I can't read the dimensions on the drawings, or see how the walls relate to each other. In the top drawing, where are the fridge, range and ovens (I see the sink). What's behind the island? How wide are the aisles? Is there only one sink?

The range wall is at the top, and the fridge wall is to the left with the sink wall to the right.

Pending further measurement information one change I would make is to run the range wall upper cabinets into the corner and not turn them and then remove the small upper cabinet that is to the right of the sink. It will open the area a bit and allow it to breathe.

One additional question: any thoughts on moving the wall ovens to the end of the wall where the window/sink are. This would give us more counter space by the fridge, we could put the beverage center on that wall, which is again next to the dining room.

It would be helpful to see the whole house layout. If you have a major walkway through the kitchen you are going to want that aisle to be wide. I'd consider putting the oven on the end of the sink wall to get it out of the walkway. You probably also want to consider a prep sink on the island since it's kind of far from the fridge to the sink. I would add another window in place of a couple uppers unless you have a ton of light coming in from somewhere else.

Honestly, I would start with reading this thread New to Kitchens?

I think once you do, you'll notice one thing wrong with your kitchen and that is your island is a barrier between your sink and your fridge.

The way we work is from fridge to sink to prep to stove and ideally you don't want to cross zones when doing so.

Also without measurements, it's hard for us to really make comments. Lastly it's always a good idea for you to post your floor plan so we can see how the kitchen relates to the other rooms. :)

You won't get any love on here for U-shaped kitchens with an island. People prefer a galley or L shape with an island to optimize work areas without having the island in the middle. My observations are:

1) you have narrow upper cabinets on either side of a relatively small window. I'd remove those narrow cabinets that aren't very useful and make the window larger (go with 3 panes instead of 2).

2) you have multiple base cabinets with doors not drawers. Most people find drawers more flexible. Rollouts behind doors make accessing items a two step process.

3) the aisle widths on the side of the island aren't in the diagrams but they seem small, especially if you have a 48" refrigerator. I'd want 48" to 54" in the traffic aisle in front of the refrigerator and minimum 42" but 48" preferred between the island and the dishwasher. Note those are counter to counter measurements not cabinet to cabinet.

4) is there a pantry somewhere else?

5) I would leave the counterspace between the fridge and oven if you stick with the current design.

I have a link to the plans that has all the latest details/measurements easier to read, but when I post it here the post doesn't show up. It's actually a little different than what I posted above, which is a slightly older version of the plans. I think gardenweb is blocking posts with a link. Working on figuring this out...

The pantry is to the right of the fridge. All the comments so far are really appreciated.

Also the wall to the right of the fridge is blocking the door so it will only open 90 degrees. You would never want to design a new construction house with that defect. The fridge either needs to stick out in front of the adjacent wall or you need to put a filler/cabinet between the fridge and the pantry wall.

Here are the plans in an easier to read PDF format, including the floorplan: Plans

I like where your refrigerator is, alot.

I have to agree, but this isn't a U-shaped kitchen. It's an L+ island ... with an extra cabinet run on the left.

Interesting how people looking at the same picture see something different. The oven/fridge are on the left wall. The rangetop is on the top wall. The sink/dishwasher are on the right wall. Yeah there's a door at the top, too, but appliances on three sides looks like a U to me not an L. Take away the doorway and this is the classic U layout. I could agree to call it an L if the fridge were next to the rangetop on the top wall -- but its not and it is also not getting any love.

A prep sink in the island would do a lot for the layout, that's the biggest change you need if you want to keep the basic layout here intact.

I don't have a google account and refuse to get one. Can someone please post the updated plans on here?

Cp- I did this on my phone, so not sure how good the quality will be

CP - I believe the link should still allow you to view the document even if you don't have a google account.

The hood should be six inches wider than the stove below so that it really catches all the odors and grease rather than allowing them to be deposited onto your cabinets.

What kind of foundation are you on? Is it possible to put in a prep sink in the island? Otherwise you will be walking back-and-forth from the refrigerator to the sink all the time. If you leave the sink under the window you can use it as a secondary prep zone as well as a separate place for all the cleanup to go on.

