Thank you for responding. I've attached the plan of the first floor. Where is says "existing dining room" will be converted to a TV room so no formal dinning room. Breakfast area is where the formal dining table will be. We can give up the island if we have to but I love to have an island, specially for baking, daily meals, kids to do homework etc. I don't mind turning the island 90 degrees or have an L shape.

The plan doesn't show the extension behind the bathroom since its something that came up while going over this first set of plans. The kitchen will be extended to where the deck shows in the plan, french doors to walk out. I *thought* we can have a pantry cabinet just opposite the bathroom window.

No, the shallow walls are coming out, that's just showing whether the kitchen is now, we are extending to the back but we are not allowed to extend that 4 ft in the breakfast area.

The bathroom wall is 9 ft. I don't have plans for the wall along the staircase as I figured that would be the walk-in area from the kitchen entrance.

I hope I was able to answer all the questions,

It might be a little tight if people are sitting at the table and the island...but something like this might work.

And you could have a few extra chairs in the window. Are you going to have a larger window in that bump out? A nice place for morning coffee : )

What is the distance between the perimeter cabinets on top and the island? Right now it looks like it's a heck of a lot larger than the 48" you need. If so, by bringing the island closer to the perimeter, you will have the room with the chairs pushed under the island for your table.

What you need to change if you don't have a prep sink on the island is to move the fridge so your work flow goes from fridge to sink to prep space to cooking.

cpartist: Kitchen layout is not planned yet, the architect just marked those places for us to get an idea.

Dream-What are your views out the back and left side? If the left side is nicer, then I like your layout and I'd make the window in the bumpout much larger, if possible.

If the view is better out the back (for instance house very close next door) then I'd change the kitchen layout. Something like this....

This is a corner property so its the yard in the side and then it's he road. Back view is of the neighbors house. I would say side view is better than the back view.

How much space do we need for the dining table and clearance? I don't know whether we have enough space to have both the dining table and the island horizontal to each other. Is that a bench you added to one side of the table?

Have you considered an island dining table combo? Are you set on having two separate items in the room?

DH wants a formal dining table. I want a good size island more than a formal dining table. So we are stuck:(

Not a bench, but a built in banquette. Something like this?

Although this type of table works better with a banquette....no corner legs to hit as you slide in : )

I think that's great!! This is exactly what we need. I searched for banquette seating and came across this setup which I think is great too.

I think this is acceptable as a formal dining table right?

Looking at this last picture I posted....have you ever thought about flipping the
kitchen and dining room? It could be higher windows over the table
(since it's not a great view) and the pantry could be all across the
wall. Just an idea.

Missed your post...but yes, that would be nice! It depends on whether you want to access the island from the other side or overlook the banquette and table. Lots of options : )

How do you find this type of seating? I know we can the table and chair separate, but what about the couch type seating to match other chairs around the table. Don't know what it's called.

The banquette? Sometimes you can find them free-standing, but for
something like this....you may have to get someone to build it for you.
Have you seen 2LittleFishies' kitchen? She had one made. It's a lovely
kitchen : )

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2496394/2littlefishies-yellow-kitchen-reveal-part-deux?n=134

Wow that's a beautiful kitchen. I'm going to look into it. Thank you for posting the link.