Bellsmom, We will not be wanting a table/chairs in the kitchen. A peninsula with bar stools will serve nicely for eating/homework etc while my husband or I are cooking. No kids yet, but in the near future after the kitchen and rest of the house gets done I imagine there will be a few ;) Dining room is more a formal style dining room for large gatherings. Just my husband and I doing the cooking. Groceries and trash will go out the back door I want to put on the remaining living room wall after the 24ft kitchen area. We dont do anything more than an average family would probably. We make dinner every night, but arent extravagant chefs by any means. No computer or tvs needed in the kitchen. Small appliance storage out of sight is a must for my large stand mixer, toaster, blender etc. I would also like to do a large vent hood over the range and not an over the range microwave. I like having my microwave at a more useable height, counter height is what I'm thinking. I will try and add some pictures of the mantles etc for style reference later. On my way to the kitchen planner appt.

We definitely need a plan with dimensions. My first thought is to put the fridge & freezer on opposite ends of that back wall with the range centered between them. You'll want a pot filler, but it shouldn't be a problem as there's already water there for the fridge. Put the microwave and warming drawer in the island, and leave the sink where it is. This way you don't need to move any walls, or mess with the floors if you don't want to. And I would definitely remove that crazy soffit over the island! :-)

I was working on the plan idea below before I read that you were okay giving up nook seating. Thought I'd post it anyway. Plan A does not move any walls but it does add a wall to the pantry, creating a pantry and a mudroom closet and eliminating the walk-thru. I guessed at the pantry measurements, assuming it's 48" interior with standard thickness walls (4.5"). You should have about the same amount of pantry storage as your current walk-thru pantry provides. I wasn't quite sure how the width was measured but I assumed it was from exterior wall to end of current fridge wall. My measurements reflect that. I kept the aisles generous since the outside of the island is a major traffic path through your home. I wouldn't want to go deeper than 60" for an island anyway; deeper than that and it becomes difficult to clean the center of it. I moved the fridge towards the nook and added a prep sink to the island, creating a cooking zone. From what you've written, I'm assuming that you'll prefer to prep on the island, facing your family and friends. Most of our time making a meal is spent in prep, not at the range or cook top (studies est we spend 70% of our time prepping). I moved the clean-up sink and DW to the current fridge wall. I added a MW drawer to this area. I'd rather have it closer to the fridge but I opted not to give up drawer space in the island since you'll need that for pots, pans and prep items. I also assumed that your fridge is standard depth, not counter depth so I kept the aisle between island and range counter run generous enough so that you should have about 45" between counter and fridge door, 43" between counter and fridge handles. I created a banquette seating area in the nook with a bench filling the wall, making it easy for people to slide on and off the bench. You can seat 4 easily; in a pinch, you could seat 6. I added cabs on the half wall between nook and LR. You can use this area as a breakfast/beverage bar, Command Central, buffet counter... lots of possibilities. The island is large enough to seat 5. Add in nook seating, you can seat 9 in your kitchen. As your family and friends advance in years, they will prefer table seating over counter seating. The above plan does not affect walls but it does affect plumbing. It looks like you have a finished basement so changing plumbing will require tearing into the basement ceiling to move pipes and repairing the ceiling. This is not an expense you can avoid since you wish to change the shape of the island, which will mean moving the existing sink's plumbing. That said, a fellow GWer did share their method of moving plumbing without tearing into their concrete slab floors. I'll see if I can find that for you (they posted pics) in case it's a solution for you. Here's a slight modification to the above plan that requires changing the pantry walls. I eliminated the corner pantry in favor of a rectangular pantry with a pocket door. I shifted the back wall into the mudroom closet, making it smaller but keeping pantry storage roughly the same as it is in Plan A. Here's a pic showing you how this type of pantry would look: Changing the pantry shape means you get more counter on each side of the range. It will also make that corner seem larger. We got rid of a corner sink when we remodeled and I can't believe how much larger my kitchen feels without that angled cab cutting across the corner. I'm working on another idea but I won't have time to post it until later.

Yes but its not just the desired look. If cost is not a factor, anything is possible. But if you have not done a lot of remodeling, you may not be aware of all the associated costs with changing all this. The ceiling, the lighting, framing out the window and wall, matching and replacing the existing exterior. While maintaining the exterior design balance. Moving plumbing, gas and electrical. Your house was built for this kitchen so everything you are considering has major expense to change. You might be better off as far as function and design to bump out the back and redo the whole thing.