Is that a bathroom between the mud and laundry room in this iteration? With all the laundry and mudroom space: I don't know that I would want to dedicate such a large area in the kitchen for a desk. Is the only seating in the DR?

That is a great size pantry, you will have no problem storing food & rarely used pans/serving pieces.

Are the bottom cabinets large drawers, or traditional 2-door front cabinets? Drawers will be really, really useful.

The only thing I see as a potential problem is that the dishwasher seems sort of far from the places you'd probably store dishes. I've always seen dishes placed in upper cabinets, and (being lazy) I usually pick the cabinet directly above or just to one side of the dishwasher so I don't have to take any steps to put away plates, bowls, cups, and mugs. Silverware comes out in a little basket, so I don't mind walking that thing over to where the cutlery is.

I think I'd swap the placement of the sink & DW if I were you. It won't solve the issue of having to take 2-3 steps to put away dishes (which isn't a huge thing) but it will give you a broader swath of un-interrupted counter space you can work on for prep and still face the dining room. Currently you have 2 sections of 24" wide counter, which isn't bad but isn't a lot when you're chopping a bunch of veggies to start making a soup or stew. Also, it means that with the sink in the corner, someone can be at the sink while someone else is at the stove and there's less likelihood of bumping butts. Although if you had the DW door open, that might be inconvenient for the person cooking.

I'm not a huge fan of having the sink in the island, personally, because I feel like it puts the mess of a kitchen in the center of the room. But if you clean as you go & don't have extra dirty dishes often, I can see how it would work for some people. I often cook in big batches & that creates a large amount of dirty dishes/pans at once (and frankly, after doing a couple big batches of whatever & freezing it, I leave clean-up til the next day b/c I'm tired).

How does this compare to kitchens you've had previously? What good (or not so good) elements do you see repeated?

remodelfla - the kitchen and pantry just back up to the mudroom and laundry. I had thought about doing an office "nook" that made the pantry smaller, but decided to just have the desk area. As far as seating there will be 2 or 3 stools at the island, but the dining room is the only area (no formal dining).

pam - I hadn't specified yet, but really want drawers for the bottom cabinets.

I've thought about the dishwasher issue and plan on putting dishes and cups in the upper cabinets directly south of the dishwasher. With the dishwasher open and drawers out, that shouldn't be too far to put them up.

As far as what I have now, we live in a 70 year old home with very little storage and even less counterspace - literally two 24" sections (since we have to keep a lot on the countertops). I'm hoping to repeat nothing since I can't stand our current kitchen.

Thanks for the ideas!

I too would get the sink out of the island especially since it looks into the DR. I know the area around my sink is not always the neatest. If the sink can't leave the island then Pam's suggestion of switching the sink and DW is excellent.

Congratulations on your new home, Sadiect.

If it were mine :), as always, my priority would be a very good prep place, spacious, pleasant for me to work at (best place to stand in the whole kitchen), close to everything I need, etc. I don't really see that here. The nice counter by the stove requires me to work with my back to the room looking at a wall. The island space is broken up with the sink.

Happily, you have lots of room to work with and still keep all the functions you want to accommodate. What I might do, within the general layout you have, would be to lengthen the very efficient corridor-kitchen portion of your plan. I would keep in mind designing to create a nice view from the dining room while doing this, as you obviously have been.

One way would be to shift the mudroom doorway all the way to the left, bringing the fridge to the work side of the kitchen in the process. Right now it's on the less-desirable side of a family traffic corridor. Okay, but nothing I'd need to preserve in the process of making changes.

Or, perhaps widen the kitchen to the right by potentially taking space from the laundry, pantry, and/or desk area, also bringing the fridge to the right, probably far right.

The big walk-in area of the pantry is luscious, for instance, but definitely extra space that could easily be reassigned to the, to me still a bit needy, main functions of the kitchen. Same for the laundry room. Unless you're going to supervise the children while you work in there and have a projects table for the family, etc., or have 8 kids and expect to spend a lot of time scrubbing grass stains and folding in there (?), I'm guessing it has a few square feet that could be more valuably invested in a much busier area, i.e., the kitchen.

Your desk, BTW, makes me think of a picture I once saw a picture of a nice big working desk--but IN the pantry, just like yours but rotated 180 degrees. She loved her setup. Instead of sitting facing a wall, with paperwork on display and people brushing by her chair, she looked out at her family through a large passthrough-type opening raised enough to hide the desk mess, etc.

