I welcome all comments for my kitchen design. Primarily I have a question about the island. We gutted the downstairs. The kitchen area is going to be between the living room and dining room; it is 16'x16'. There are 10' ceilings. The living room is to the west of the kitchen with an opening size to the kitchen yet to be determined - 5-9 feet. On the east side of the kitchen will be the dining room and it already has French doors overlooking my 5 acres, pond, and meadow. The dilemma is the island. I want the island to contain the sink. I have a pet peeve about seeing the sink from the living room or dining room. I am reluctantly going for a fairly open concept but I want to hide the sink from view with a higher tier island eating bar. It's a beautiful stainless steel farmer's sink, but I don't want to see dishes while I eat. I have a lot of room and both my husband and I cook. I read previous comments about the distance from island to counter at 48". Could I make the space 5 or 6 feet? Is that too big? On the other side of the island there is a lot of space. I have a separate pantry so storage is not an issue. The window in the kitchen are is too large for a counter in front of it so it will have a seating bench with drawers under it. I know it is weird to have the kitchen between the dining room and living room but we want the view while eating. We are very informal people who seldom entertain. We have tried flipping the kitchen and dining room but don't want it that way.