Actually, now that I look at it, the plan appears to show a counter depth fridge (30"). The fridge we've selected is 35" deep (plus about 2" in rear for water and power connections). This would mean that the distance to the corner of the peninsula would be closer to 30" before shortening the peninsula! With shortening the peninsula just 6", would the 36" be enough room considering that the fridge is not directly across from the peninsula but rather at an angle? eastbaymom - good point about being able to pull the fridge out. I believe we're just doing the standard 1.5" overhang so should still have about 38" between edge of island and fridge, with room to pull out a 35" fridge. Thanks everyone for the advice so far!

@Angela, Yes. If I am correct, you like plan 13H3 better. And you also prefer a microwave over the oven. At this point, I am considering two layouts 13H3 and 18A. Still need to debate the pros and cons of each to see if I can settle on a ‘final’ design. @Lavender Lass, My latest plans (ver17 and ver18) are based on your T-shaped island concept, which has the long side of the island parallel to the right side wall. I am looking at it (18A) along with a previous plan of 13H3. Thank you for your latest two drawings. They are similar to ver13H3 to some degree. I see the main differences being the swapped sink/cooktop, HVAC/pantry locations and larger kitchen window. I would explain my thoughts on them below. @Mrs Pete, Thank you for your continued input. I really appreciate that. You are absolutely right that I am not settled on the kitchen layout yet. There are things that I don’t like or am simply unsure about. On the other hand, I think I am making good progress (from the original two island version) and really hope that either plan might just work OK. Re: HVAC and Cooktop Placement When I met with the architect, he said he preferred to have the HVAC closet in a more centralized location of the house for easier ducting work. I may ask the architect again about this issue but right now I am inclined to leave the HVAC and pantry as they are currently in the plans (pantry close to wall). Similarly, the cooktop close to the top wall may still be doable but that would make the exhaust vent of the range hood more difficult as there is second floor above it (vs cooktop close to side wall ). I am keeping the cooktop / sink locations for now. I would follow up one more time with the architect. Re: Kitchen Windows It is a corner lot with front and west facing streets in the subdivision. The side wall is facing west and we are building in Texas. I don’t think there is any good view to the outside and I have some great concern about summer heat. Therefore, the windows are mainly for natural lighting. The architect proposed to place some small windows over the high cabinets. I really don’t know how that would work and my drawings (with the size and location of the windows) are mainly my best guess. Re: Start over or KD While I am open to the suggestions of starting it over or giving it to a KD, I am not taking that route for reasons including 1) I still like to work with the architect on the overall house design to make it work after I have received some criticisms about the exteriors/roofs and cost. So I am trying to let the floor plan (including kitchen layout) to help the architect a little bit if possible for a functional, pleasing, and cost effective build. 2) The kitchen is one of the most critical parts of the house design but it is still one part of the whole house. If the only thing unresolved is kitchen layout and a KD might be good for me. But I don’t think I am there yet. For some reason, I feel comfortable with floor plans/kitchen layouts reading thanks to many ppl on the GW forums ond my own struggles with the issues for over 5 months. If I decide on a final plan, I think it would not be too bad functionally. Next, I would like to come up with one candidate kitchen plan and integrate it to the whole house floor plans and present it to the architect with my concerns about exteriors and budget. Thanks! JF

Most recommend minimum of 24" of width per diner. And that really is a minimum. I think it's more important to think about comfort than how many seats you can squeeze into a space. At 24" most adults are super-cramped and don't have much elbow room. And your kids will grow up so you need to plan for that. My DH wears a 46" jacket. When DS was in high school, he wore a 48". Can you imagine them crammed together with 24" each? Not happening. Even when kids are smaller, I think it's nice to give them more space so they can spread out and not be so close that it's fun to start pestering each other, like on purpose/"accidental" elbow jabs and such. And if you want them to do homework there, they will likely need space to spread out books and papers. Personally, for these reasons, we've never been happy without more like 30-32" per person for daily use. Closer is fine for occasional dinners but not for daily use. All imho, of course, and YMMV.

Try the Kitchens forum.