Hi, Nicely done. Couple of questions/suggestions. The sink/stove wall: Are you right or left handed? Typically, if you are right handed, the DW would be right of the sink. That would free up the doorway and make it easier to (un)load. I'm not sure you will like having the shelf over the sink, at least not the lowest one. I'm guessing that the reason the sink is not under the window is to preserve the counter length left of the stove, which is smart but I wonder if you switch the narrow base cabinet to the R of stove (so now there are 2), it would move the stove over L, giving you room to mimic the shelving R of the hood for oils n such. MIght be more functional. Ref wall: Love that expanse of counter but what is it for? Too far away for prep, so is it for buffet service? If so, then I would furr the base cabinets out 2 or 3" and that would get you a deeper countertop which might be more useful for small appliance, etc. plus service (you have the footage). I'm torn with the Ref placement. Part of me gets why it's there - closer to the cooking action. But if you pushed it all the way over to the L, you'd get to use that counter for more food prep and guests in the adjacent room could help themselves to beverages w/out getting in the way. Either way, I think you will get more function from the layout if you remove the bookcase and keep that space free (it's a little tight). You have room to place two bookshelves either on the inside of the entry (flanking passage way) or the short wall R of windows and on the opposite as well. Look forward to seeing your next revision.

Peace, I don't have much time this a.m. (Saturday is our busy day, and I don't have any rendering software at home--to keep the job and home a bit separate.) but I have to say, that's a much busier roofline than your line drawing would lead me to suspect! And, it's surprising that the gables run N-S rather than E-W. That's why advice from an experienced contractor on the scene is so much better than an anonymous internet person! But, having suggested that you think out of the box, my first suggestion to you would be to try to live within the current plan without any expansion. That's always the cheapest, and it's the best investment for resale since additions won't "pay you back" unless you plan on living there for 10 years or longer. The chimney and the stairs really eliminate much of the potential openness between the family room and the living room. But, if you eliminate that wall all the way to the chimney, and use the sunroom space, I can see turning your current kitchen into a very efficient galley style arrangement that will still be as open as possible to the living room. Keep the sink in the same location (always a LOT cheaper!) or scootch it down towards the family room a bit, and just run that run of cabinets all the way along that new wall between the patio and family room. THe range would go on that wall between the sink and a full sized glass door (single "french" door") between the kitchen and patio. Put a pantry where you show the fridge, and put the fridge on the new "mudroom" wall (and maybe laundry?). That is, make a wall extend east from the stairwell through the porch (right about where the post is in the rear shot, I'd imagine) to create the other wall of the "galley" where you create a "snack zone" with a microwave (and maybe a beverage sink?) for all of those snackers coming in from outside. The new small "mudroom" would give a place for coats and boots and flotsam to drop before it hit the kitchen. You wouldn't have to change any of your footprint, and you'd get a very efficient kitchen that would be as open to the living room as structurally possible, with minimal structural issues to be solved. No, it doesn't give you an island, or seating in a kitchen, but it will literally probably be a minimum of 50K less of a project, which if you plan on moving in less than 5 years, might make these changes be more in the realm of being able to be recouped. Like I said, Saturday is my busy day at the showroom, so I probably won't be able to check back in until Sunday to see your response to my radical rethinking. And, I'm probably making a few assumptions about you that may not be entirely correct, such as this being more of a first or second home for you (I noticed the young kids toys.) rather than a home for a mature family. If this is a home from which you will never move, then the dollar amount "invested" in remodeling is less of an issue, as you will get years of enjoyment out of creating a larger and more functional space to live in. You might post your current home's layout with a request for other input about creating the optimum kitchen from what exists and you'll get a LOT more input from some very talented forumistas with a more specific appeal to a layout challenge.

Thanks, everyone. :o) @lisa a: I don't see eating mostly fresh fruits & veggies, sprouted nuts & seeds as a restricted diet. Since we have multiple food allergies/intolerances in our family, I see it as an allergen-free diet. (Americans' staples are mostly known allergens: milk, wheat, peanuts . . . ;o) We've done it before, and getting back into it now feels really good to me. It's like years are falling away from my "real" age, and I'm getting some life and energy back. Love that. I will have a goodly-sized toaster oven, so I can occasionally bake a good gf/allergen-free cake for celebrations. :o) @bmorepanic: (Love your username! lol) Thanks so much for your feedback on the marine ranges. That's really useful. I was thinking of one or two of these induction plates (or the commercial version), and if that didn't work, I'd get a two-burner ceran top electric cook top much like the induction cooktop you linked to. We're wiring sufficient for any contingency, so it's a possibility. And thank you for the heads' up on the window trim. We're planning on using 1x material, so it'll be 3/4" thick. I'm thinking I can put a bumper of some kind on the wall up near the top of the window trim where the cab door would hit it. My main concern right now is figuring out how to make sure the right-hand door on the wall cab next to the pantry cab will open cleanly. I think I have 1" to spare, but would hate for that to be too snug to work. Oh, the devil is in the details . . . I've been rethinking the rail systems, and will still get them, but am not exactly sure where I'll be putting them. I'm just wholly smitten with the fintorp line, and it's fun rustic vibe. The metal pails just make my heart go pitter patter (which is kind of shameful, since I know there are much bigger things to worry about in the world . . . but I like taking pleasure in my surroundings, so it can't be all bad, right?) A pot rack is a GREAT idea. I can totally do that with the ceiling . . . just have to adjust the length of one of the hanging chains. Oh, hooray for getting the pots out in the open where I don't have to nest them! Of course, they don't HAVE those in the kitchen planner (bah), but I can adapt. @aliris19: I'm thinking about putting a shelf above the bedroom door (on the left, by the fridge), so that could add even more function there. I'm also considering an awesome, huge clock. K, here are some fun shots of today's mods: Living room side, with upper cab: Bedroom side. (And don't worry . . . it looks like those cabs are kissing the default 96" ceiling, but the measurements all work out in my math. I'm going to call Ikea and ask about that one, though. The 88" pantry cab shouldn't be 96" tall, right?) Living room side without upper cab (which is really calling to me, as I feel like I'm going to do most of my prep on the peninsula and in that corner (where the outlet for the burner and the toaster oven will be), and I hate working with an upper cab in my face. I could handle a pot rack up high, near the opening to the living room, though.

Wow, that's really innovative and thinking outside the box. Thank you so much for all the renderings. I wish we were still in the framing or planning stage. I've seen some walk through wet bars in model homes that kind of look like your giant walk through pantry, but I've never envisioned it in my house. Hubby says what we have is what we have and we have to stick to it. He says the fridge can't be moved due to plumbing/wiring already in place. I'll have to do the best with the layout we have and maximize on the counter space (21" on either side of the stove which should be sufficient since I just read that bare minimum is 15" and I know that's just safety code bare minimum so ideally it'd be like 24-36", but it won't happen in my kitchen) and base drawers we have. My kitchen cabinets designer is helping me put in as many sets of base drawers as possible. It's not a custom cabinets place so there's some limitations.