My vote is for island counter all one level, but move the DW to the other side of the sink (L), so that you have clear prep space closer to the cooktop. Can those two banks of base cabinets be switched? I would convert the narrow cabinet beside the DW to a trash pull-out, if you don't already have one in the kitchen.

Don’t waste money on trying to band aid that to death. Fix the actual issues if you’re going to throw 10-20K at it.

I agree with GreenDesigns. Why do you want to go through a whole kitchen remodel and not even address the major issues?

I'm not a pro, but we had a similar situation as you where there was a penninsula sticking out at an angle and forcing people to have to walk wide-around just to get to the back door. And it forced our island to be a strange shape. This was so annoying on an everyday basis and it was super annoying when having BBQ and swimming parties. We chopped off the penninsula and squared up the island and it is soooo much more comfortable and functional now. We did have to splice in some wood where we chopped the penninsula off (there was just subfloor under it), and refinish the wood floors, but it was really really worth it. In the grand scheme of your budget, doing the floor will probably be a smaller percentage of the pie than you think.

By the way, we just installed Taq Mahal in a different house and it is really beautiful. If you're in a fairly large city there should be lots of slabs available to look at. We found ours at Arizona Tile pretty quickly, but I noticed that some of them have green or purple in them. We were looking for more of a creamy look. It looks really good with soft white cabinets and a medium stained floor. We used Top Knob Lilly pulls in the bathrooms. They are comfortable in the hand. Also, the SW colors Accessible Beige and Worldly Gray look good with the Taq. We chose Accessible Beige because it leans more warm than cool which suited the house overall, but if we were trying to lean cool we would have chosen the other one.

We struggled with the backsplash to go with the Taq and finally settled on Crossville Market Street Ashbury 3 x 6 tile in the collor called "Fleece Crackle." It looks nice and doesn't compete with the Taq. We also chopped off the raised bar and made the island flat which helps to show off the Taq.

Good luck with your project!

I think it comes down to would you rather have a pretty kitchen or a practical one?

IMO having that massive island impeding a major traffic path is a big issue that should be addressed. Yes a new island would cost more, how much depends but you should at least get some quotes. If it were me I'd cut back on some of the extravagant cosmetic updates (like going for a cheaper stone than quartizite and reusing the cabinet hardware for now) and fixing the layout.

Draw it out to scale. Label the existing cabinets sizes. Tell us the brand, and if you know where they were sourced from locally.

A good flooring contractor can spot finish the unfinished portions under the island. No, it won’t be as perfect as refinishing it all. The added functionality should make that bit of imperfection change completely unnoticeable if you were fine living with that giant very noticeably flawed island!

Wow, looks wonderful.

Nice update!

Turned out so nice! Love the quartzite. Everything looks so much brighter and more open - well done

I like it! I think the island encourages people to visit those in the kitchen without having them underfoot while you are cooking!!

Good job!!

Did your fabricator have to seam your quartzite counters! The end result is amazing!!!

I realize this is a super old post, but just circling back to say it looks great, can you show us how your bar stools work in the space now?

Hi! Yes we had to get two adjacent pieces of stone so they lined up properly and they seamed At the sink exactly half of the island.
Thank you!

Stools

This update looks so great!

I'd like to accomplish something similar in my kitchen. Do you remember a ballpark on final costs?

Very nice - thank you for the update! I’m glad you stuck with your plan and made it work for you. It really looks amazing and more functional. 👏🏻👏🏻. Out of curiosity, were you able to stay on your budget?

Mightyh thank you! I kept close budget notes but it has been three years! About 25k

I appreciate you checking back in with an update, as I keep coming back to the pictures of your kitchen for inspiration.

Such a wonderful transformation! Three years in, is there anything you would have done differently? Any tips to share? How do you like your quartzite--is it easy to care for?

That is seriously incredible how just lightning up the cabinets & counters has improved the look of your kitchen! Well done!

Really looks great, getting rid of the raised countertop really gives you more room and opens up your kitchen, enjoy your new space.

I loved making the countertop one level. And quartzite is amazing. We paid for the bulletproof seal like extra $500 and worth it. No issues with stains. The things I would change is have removed that cabinet molding and put on something more current and taller. We have high ceilings so my designer said don’t need to go to ceiling but i wish i wouldn’t have saved money on molding and gotten new. Also would have liked a new hood instead of that skinny tube on top. Otherwise very happy with functionality and lightened it up. Have to be careful with looking at inspo bc of course I love the $100,000++ kitchen renovations and that simply is not our budget. Thank you all for the very kind words!

The whole kitchen looks fantastic! The one level countertop was the best idea. Enjoy your new kitchen.

Just circling back to this thread as I am getting ready to do this very similar kitchen remodel. What hardware did you end up using with the painted cabinets?