We're going to be starting our kitchen remodel next week and I need to finalize the layout over the weekend. We have a large family and hold events at our home. Our priorities are to open the space up to the rest of the home and add light to the kitchen - it overlooks our backyard so we are adding 2 48x48 windows. Keep the clutter out of the main kitchen (thus the pantry). Create a functional space where more than 1 person can work (dedicated zones instead of triangle). And have countertops that can double as serving areas for events.

Our current kitchen is 9x12 and very closed off and dark and we have about 7 feet of counters. We are adding in the space from the formal dining room to enlarge kitchen and create a walk-in pantry that will house almost all our countertop appliances and the fridge. The inside wall of the kitchen is against a center basement stairwell that can not be moved, so are creating 3'6" openings on either end of the stairwell and will have a halfway enclosing the stairs.

Here's where I need advice. Right now our current sink is approximately in the same location as the prep sink (to the left of the range). This would make it the most cost efficient location for the prep sink, but I'm not sure if it's the best for traffic flow. In the drawings the prep zone is on the left of the range and baking area is on the right closest to the pantry. I was initially thinking the prep zone should be closest to the pantry, but I'm leaning toward the layout shown in the plans because of cost as well as how I work (I tend to grab all the food for prep at once vs when I'm baking I'm grabbing one or two items from the pantry at a time). Is this a mistake? Also - what's the best way to allot the space of the prep zone. I'm working with about 60 inches. In the plans theres a 10" drop zone between the counter cabinet and the sink, a 15x17 undermount sink (interior dimensions) and then 35" between the sink and the range. Is that the best layout? Do I need a larger landing zone, or should I shrink the landing zone and add extra space to the prep space? I've read differing opinions on the size of a prep sink, but I think this is large enough to be functional and don't want to give up more counter space.

This is my first kitchen remodel, so I'm not sure if I'm missing any other mistakes? With the sink side of the kitchen (next to the stairwell), I'm contemplating skipping a backsplash and just making the counters deeper (30-32")/. All the pictures I've seen of a half wall with a backsplash always look dated. Is there another solution? I was thinking not having a backsplash would mean items would fall off, but it seems this is much like a peninsula (granted if an item falls, it doesn't have as far to go) and so maybe I can skip the backsplash? We are also going to create a shelf and extend the counters on top of it on the other end of the stairwell (it's drawn on the plans) to create extra working/serving space and this space would also not have a backsplash but would be 36"w & 32"D.

Thanks for your advice! Sorry the pictures are sideways... couldn't figure out how to change that.