What are you going to use this room for? Is it mainly TV watching, or is it more entertaining friends or more a cozy family room with reading and a bit of TV watching? The function of the room will determine a lot of the furniture placement. For example, in #1, the furniture seems to be too far apart to hold a conversation easily, but, as well, none of the furniture directly faces the TV. However, in #3, you seem to have the start of a nice conversation area, if you move the chair out of the corner and closer to the sofa and loveseat. But only the loveseat has a good view of the TV. You might also experiment with some different furniture selections. I could see two easy chairs snuggled up by the fireplace and a sectional for TV watching. Or two loveseats in #3 instead of the sofa and loveset combo you have now. In all your options, all the furniture looks very far apart, which could be partly because you have no tables or lamps in the room. A coffee table, a console table behind the sofa and/or some end tables will give you places to put down a book or a drink, and they also need to be considered in your floor plan.

Its a 3200 sq foot house which is really too small for us but we love our neighborhood (lots of friends, close to work) the school (top rated public gifted magnet school which is IN the actual neighborhood) where our oldest just started kindergarten. So we'd really like to move to a bigger house but right now we are thinking to stay for the time being, making the compromises becuase the neighborhoods great and we are almost done with the mortgage. So that is our psychology. I surf GW, then realtor.com, then GW. Once I sign a remodeling contract, the decision will be made. I know 3200 doesnt sound small, I grew up in a 2000 sq ft house I thought was big so who knows what happened to my perspective. We have very little storage space b/c we finished the walk out basement with a dining area, rec room, full kitchen, full bath and bedroom. Our nanny lives down there and the only storage is a walk thru area between the nannys bedroom and her bathroom- it has two huge racks on the wall with bins on it. That is our only other alternative for the washer dryer- but I have to weight it against losing one of those racks and having to sort of be in her space to laundry. She wouldnt mind, but it feels inconvienant to me. Otherwise I've checked all the walls and spaces and there is no where to put the W/d (which are huge front loaders). Even my garage, I have to turn sideways to walk by my car- and my husband is a fanatic about keeping cars in the garage. My friend has the same house and just did a remodel and also searched in vain for another spot and came up empty. She said she felt like she had a ton of more space after her remodel with bigger cabinets. So, I agree the pantry space is not great. I do feel like I am going to throw out a bunch of stuff when I remodel. I have like 10 pie pans for example- dishes I dont use- etc. all must go. I'm going to be ruthless. I hope I end up with a little more room than I have now and I have a hall bath remodel Im doing too that I might be able to pack some additional storage into (on bath forum) but overall I think I could live in my space today (and do) esp. if I got rid of some of my dups and do-not-use items. Then again I am making my window a foot bigger so I will lose a cabinet there. Wine bottles we have a pottery barn bar in the living room that holds about 20 wine bottles and a stand alone rack in the dining room that holds a few then we also have a large sideboard in the dining room where we sometimes stash cases of wine if we buy a lot. We dont collect wine (except for about 5 bottles)- we drink it! But maybe I will ax the warming drawer in the island if I go with the AGA PRo+ range which converts to a sort of warming oven with the divider in. That is a big question mark for me. How would I move the microwave to an upper? That is sort of interesting- do you have any pictures of that? Is it like an open shelf with a smaller top above? If I do ax my warming drawer, my island will need a 24 inch cabinet for the sink. A 24 inch for the micro with a drawer under and then I am left with either a 36 inch space (drawers?) or two 18 inch cabs (that'd be dumb right?) Re: the hutch, does anyone think it ruins the hutch look to use one of the bottom sides for a wine fridge? Should I try to get it in the island? (forcing me to that 2-18 inch cabinets noted above). Thanks for the responses, I really need a sounding board!

It is my old kitchen (we moved out of that house in December 2012 and then lived in a rental apartment for 10 months. We're now in the middle of renovating our condo -- I hope to have a working kitchen by tomorrow (the cabinets are mostly in, the dishwasher, hood and cooktop are in; I'm hoping for refrigerator, oven and dishwasher today). It's a totally - TOTALLY - different style than our old kitchen. 11' galley kitchen within a large great room in an industrial loft. Nothing traditional about it!).

Do you have any inspiration images? I know you think you've found great options, but I think it might be helpful to you to read some of the collected wisdom here on bs selection and start your search with fresh eyes. This is proposed as a backsplash addition to the New to Kitchens FAQ. To the age old question, "Do I need a backsplash?" the short answer is yes. You need some sort of backsplash in wet zones to protect your walls, cabinets floors and subfloors from deterioration due to water infiltration, and in your cooking zone to protect your drywall from cooking oils, spills, odors, and cleaning chemicals. That said, plenty of houzzers have chosen not to have a backsplash, or to delay the choice for budgetary or other reasons. Search for threads with ABB (all but backsplash) in the titles to check those out. How does one choose a backsplash? First, like every other process here, we encourage you to do some research on your own, then post your particulars and ask for feedback. One fundamental question you must consider before all others is whether your counter material or your backsplash will be the focus of your space. Consider images of kitchens with busy counters, and those with commanding backsplashes, and decide which you prefer. Bold counters and tile rarely work well together. To Wait or Not To Wait Buying your bs material when you buy your other finishes might prevent delays down the road and could help with electrical outlet placement. Drawbacks include that you are making decisions on colors and finishes based on samples, sample cabinet fishes, sample counter swatches, etc... and that samples don't always represent the final product accurately. Waiting to buy your bs materials until you have had your counters installed allows you to see sample tiles in your space in your light throughout the day with your actual installed materials. If your cabinets are warmer than you expected, or your counter cooler, you are free to search for a bs material that can pull things together. The only drawback to waiting is that you may have to wait for tiles to be fabricated or to arrive, causing possible delays in the completion of your space. The majority wisdom on this site favors waiting if that is possible. Regardless of which approach you choose, you should consider your bs as one part of a whole picture of your beautiful new space. Inspiration Images These really help you to focus on what your kitchen as a whole will look like. They also give the folks responding to your queries an idea of what looks you like, so they won't recommend white subway tiles if all your inspiration images feature handpainted Mexican tile. Google images of kitchens with your other materials (white cabinets, walnut floors, etc...) and select which ones you like the look of. What type of bs do they use? The idea is not to copy the look, but to get a feel for looks you like, and communicate those looks to others. Budget Finally, we'll need an idea of a materials budget. Installation can account for half of the budget for a backsplash, so take that into consideration in your planning, and deduct accordingly, and let us know how much you want to spend in $/sf for your materials? It's not very helpful falling in love with a handmade tile in a custom glaze if it costs $100/square foot and your budget for tile is $10/sf, but houzz members are fantastic at finding similar (and occasionally the same) tiles for less money. Without budget numbers it is very difficult for us to truly be of help to you. How we can help. The way it works is that we can recommend a surface (usually tile, sheet glass, metal, slab stone or laminate), advise against a choice (color, or busy-ness are the usual reasons), provide you with layout and pattern feedback, and images you might have missed of materials that have worked for us or caught our eye. "How can I find a bs tile to go with my green floors, counters, and purple cabinets" The answer might be that you have to paint your cabinets or change your floors to make it right, or maybe some houzzer somewhere will show you an image of a kitchen with a painted tin backsplash that pulls it all together. It has happened before. Some houzz members are great at photoshopping images together to give you an idea of what a small sample of tile might look like in your space. It is time and effort on their part that can be truly helpful. Remember to say thanks. I hope we can be helpful!