Who wants to look at dirty dishes from the living room?

How will you drain and vent the sink if it is relocated?

It will be a two level counter/breakfast bar type situation where I'm thinking of moving the sink so no issue with seeing dirty dishes from the living room.

We have a full, unfinished basement with complete access to plumbing and venting...my brother-in-law is a plumber and he has assured me it will not be a big deal.

Something is bothering me about it though...that's why I posted to get some different perspective.

It does sound different, but different isn't always bad.

What is your reasoning as to why you want to move the sink?

Posting both your kitchen plan and house plan (for flow) would help others make the most constructive comments possible

As long as I didn't have a landlocked kitchen, I can't imagine not putting the cleanup sink under the window. Because of your two-level counter, you may not see dirty dishes, but you'll still hear them clanking around under shots of water, and scraping food off and into the trash. When I'm cleaning up, I like to stare off into space outside, look at the sky, predict the weather.

I wouldn't move it to an open counter, but leave it under the window. IMO, the 2 level counter is not the best for sitting and eating at. First if you are at the counter, you will be overlooking the dirty dishes and the sink and the smells. Second, the upper counter is necessarily narrow so it's not the best for spreading out a newspaper or other items at vs. a counter that is at a single height. Second, if you are short like me, the stools at the high counters are unwieldy. I struggle to get up on them, and once there, I can't move them as my feet are nowhere near the ground. Third, anyone at the sink will need to lean over it get to stuff on the higher counter which means damp tummy. Yuck. Fourth, a counter at a single height (like we have in our island) is great for cooking at, dough rolling, major cooking or baking projects, plus it is great for serving...buffet, sitting at and serving up appetizers, etc. Lots of room to spread and slide dishes around.

Also, there's a reason sinks are under windows...to give good view and good light while you are at the sink as it is one location you spend a lot of time at so you might as well have something nice to look at while you are there. Being able to open the window is also nice to get fresh air in while you are working at the sink.

Only 20% of your time is spent doing cleanup. It should be located away from the main prep zone. 70% of your time is doing prep. If you want a social experience for that, then locate that facing in towards the family areas and make sure there's enough counter space to actually do it. The cleanup sink should be close enough to transfer dirty dishes to it easily, but far enough that a second person working there won't interfere with your prep activity.

What Annie said. :)

Put your photos in some site such as photobucket. Its easy to upload from there. To get the best help you really need to post a layout/photos.

I know this is hard to imagine...I will try to figure out how to post pics tonight and I will post the layout to give everyone a better idea what I'm talking about.

To further explain, we do not have a range hood now and that is a MUST HAVE in the new kitchen. The venting for the range hood will be much simpler if we can put the range on the outside wall (vent can run straight up through an attic space and then the roof) rather than running the venting through finished space in the master bedroom before into the attic and then out the roof.

There is not enough room on the outside wall to have the range, sink, dishwasher and refrigerator....plus it would just look weird to have all the appliances crammed together on one wall.

We have the sink centered on an 8' window. I took a 12" glue lam and boxed out the framing so the window sits a bit outside. This created a nice shelf so the boss can put her plants in the window. It actually worked out pretty well and she seems to like it. We should be in the kitchen by next week. We are getting the first coat of finish on the hardwood today. I can't post pics either so no help there..

If you have room for a small prep sink on one side of the window, prep space, then the range, I think it could work. That would mean you prep looking out the window, instead of toward guests, but if you need to monitor small children in the back yard, and/or have a great view, function wins. I moved a range to an outside wall to accommodate a hood vent, and haven't looked back.

Ours in our previous home was exactly that way after we remodeled (before we remodeled the sink was under the window, after the remodel, the sink was on the peninsula and the area under the window was a great prep area).

Our peninsula was NOT bi-level (we also took that out when we remodeled, I didn't like it). You couldn't see dirty dishes in the sink -- the sink was deep enough to hide them. (Sorry for the mess in the picture)

I meant to post the picture of the window area here, but it ended up as a separate thread and I don't know how to delete it!

this is a picture of the window where the sink used to be.

I'd worry more about the optimum layout functionality-wise for your lifestyle. If that means the sink is not under the window, then so be it.

My in-laws just pulled out their bar height counter and now have a larger cabinet height counter for their peninsula. The sink is more visible now from the family room, but the kitchen looks more open now. They love the change.

I really appreciate all the responses but it has led me to a different question...if we don't do a two level counter, where do you put outlets that would normally go in the backsplash area AND does anyone ever have things getting pushed off the back of the counter? I can see me tossing my keys on the counter when I come in with an arm full of groceries and they slide off into the floor...maybe it's a non-issue...one of those silly things I think about it!

I don't know about the other stuff, but I once moved a sink leaving a window with nothin' but counter under it. It was NICE. Everyone's favorite spot to work, too (not a big kitchen). No cabinets in your face, nice view of, well, the neighbor's house, no concerns running a steamy coffee machine...

I dunno. It almost seems like a waste of a good window to put a grubby old sink there. :)

There are pop-up outlets that you can install in the counter. Here's one type.

gpraceman, I know about the Mockett Sprocket popup outlet --- are there others?

Oh, and you can also put the outlet in a filler space - we left 4" of space between cabinets on the island expressly for that purpose - regular outlets front and back of island, and end of peninsula.

@sjhockeyfan - Maybe OP wasn't aware of them;-)

If you do a Google image search, there are other types of pop-up outlets out there.

Below is a website that shows several different options.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alternatives to Ugly Outlets