If you are using recessed lighting in your family room, it won't matter at all. Unless you will have some sort of centered angled ceiling that I can't see in the plans?

I don't see an issue with it either.

So is it best to just center the range hood islands and pendants within the kitchen itself even though looking in from the family room they would be off centered by a ft?

I would treat them as two separate rooms. It is normal for rooms to not match up and you recognize looking into another room that everything is centered to that room. I don't think it will look weird from the living room, but it will look weird in the kitchen if everything is centered on another room.

If you are worried about it, is it possible to move everything a foot down and make the living room a foot bigger?

I wish I could just extend the family room, but the foundation is already laid and framing done. It'd be a bigger then wanted expense at this point

What about making the island smaller? Then you'd adjust the lighting.

Then it wouldn't be centered in the kitchen...

There is seemingly no perfect solution but these are the best two I've come up with. The range is centered with the family room so that there's a focal point while looking but the rest of the kitchen just takes on a life of its own from there. Thoughts?

I worry because the tv will be centered on the family room wall and then all the further around it. Am I just being sensitive to symmetry because I can only see it with 2d images from an aerial view. Has anyone seen the open kitchen and family room be off centered from one another and it looked ok and not like someone missed something along the way? This is our dream home... so there's been A LOT of time and money invested and I'm terrified to mess it up! ( probably putting way too much pressure on myself here

You could adjust what is presumably a stud wall between the kitchen and family room so that the opening makes the islands look like they are lined up and in the middle from the family room (i.e. make the one attached to the outer wall a bit longer or the one on the other side a bit shorter). I think that's what you've been trying to do in the two drawings you attached.

Yeah I agree. The kitchen is a little larger then it should be. It's about 20X20, but the whole house it 11,500 sq ft. We have/ or will have a big family and host all the family events. I also wanted to forego upper cabinets so having it a little bigger allowed for the equivalent storage space. I went with the two islands thinking it'd keep my work space tighter and have better access to the fridge from the clean up sink. Each island is about 3x9. I can't change the size of the kitchen at this point, windows have been ordered and framing and foundation complete. I can make minor changes to the framing but not too many better I annoy them. So I'm just trying to best use the spaces I have! I appreaxiate all the feedback and help!!

Worrying about a lighting plan before the the kitchen is laid out and designed by a professional kitchen designer is a serious warning sign that good designers aren't involved on your project. Sophie, as usual, is blunt but right. Just the cabinetry that you have turning the corner about a foot in the top right of the kitchen screams amateur. Get design help from a kitchen designer and the lighting will be addressed in the process of creating a space that is completely thought out and works.

Yeah that foot of cabinet in the top right is just the builders Drawings. It was never meant to be there. The two later images further on this thread are the kitchen designers. We moved the door to the other side of the kitchen. Tough crowd in this Houzz community

Move the fridge to the sink run. Then create one single island parallel to the sink run, with a prep sink on it. That will save you a vast amount of mileage in hiking. The current plan does not work at all.

You are building at 15000 as ft dream home without using a kitchen designer?

My bad I see its 11500 and you do have a kitchen designer. Are you right handed? BC personally I could not handle not having more counter space to the right of my stove. Id move the stove way over so its centered to that run of counter. It is really not possible to have everything in a home centered to everything else from every angle. I get it, bc I love symmetry too. But you also need offset to add visual interest. I agree with all the other posters that the view from the LV being centered should not be your priority. Have you looked at pics of designer homes? You will see there is all sorts of instances where elements aren't always centered

Here are some pics of kitchens viewed from adjoining room and you can see there are elements off center to the view ie stove, light, island. Its really a non issue.

Thanks shiningautumn88. Your comments are very helpful and I think I am beginning to see that having a very nice kitchen and a very nice family room is more important then having the rooms be symmetrically appealing.
Greendesigns. If I moved the fridge to the sink run, I'd lose a lot of Windows and light. I'm not sure it's worth it. There will be a prep sink in the island closest to the stove.

For what it's worth,

I wouldn't want to work in a kitchen without any wall cabinets. Open shelves and limiting the number of wall cabinets is fine. But no wall cabinets is a kitchen designed for looks that is impractical to use. A kitchen designer that is giving you this design is letting you control the design process to get the sale at the expense of the design.

