natal, can you post a photo or link of your foot-operated trash/recycle cabs, muspic, can I see your cork floor? We're doing cork as well. The telling sign for me was when I went into a "wood flooring" showroom. When I asked where their cork display was (the whole floor was covered in the different wood flooring), I expected them to say they didn't have one (like most stores). Instead, they took me to the area where the employees stood all day. All cork. No wood. Enough said. Alabamamommy, our current house has white Corian counters. They were here when we bought the house and were afraid of them at first, but now we love them. I cook every day and never had any problem getting anything off them, including red white and tumeric. I spilled about 4 t. of tumeric on the counter when I was making keema yesterday. I got most of it right away. After I was done cooking, I saw that I missed a spot. I sprayed the spot with 409, let it sit a few minutes while I cleaned up then came back and it came right off. We've also had success with set stains using Soft Scrub, and even a baking soda paste. For the kitchen in the house we're building, my must haves were: * cork floors (I need the sound proofing for living with a brain injury and active boy!) * walk in pantry (that it is 9'x9'11" is a bonus) * all base drawers * wide aisles * pulls instead of knobs * dropped baking center so I don't have to stand on my tippy toes while kneading bread, and open on two sides so my son can help. * foot pulls for trash * hands free water faucet * island (I ended up with two. WIth my TBI, I can't go out to socialize much, so two islands give me a "little kitchen" where I can focus and not be distracted (aka, burn the house down). The second island allows others to be "in the kitchen" to help prep, socialize, clean up, etc. without being in my space. I can't wait! *desk area for printing recipes, menu planning, etc. * side by side frig. It just works best for the way we live. Funny story, when we bought our current frig, the deciding factor was the one that fix a pizza box. In the last four years, there have been less than 5 pizza boxes in there! We cut out most processed foods. So we love the side-by-side because when I cook dinner, I always make larger portions so we can get 2-4 leftovers out of it. There are packaged in lunch size containers in frozen. Everything is easy to see in the morning, when DH grabs his lunch. * Full size freezer in pantry. We currently have a chest freezer, but we'd like to be able to buy a part of a cow from a local farm, so we're getting a side by side freezer to store our meat and extra bulk goods. DH's must have, beyond what's above: * deep single sink for washing pans (Usually I clean up as I go, but often I run out of steam by the time dinner is done, so he'll do clean up. I figured if I give him the sink he wants, he'll do it even more!) * energy star appliances * water sense sinks * Sharp microwave...

O.T. Do not disrespect or underestimate small kitchens. The original kitchens on my tract house street were horrible by current standards, but these twinsie little pullman kitchens with doors on both ends nevertheless allowed post-WWII moms to make family meals from scratch, can and freeze garden produce, and host card parties, garden club meetings, and extended families at holidays. I've been told as much by the older residents. DH and I remodeled the original so nicely without adding an inch of actual space that it served me from 1976 to last year when we finally took a sledgehammer to it. Guests at my dinner parties joked that it was like the clown car from which so much entertainment emerged even if it appeared to hold so very very little. But I had to have rules and one was that no one could be in the space with me when I said I needed to be alone. We installed a long countertop which allowed me to plate things before serving and which accepted mounds of dirty dishes afterwards. Cleanup was also a one-person activity. No one was allowed to stand around to talk; guests could stand at either door if they really wanted to, but no, no, no, do not come in. The work triangle was a long obtuse triangle that covered the entire room. But the zones were there, crisp and sharp and functional.

Hi All, Here's the current layout. I posted it earlier but I think it got lost in all the layouts (sorry!). Catbuilder - you make a great point. I did consider those options. I've lived here for over two years now and the two biggest things missing are a comfortable place for a couple of adults to perch in the kitchen (I have no where to put people when they come by and I am working in the kitchen), and a kitchen table for small dinners and homework. Currently, my son does his homework on the coffee table in the family room and we often sit on the floor and eat there also. I don't want to give up the dining room. It's a lovely room with floor to ceiling windows and we often have many dinner guests. I also don't want to give up the "living room". I put it in quotes because really it's our library/quiet space. It's really nice to read there or work at the computer there. So, for the time being, I'm still trying to fit it all in. That said, I don't want a poor outcome because I tried to do too much. Debrak 2008 - That's a great photo, thanks! It looks a lot like my space. It would mean no kitchen table though, so I'm not too keen on it at this point. Gardenpixie - thanks for the isle measurements. Your thoughts are very reassuring. My space is so small, I would think 42" isles would look out of proportion. Thanks for the encouragement!! Does anyone have an opinion about Marti8a's layout? It does seem to maximize the space, but it seems to lose the definition of the kitchen and just feels a little out of place to me. Thoughts? Many thanks again! -kb

My grandmothers kitchen always seemed so tiny to me, it was a galley style and you literally could not pass through to the utility room if she was in there cooking. Imagine my surprise when I learned that she ACTUALLY remodeled the space to be that way on purpose!! We are talking about people born in the late teens, early 20s so of course, the woman did all the cooking and cleaning and for her, it was an efficient use of space. We couldn't help in the kitchen, even when we wanted to because there was simply no room. The best we could do was to be her runners, taking food from the kitchen to the dining room. My kitchen, by Houzz standards is probably small to medium-ish. In real world standards, I have a massive kitchen! It is difficult to quantify my kitchen in terms of size, space etc because I have two definite zones that are VERY clear. I have the work zone, which contains my main clean up sink, double ovens, range and fridge in a 12x12 area. Then I have what I refer to as my auxillary zone, where I have my microwave, coffee makers, wet bar, island for breakfast/casual dining, China hutch and access to my large walk in pantry and that area is 12x15. So all together, not counting the adjacent dining room, my "kitchen" is 324 sq ft. 378 if I include the pantry. I remember when we started planning our remodel almost 2 years ago that my husband couldn't believe I wanted to go through all the effort, hassle, and expense of adding on to the back of the house "just" to put a 12x12 kitchen on an already 3000 sq ft home. He initially was convinced that if we were going to go through the trouble, we should make it larger and grander. I had to explain (several times) that that WAS the size I wanted and that it would work perfectly for my needs and cooking style. At 12x12, I have ample prep space on 3 countertops. I am no more than 2-4 steps from my fridge, sink, stove, trash and ovens. Perhaps most importantly for me though was that I made my work area of the kitchen a strict work area. There is NO traffic through there, no one getting in the way while I'm cooking, no one coming in to get a drink, wash hands, etc. All of that is done through the auxillary zone, which is part of the original kitchen on the house.