ditch the eat in kitchen concept and make the entire space kitchen with a large island that doubles as as eat in space. my reasoning for this a table in the kitchen does not function for anything else. but if you like to entertain, the extra prep area the island provides is fabulous. also think in terms of work zones and not the triangle.

Thanks for your thought, michelsdi13. I should have mentioned one feature that isn't obvious from the photos I posted of the plans: the breakfast nook / current mudroom is a 8 ft ceiling and the original kitchen has a 10 ft ceiling. So we thought the breakfast nook / seating was a good idea to give a cozy feel that acknowledges the different heights. And it gives me a place to sit with all my cookbooks spread out in front of me. :) If the ceiling heights weren't different, I'd totally be with you!

#1 would be my choice. Most practical.

Echo: #1. Can you remove the window, or put in windows on either side of the stove that are just backsplash size. I've seen this done and it looks remarkably nice, and gives you more natural light.

I'm a good cook too, and a former pro, and I love cooking in a rugged commercial kitchen. It makes me wince that people add all the crazy trim and silly features. You don't have to take the "fake restaurant stove" bait. Those big boxes are basically a home stove in drag, and they cost a fortune. If you want to spend that sort of money, I'd recommend checking into a true commercial stove. Real commercial stoves have no-nonsense high-btu burners that allow you too saute, seer, and stir-fry like a pro. I don't know your local permitting laws, but some places want you to install a fire-surpression system with that many btus. Others do not. But either way, you need an outside vented very high CFM hood to take all the cooking air out of the house. The other thing I love is stainless steel restaurant sinks with built-in drainboards. They're big enough to handle any chore, and the drainboards slope into the sink, so you can put a colandar or dish drying rack on them and not worry about swampy counters. Standard models are fairly cheap, but you can also customize the dimensions. You can have a cabinet maker build a base if you don't like the legs showing.

Make sure you order a cabinet-depth refrigerator, but if you have a large family, you may want to find the widest model available and make sure the kitchen is built to accommodate it.

Counters? Skip the granite. It's getting tiresome. I think cesarstone-type counters look great, and you can get them in some great colors. Or Carrera marble. It's a timeless classic that just keeps getting better. For your island, consider a heavy commercial chopping table instead of built-ins. They're bomb-proof and beautiful. Check out John Booze brand.

Good luck and have fun!

I like #1. The appliances are in the correct work order: fridge, sink, stove. The fridge is near the eating area and on the periphery of the kitchen so no traffic jams. The island provides plenty of secondary workspace where your sous-chefs can work on the far side and not get in the cook's way. No one is sitting in your kitchen but it's open to a comfortable eating area where an audience can hang out if they wish.

When you're at the stove, you're at the least public end of the kitchen so you can concentrate on being safe. As well, the inevitably-noisier-than-you'd-like hood is also far away from the public areas and busy removing any smells before they can migrate into the rest of the house.

I think your eating area is a welcome relief to a "breakfast bar". A proper table where people face each other and eat and converse together is a much more social proposition than a counter where people sit and interrupt you when you're trying to cook. If they want to be in the kitchen they should be helping not interrupting! And you have plenty of space for helpers. (Sorry for the rant. I don't know how many KDs I interviewed before I found one that didn't insist on a sit down bar in my kitchen for the audience that I didn't want and would never have!)

I prefer option 1 by far. (Don't like option 2 at all - You need that island for prep space and you could add in a small secondary bowl for washing veg.) also when you cook, you need to be thinking and not have to be chatting to guests. That's fine if you are prepping or finishing off. Option 3 gives too much space to washing and the loss of the cupboards could be too great a sacrifice.

You options sound well thought out, and I agree that option #1 is by far the best. It is wonderful to have the whole island surface available for serving, etc. If you get a good sized sink, I don't think you would really miss the second one in a kitchen this size. But if you feel you still want it, you could add it to the end of the island across from the refrigerator.

FYI: Pop-up downdraft ventilation doesn't work well for a serious cook. They are normally at the bottom of the Consumer Reports hood ratings. If you need the most quiet, get a hood with an external fan. You'll still have noise, but it's more like whooshing air and a deep hum than a fan motor.