Why is a kitchen with out uppers impractical? I see uppers as being antiquated and lack function since you can only get to the bottom of them anyways. I have a full large pantry as well as a butlers pantry with base and uppers. In my current kitchen I don't use the uppers since I don't want to climb on he counters to reach things. Maybe I'm ahead of the times?

Wall cabinets are good for spices, coffee, everyday cups and glasses. frequently used food items that you don't want to walk to the pantry to get like sugar, tea, baking items, and more. Wall cabinets also keep the things stored inside them free from dust and grease. Saying that having any wall cabinets is antiquated implies that there are a lot of kitchens being designed and sold without any wall cabinets. If you look on Houzz I think it would be hard to find very many kitchens without any wall cabinets. If you are happy without wall cabinets and don't care about resale value then you can do whatever floats your boat. But getting a good kitchen designer to help you compromise on your ideas to make your home more attractive and desirable to other people is usually something people don't regret. Here is a video on the concept:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGEoRixuyWg

Ok. Perhaps there is some value there. Maybe a couple of uppers wouldn't be a bad thing

I would at least add some upper cabinets. You want to have some things next to your stove. The lowers will have pots and pans but what about oils, vinegars, spices, serving bowls, etc. that are really helpful to have nearby.

Wow!! Potato soup - so true, so true, the obstacles to get it done.

Except two things.... one... I'd never use pancetta

Ugh my messages are not showing up. What I was saying is there is a 3.5 ft aisle between the two islands that make it easy to get to the fridge... or pantry for that exact reason. I have uppers now and use probably 3 of the 15. Because I hate climbing on the counter to reach things... I'm no WNBA player here. In addition I'm a very real mommy. There's no Martha Stewart living going on here. I make simple dishes for two little boys and a husband . The kitchen is more then food prep. It's homework and crafts and lego building and girlfriends drinking sangria... lots of it. So I want it to feel like home...

And what's all this opposition to reaching down? I quite like the easy of a drawer instead of the superhero reach

Was there a reason for doing 2 islands versus just one large oversized island ? It just seems really complicated and I don't understand 2 island concepts. If you are prepping or cooking at 1 island, your boys aren't gonna wanna sit at the other island. They will want to be close to you as will you them. Seems like it just creates movement barriers and distance

The thought behind them is that.... I actually don't like the kids being able to get to the things I'd have on the island ... they tend to climb from the chairs to the top. And also a quartz slab comes only as wide as 65" that leaves almost 8 feet from the back of the island to the end of the kitchen. I'd thought about having a 65 " island and having a banquette with a small table against one of the other walls but no one seemed to be into that

I much prefer the 65" island with banquettte idea. I mean your kids are still gonna climb on the stools and counter, the difference is you will just be further away from stopping them. How is that helpful?

Sophie, not everyone cooks the same way. You might consider this kitchen inefficient because you cook in an inefficient manner. If I wanted to make potato soup in this kitchen, I would go to the pantry and get out everything I needed and put it on the island near the stove. I would wash everything in the prep sink on the island and prepare it there. Then, I would go to the fridge and get out the rest of the ingredients I needed. After that, I would simply turn around and start cooking. Everything I needed would be right behind me and I wouldn't have to go running back and forth around the kitchen to grab things. All the mixing bowls and cooking instruments would be stored in drawers around the stove and that island. I personally find no advantage to upper cabinets and neither does the woman who posted this. She clearly has sufficient space without them. I personally would add a small section of open shelving for commonly used items like salt and pepper, oil, flour, things I like to have on hand at the stove, but if she doesn't like that, that's fine.

Ericka, I think the question you posted has been sufficiently answered. Focus on balance. They are separate rooms and they don't have to be symmetrical. Center the stove more on your counters, so you will have sufficient counter space around it, but try not to put it too far from the fridge because it does stretch your work triangle. And enjoy your new house. If it means anything, I think it will be beautiful.

Thanks Emily. I find your comment to be most helpful! I would cook just as you do, it's just how my mind works but you have answered what I wanted answers to the most... which is pointing out that symmetry is different then balance and balance is what matters.!! I appreciate that a lot and will move the range to be more centered to the kitchen ( closer to the fridge).
Sophie...man you are brutal. As someone who was already struggling so much with these decisions (enough that I'd reach out to the Houzz community) I'd already consulted with TWO separate kitchen designers! I simply wanted some advice not criticism. You were very good at pointing out what was wrong with the space but had little to say on how to help the space, which just leaves me feeling bad... not helped. You are clearly a stickler for "design rules" which I can respect but on the same hand you should open yourself to the notion that not every one else is. I've walked through every kitchen scenario to make sure it'd work for me... and it does work for me, because I am not you. And I'm okay with that. So to make a rant, which could easily go on, shorter. It's always more helpful to be positive and not negative. Im just a girl who knows how lucky she is to have the opportunity to build a dream home and I don't want to squander that. I wanted help not a place for you to puff your design expertise feathers and make me feel like a dummy.