The island looks very large. Will you be able to reach the middle of it to clean it?

If I understand the plans, you are putting a spice rack right next to the stove. In general heat isn't very good for spices.

I would always take a larger windows and fewer cabinets in the kitchen so instead of having just a double window I would make it a triple window.

Well, we also have a U shaped kitchen although ours is 13' x 10' so much smaller. It is interesting to note that our appliances are in exactly the same places even down to the pantry location. We agonized for 6 months over whether there was a better way to arrange it -- and we didn't find one so in our remodel appliances will stay in the same place just optimized by moving a few things over a couple inches.

I would think about omitting all of the upper cabinets above the sink/dishwasher wall and putting in windows above the counter from the sink all the way to the breakfast room. You have a lot of storage space elsewhere in the kitchen. This will really open the kitchen up and make it bright and airy.

I think if you add a prep sink on the island you should be fine with your layout.

Few thoughts:

1. Like others have said, you probably want all drawers in your lowers, rather than a mix of drawers and cabinets.

2. In a kitchen as large as yours, I'd want two full size ovens rather than having a speed oven as the only second oven. I'd do this either by putting a 48" range in instead of the range top (and leaving oven + advantium on wall) or by putting double ovens where you currently have the single oven + advantium, and then putting a microwave drawer below counter elsewhere. (Or if you have cabinets in pantry, could tuck a second oven in there)

3. I'd put a prep sink on island.

4. The long run of counter to right of sink feels like it's lacking in purpose, and has potential to become a junk collector. I don't know how locked you are into window sizes and positions, but I might make window larger and slide sink and window over to right a bit.

Nice kitchen. I realize that your kitchen windows are centered on that exterior wall but you will be looking at the center section of your window (mullion, muntin??) The lack of symmetry on that wall also bothers me.

I would be tempted to make the Windows a smaller size and add another so that you have three and they are centered on the interior kitchen wall as well. I think you could spare a little cabinetry to make these changes.

would love to see the rest of your floor plan

Here's an idea for the ovens and some changes already suggested by other posters.

I had a similar layout in my previous kitchen with a few small exceptions - in my case the ovens were next to the refrigerator and the wine fridge was at the end of the run with the clean-up sink (so essentially flipped from the picture above), and the prep sink was on the perimeter (had to do with location of plumbing and size of the island - it was between the fridge and cooktop, so very functional location -- we had no door in that spot). It was a very functional layout, just keeping the cleanup sink and dishwasher out of the way of everything else was fabulous.

The area to the right of the sink seems awkward for a beverage center. That is probably where you will have a dish rack, dirty dishes, and vegetable peels, etc... Not so great if you want guests to make a drink.

I would put the fridge there. Fridge to sink to cooktop. Ovens by the pantry and beverage center there. It is a major walkway but you are only opening the oven rarely and for a few seconds.

Also, I may be missing it, but I don't see a trash pullout. I'd put it on the island between the prep sink and the clean up sink so that it is centrally located.

Interesting how people looking at the same picture see something
different ... Take away the doorway and this is the classic U layout.

Maybe you could call it a Broken U, but a U is uninterrupted and keeps everything within reach of a single cook -- that's the strength of a U. An L is better for shuttling traffic through /allowing multiple cooks, and that's the functional style we have here.

The hood should be six inches wider than the stove below so that it
really catches all the odors and grease rather than allowing them to be
deposited onto your cabinets.

I know this is common advice here, but I've never found a need for a wider hood /never had a problem with odors or grease -- maybe my hood is stronger than average?

A related issue: When your stove is on an interior wall, you have to figure out how you're going to vent. It's certainly not an insurmountable issue, but it is one that you need to address.

Like others have said, you probably want all drawers in your lowers, rather than a mix of drawers and cabinets.

Yes. Inventory your current kitchenware, then assign everything a spot -- that'll allow you to accurately determine whether you have an appropriate number of drawers and cabinets. Personally, I'm planning for my base cabinets: 3 cabinets, 3 three-drawer stacks, 1 four-drawer stack, and 1 pull-out behind a cabinet drawer. I could not have predicted these specifics without having "assigned" items to specific places.

