I have polished ubatuba counters and island, and cherry cabs, in a kitchen that gets no direct light at all. Yes, the dark counters, even though polished, really suck the light out. I'm sorry... and this is just a matter of taste, but the reflected light on the polished surface, to me, doesn't help, because it's very cold light. (Although it's probably worse with black like I have.) It sounds from the other colors you have picked that you like more warmth. If you love this counter you have picked and want to keep it, then maybe you could just pick something light for the island. In my kitchen that would make a big difference (and one of the things we're planning to do in an upcoming remodel). HTH

In answer to the drugs question, yes. My drug of choice in summer is a really nice inexpensive Torrontes from Argentina, $8.99 in the wine department at the Kroger grocery store. In answer to your paint color question, to give the room a more masculine air, set it apart from the rest of your house (a real psychological advantage for a husband's lair), work with your creamy trim color, make that wonderful poster stand out, and reduce the perception of yellow in your oak furniture (and by the bye, painting the furniture would be a gargantuan effort compared with just repainting the walls), choose a rich golden brown. There's "Richmond Gold" (HC-41) from the BMoore Historical group...or Sherwin Williams "Chamois" (SW6131) or "Bosc Pear" (SW6390). There are a couple of the Affinity colors in the BMoore Aura line, too, but I don't have the chips at hand. (I like those because they actually can cover in one coat.) The sheers would soften it, and the warm colors and white linens and black iron and pottery and basketry of traditional French country design would work with it. The blues in the poster will jump out on that background, which will warm your husband's heart. (My DH says that no American man of any age has anything he first chose for himself, because whatever his first wife didn't take, his second wife pitched out..)

Hi Palimpsest! Nice to see you over in Decorating! The lower right corner of the house would be the new Living Room. Sorry I forgot to label. We would like to keep both the Family and Living rooms. Bmorepanic tried to talk me into one big seating-type room recently. DH and I have thought about this many times during our 11 years here, but it doesn't feel right to us. We entertain A LOT and everyone seems to like to spread out and get separation from other guests when necessary. Rhome410 drew a different arrangement over on the Kitchen Forum as I posted this there also. I think it could work. Funny, this house is definetly NOT contemporary. It's just a house. No style, really. Just a house. It was built about 40 years ago in a solid neighborhood with great amenities, but is very basic. We're trying to give it some style and charm. We have/had (now torn out during demo) a very large brick woodburning fireplace stack roughly where mine is drawn with a firebox on each side offset from each other. It was a monster and took up too much space. We'd really like to keep a fireplace. I thought the double-sided one was a great idea to provide some separation b/w FR and LR, but yet keep the rooms more open than they were.

Hi Breezy - you're making some decisions and that's progress! About the 36" aisle that you label as a "pinch point", I don't think 36" is tight in and of itself (we actually have less than that in a couple places where there's an architectural wall protrusion at each end of our island that narrows the aisle to 32" for a few inches). Sometimes it's a little jammed (in our case, with a bunch of adults at the island seating end, which is where we put snacks usually). But in your case, with the oven being there next to the pantry as you show in your last plan, well that could really jam up that corner of the kitchen. Have you thought about the possibility of turning the pantry against your left wall? Then I would consider putting the fridge down at the bottom of the kitchen. Keep the ovens where they are. Like everything, some pros/cons: PANTRY: CON: you'd have the same issue with it needing to come into the main kitchen aisle several inches, to get the room you want in there. PRO: But you'd be using that space out of your 48" aisle, and not the 44" (although one of your recent posts said you're going down to 42"?) And it still gives you some door options (30" opening on my barely legible plan here) OVENS: PRO: gets you some landing room to the right of them, instead of the fridge being there, which I think is super important. FRIDGE: at the bottom of your kitchen, may be a new loop for you...but (if you remember) the photo you saw of our fridge, that's how we have it (only at the top end of our kitchen). CON: it's away from your main cook/prep zone. PRO: kids can get in/out of it without being in your way, AND biggest PRO (for me) is that it gives your ovens that landing room. Even with just 2 people in our home, the fridge gets opened far more than the oven, and it works well for it to be on its own. I know you mentioned your only fridge spec was a bottom freezer, and if you got one that opened from the right you wouldn't hit the pantry wall (Or, if you can squeeze a foot of space in between the pantry and fridge, a French Door would be best for this placement so people could EASILY get by when doors are open). Overall, it gets your food all together at that end, so when you come into the house with groceries - some for the pantry, some for the fridge - you use your island as the drop zone, and load things in to both from there. Ok, I am NOT a floorplan person (nor do I have a scanner), but here it is to the best of my abilities: