles are 5 feet wide. We have a child in a wheelchair and would like to have this work for him if he doesn't ever get strong enough to walk. The exception is the distance between the sink counter and the pantry, which will be four feet but is more a small pinch point transition than an isle. Is there seating along the back of the island? It looks like the answer is no, but I wanted to check. There is not going to be seating on the back of the island, there will be a rounded out overhang of 18" that is counterheight on the back of the peninsula that will be for seating. The dining room is across from the island as well. Is there one DW? Or are there two? If two, do you really need two? My husband would argue that no, we don't need two, but it is on my wishllist since ease of clean up is a priority for me and we often have more dishes in one day than can fit in one. If there is only one, I would put the DW to the right of the DW. (See next comment) I would change the island cabinet configuration to include a wide drawer (36"?) base that faces the sink and DW for dish storage. That way, you could have the DW to the right of the sink so (1) it doesn't get in the way of someone trying to prep and cook and (2) make it easier to get to the upper cabinets when the DW is open (or DWs). Excellent idea. Are you voiding out the corner next to the sink? If so, consider putting in a 27" cabinet turned 90 degrees so it faces the Great Room for additional storage. the 27" width will provide self-filler on the Kitchen side without wasting space. It is a 36" blind cabinet with half moon pullouts. I assume you have at least 3" of filler on each side of the corner on the Kitchen side to allow doors/drawers and the DW to open fully without interfering with each other. Not sure, I have to ask the designer, but good point. Did you consider a prep sink (not bar or main sink) in the island? It would give you a better Prep Zone if there is a DW to the left of the sink. (You should strive to keep the DW out of the Prep Zone – the space where you have decent counter space next to a water source and next to or across from the Cooking Zone and range). It also gives you two nice Prep Zones if there will be more than one of you working in the Kitchen at the same time regardless of the # of DWs you have. There are often two of us in the kitchen, but that extra plumbing would be crazy expensive since we have a concrete slab floor under the tile and a trench would have to be made. Already I'm moving the main sink 3' away from it's current place. Where is the MW going to be? Will it be under the counter? If so, what type of MW -- a drawer? Standard counter top MWs installed under the counter are difficult to use b/c you have to squat or lean very far over to put food in, use the controls, take food out (unless you reach blindly in when there is hot food in the MW -- not recommended!) If you rarely use the MW, then it might be only a rare inconvenience, but if you use it a lot, it could become a major headache! I also hope the MW is not an Over the Range MW -- they are also an issue! (Both safety and usability) Yeah, we don't really use it too often but it is above the range. It would be really helpful if we had a fully measured layout of the space -- the widths of each wall/window/door/doorway and the distances between eachwall/window/door/doorway. If you look really closely at my sketch on the full house floorplan, tiny measurements are running along the top, bottom and center of the room.