Hi, Elacey. My initial feeling was that this design uses a lot of space, spread over a lot of space, and leaves nonwork space in a long strip that lacks flexibility of use. Plus, of course, the DRM currently lacks a fairly direct route and is a bit farther away as a result, part of a set of tradeoffs I imagine you guys are fully aware of, though. That said, now knowing a lovely and important view is out that long wall explains a lot for me and makes sense of the island being oriented to pay homage to the view. What might look a little odd on a screen often turns out to make perfect visual sense in person. I also like the relatively elegant simplicity and open feeling of the layout. It seemed very large, but isn't really too large because it has an entire, efficient work triangle contained within a compact area. I normally am not crazy about corner pantries breaking up counters, but there are exceptions to anything, and it works here because of that. It's unfortunate that cleanup is so far from dining, but you're raising a troupe of energetic little helpers, so again an eyes-open tradeoff. If you were to consider change, sena01's island and counter layout have a fairly similar relation to the rest of the house and pull the elements together a bit more, if that were something you wished. And sitters could look at each other more easily as they played and chatted. Of course, creating that more direct route to the DRM, if acceptable tradeoffs were found would be great. If not, oh, well. I have my doubts about the usefulness of that area you're thinking of putting a little table and chairs in. It's a little tight, and the counter's right there, especially if a stool on the short end allowed glancing out the window too. It would hold an easy chair for relaxing with the cook, or by the cook, though. I know you came for positive ideas, but feeling it works well pretty much as it is, without indication yet that you're interested in undertaking dramatic changes to something else entirely, there are only a couple of things I see that I might like to change on that design. One might (I'd have to play with it, though) would be to create short wing walls on both sides to frame and suggest a gentle transition between the living room and kitchen. It would create a little protected space to back that easy chair to but shouldn't block monitoring of what's happening in there. The other would be to deepen the stove counter to more like 30". I always like that if there's room, 25" being a good workable standard minimum depth, not a law of nature. :)

I'm guessing you like the sink on the angle to keep an eye on the breakfast area and great room. I'm also not an expert, I just spend way to much time here. But here's what I see. You have a lovely space that can accommodate everything you want. But it is too small for an island and too big a U without one. The island you have pictured has aisles too narrow for 2 people, especially with the fridge too. Plus is is oriented with the work space along the fridge side where you usually need it along the range side or the oven side for prep. The DW is also too close to the sink. You will not be able to stand confortably at the sink and open the DW to load because of the angle. You need some space there. So here's some more things to think about. The more you see, the more you get ideas. And hopefully something will spark a brilliant inspiration at some point :-) This narrows the U a little to work without the island. I'm assuming there is only a half wall to the breakfast area, so the range is moved to be a nice focal point from that side of the room as well as provide more space between the sink and range. The MW would go by the fridge, and you could put in a small bar sink there if desired. The sink can function from both sides, one for cleanup and one for prep. It's hard to read, but that space accross from the pantry says broom closet or additional kitchen storage (for things like the crock pot, large pots, etc).

You didn't ask, but I have some comments about the rest of the house. Which way is north? All the jogs in the front will make for a very expensive build, and I don't know that you gain a lot from them. If you could straighten out the guest room/study/entry/dining room wall, you'd save a ton. What is your climate? You have a tiny closet at the rear entry, and no coat closet at the front. No raincoats where you live? We live in coat/boot/mitten country, and I like having a bench near the doors, for putting on boots and shoes. You don't have room for that at either entry. How many people will live in the house? What's in the basement? Do you need both a full guest bath and a powder room? Your garage entry looks cramped, and could benefit from some more space - but the laundry room is huge, and you could steal space from it. The master bath doesn't have room (as drawn) for 2 sinks. You have no storage in this bathroom for an extra towel or roll of TP. Do you plan to put that in the master closet? The closets in the laundry have a lot of inaccessible space, the way the doors are drawn. Where will the washer and dryer go? It's best to have the dryer on an outside wall, so it can vent directly outside. You devote a lot of space for a dining room you don't plan to use much, and the study is tiny. What are your plans for that room? If you will spend much time there, I'd steal space from the generous guest room for the study, or move the entry and stairs to the right and steal from the dining room. Now, for the kitchen. The way the rear of the house is configured, you won't get much direct sunlight in the living areas, even if they face south. I would definitely plan for skylights or solar tubes in the kitchen and great room, and spend plenty of time working on a lighting plan. Most folks here are big on using drawers as much as possible. My favorite advice for kitchen planning is to figure out where you are going to put things in the new space: potholders, plastic containers, cooking utensils, pots and pans, glasses, dishes, spices, small appliances, etc. Things should be near their point of use. If you have more than one person in the kitchen, you may be bumping butts, if one is at the stove and the other at the sink - but aisle width may solve that. Will you have a microwave? Where will that go? With the range on an inside wall, it will have to vent through the ceiling. Make sure your vent hood has a large enough fan to get the air outside - and provide for make-up air, if necessary.

For a while I was in love with a house that had essentially that same kitchen -- and the kitchen is the reason I moved on. Without being able to see the whole house plan, I suspect the problem here is the kitchen's location. It is placed in such a way that it must function as kitchen PLUS hallway, and that just doesn't function well when you're talking about the hardest-working room in the whole house. My husband and I cook, but we don't cook together. So our preference is a smallish kitchen with everything in reach and no "pig paths" through the work space. We tried to relocate the garage entry door to the other side of the kitchen, thinking that it'd be okay to have an entrance area there on the side by the refrigerator. BUT that cut off all access to the bedroom, which was in the same position as the bathroom you're showing. If you love the rest of the house and are determined to fix this kitchen, I wish you luck. I'd suggest you focus on these things: - You want to enter the kitchen and come to storage first: That is, you want your pantry and your refrigerator to be the first things you encounter. This means you aren't carrying things back and forth across the work space. - You want your sink (and in a kitchen this size, two sinks don't make sense) to be centrally located so you can use it for both prep and clean up. - You want a good, uninterrupted prep space (preferably facing outward) between the storage and the sink, and you want garbage next to it. - You don't want walkways separating work areas. Not only are people going to walk through, you're going to spill things as you move them from one work space to another.