The island looks very large. Will you be able to reach the middle of it to clean it?

Always a concern for me.

A prep sink in the island would do a lot for the layout, that's the
biggest change you need if you want to keep the basic layout here
intact.

I'm not a big fan of repetitive items, but I agree that if the OP's going to keep this layout, a prep sink on the island would be helpful. Realistically, though, adding a prep sink is expensive and would eat prime island storage. I'd rework the plan rather than do this.

Other thoughts:

I agree with the idea of moving the oven(s) to the side near the sink, and I agree that this area appears to be a potential clutter magnet -- perhaps go with a tall cabinet here instead of countertop?

You need to flip the pantry door. Imagine you bring in groceries, set them on the island to organize them ... you have to walk around the pantry door. Best would be a pocket door, but I'm not sure you have the space.

You're going to serve beverages from the area near the refrigerator ... but the dishwasher is on the far side of the room /with the island in between. Since you wash so many glasses, it'd be better if the dishwasher and beverage area could be closer.

The dining room looks fairly far away from the kitchen; plus everything's going to have to be carried around the island. Any possibility the family room could go into this area (if you rework the mudroom, it could have windows on two sides) and place the kitchen directly in front of the dining room?

Overall, it'll be a pretty kitchen, but it could massively improve in terms of function, work zones, placing things in convenient places. "Walk through" mentally and imagine yourself doing everyday chores: Putting away groceries, making your favorite casserole, fixing coffee or a soda, cleaning up after dinner, etc.

Just a comment to say that I am a very serious cook and love having the Advantium. It holds my largest casserole dishes, bakes well, but also can be used as microwave. I would not substitute a second oven for it and it eliminates the need for a microwave.

On the topic of a prep sink, or second sink: I have a small prep sink in the island across from the fridge and beverage center. It keeps people from invading my work area, specifically, when entertaining. Guests can wash up there, fill up the Brita pitcher there, wash fruit, etc. Love it!

So these comments have been amazing, so helpful and thoughtful and has really helped us think through our kitchen more and revisit ideas/concerns/thoughts as well as given us new ideas/concerns/thoughts and we're still processing it all.

We are going to go ahead and widen the window, change the pantry door to a barn door, add a prep sink to the island in the corner near the fridge, and shrink up the island a bit to give us wider aisles.

We've really agonized (along with a thousand other decisions that go into building a home) on the true double oven vs oven+advantium. We slightly prefer oven+advantium, but are concerned we could be breaking some cardinal rule by not having a true double oven. Cost wise it's about the same. This one probably has no right answer, but we'd welcome more opinions / thoughts on this.

As far as the appliance layout, we are debating if we want to move things around... we are starting to get decision fatigue here... but reading all the well thought out suggestions has re-energized us.

Widening the window will allow the sink to scoot down a bit, so thats good.

Dont put the prep sink at the very end of the island. Make sure you leave some space as a landing spot for veggies from the fridge. You'll wash and peel in the sink and chop on the other side of the sink.

Pantry door: My experience is that pantries are used a lot and that if you go with a barn or pocket door it is likely the door will often be left open. Some people are OK with that, others would not be. In my area tract builders stopped putting in pocket doors years ago because they got too many callbacks for repairs. Only you know your family but I would lean towards a regular swinging door since I do like the door to be closed when no one is in the pantry. You could also weigh the pros and cons of having the door open inwards into the pantry. Downside is that some items would be behind the door but upside is that the door wouldn't open into the main traffic pattern. The pantry and kitchen are spacious. If you have some items that you only use a few times per year (such as holiday supplies or an ice cream maker) it seems like they could be stored on shelves behind the pantry door without too much trouble. Always trade offs and different approaches work best for different people.

You should have a width of at least the size of the bottom of a normal grocery bag on all sides of the prep sink. 18" is considered ideal.

Anyone have any thoughts on what size prep sink we should go with based on the size of our island? Any particular brand/model? Thinking simple SS undermount would be fine... thanks.

Probably 18" should do it.

Thanks, yes, 18" sounds right. What about width (depth). roughly 18" x 18"? Never thought about a prep sink before and there are too many options!