I like your island idea. I cook a lot, and more prep space is always a plus. For your sink, is there a reason you have both the DW and trash on one side of the sink? If it were me, I would want trash on one side of the sink, and DW on the other side. Personally, I'd prefer DW on the right and trash on the left, but that's a subjective thing :)

I feel ya on the small kitchen, I am in a layout roundabout as well.
It looks like the sink is centered on the window in the original layout, so it won't do to put the stove there, as you won't have room for ventilation unless its a short backsplash window. Folks have strong opinions about centering sinks on windows and I'm certainly one of them, but you could push the sink to the right edge of the window and not see it from the entry. Also, is that a pocket door I spy? That could be used to block the line of sight as well.

I agree with FoxCrane and think trash and DW on either side of the sink works best if you have the space.

Your narrow island intrigues me in layout 3, but I would be very hesitant about building something fixed with only 36". As a pathway it's one thing, but when doors and appliances are being opened, it's another. I have been in a few kitchens with that distance and they all seem tight when more than one person is there. At one friends house you cannot have the dishwasher open and put dishes away in the cabinet opposite. Also, 22 inches seems narrow to work on. Is that the cabinet or counter size? You could mock up some boxes to be sure you are okay with it.
If you reduced your pantry wall to 12", you could get 39" aisles, or 42" on one side and 36" on the other. I would take the bigger aisle on the window wall since you will want to be able to stand in front of the open oven door to reach in.
Alternatively, you could go with the original, more or less and do increased depths on both walls. I'm not sure what fridge you're doing but it will help a standard one look more custom fitted. I know there are some here who have done increased depth, even up to 30", and love it. HTH

Thanks for the feedback! The window placement is flexible. I'd be willing to give up centering the sink under the window if it meant better function. The current plan is to have have three double-hungs side-by-side, so I think it would be okay to have the sink centered beneath one of the end windows.

As for the DW, trash, and sink, I was trying to maximize the counter space between the sink and stove and have the trash closer to the prep area. If I put the DW to the right of the sink in Layout 1, that blocks access to the base drawers on the right where I was planning on storing the dishes. I guess I could store the dishes in the pantry wall.

Another thing to think about is where your dishes will be stored relative to the dishwasher and dining table. My kitchen layout is a lot like your last plan except my sink is on the window wall and my cooktop is on the short wall by my back door (and you can't see any of this from the front door). This allows me to have the dishwasher to the right of the sink, and my dishes and flatware are stored right there, too, so when it's time to set the table the kids can get everything they need without stepping into the work zone of the kitchen.

We widened our kitchen just a bit when remodeling so we could get an island instead of a U, for exactly the reasons you listed. Any chance you could steal 1' from the LR to do this?

If the position of the window is flexible, I suggest moving it closer to the DR so you get it and the sink out of the first view from the front door.

Thanks, Karen Belle. I like your idea of making the pantry wall shallower if we went with the island and switching the sink and stove. Unfortunately, the living room is already an awkward size (long and narrow) so I don't think taking sq footage there is an option.

You know, that center space isn't wasted at all. Your door placement defines a cooks' run in the shallow U, allowing family traffic to perambulate right on through. The visual spaciousness is also a real plus as people routinely move through a very often busy, cluttered and noisy room.

Regarding your plans, I'd probably go straight to plan 2 (straight as in starting and ending there with a lot of perambulations in the middle). Both a good place to work and the view from the entry are important to me, and it has those, as well as the simplicity and spaciousness all those U plans have.

The windows would be designed, as I did here, with an eye both to the kitchen and to providing a through view for everyone at the door and heading that way. It'd make that dimension seem significantly larger and more inviting (people are always attracted to the light), and, except for when I was working at the counter, the view to the kitchen would be of handsome cabinetry and windows above, all utilitarian items out of line of sight to right and left.

BTW, I have a bank of 3 doublehungs over our sink. Couldn't put the sink under one window the way I would have wanted, so the sink and specifically faucet are centered on the stile between an end and middle window, and it looks quite nice, or more importantly, "right," even though the sink itself is secretly about an inch off.

If I did do an island version, I'd make the wall storage maybe 12" deep (what we chose for our current kitchen) and deepen the island. Traffic could swing around it.

But I doubt I would. Plan 2 gives an excellent stretch of extremely functional and pleasant prep space between stove and water, plenty wide for two actually, plus there are two other counter areas where other functions could take place. Speaking of, breakfast/coffee area by the refrigerator?

I like #2 seems like the best working space
If you do the island version make the side cabs 12 deep
I had a friend do that and they were all glass uppers
She had a 13" countertop and it looked great

Thank you, everyone! I think we're leaning towards not doing the island. Just seems like we're trying to force it too much. So I'll play around with Layout 2 a bit.

Rosie: I love your use of the word "perambulate". It's one of my favorites. Yes, coffee/toaster/MW will be on the pantry wall.

Karen Belle: With your stove in that position, are you okay with having your back to the rest of the kitchen?

DGM123, in short, yes I am ok with having my back to the kitchen while I'm at the stove. Honestly, when I'm cooking I usually am not standing at the stove full time (with some exceptions, like a white sauce, that need constant attention). There are many things happening in the kitchen during meal prep in our house and they're mostly at the island.

Before our remodel we had a U shaped kitchen with the fridge, cooktop and ovens on the long wall opposite the U. I couldn't see or hear my kids while I was in the kitchen and it made me crazy. I cannot remember where we did our meal prep in that kitchen but it was probably mostly next to the sink.

Have you thought about what's happening while you're working on meal prep and where your kids will be?

This post was edited by karen_belle on Sat, May 4, 13 at 10:25