The fridge position seems awkward to me.

If the fridge door is open, it will block the aisle between it and the island.

Anyone just wanting a quick snack from the fridge has to come right into the work zone inside the island.

Workflow generally goes fridge->sink/prep->range->eating and your arrangement makes that rather roundabout.

Where's your dishwasher? If the door is open, does it block the aisle or block off cabinets on the perpendicular wall?

Without a lot of thought, here's what I would consider doing:

1) Main sink ... move to old prep sink
2) Refrigerator ... move to right of old main sink
3) Range ... move to old refrigerator
4) Prep sink ... move to left of old main sink (or corner?)

The reason for all these changes is bec I don't like the bulky fridge dividing the countertop, and moving the fridge makes it easier to access from the great room.

Having the range on the long wall doesn't eat up as much space as in corner, and gives it a nicer presence in the room.

I think you'll find that more time is spent prepping than cleaning up ... so you'll still have your view, you'll just be doing a different task.

I really, really don't like the original placement of the fridge. BTW, what will be the style of the kitchen ... country, contemporary, unfitted, other?

Good luck with your design, and HTH.

Well, I was doing a little drawing and napagirl was posting exactly what I was thinking with all the same reasons for changing. Here's what it looks like...

It looks like you've been thinking about this! I like the fact that you have the island directing traffic out of the kitchen work area and straight through to the GR or Foyer.

Do you plan to have seating at the island? If so...

(1) you probably don't want the seats right in the thoroughfare unless you have at least a 5'6" or 6' aisle. When seated, the seats will most likely stick about 30" into the aisle....you need around another 36" for easy passage. If it wasn't a major thoroughfare, I would say you might be able to get away with a foot or so less, but that is not the case here. I think you have at least 5'6" (if it's 5' b/w the edge of the lower counter and the stairs), so you are probably OK there...but if you can get another 6" or so it would be even better.

(2) Ideally, you should have a 15" overhang for seating at counter height. Yes, many say 12" is plenty but the NKBA recommendation is 15" and since your seats are in a main thoroughfare, I would prefer to have the additional room for the seaters to fit under the overhang...but that's me!

Yes, you have a work triangle, however as Kevinw1 pointed out, it's not an optimal triangle. Kitchen flow is generally:

Groceries come in from outside --> Refrigerator and Pantry (Storage Zone(s))
Food comes out of Refrigerator or Pantry --> Prep Zone (prep sink)
Food comes out of Refrigerator/Freezer --> MW
Food is Prepped --> Cooking Zone (range/cooktop)
Food is Cooked --> DR/Island/Other
Dishes from DR/Island/Other --> Cleanup Zone (main sink)

So your ideal layout would be:

Garage/Driveway --> Refrigerator --> MW OR Prep Sink --> Cooktop/Range --> DR/Island/Other --> Cleanup/Main Sink

Additionally, refrigerators and MWs are usually used by both the kitchen workers and snackers. This means the ideal location for these is together on the periphery of the kitchen so that (1) the refrigerator & MW are accessible to kitchen work and (2) they are also available to snackers without being underfoot of the people prepping/cooking/cleaning up.

How do you feel about this idea? It keeps the main sink (cleanup sink) at the view AND it's accessible from the GR area for bringing in dirty dishes! You also keep the view of the front door from the prep sink.

The DW can be either to the left or right of the sink...there are pros & cons to both...

If it's on the left, when it's open it blocks the cabinets on the perpendicular wall and blocks access to the main sink from the center of the kitchen but dish storage can be near the DW.

If it's on the right, when it's open it blocks access to the kitchen overall at the top of the kitchen but it does not interfere with the rest of the kitchen. But, unless you have cabinets above or across the way, dishes will be stored rather far away from the DW.

What about a pantry?

HTH!

BTW...I would recommend either:

(1) getting a built-in (or counter depth) refrigerator, or

(2) building a nice niche around the refrigerator using 3/4" finished end panels on each end with a full depth cabinet above the refrigerator (or at least pull a 12" deep cabinet out to be flush w/the front of the refrigerator).

You could even push it in a foot or so and put in a cabinet turned 90 degrees and have it be your Message Center for keys, etc...

Wow! Thanks for all the ideas! Style of the house will be cottage/country- beadboard, white paint, antiques, casual. We want lots of windows, both for light and ventilation. We usually only entertain very small groups, and not very often at that. Since the garage traffic comes from the same hall as the foyer, it makes sense to have the fridge on that end. We will probably have a couple seats at the island, since our guests would likely visit while we cook.

i will have to disgree because i think you almost acomplished what you planned....which was two work zones. the fridge in the middle does that, but to be effective, that fridge HAS to be counter debth, like a subzero or kitchen aide pro. it an't stick out or it will look bad. then the one other change i'd make is to put the prep sink in your island verses the counter, but if you do those two things...i'd stick to our original plan :)