I think the flow of the layout looks good. I'd get all drawers where possible. Made that change myself and I think it's super functional. I'd eliminate the short wall and change the uppers on the frig run to the widest I can get with a single door. I'm not hooked on symmetry at all but the doubles on the right don't feel right to me. You can definitely get a good quality hood insert with high cfm's for a decorative wood hood. It should extend the 3" over on either side of the range.

I echo above, flow looks good but put drawers where ever you can, i.e. on either side of the range, and beside the MW.

Peninsula: how many people do you think will sit there? I don't think that extra seat would really get in the way of the laundry (not used as much as say living room). Plus anyone sitting next to the laundry would be as close as the person sitting next to the entrance to the kitchen. BUT if you take down that wall, then you won't be able to "hide" anything behind that wall from view of the dining room.

We are doing a 48" Wolf dual fuel range and decided to go bigger on the hood and got a 52" hood. We did that primarily because we got a grill and wanted more area for the smoke. If you cook frequently you may want that extra space to pull out the hot air. I wouldn't worry about it being bulky. Is it drawn with the extra space?

You mentioned a decorative hood - so does that mean stainless decorative or cabinet decorative? we bought the "insides" with the fan and then we are having our cabinet guy cover it to match the cabinets. Cleaning grease is a nightmare no matter what. But for stainless I found that a good degreaser (nothing abrasive!) and then a polish with sheila shine works great.

Wall ovens.... some people swear by wall ovens (maybe look in the appliance forum) but for me I didn't want to loose the counter space. If you plan on being there for a while - do it your way=).

I agree with you about the wall cabinet by the hood. I bet you could have a *single* door cabinet on top.

I think you get more interior space with cabinets, and you can adjust the height of the shelves, but my cabinet guy made a good point about drawers. As people get older it gets harder and harder to bend down to get inside the cabinets. Drawers are great unless you are trying to store something tall. So you may want to consider how many stockpots you have and maybe keep a cabinet for those.
I'm not that old (yet) and I love the drawers I had in my other house and plan on doing lots of drawers in my new house.

I think that is a good use of space. I really like the tall cabinet for storage,and you have a nice wide expanse of counter for prepping next to sink, and the peninsula is great too. At this moment I like the look with the wall, but I think it would work if you wanted to take it out.

best of luck

I think the upper cabs around the frig are okay-pick the size of frig you wish as the priority issue...do what you can with the cabs after that.Along the range/sink wall..you have 3 completely different featured cabs in a run of 4 cabs. [27 in dbl door...36 in dbl door..18 in single glass door-twice]. I'd try for more uniformity in size along there...It is basically a galley-you want a neatness at eye level-not obsessive but generally.I wouldn't do glass doors around the large window-that's just me-the glass will cost you more and the window is quite large so the glass cabs don't seem worth it-do as you wish...maybe you have glassware to show off.this is going to be a nice kitchen-I'd love working in there.

remodelfla,blfenton,thanks for your suggestions on the drawers! I'll need to check with the KD on the depth of the drawers I can get - I want to be able to store my tallest pots and some small appliances like mixer etc. I agree with the convinience of drawers - in our current kitchen we have pull out cabs but for some reason we never pull them out! Another thing is that you can only pull the shelves out when the doors are fully opened.

Lesyeuxbleu, thanks for all the great advice! I like the looking of wood decorative hood (going traditional style), and most of the appliances will be panneled, except for the cooking range. I'm going to talk with KD with a 42 inch hood cover - this is fully customized line and they should have that size, I hope.

herbflavor, I totally agree with your opinion with the wall cab sizes on the sink/cooking wall. The only thing I can't change is the cabinets to the right of the window. So the one to the left of the window has to be the same size. Otherwise if I have a 42' hood cover and somehow adjust the distance between the range and sink, also the width of the tall cabinets, we can get a bit more equal-sized cabs.

You mention that you have to keep the big Subzero, but do you have to keep it in that location? I would much prefer the fridge and stove locations swapped. It makes so much more sense to me for a number of reasons. Never being able to open the fridge doors more than 90 degrees would top the list, but having the countertop caverns on each side would bother me, as well. I'd also worry about constantly banging the fridge doors into the cabinets and the cabinet doors into the fridge.