I agree with Rosie...I think the Pantry, while nice, is taking up space that could be used by the kitchen. I also have to ask, are you sure you want a desk? Most people take desks out when they remodel, not put them in. People are finding desks are more "clutter magnets" than they are useful "desks". But, perhaps you feel differently.

It's a busy day, so I don't have a lot of time, but here are two quick ideas:

My favorite:

[Moves the sink & DW to the left wall, moves the refrigerator to the other side of the kitchen, moves ovens to the left end, moves the pantry door "up", changes the desk to a "Message/Command Center" with space for one seat if you would rather have it be a desk than a base cabinet, recesses a full-depth refrigerator into the pantry, and reduces the depth of the island a bit so you have more room behind the seats for b/w the island and DR table.]

Another idea that leaves the pantry & oven "as-is":

Both put your Prep Zone on the island...nice for visiting while prepping.

Your Cleanup Zone is separated from the Prep & Cooking Zones. I think with a 54" (or 51") aisle, having the DW on the Mudroom-to-DR aisle will be OK.

It puts your DW in a perfect place for dish storage and the dish storage in the perfect place for accessing it from the DR w/o someone setting the table or emptying/loading the DW getting underfoot of those prepping & cooking.

It also puts the refrigerator & pantry in the Prep & Cooking Zones and eliminates zone-crossing. The refrigerator is still on the periphery for easy access by cooks & snackers both w/o them getting in each others way.

I really appreciate all the ideas. I really like Rosie's idea of moving the entrance to the kitchen over to the left and below is my attempt at that version. Please ignore the corner cabinets and I just moved everything over and didn't change the cabinet type.

As far as the desk, I do expect it to become cluttered, but I would rather have a desk to stash the clutter than have it on the dining table or kitchen countertops (which is where most of our junk ends up now).

I would choose buehl's number two layout because...

There's enough room to prep on the island where I can see and talk to others.

The mud room entrance is where it makes the most sense.

People doing cleanup or table setting can work without interrupting the people cooking. The cooktop user won't run into open dishwasher.

Stuff waiting to be cleaned can pile up in the cleanup area instead of in the prep area.

Depending on what spacing you like, the island can move a little closer to the cooktop counter. With the dishwasher in the island, the aisle really needs to wider to permit two people to work back to back when each uses stuff (drawers, dishwasher) that stick out into the aisle 24"-30".

For me, the best oven landing space is the 24" right beside the side. To use the one beside the oven cabinet, I'd pretty much have to close its door first. The problem is that the counter beside the cleanup sink is likely to contain either dishes waiting to be washed or some drying.

All the food is on the same side of the room - no back and forth from one side to the other.

Another vote for Buehl's Plan 2 for the reasons bmore stated. Plan 1 has potential for door collisions between fridge and ovens. Another plus for putting the fridge on the pantry wall is that you can go with a standard depth (SD) fridge and hide its bulk by recessing it deeper.

How do you bring groceries into the house? Through the mudroom? If so, then your revision based on rosie's suggestion has merit but I'd tweak it a bit more to incorporate a few of buehl's ideas:

I moved the sink/DW to the perimeter to keep the island free for prep and baking projects. I started out with the prep sink closer to the fridge, then moved it to preserve the landing space for fridge and oven items and to give you a handy spot to dump groceries before putting them away in fridge and pantry.

Coming out of lurkdom to ask a quick question: all these changes look great, but would having the fridge on the completely opposite side of the kitchen (and around the island) become problematic?

Regarding Plan 1...the refrigerator and ovens are on opposite sides of the kitchen...no door issues with them...

If it were my kitchen; I'd be focusing on layout 2. I love cab runs that have ends with no corner cabs. It makes for very distinct work areas. Also, and this is just me perhaps; it gives the opportunity to mix counter and backsplash materials. Great job buehl!

mgreenman...opposite sides of the kitchen? If you are asking about Layouts #1 & #2 & Lisa's layout, the refrigerator is in a good place.

(1) It can be accessed by those prepping & cooking w/o having to cross the Cleanup Zone (a.k.a., zone-crossing, something to avoid whenever possible)

(2) It's directly across from the island where the island can be used as landing space for it

(3) It's easy to get to the refrigerator while prepping & cooking b/c it's not too far away from either one (It is a little far from the cooktop in Lisa's, but I think it is still doable)

(4) It's landing space (island) is the Prep Zone, so things coming out of the refrigerator are right where they need to be

(5) It's still on the periphery so those prepping & cooking as well as "outsiders" looking for a snack can easily access it...without the "outsiders" getting in the way of those trying to work in the kitchen.

