The key to a cooks kitchen is the work triangle - stovetop, sink, fridge. Ideally, the closer they are too each other, the easier it is for the cook.

In your layout, they are far apart. The cook will spend a lot of time and energy reaching and running from the stove, sink, fridge to the countertop.

I would sacrifice some or all of the eat in area for more work space and appliance storage space. I am not a fan of open floor plans. I would rather have more cabinets. If you have an open plan kitchen, You want really good kitchen ventilation if you are a serious cook. Otherwise, you will have lingering cooking odors in your living room and you will have to wipe down your living room like you wipe down your kitchen cabinets.

The refrigerator looks narrow in the photo. You may need a custom (ie expensive) fridge to fit that profile. The average refrigerator is wider than most countertop.

I say cooks kitchen because some of the prettiest kitchens are never cooked in!

A few things to help clarify.
Yes, the kitchen will be used heavily. My wife is a fantastic cook and we have 2 young kids. Our current kitchen is tiny, and very much separated from the rest of the house. This is annoying to her as there is no place the kids can hang out where she can see them in the kitchen... hence the kitchen opening to one room. There are several other., more public living spaces planned, but this family room will basically be private.
I am planning a large counter depth refrigerator/freezer, or perhaps may recess them to be counter depth as well to save on budget.
I certainly can move the fridge down towards the cooktop to decrease the movement for cooking. I just was worried about decreasing the countertop/prep space between the two.
Thoughts on moving the sink and DW to the right wall and just putting a prep sink in the island?
As for kitchen storage, I feel like there is quite a bit in this plan... especially compared to our current kitchen.
Thanks for the dialog!
Quinn

I think your design looks promising. Of course, the squared design is more space efficient, but I can understand your being drawn to the angled corners. I might actually decide to go that way if I had enough storage, especially a pantry elsewhere, which you WILL need.

I would definitely move the cleanup sink and DW to the perimeter and put a prep sink and the trash on the island. That is where your wife will prep, but it isn't the best place to stack dirty dishes. Then your prep, cleanup, and cooking areas are close enough to each other and each has plenty of counterspace.

I think the fridge is fine where it is. Nice if you can recess it into the wall to lessen its projection into the room. I would not move the fridge up toward the range, though. Because the space between island and fridge is tight, it may be well to move the island another foot or so to the right and that may necessitate moving it down a foot or so to keep enough clearance around the upper end of the island. You have plenty of space between the island and the oven wall (and the oven wall will not be used much for prepping), so I think moving the island down is a good option.

A final comment. Unless you have an idea in mind for the counterspace on the oven wall, I think you should seriously consider making that a tall wall of cabinets and a pantry, as you mentioned. It is not an area in which I would prep or clean up, so the counterspace would go mostly unused. A pantry wall would be a a great space for small appliances as well as staples and such.

Overall, a nice design--especially if that is a pantry I see in the bottom right corner just outside the kitchen.

This post was edited by Bellsmom on Sun, Sep 14, 14 at 10:38

The windows in the kitchen are on the short side of the room and kinda small, and the island is directly facing another wall. Is the view outside not pretty? Is there a pleasant view in any direction, either from the kitchen or the family room?

What would happen if you either a) moved the stove so above where it was could be a large window or b) rotated the family room furniture 90 degrees so that wall it was facing could be windows or sliding glass doors or whatever?

Where do you plan to eat family meals? If the answer is "the island", well, the way it's set up is not at all conducive to that purpose. I always envision 4 people sitting in a row at a diner, all reading the paper, no one talking to anyone else.

Regarding the "openess", I think it's a very good setup - open to the Family Room but not the rest of the house. This is a good compromise b/w too open (e.g., open to all first floor rooms) vs isolated by itself. I like it!

I don't know your whole-house design, but I have some general design tips that I've realized are important over the years -

(1) A reach-in or walk-in pantry somewhere nearby,

(2) DR placed near the Kitchen (even if you have a Breakfast Nook)

(3) A nice size Mudroom off the family entrance (garage?) that is not also the Laundry Room. The Laundry room can be next to it, but have doors that can close b/w the Mudroom and LR (or LR and rest of the house) - I don't like the idea of dirty laundry always on display!

(4) For the Mudroom - a cubby for each child (and, maybe, each adult) + closet + boot/glove/scarf storage + bench; with hooks in the cubbies for school backpack and winter coat (winter coats take up the most space, so size for them)

As to the kitchen, do you have a design of the entire first floor?

Right off - this kitchen is screaming for either: adding a prep sink along the perimeter or moving the sink + DW to the perimeter and adding a prep sink to the island (my preference). Maybe even turning the island 90 degrees - but I would have to work with it so the island doesn't become a barrier island b/w the refrigerator and Prep Zone (on the island).

Moving the range/cooktop to the other wall and moving the Cleanup Zone to the top wall might also work - again, I would have to play with it to see what would actually work.

How flexible are you? Can windows/doors/plumbing be moved?

Regarding "ease of venting", you can pretty easily vent from an interior wall, especially one that's perpendicular to the outside wall unless the ceiling joists are running parallel to the outside wall - b/c then you have to cut through all the joists to run the duct work. Or, you can duct out the roof (it works for some people). So, I would not immediately eliminate something for that reason.

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ: How do I ask for Layout Help and what information should I include?

Here's the 3D view.

A nice touch would be to lengthen the windows so they come down to the counter height.

[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Washington Design-Build Firms Landis Architects / Builders

I love the look of the counter flowing back to the bottom of the window.

A few kitchens have been posted on GW that did this. I wish I had!!

Here is a link that might be useful: GW discussion of counter height windows

This post was edited by Bellsmom on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 12:42

~Bellsmom: What a cool idea. I certainly would have never thought of that! Thanks for the link too.