That spot in the "U" seems a much more natural place for the range, providing a well-protected cooking zone, with the big peninsula serving as a great prep or plating area. Since the range is narrower than the fridge, that also might leave you enough room to make that corner base cabinet into a lazy susan.

Meanwhile, the fridge down by the pantry gives easy access to snackers, without disturbing someone at the sink. With the pantry right there, that would also place all the food storage close together, which is handy at grocery unloading time.

I completely agree with holligator regarding the frig location. I would put the frig near the patio door.

Can you replace the patio door with a smaller door so that you can put a run of cab on the empty wall that separates the kitchen from LR? This seems like a huge waste of space since the space is too narrow to put a table AND you have seating on the peninsula. This would a great wall for frig and pantry. There is no reason to have such a large patio door since you are not exiting from a large open room to the patio, IMHO....

Why do you even need the wall there? Can you open it up to the LR?

holligator and kaismom, thank you for your input! I agree with you that by switching the location of frig and stove could leave more breath space for the frig. However I'm concerned about the limited space between the sink and the corner, since the sink has to be centered to the window. I think most of prep work will happen between sink and stove (washing, cutting, arranging).

kaismom, the wall next to the living room can not be opened because it's weight bearing. My plan is to put some arts on that wall and maybe a small table for my kids to do their homework.

My questions:
Why does the sink have to be centered under the window?
How flexible are you with windows and doors? If flexible (i.e., can change sizes or locations), your options open up considerably. Even just changing sizes (not locations) will give you many more options.
Can the window be changed/moved?
Can the patio doors be changed to 48" wide total (two 24" doors instead of two 30" doors)?

BTW...I also advise you not to assume your teens will be out of the house "soon". There is a very good possibility they will be back following graduation. More and more, young adults are returning to the "nest" for a few years until they can get established in a career and are able to afford to live on their own. This means you could be looking at 3 or 4 cooks and more entertaining in the next few years. My advice is to come up with a kitchen that will work well with one or two (you and your spouse) as well as with 3 or 4.

Your questions:

1. Should I keep the short wall at the corner of the peninsula, or should I get rid of it, and make the counter top go all the way to the end? To the right of the counter top, about 1' away is a door to the laundry room.

   I think I would like it to be opened up all the way.

if I make the change as #1 will it look better to have the wall cab at both sides of refrig 12 inch deep?

Like the others, I think moving the refrigerator would to the long wall would be better overall. It will get the refrigerator out of the dead end and easily accessible to both people working in the kitchen as well as keep someone looking for a drink or snack from getting in the way of those working in the kitchen (e.g., at the sink or peninsula). It will also open up that area much more. The long wall is plenty open enough that the refrigerator will not "close it in"...not so the base of the "U" where it's currently located.
any suggestion on the placement of glass door wall cabs?

No opinion right now.
Anyone using Wolf 36 inch all gas range - did you make the hood cabinets 3 inch longer on each side (to 42 inch) like suggested by the range instruction? I think it looks too bulky but afraid the heat will damage the cab.

I highly recommend making the hood 6" wider (3" for each side).
We like the look of decorative hood. However we do cook heavily. We are planning to get a ventilation hood with higher cfm but still wondering if the decorative will hood hold up to the cooking grease and smokes? (To my experience stainless steel is not the easiest to clean either, sigh)

I like the idea of a decorative wood hood to match the rest of the cabinetry. We have a SS hood, and it's not that bad keeping it clean. We don't do a lot of greasy cooking, but we do enough...browning meat for tacos, sloppy joes, chili, etc. However, I like the decorative hood idea better!
Is a wall oven a must in any kitchen? I'll get a Wolf range with oven. I don't think I'll need it and currently planning to stay in this house for more than 10 years.

Definitely not! If you don't have a need for an extra oven, don't get one! However, if you plan to stay in this home when you retire ("age in place"), you might consider at least making a place for one in the future. Or, you could put one in now...maybe an oven/MW stack.
Wall cab besides the hood - they are not as symmetric as I'd like. Am I being too picky?

