I can see doing a wider french doored (or pocket french doored) opening to the left to increase the accessibility of the kitchen to the rest of the house, but PLEASE do not make the mistake of "opening up all the walls" in this home! Part of any older home's charm is the distinct closed off rooms that are cozy discoveries. If you do the fireplace "keeping area" in the lower ceilinged part, that will be the most highly sought after gathering spot in the house and you won't want or need to "open it up" to any other room. It will be a destination area. A retreat. As far as layout, it's a no brainer than the sink can go along the right where the tall windows are currently located and the range and fridge can go on the opposite wall. I like the idea of a farm table in the middle, but my back does not if you would use it as a prep area! I would need a 24"x36" prep area that was at least 36"-38" tall. Now, if the farm table were to be T'd off of that prep area, that would be the best of both worlds. That prep area could be a chunky created butcher block, or other antique cabinet. Good luck shopping! I think that's more than half of the fun of an unfitted kitchen.

Thanks for the additional input. I didn't realize a couple of you had posted since the last I checked. Not much has been done yet on the kitchen but we are starting to work on it now. I actually painted primer on the island today :) The progress so far is that we have a solid oak countertop soon to be made for our island out of local wood. A friend of ours called last fall and said he had someone he knew who had firewood that needed cut and removed. The trees ended up being straight oak trees. My husbands old shop teacher owns a sawmill and he is going to make us a countertop for the island and "coffee" bar. My husband is planning to call him tomorrow to set the plan in motion now that we've heard he's back from overwintering in Florida. I intend to treat it probably with Waterlox to keep it's natural color I have decided to paint the island and "coffee" station area. My first thought is cream because it's neutral and not risky. There is still a chance I could go apple green but I'm leaning cream. If the island isn't green, my husband would like the wall color to be the green. I am currently getting quotes on soapstone. We are hoping to make it work with the budget for the perimeter countertop. There's not a lot of it, but boy is it pricey. We have a friend who does Corian installs for a living who says he's done soapstone before and he is going to check on the pricing he can get on a slab. My husband talked to him so I have no idea what particular stones he has access to. My husband is trying to get more details. I have also gotten quotes from M Teixeira for DIY slabs. Our friend said we can use his shop and cutting tools to work our soapstone. If we decide the cost is too much we will do the laminate version that is the closest to the soapstone we liked... It is mostly black with some white veining. At this point the DIY pieces from M Tex are about 3-4x the cost of laminate. It's the first time I've looked at "real" stone.. it's not a demand in our area.

Claire, nope they are all level. But maybe you’re seeing the gaps in between the planks that are typical for old floors. We choose to not fill them in. They still have to finish the toe trim.

Love it shead! And I'm now reading the book Virgil posted above... for the 3rd time. I've had it a long time, well it's actually my dad's copy, but it's been a while!!