Sorry-Forgot to say thank you. This forum is an amazing source of information and I appreciate everyone taking their time to help us out!

Kmmh, is there an actual entrance (mudroom?) from the garage, or just a door? I'm concerned about nowhere to plop stuff on the way in (jackets, shoes, etc). You've got such nice space in cabinets, I would remove the right most from your sink run and frame a door/wall in line with your stair wall to make a small anteroom from the garage. If there is a mudroom already just disregard my suggestion!

Co-Co-This has been our biggest issue! There is no entrance/mudroom, you walk straight in from the garage.

We were thinking of having the drop off spot where the laundry room is, only because it becomes such a bottleneck when everyone enters and uses the under the stairs closet as a drop off spot. We thought if we moved it away from the entrance everyone would keep moving into the house and then drop off.

However, I never considered framing a wall in that area, maybe because it is so small, but I am excited to take a second look! Thanks for your input!!

Was wondering about moving the fridge to the wall with the sink. If I take out the 21 inch base cabinet next to the sink and move the trash/sink/dishwasher down to the left would the fridge go better next to the dishwasher?
We could then put a pull out pantry where the fridge is in the drawing above.
Thoughts?

First, I like the idea of making a small "mudroom" out of that alcove to the right. Could you "steal" a bit of room to the garage to make it even bigger? At the very least, try to fit 1 cubby/child so your children have a place to put their backpacks, etc.

I would still keep the 3/4 height space, but I would remove the door. Either put in shelves or rollout tray shelves for scarves, gloves, etc. storage or perhaps make a bench out of it. Just some ideas! I envy you that you have even that much space! We have none!

Trying to force people to keep going through the kitchen w/o stopping by putting the drop zone near the laundry will not work. People will drop everything on those counters right inside the kitchen next to the garage door. So accepting that fact and making the mini-mudroom makes the most sense.

Second...refrigerator. I would keep it where it is. If you move it to the other side of the sink, you will have a lot of zone-crossing (Prep & Cooking Zones crossing the Cleanup Zone when trying to get to the refrigerator), which will add to the potential congestion you already have (more on that later). However, be aware that unless you're getting a "true counter-depth" refrigerator (like Liebherr), your refrigerator will actually be more like 30" deep once you count the doors & handles. For the majority of refrigerators, "counter-depth" means the refrigerator carcass/box is approx 24" deep...not the total depth of carcass + doors + handles. Note also that for those refrigerators, the doors must extend out past surrounding counters, cabinets, and walls to allow the doors to open fully.

Another thing to keep in mind is that countertops overhang the cabinets by approx 1.5". This means your perimeter counters are actually 25.5" deep. [Cabinet boxes are 24" deep and doors are another 3/4" to 1" thick and sit in front of the boxes. The 1.5" overhang is intended to cover the 1" door + 1/2" to protect the doors/drawer fronts, cabinet boxes, and the inside of cabinets/drawers from spills of all kinds (liquid or solid) by directing those spills away from the cabinets and down to the floor.]

Your island will also have a 1.5" overhang on the sides w/o seating.

With all that said, how are you measuring the aisles? Cabinet-to-cabinet (24" deep cabinet to island cabinet) OR counter overhang-to-counter overhang?

If the latter (counter-to-counter), then with the exception of the refrigerator, your aisles are what you state...but your layout does not show that. (Your layout shows cab-to-cab.)

If the former (cab-to-cab), this means your aisles are nowhere near as wide as you think they are. You say there's a 42" aisle b/w the refrigerator & perimeter counters and the island. In reality, the aisle will be 34.5" b/w the refrigerator and island and 39" b/w the island and perimeter counters.

The same goes for the aisle b/w the sink perimeter run and the island...the aisle is really 39", not 42".

Now, let's look at the island seating. At the deepest overhang, you only have 36" behind the island...barely enough for someone to inch by when someone is sitting there. You need more like 48" on that aisle. It's even worse because that aisle is going to be pretty busy b/c it's the path b/w the garage and the rest of the house. If there's someone sitting at the island, people coming in from the garage will be forced to go around the other side of the island and right through the heart of the working part of the kitchen, including through the Cooking Zone with that pot of boiling water you're trying to empty while dodging passersby....and that working part now has narrow aisles when considering work + traffic.

Pantry...I think I'd put a pantry on the other side of the DR doorway (the '36" wide cabinets/Lockers? Pantry?' spot).

Buehl-

Thank you for taking the time to comment on my design. I appreciate it so much!

My husband and I have been back and forth about where the drop zone should be. Because of living with all of the dooos in that area our first thought was to move it, but if we were to remove the door that could make things work a lot better.

That is a really good point about the work zones and fridge placement. I see how the fridge in the current location works much better. The wall between the dining room and kitchen is also about 8 inches wide, maybe we can carve out a little extra space to move the fridge in further?

Thanks for pointing out the discrepencies in the spaces around the island. I have to remeasure and redraw (since I only drew it as 24 inches deep). I think the island is also not quite drawn to scale.

Thanks again!