Ericka, You make a good point that if someone is going to be negative, they should also offer some good advice to be helpful. Sophie is known on Houzz as being brutal and she has been "cursed" out numerous times. In this sense "cursed", means the OP telling her what they feel and not using bad words. There are times when she is spot on, but maybe not so much in this instance.......Do not let it ruin your day - Do your thing!

As a kitchen designer being positive doesn't realy help our customers. Being honest and blunt can be more helpful. We want customers to think through their preconceived notions. It is better to bring up the negative aspects of a design than to rubber stamp a customers ideas. That way the customer makes their decisions with eyes wide open. As a kitchen designer the less ethical and less professional road is simply to praise a customers ideas and to give them what they think that they want. The most popular and patient designers gently educate customers to help them make their designs better. Neither Sophie or I have that gentile approach but the customers of the less gentile designers usually get the best kitchens along with the most headaches. Keep in mind that when a designer disagrees with a customer's ideas they are jeapodizing selling the customer a kitchen which is how they make money. We can't make you buy a kitchen you don't want but as I say in the video I posted earlier whatever compromises we can get a customer to make towards a more professionally accepted functional and attractive kitchen they never regret.

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As an aside, the other designer in my video is Doug Mottershead a somewhat famous designer in the the kitchen world. Doug is the most gentle persuader I know. Doug first broke a million dollars in kitchen cabinet sales about 30 years ago. He was also the top selling kitchen designer in both the entire Home Depot chain and then the entire Lowes chain before moving on to a private showroom. Watching Doug persuade customers to do things a better way was funny to watch. And when he would announce "Mrs Jones you have designed a beautiful kitchen!" I would always lean over to look at his computer screen to see another Doug Mottershead recognizable design. I don't have Doug's patience but if a customer can put up with my less gentile process they might just get an even better design than one of Doug's. And I'll bet Sophie's customers got some pretty amazing kitchens ...along with a headache or two!

I don't a mind straight forward approach. Not one bit! But I do take issue when someone has all the knowledge to say "this is alll wrong" but doesn't then provide the solutions! It's easy to look at a room or a design and notice something is off... it's not so easy to say what would help. My point with Sophie is that a better approach... to life, is to say... " I see the function of your kitchen isn't strong... I'd suggest trying this..." anyone can criticize someone or something but if you don't have a solution why way in at all? She's no Jeff Lewis... and i think we all know any joe off the street can be a designer. Having some formal education on things doesn't create talent... it's just a regurgitation of ideas established. by the actual talent. Frida kahlo never went to art school and a lot of the greatest minds of our time , think Steve jobs, never completed a formal education.. it was raw talent. And it was those minds who created the new "standards." Those people who are taught to all the upcoming "joes." When you are a designer your job isn't to create what you want... it's to assist in creating what the client wants. You work for them. Educating them on where their design may lose function is great, but you can't then bully them into doing what you want, or make them feel awful for wanting what they want... which seems to be Sophie's approach.I wouldn't be able to pay a designer who was so close minded they would only work with in the confines of their own ideas and not make the space MY SPACE. I'd love to see some of Sophie's work because to be so critical of people looking for help... she must rival the talent of Candice olsen and Timothy corrigan(who I believe was self taught?)

Oh, dear, this dilemma is heading south....

Erica,

Kitchen design is complicated and redesigning your home is not even a good idea to encourage you to do on Houzz.com. Sophie gave you many things to think about and issues to bring up with a professional to work through. And nearly all professionals will agree with her. Even HGTV and Bravo celebrity designers that are actors in a entertaining show first and designers second. Kitchen designers when polled have also agreed that reality TV is not a good place to gain kitchen design insights.

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Having studied computer engineering for 4 years at the University of Pennsylvania I can tell you that while Steve Jobs and Bill Gates left school early they were embarking on a field with little history to learn from. People that want to further their efforts today will need to learn most of what they innovated to make further advancements.