(6) It's in a direct line to the DR w/o having to cut through any of the three primary work zones (Prep, Cooking, Cleanup)

(7) The island is not in the way when accessing it from the Prep & Cooking Zones (so no "barrier island")

I think Lisa's right, I think in this case the prep sink could be moved to the other end of the island...it's still close to the cooktop. The only caveat is that if there's a lot of oven use (baking, roasting, etc.) & the sink is right across from the oven, then someone prepping at the sink will be in the way of the ovens.

Some notes:

When designing a functional kitchen, I try to have some separation of the Prep & Cooking Zones from the Cleanup Zone to allow more people to work in the kitchen or to allow one person + someone else coming in to load/unload one or more items to/from the DW. An open DW is an obstacle to anyone prepping or cooking. It's especially hazardous if it's located directly across from a cooktop or range b/c someone taking a pot of boiling water to be drained, for example, may accidentally back into the open door and slosh some of that boiling water on themselves or someone nearby. It's also not fun to prep over a running DW!

If the kitchen has only one sink, then that separation can be the sink...the DW & Cleanup Zone on one side, preferably the side opposite the range/cooktop side of the kitchen. The other side of the sink should be the side with (1) trash pullout, (2) at least 36" of counterspace directly adjacent to the sink, (3) the range/cooktop (Prep & Cooking Zones), and (4) if possible, the refrigerator & pantry.

I also try to eliminate zone-crossing (or at least minimize it when it cannot be eliminated)...this means I try to put the refrigerator & pantry so you do not have to cross the Cleanup Zone to get to them from the Prep & Cooking Zones. At the very least, I try not to have preppers & cooks cross the path of the DW. I know this is not possible in many kitchens, but it's something to at least try for...

I also try to put the refrigerator & MW on the periphery of the kitchen...where it's easily accessed by those working in the kitchen (prepping & cooking) as well as outsiders trolling for a snack! This way, snackers won't get underfoot of those working in the kitchen.

Since everyone seems to prefer Layout #2, here's a more detailed layout with a couple of tweaks:

Note in this case the ovens and prep sink are not across from each other (see comment above).

Regarding the desk area. Have you considered something like Sweeby's "Organization Closet"? I think it's basically a tall cabinet with doors, a counter in the middle, and is open on the bottom. When she needs to hide the inevitable clutter, she simply closes the doors and instantly no more visible clutter!

It's discussed and linked to in the thread below. Scroll down to the bottom.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Need serious help with kitchen re-do

Regarding Plan 1...the refrigerator and ovens are on opposite sides of the kitchen...no door issues with them...

Oops, guess my eyes were tired when I looked at your plan, buehl. I saw the original oven door markings that weren't quite erased in your version so I mistakenly thought you'd left the ovens there. What's the distance between fridge front and cabs to its right? Is there enough clearance for the fridge door to swing and not hit counters? Hard to tell. I still prefer Plan #2.

mgreenman, I was also puzzled by your 'fridge on the opposite side of the kitchen being a problem' comment. My fridge and pantry are adjacent to each other and I *love* that set-up. I don't have to go to opposite ends of the kitchen when prepping a meal or putting groceries away. It's very convenient. So add that as a plus to the list buehl created.

Sorry for the confusion. I was noticing that the fridge was on the opposite side of the island from the sink, and was wondering if that was going to be a long walk. In my current layout, I have to walk around my island to get to my pantry, which is kind of a pain. So in my remodel, I'm trying not to place anything I need to get to frequently on the "other side."
On a side note, the time and ideas that everyone puts forth here are so beneficial. I visited a remodeled kitchen yesterday that the home owner had designed without any help and boy did the layout suffer as a result. She had all the right elements, but it just didn't come together in a way that was super functional, IMO. Too bad she hadn't found you guys!

With a sink in the island, the island becomes the Prep Zone...so the refrigerator is actually close. It's also close to the Cooking Zone. The refrigerator is used the most from these two zones.

In fact, since the island is the refrigerator's landing zone, that means you get things out of the refrigerator and place them on the island and they're right where they need to be for prepping! If the items are needed for cooking, they're right across from the Cooking Zone. Because the landing zone is where it is, you could unload far more at one time than you could carry b/c you take an item out & put it directly on the island...no getting a couple of things, walking to the Prep (or Cooking) Zone, go back and get another load, etc.