What is the actual depth of the refrigerator you plan to use?

As drawn it is a bit shallow for even a "counterdepth", and you will not have the 42" aisle as shown between it and the island. (Which is already slightly less because of the countertop overhang--under 40")

If the fridge you are planning on using is conventional depth it could be as much as 34" deep (excluding handles) so that could be about 7-8" less aisle space than drawn.

I think you may also be a bit crowded for leg room at the island as drawn.

Some may suggest switching the DW to the other side of the sink in order to avoid the door opening into the spot someone will stand at the cooktop. This would mean juggling a bit to keep the sink centered. In some ways I think this makes sense, in other ways, I never keep the DW open except when loading or unloading let alone when I am cooking, so I don't even understand the concept--but someone else will bring it up later, so I might as well now.

Palimpsest got what I was going to say...The dw door. I think it depends on how many people you have working in the kitchen. In my family, and almost any family I know with kids, the dishwasher may be being loaded or unloaded while someone else cooks. That setup would never work for me. But if you're ALWAYS in the kitchen alone while cooking, it could be OK. I'm guessing that Bmore and Mindstorm will be in the camp with Palimpsest, living in 2-person, all-adult homes in which the dishes are done completely separately from cooking time, but I'm guessing just as strongly that Buehl, who has kids to set the table and unload the dw while she's cooking will see the same problem I do. (You may have figured out that we've all been through similar discussions before! lol) Even if we ever get down to just the 2 of us in our house, I can imagine that my DH, who loves the 'clean as you go' way of life, would be in loading the dw as I was cooking, to decrease the after meal cleanup time.

That brings us back to you, Tony8109, and what will work best for you...How many kitchen workers will you ever have at once? Do you entertain? What do you like to cook and bake?

I would swap the ovens and fridge. You will be using the fridge more often each day than the ovens and it would be nice to have it closer to the sink/cooktop. Also this would allow for a countertop landing space to the left of the fridge which will be nice for unloading groceries and collecting ingredients.

If you get dishwasher drawers they don't get in the way as much as a dishwasher door does.

Given the soft curve outline of the island top near the seating it's probably enough leg room for two anyway.

Yep! And that someone else is me! (You knew that Palimpseset!)

In a family of 4, we often have the cleaning up going on while prepping/cooking or dishes have not yet been put away so people are going in/out of the DW to get things. So...

I highly recommend moving the DW...even if it puts the sink off center. Right now, you have a 39" aisle b/w the island & DW and sink (42" - 1.5" overhang on island - 1.5" overhang on sink run = 39") DW doors are 27" to 30" tall and when open will extend into the aisle giving you very little room to stand. Also, you could potentially back into that open DW door when taking a pot of boiling water to dump from the island cooktop to the sink. Moving the DW to the other side would give you an extra 3" on the left for an 18" double-bin trash cabinet (recycle + trash bin).

Cooktop in island....be sure you have at least 24" behind it so people seated there are not splattered with grease, engulfed in steam or smoke, etc. Island/peninsula cooktops are not only not particularly safe unless you have plenty of safety zone buffer around them, but they're also quite a bit more expensive to vent...island hoods are more expensive not only b/c of the island design, but also b/c you need bigger and more powerful hoods to effectively vent. Downdrafts are pretty useless. Even the best ones only work for pots/pans that are right next to it and shorter than the top of the vent by several inches.

Unless your refrigerator is a built-in or a "true counter depth", it will actually be approx 30" deep (sometimes deeper when counting the handles) b/c the doors have to extend out past the surrounding cabinets & counter to be able to open fully. This means that 42" aisle is really 35" or so (42" - 1.5" overhang on the island - 5" for refrigerator = 35.5")

Additionally, b/c of the narrow aisle b/w the island and the sink cabinet/counter run, it will be a tight fit for more than one person working in that aisle.

Another thing...you are a little short on work space, so I would consider putting in a range rather than a cooktop so you can have more workspace. Or, put in a 30" cooktop instead of 39" to give you more room around it for prepping and working. A 30" cooktop only needs a 30" cabinet so it will also give you wider cabinets around it.

The way your kitchen is currently laid out, it's a one-person kitchen. If you're the only one who will ever be working in your kitchen, then it will be OK, not ideal, but OK.

If I were designing this kitchen, I would probably put the sink & DW in the island. Then, along the window wall, the ovens + counterspace, round the corner, and then the cooktop and refrigerator. This setup would give you more workspace b/w the refrigerator and cooktop and put the sink accessible to both the back wall for prepping and the cooktop on the side wall.

One last thing...seating at the island. Remember that you need 24" of linear space for each seat (so, 3 seats need 6' (or 72")) and at least 15" of clear legroom/overhang. I don't know what that line is b/w the two "legs" of the island, but I would consider removing it to give your visitors more legroom, especially since there's somewhat of an overlap of legroom in your island (b/c of the curve).

People seated at the island need more kneespace - particularly at the ends of the arc.

I'm not bothered by the concept of the island cooktop - but I wish you had a larger island. If you can add any inches to the 24" wide space towards the ref - without crowding the ref, it'd work better. I can guarantee you that's where most of your prep will occur.

I actually wonder about a corner or other sink placement - don't like the dishwasher on either side of the sink. The aisle is a bit narrow and I wonder if tony is planning on storing the dishes in the glass fronted corner cabinet. Not getting sucked into that again! We had not quite opposing dishwasher, but we also had 5 foot aisles.

I'd like to see the surrounding rooms and hallways if that's possible. I hear you about wanting sun, but I wonder what you'll do without a pantry.

Thanks for all the feedback. This is an amazing forum.

Ran into a snag this afternoon while removing the pantry cabinets. There was HVAC (small) in the corner but means I need to keep some of the pantry wall as shown.

I also have a closet pantry which we've reorganized and loaded with all our stuff. The pantry cabinets are now gone. I'll try to sketch up the surrounding stuff soon.

In the new layout:
- I swapped the DW but realize I can put it back original as it no longer is opposite the cooktop.
- I centered the cooktop on the counter top instead of the base cabinets but that can be changed.
- I swapped the fridge and the wall ovens
- Island is bigger

What do you think?

Answers to some of the questions above:
- Samsung RFG238AARS, depth 30.5" including handles
- Mostly one cook but sometimes a helper, me and my wife
- Yes we entertain but not a lot of baking
- We both work full time and have older kids, busy
- Plan on storing dishes on the left upper

Other:
- Already ordered my windows, including the window over the sink. It is currently a 3'5"x3'5" DH and am replacing it with two 2'1"x3'5" casements mulled together (thought I had the layout nailed).

Thanks
Tony

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Here is a very rough sketch of the current layout and surrounding rooms. Not to scale but hopefully shows the connecting rooms.

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bump :)

I like it... Definitely move the dw back.

I wonder if the seating couldn't be around the corner of the island 2 seats each side and then add cabinets on the other corners instead of legs. Kinda-sorta like this--

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It does seem more sociable to have the chairs at the "top" rather than at the bottom of the island: that wall in the LL corner lessens the contact between the two seating areas in the first plan.

I too like the seating change. Makes sense.
Other ideas I'm tossing around:
- Take the cooktop out of the island and put it to the left of the fridge (fridge at end where oven stack is). Put the wall oven under the cooktop. Speed oven elsewhere, possibly in a raised base cabinet or in the island. This lets me use a wall hood but may push me into a 30" cooktop.
- Could also move the sink/DW to the island if the cooktop moves.

One thing is that this layout changes the current traffic flow but I think the wide lanes make it ok. Thoughts?

Realizing that being on a budget means making a compromise or two :)