You're right about the two islands plan being bad. Ditch that one. The kitchen would feel like an obstacle course. The weird-shaped island one is also... well, weird.

So let's look at the first one you posted. It has some pros and cons. Pros are it doesn't look weird and there's lots of workspace around the range. Another pro is that the fridge is on the DR/nook side of the kitchen, so people can come get snacks without getting in the way of the cook. Cons are:

(1) Sink and range rather far apart (it will feel far apart when you're trying to prep food). The small bowl of the sink is about 6.5 feet from the range, across an aisle, and behind you as you cook.

(2) Narrow aisle between the outside of the island and the wall. This is your biggest problem. This aisle is a traffic area (it leads to the laundry, and if I understand the plan correctly, also to the garage, and maybe somewhere else too--wherever that door in the laundry room goes). You have barely 40" between the wall and the edge of the counter, and with the stools tucked in you would have less (maybe 37"?). And that's with the stools tucked in! As soon as anyone sits at this island, there will probably only be about 20"-23" of space between the back of their stool and the wall. Instant traffic jam. No one will be able to comfortably walk through that space... and that means all the traffic will go through your kitchen instead. That's just a mess. This is something to avoid at all costs... and definitely NOT something to spend tens of thousands of dollars building!!

So just don't build a kitchen like this. If you want an island there, the aisle needs to be a lot wider. How wide is the main floor of the kitchen (between the sink and the opposite counter)? Just wondering if you can scoot the island closer. However, I'm guessing you don't have much wiggle room there. If you don't, then the only way you can solve this problem is to not have seating on the long side of the island. But you have plenty of seating (that round breakfast table plus the dining room), and you still could put two seats on the short end of the island, so is that really a concern for you? How big is your family, and how many people do you have over when you entertain?

I keep going back and forth and feel badly to say that I am having a hard time seeing what you gain by flipping the sink run to the other side of the kitchen. I totally agree with reconfiguring the space but I feel like that space behind where you want the overhang/stools is going to look like an alleyway.

I like the first one--routes traffic out of the working kitchen and the refrig moves to serve the fam room, kitchen eating, and dining room areas. It addresses the "people in my way" problem with those new doorways and walk paths, with the possible exception of the distance between island seating and table seating--gotta move kitchen table to the side if there is full usage of both island seating AND table seating when all the chairs are pulled out and in use.

Consider a second sink closer to the range? Or a potfiller?

You have lots of plunk space for dirty dishes. Where will dishes be stored? Must be near dishwasher. Should dishwasher and sink be in reverse order? (Depends on storage for dishes).

Plan a pull-out cutting board next to refrigerator? This would make that spot into a real sandwich making & leftovers processing station.

when coming into kitch from garage, have you thought of placing the entry opening in the middle of that wall-where shelves are now...then-in the kitchen, on the right from utility room, creat an elongated U kitchen-On the wall of your desk could be a great shallower depth pantry wall-and work in a cab depth frig placed along there. The dinette end of the U would be the new part-not really a peninsula.It seems as though you'd like an island: not sure about the need for seating as you have large dining and and dinette areas. Just don't see the feng shui of that in your space yet.

I agree with Remodelfla about not seeing what you gain by flipping the sink run. And looking at your existing layout, it's not so bad... I think it would work better if you made a few changes (see below), but I don't see any problems in it that would be solved by flipping it. Could you explain what problems you're trying to solve--actual kitchen problems, I mean, as opposed to the laundry room problem?

Here's what I think might make your existing layout work better:

(1) Move the fridge from the end of the short leg of the L to the end of the long leg. This puts it near the people eating so they can come get juice or a snack without crossing the entire kitchen.

(2) Get the cooktop off the island; put it on the short leg of the L. That leg looks to be about 58" wide, plus the thickness of that wall in the laundry room, so call it 63" or 64". You could have 15" of base cab/counter to the right of the cooktop (spice drawer, pullout for pans or trays, etc.), then a 30" cooktop, then 19" directly to the left of it and that whole counter between the sink and the corner as your workspace. Right now that counter to the right of the sink is about 31", but if you want a bit more workspace, try a smaller sink. Unless you do a ton of handwashing of dishes, you would get a lot more use out of a 30" or 33" single-bowl (or a 70/30 double bowl the same size) than you do out of a 36" 50/50 double bowl.

If you do a lot of baking, you may also want to put a prep sink on the outside of the island close to the wall oven. Your baking center could be in the island.

Thank you so very much. My main problem right now is I have a long/narrow island that I run circles around all day long and all my appliances are dying. Ideally I'd put the cooktop where the fridge is currently and move the fridge to where the oven/MW live now. Everything else is free game. Or shall I say challenge?

The area between the island and current MW/oven feels like an alleyway all the way through the house, I can see from one end of the house, through the kitchen and into the laundry, just wish I could change it up some. And the kitchen is dark. The current windows in there look out over a small deck with an overhang. Moving the laundry door allows access to a ton of natural light. That light source is south facing and into the backyard. Would be great to utilize the laundry room door into the backyard more as well, right now it is barely used.

I'd like the cooktop to be a focal point, with an amazing medallion backsplash. In my dreams I'd like an Aga Range (not cooker). If I go this route I wouldn't need ovens elsewhere. Hence cheaper right?

I'd like to be able to utilize some of the garage space to open up the kitchen some. The dining room is large but it fits the feel of the rest of the house which has large rooms so I don't want to lose too much of the space in there trying to work in a pantry. I like the look, feel, storage options of a butler's pantry that I'd like to incorporate one somehow. Just seems that the DR space is usable doable space to work with and trying to incorporate something in the garage space as well - like a walk in pantry or something might be a good plan. I just don't know how.

My problem is the space is narrow and I run into the corner of the Dining Room when attempting an island configuration keeping the laundry room door as is. And there are two odd corners in the room and it isn't symmetrical that things just don't seem to look right.

My Garage Space

Another option is moving the current kitchen wall/garage wall further into the garage and opening up the kitchen. But losing space in the Dining Room.

Another option I had played with was a peninsula w/ pantry. I just don't like the feel of the peninsula because it seems to close up the kitchen and then the pantry area just seems awkward.

thoughts?

Sorry, find some of this confusing.

In your bottom plan, why does the entry to the LR need to go through the kitchen, rather than what is currently the garage?

Why can't the fridge and cabs be recessed into the area where you plan to put the pantry? You could probably fit an island then, minus the peninsula. Or the peninsula would at least feel more open.

marcolo - that is a good point and almost a hey isn't this the easiest option. Yes it is, but, and one reason against is the dining room wall, the corner shared by the kitchen and DR is load bearing, so I don't have a bunch of play with moving that corner - it can be moved but not too far - so do I really gain enough to make moving walls worth while? And in the peninsula plan, the door into the LR is where it currently sits - it doesn't move in that plan and is difficult to 'see' without the laundry and garage drawn in.

Sorry, for asking you all to help, when I'm confused and I've got so many plans floating around in my head. Maybe I just need to clean up the images and not put in so many pics?

My biggest sticking point is the corner of the DR where it meets the kitchen since it is load bearing. I don't want to make the DR all choppy or odd shaped either.

I agree with the comments that mention that the walkway into the laundry when I move the LR door is too narrow. Maybe I can play around with widening that some.

Thanks again!