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And while you need talent to be a good kitchen designer, there is no substitute for experience. A novice designer even with great talent will design something that looks amateurish to a good Pro. For example the designs I do today are much better than the designs I did even a few years ago much less 30 years ago when I designed my first kitchen.

I just don't know what's wrong with it! This is kinda frustrating. Other then including some upper cabinets? I'm at a loss. I thought reaching out would help me...but to be honest I've lost more sleep over it having done so.

Hi Erika,

Unfortunately on an online discussion good kitchen designers can't sit with you and design your kitchen and go over possibilities like reducing the windows on the sink side to place 12" deep cabinets or shelves on the range wall or the possibly of placing the refrigerator in the corner left of the sink. Or having an Island that people can sit at. These discussions take place with a professional and take hours of discussion and weighing the pros and cons. What you have been alerted to is that your design could be better.

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Most people get terribly designed kitchens and overspend because they design the kitchen themselves and or work with an inexperienced or untalented designer. They didn't use Houzz to alert them to problems. The only good news in that case is that they are never aware of the better possibilities they could have chosen had they gotten good help.

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If you let me know where you are located and I can take a look at the profiles of the professionals near you or you can look yourself. That's the beauty of Houzz. You can see the work of the professionals before you hire them. And if they are not on Houzz.com at this point they almost can't be good. Often the best kitchen designers help costs you nothing because their design time is incorporated into the cost of the cabinetry you buy from them. Whether you use it or not.

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Gotcha! And I thank you. I do have a good kitchen designer and we have spent hours finding the best solutions and weighing pros and cons. Perhaps where the hang up here is that... I am no gourmet cook. I am an easily adaptable human and having. Something that looks nice has more value to me then an uber functional kitchen. I'd never want to loose natural light to anything cos when you are standing in that space and look out all those beautiful windows it could bring a tear of joy to your eye... it's glorious! So a few extra steps here or there... well, it'll only shave off a few minutes at the gym! But I see what you are saying and you have been most helpful! Some of which you've pointed out I will take to the attention of my designer. I'll be sure to reveal the finished product

I hate that some comments disappear...it makes it so hard to follow a thread.

Your kitchen, and house, will be lovely. I too obsess about symmetry, but to be truthful, it won't be the cause of me going to an early grave...

As for whatever other issues people come up with, well....this place is a little clique-y.

Don't let it bother you. Someone will find "fault" with every design I think. Because they cook differently than you.

Good luck. And I would love to see progress pics but totally understand if you wouldn't want that ;)

Hi Ericka,

I could not resist pitching in on this one! This space is a perfect starting point, and getting the balance/symmetry, you are looking for, is fairly easy to achieve, despite the difference in room sizes. See the sketch below. Ideally, you would not want to have so many cased openings into the kitchen, to interrupt the work triangle, however, that would be the trade off to achieve the balance. There are ways to minimize the impact of those interruptions, but that would be another conversation! I strongly suggest, that the island(s) are wider. 2' is too narrow, especially given the size of this kitchen. The sketch shows a table, however, it could be a second island as well. Your kitchen would be the perfect candidate for The Galley Sink, in the island. Hope this helps!

Forgot to mention, if that structural change cannot be done, due to bearing points, there are other ways to to accomplish this.

Wow Laura thanks! I actually started with the two opening going into the formal living or great room... but worried it would be too many doors?! You don't see an issue with not having the islands centered with the kitchen Windows? I appreciate your help sooo much!

I wasn't sure what room was behind the range, and can't advise on how the additional door would impact that room, without knowing more info, if that is what you meant. If you are concerned is the interruption of work triangle, there are ways this could be addressed, by eliminating one door, and still achieve the symmetry. Take a look at this kitchen: [https://www.houzz.com/photos/hoyt-lane-contemporary-kitchen-chicago-phvw-vp~2099757[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/hoyt-lane-contemporary-kitchen-chicago-phvw-vp~2099757)

Windows, aligned to island: Your eye won't be driven to those alignments, especially, with the symmetry of the cabinetry along that wall. Alignments in plan view, are not always evident in the actual space.

The room behind it is not affected by an additional wall... any suggestions on where to put a wine fridge in the space...?

It could be located in a few places! In order to offer reliable suggestions, more information is needed, requiring more involvement in your project. My clients fill out a 7 page questionnaire, before we start their design process! What has your KD suggested?