I agree with dianalo about the flow of the trim, and would paint it all the same color as the rest of the house (assuming it's white, is it?) I think you should paint the ceiling white. BM "ceiling white" paint has worked for me in the past. It is going to reflect what's around it anyway. I've had one decorator tell me you should always put a little bit of the wall color in your white ceiling paint, and another tell me you should always put a little big of grey in it. It seems to me you're going to have to repaint your whole ceiling if you do the first one and want to change your walls, and I just don't get putting the grey in the paint unless it's to keep it from being too reflective. So I still just stick with good old ceiling white. Your kitchen sounds like it's going to be beautiful! I love white cabinets!!

Oh, golly, golly, I'm so thrilled that you all have taken the trouble to read my tome and offer comments! Thank you, dianalo, rhome and bmorepanic! I really appreciate the suggestions and will give all of them some thought because that is exactly what I was hoping to get: fresh eyes that haven't been over and over the same old thinking, as I have by now. A few quick thoughts: rhome: It's a good point about the small size of the counter to left of the sink (between DW and sink). I gave it that space just as elbow room in case I do have the DW elevated above the counter. Without that space, I thought it would make it feel like you were doing dishes with the sink nearly touching a wall because of the vertical side of the raised DW cab. I am definitely not wedded to it, nor to the little 6" space on the other side of the DW. That's probably going to evaporate, anyway, (except for an inch or to of framing to keep the DW door from being slap against the wall) because the room is about 2.5 inches out of square in that corner. Odds are on that I either a) won't have any DW or b) will have it at normal counter height merely to use as an expensive dish drying rack. I plan to set up the finalized "test" kitchen, and work it, live with all appliances and water installed, before we go too much further along. It'll be ugly as Hell, but I've lived with inconvenient and ugly for years. So getting it down to just one annoyance in the name of making sure I've got it right seems like a good trade-off. Since both rhome and bmorepanic have identified issues about the corner pantry area, that obviously needs more thought. The 30" door is fairly fixed in position; it can't move south (it may be possible to move it north) because this is a timber-framed building and its southern edge is right against an unmoveable framing member. That's what the small box with an X in it signifies. (Note the similar one on the opposite side behind the range; that one controls the placement of the stove vent hood.) I thought the diagonal step-in gave me more storage space than truncating it by running it straight across. The little closet is just a niche to store the fire extinguisher and emergency supplies. My current fridge probably won't last too many more years and then I thought a FD model would give me more useable space in front, which is why I'm planning for a larger appliance in that space from the start. bmorepanic's mention of the grocery-to-house pathway brings me to an admission about one of the driving forces of my plan. The grocery arrival path is actually through the sitting room door at the top of the drawing. One of my biggest issues with this house is the traffic flow from the outside to inside. It's a direct collision of three things: a)I live in a region of the country where no matter how formal the house, nobody except dead people in coffins ever uses the front door of farmhouses; b) even if I could manage to change this deeply-ingrained cultural pattern, the classical "front" Greek Revival facade of my house - complete with double door flanked by side and transom lights and appropriately dressed with columns and pilasters - is inaccessible to anyone who arrives by car; and c) it makes me ab-so-lute-ly nuts not to have a distinct, graduated, intimacy progression from outside to inside. This is the one thing (perhaps even more than the non-functional kitchen) which is at the root of this upheaval. I figure since I can't change either the people or the surroundings, the one thing I can change is the pathway they follow. So I've decided to alter the room functions to match my sensibilities; when people approach the house (by the inevitable backdoor entrance) they will find themselves, whether they like it or not, in my public reception rooms, leading to my formal rooms (sitting room, office, etc.). Buried deeper within the house are the rooms I consider more private, like the kitchen. It goes against the modern grain, I know, but to me kitchens are personal workspaces, truly the "heart of my private home", which is not something that I like to share with visitors. And definitely not where I want to entertain casual visitors from the census taker to local politicians stumping for votes to the man who comes to see me about the fencing. Right now the kitchen is the first space inside the house. Meh! It's not like I want to show off to my visitors or them feel uncomfortable - even my "formal" sitting room is very low key and approachable, and relaxed. But I so much want - and need - that step-wise gradation of intimacy, that I'll do anything to get it. I have gone and back and forth and back again weighing this. But in the end I have decided that if I can arrange my rooms to satisfy how I like and still leave the structure largely changed (because it is so old and I don't want to make structural changes), I'm willing to make some sacrifices: such as I'll have to bring the groceries in through the sitting room (actually the current kitchen) to get to my new kitchen. The additional the distance is only about about 6 feet longer (immaterial at a farm where the cars are stored in barns at least fifty feet away, not in attached garages), and it's unlikely it will be embarassing to us to haul the groceries through the sitting room, since we'll be the only ones present while hauling! I will put some more thought into the corner step-in area and see how it can be improved. Your observations are very useful to my planning. I truly appreciate the time and trouble you have taken. I'll post some updated sketches in this thread rather start a new one. May I also say thank you for your kind words about my amateur drawings. I have struggled to the point of tears trying to use computer room planning software. And because so many people who ask for advice have mastered this, until now, I have been too abashed by my lack of skill to post without a computer drawing. Back soon, with another version(s) of the corner pantry area. Anybody else want to put in their two cents? Nancy