No opinion right now.
Base cabinets - drawers or pull out cabinets? Pros and cons for each? Which should be next to the cooking range?

Drawers! Drawers, IMHO, are far better than roll out tray shelves (ROTS) (a.k.a., pull out shelves). I've linked a thread discussing the pros/cons of each. You may need one for tall items, but you'd be surprised how much will fit in a single deep drawer. If by "pull out cabinets" you mean attached to the door and pull out when you open the door (like a trash pullout, for example), depending on the application, they can also be more useful than regular cabinets (upper & base).

I have two sets of pots & pans...for gluten-free cooking (me) and for all other cooking. All of them are stored in drawers...and it's a great way to store them. The "regular" pots & pans are stored in 36" wide drawers under my cooktop...top shallow drawer has knives & prep tools (for "regular" cooking), the middle deep drawer has pots, the bottom deep drawer has pans and a wok. My GF pots are in two deep 24" drawers (fewer of them). My mother stores hers in regular base cabinets and they're a pain to access b/c you have to get on your hands & knees to get the items in the back. ROTS would be better, but then things can fall off. Drawers, to me, are far better. The only other type of storage I recommend for pots & pans is in a corner susan...that's what we had in our old kitchen & it worked very well. Everything was always in right in front of your...just rotate the susan and there's the item you need!

How about something like this...assuming the window and doors can be changed...?

Layout #1:

This gives you a Prep Zone that will not be in conflict with the Cleanup Zone.

It also gives you a lot of prep space b/w the prep sink on the peninsula and the range on the right wall. Your refrigerator is located so it's easily accessible from the kitchen, the DR, the LR, and the outside...without non-kitchen work activities getting the way of kitchen activities (prepping, cooking, cleaning up). There's even a secondary Prep Zone b/w the range and cleanup sink under the window.

It has an optional oven stack for a MW alcove and wall oven. If you decide against it, see Layout #2 (below) for an idea.

You have a 6' wide pantry with 12" deep shelves...a depth most of here at GW have found to be close to "perfect". The shelves are not so deep that things get lost, but they're deep enough to stack 2 or 3 cans (front-to-back), the majority of small appliances, most storage containers (Tupperware, Rubbermaid, Container Store, etc.)

I put in a small table, but I don't think you'll need it with the peninsula seating. Speaking of seating at the peninsula, there are 4 seats and a 15" overhang.

I did move the peninsula cabinets a bit toward the DR so they're flush with the wall b/w the LR & Kitchen. Yes, seating will be on the DR side with the higher ceiling, but I think it will be fine b/c there are no upper cabinets in that same space to draw attention to the ceiling difference.

The cabinet in the corner to the right of the range is turned 90 degrees so it faces the DR. This is a better use of space a blind cabinet, and even better than a corner susan. In it, you could store items needed in the DR...table cloths, place mats, candles, etc. If you don't need additional storage in the DR, it could be used for seasonal kitchen items.

Here is Layout #1 with Zones:

Layout #2:

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Drawers or doors with pull outs?

even at 44 inches, that's still a narrow neck to thread major traffic through--I'd get tired of it very quickly

Most doorways are only 32" or so wide, so 44" is another 12" wider. Plus, with no major appliances or zones in that space, it's really just a "through" lane, not a pinch or choke point at all. This is without the table seating, of course!

If there's seating at the table, then it does indeed become a pinch point...that's one of the reasons I recommend against it.

Instead of the table, perhaps a "Message/Command Center" could be put there...it would give the OP a drop zone so the peninsula doesn't become too cluttered. Something like this:

buehl, love the idea of having a utility cab and the 15 inch deep pantry! I think it's a wonderful use of the space. I'll certainly show your beautiful drawing to my KD. One thing I'm not sure is the placement of the sink - I'm a symmetric maniac so I hope it could be centered to the window. If I could get a window more than 60 inches, how big should that be? Anderson website is showing me a bay window of 83 inches.

I don't absolutely need a kitchen table in the kitchen. Can I get away with just having the pantry on that wall without feeling something is missing on that wall?