Symmetry is overrated in kitchen design and your architect's suggestions are goofy. Put cab and fridge next to each other on the left, and space out the range and sink.

Thank you, course411. Would you put the cab and fridge directly next to each other with no landing space next to the fridge? I was thinking we could store dishes, flatware and glasses in drawers in the cab, but I guess we could put food and appliances in there if it is at the other end. I would prefer not to block that second window, though (even though it just looks through the mudroom to another window). Need all the light we can get.

I forgot to mention that I plan to tell the architect we need 48" (not 42") of work aisle between the island and wall, so the island will move a little bit.

Buehl, you are right, we have no plans to move anytime soon. I'm frustrated because I feel like with such a ridiculously large amount of space we should be able to achieve beautiful AND functional. I am totally open to other ideas. We are kind of hemmed in on one side by those exterior basement stairs. It would be possible, but very expensive, to relocate the stairs to the other side of the house. Our basement is fully below-grade.

Goodness, I forgot to add some basics about our family. Family of 4 (kids are with 12 and 14) with 2 big dogs and one indoor cat (you can see the litter box is in a ventilated cabinet in the garage accessible by a pet door in the mudroom). We need direct access from the back yard to the mudroom because the dogs can get pretty muddy and I'd rather not bring them in through living space. We actually use our kitchen for cooking, but I really want it to be more "social." With our current U-shape, guests end up standing in the middle of the floor and chatting with me while I finish up food or drinks. Or leaning against a cabinet I need to get into. I care much less about opening the kitchen up to the family room, but because the space is so narrow, opening it up seemed like the only way to make it "social." We often have 2 people cooking and 2 people cleaning. Am I forgetting anything else?

The dimensions we need are wall/window/door/doorway dimensions, not cabinets, appliances, etc. I've labeled the dimensions we need below:

Just add the labels to one of your options and repost. Thanks!

First, I would reduce the width of the island, especially if it is moved out another six inches to provide a 48" work aisle. You need at least 36" of walkway on each side, between the back corners of the island and the walls framing the FR.

Second, add a pull-out cabinet between the fridge and stub wall, to make sure the left side fridge door will open fully. Then, if you move the range toward the window, on the left you can add a glass front cabinet the same width as the window, and have symmetry. On the other side of the window, widen the uppers to the width of the fridge, and reduce the width of the tall cab.

Center the island sink on the range, with both DWs to the left (as you face the island), where it will be easy to unload them to the perimeter cabinets. Put the trash pull-out to the right, in the primary prep space, with a MW drawer on the end near the fridge, since most MW'd items come from the fridge. MW could open to the side, to keep anyone using it out of the primary prep space. Many don't like a sink back-to-back with the range, but the most time is spent prepping to either side of a sink, and a 48" aisle is sufficient if two people are working at the same time.

I'd omit the peninsula between the kitchen and breakfast nook, unless you feel you absolutely need it for serving or storage. The UC fridge can go in the corner, with coffee pot on counter above.

The primary driver for this renovation is adding on a 16-foot-deep65 covered porch to the back of the house. The ability to add some space to the kitchen and make it more social is a bonus I'm trying to take advantage of.

This is just a conceptual plan to get ballpark pricing.

Everything (except the areas marked P, R, Q and AA) is flexible. Technically, we could make AA bigger, but at the expense of moving the exterior basement stairs. I know 48" is large for a range, but it is what we already have and we plan to re-use, but with a 54" hood.

I had to move the line showing where the existing exterior is -- I had it wrong. I am also attaching a plan showing ROUGHLY what we have now. The structure shown is accurate, but some of the interior details (cabinets, appliances, etc.) are not.

If the wet bar serves as our primary beverage station, is that too far away from the breakfast area (and the dishwashers for glasses)? I mentioned this concern to the architect, and he added in a second ice maker and an under-counter fridge at the other end of the kitchen, but that seems a little crazy to me. An ice maker is our only ice source currently and we drink a lot of filtered ice water from the area labeled as "wet bar" now.

Thank you so much for looking at this! I value the opinions of the experts and amateurs on this forum very much!

Do your window & door/doorway measurements include trim? If not, what size is your trim? It needs to be accounted for b/c that's wall space that cannot be used.

They don't include trim, but the only one which is existing right now is A. The trim is 4".

@Buehl, my architect just sent a drawing with the measurements you were asking for. They are much more exact than my attempt to measure from his drawings. I hope this is helpful, and thank you for your insight.

ETA: This is based on my edit of his original drawings. Looks like I ended up with a 28" sink. Is that big enough for clean-up? Right now I have 33" and I'm not sure I want to go smaller. Also, the only things that currently exist on this plan and would not change are the doorways that line up on the left -- DR to kitchen, kitchen to mudroom and mudroom to garage AND the doorway from the bar area to the den.

@mama goose_gw zn6OH, thanks for your response. For some reason, I just saw it. To clarify, you would omit a prep sink in this kitchen and just go with one sink? If so, I'm interested in your reasoning. Thanks!