The angled corner is noticeable in the plan view., but not so much in the elevation view rendering. However in real life, I think the angled corner will be unattractive and I would not do it. During our kitchen remodel, we cut down the peninsula bar to counter height, but could not move walls or cabinet footprint. At one point of the peninsula, the cabinet and countertop edge are 32” and 31” respectively from one point on a dividing wall at the passage lane from the dining area to the kitchen. It is just one point on the end of the wall and has never been an eyesore or issue. It is a trade off. The larger island is better than the smaller island for scale and your desired use. The island is prettier than the peninsula, if you can fit it. The wall corner is the exterior wall so it can’t be moved or torn down. So after reconsidering the pros and cons, I think the “narrower than ideal“ passage opening, at one point on the wall corner, will not be a big deal for you. The house plans show a window in the area where I thought a pantry should go, so I see that is not an option. What you may want to reconsider is if you can swap the fridge and stove wall. Moving the range hood to the exterior wall would facilitate venting, unless you already have a venting system in your wall I the location as shown.

The swap between the kitchen and dining room was discarded because my son and DIL felt it would put traffic from the garage/family room through the new dining room. Bringing in groceries from the garage would be just that much further., and as my DIL has some mobility issues, it would be harder on her. They also have traditional dining room furniture which includes a large breakfront; there would be no large wall space for one in what is now the kitchen. There would be space for it if they didn't remove the shared wall between kitchen and dining room, but since the goal was to open the kitchen/dining room as much as possible, that wall wouldn't exist. Flooring is a tough issue. Currently, the foyer and kitchen, including the hallway to garage/family room is tiled. the dining and living rooms have a pickled wood floor. However, whoever installed the tile put it down with literally a 2+ inch mud base, Where the tile meets the wood floor at the entrances to living and dining room there is a nice toe-stubber. The tile floor will need to be jackhammered and repaired. I believe son and DIL would prefer tile in foyer and kitchen again, new wood in dining/living again. With DIL's style of cooking, tile is the wisest choice in the working area. They seem to be enamored of the island layout I posted yesterday, the same layout their friends have. I'm not so sure. The friend has a 2 level island, which sort of defeats the extra working space it could provide if it were a single surface. However, in their current kitchen the sink area is usually wet, and a single surface island might be disastrous. The 2 level does have an advantage with electric outlets, though. I suggested they pretend to prepare meals in there. I also encouraged them to give mama goose's layout some consideration. DIL would still like to see some sort of island in there; maybe to fit in a small stool or 2? If fridge were moved to the area designated as ”hutch”?