#1 with an added prep sink on the island. You have the cleanup zone and prep zones crossed without it. Or move the DW to the right of the sink. OR add the prep sink and move the DW so that multiple users can be in the kitchen and not crash into each other over the single water source.

The range needs to be pulled off the back wall by 6", as window sills are a combustible surface. The window should e replaced with an non operable one with safety glass (regular glass can shatter into knife shards with a pop of grease) And you need the more expensive island hood with that position. It would really be better to ditch the window, or go for a window on each side of the range.

Downdraft are the world's biggest joke that someone tried to foist off on a real cook. They attempt to go against the laws of physics. And fail.

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone! Agree with others that a pop-up downdraft won't work for me--I don't like them and don't see them being efficient with a high BTU range. We'll go for an external fan with the vent hood.

Sophie--I agree with your flip of the DW pretty much, although it's pretty rare for us to have 2 people cooking / cleaning up at the same time. The trade off with flipping it to the right is the cabinet with dishes will then be across the sink from the DW instead of right next to it. Hmmm...

I think the range may even need to be 10" from the window as the window casing is combustible (wood). That's a pretty significant bump-out--maybe put two pull out cabinets on either side of the range to give it a "built in" furniture look??

Window replacement is not possible--it's a historic house and they frown on taking out the original windows without really good reasons and wouldn't approve adding new ones. We've thought of 1) bumping out the stove as described above; 2) seeing if we can clad the trim in something not combustible and put an extra piece of safety glass in front of the original (I saw someone else did that for a stove in front of a window); 3) walling over the window with something attractive facing outside (it faces north and our neighbor's bedroom windows). Not thrilled about potentially walling it off--I'm not worried about natural light with all the other windows but I do worry about how the exterior would look, etc.

If we can't figure out a reasonable way to make the stove work in front of the window, we'll probably go for option #3. I could live with losing my wall of cabinets if I have too, as long as I can put a set of refrigerator drawers in the island by the second sink to hold food I would prep by the range.

I really appreciate everyone's thoughts, thanks and keep them coming!

Here's an update for anyone willing to read down to this post! With the historical restrictions, option #1 is a no-go. :( So....option #3 it is! Here's some updated layouts I'd love thoughts on.

I think I've solved the IWSF issues (absolutely great post, by the way, thanks marcolo!): the end of the island near the #2 sink will have 2 refrigerator drawers that pull out towards the sink (out of the end of the island). That gives me a designated Ice, Water, Stone Fire space for cooking meals (mostly dinners, some epic breakfasts and brunches at our house). I will use the refrigerator drawers to hold main ingredients for dinners and brunches (veggies, meats, eggs) along with ingredients that go in at cooking (black bean sauce, chicken broth base, etc.) vs condiments (salad dressing, ketchup, etc.) that will stay in the main fridge along with fruits, salad veggies, sandwich fixings, yogurt, stuff that doesn't need cooking to eat.

The clean up sink, DW, and where dishes are stored are now freed up from the cooking zone and shouldn't end up with crossed paths. And the other benefit is that the fridge, coffee maker, and MW (in the island on the fridge end, not in the upper anymore as in the elevation) are all easily accessible to the breakfast nook (not shown--the large opening opens directly to the nook).

Plans for finishes include: gray cabinets, soapstone counters (I LOVE soapstone and can't believe I made the budget work!), library ladder system (ladder will hang on the wall when not in use), white farmhouse sink for sink #1, might re-use our current white sink for sink #2. I think we're going to do a 4 inch butt board of soapstone in lieu of a full backsplash. I just can't seem to settle on a backsplash, so the butt board will keep enough water off the walls while we take our time deciding if we want something more than that.

Open to all thoughts and feedback--we won't put in our final orders (other than the range, which is already on order) for another few weeks while we finish our historic preservation approval process.

*the farmhouse sink isn't really represented quite right in this elevation.

*note: the MW is no longer planned for in the upper cabinet, it's going to be in a drawer in the island

Just got to reading this and my choice was #3 anyway - no way would I do a stove in front of operable window, nor do I like them on an island. Good choice.