[dtlyme]

Eva - Excellent kitchen design points. I am going back to the drawing board. sigh. Do you have fraternal twins too? I can't imagine mine being 11. Seems a very long way off. Which is fine with me. I don't want them to grow up too fast!

Liz - Yes - I have the charcoal filter in the microwave thing and it is bad. I will do my re-design with a hood of some kind!

thanks ladies!

[dtlyme]

Alright - here is one re-design. I am about to do one with the sink and the dishwasher in the island. Which I know my DH won't like b/c he is dead set on the sink being under that window. Like he is going to be standing there doing dishes and gazing out the window . . .

So here is 1 re-do:

[dtlyme]

Alright - here is the design with the sink in the island. And with the cooktop moved over to the wall I was able to do a hood. But in this design I feel like that long wall has a very loooong stretch of countertop.

ugh. Fresh eyes would be appreciated. I took in your good points Eva. If the cooktop stayed on the island those cabinets on the outside would be raised up and block and I would not have seating there.

I need a spot for a bookshelf for my collection of cookbooks. Any ideas on that?

thanks all-

[DesignDiva]

I like your last design, but I would go ahead and put the sink under the window and perhaps a small prep sink in the island, big enough to rinse dishes etc. The range is much better placed. Perhaps you could do a larger range with double ovens instead of the oven stack? Unless that's a feature you particularly want.

Seating at the island is going to be very functional, and if you don't have the cooktop in it go ahead and use the 30" wall cabinets and have counter height seating there.

For cookbooks, how about leaving the doors off one or more of the island cabinets on the dining room side and putting them in there? Or perhaps a tall narrower bookcase between the desk and dining area windows?

edited to add: Yes, they are fraternal, boy and girl. And it seems like just a short time ago they were the age yours are now! I can't believe they are going into junior high. <sigh> I should have been prepared, I suppose, having done this already with my oldest who just graduated college last year. But it didn't seem to make a difference...I am still amazed at how quickly they grow up.

[kmcg]

You're so lucky to have such a big space to work with! I like the latest view with the range hood. What about having the island devoted to a prep area and the desk, but no sink or cooktop? In your latest view, it looks like you could put the sink under the window and the DW immediately to the right of it, without even crowding the cooking area. That would make plumbing simple, and I'm a big fan of being able to stand at the sink and put things in the DW.

Then you could get creative with the island. Think about putting a counter-height prep area on the kitchen side andmaybe a table-height level on the dining room side. Have a cookbook display area built in along the line where the lower meets higher level, perhaps. Thetable-height levelcan be a desk space and an area for the kids to sit for their snacks, crafts, etc.

Kathy


P.S. I see that Eva posted just as I was composing - didn't mean to be repetitive. I like the prep sink in the island idea too.

[Liz H]

How on earth do you get the wall cabs to show like that? Every time I try to put them on the back of my island they shoot up in the air, or sit on the island. Very frustrating! I'm going to have a 1 foot bookshelf back there in reality, just thought it would be nice to show the space taken up.

[DesignDiva]

Liz, try pressing CTRL while you move the cabinets.

[dtlyme]

Kathy -I love your idea for the island. I have absolutely no idea how to get the buggy planner to do that for me. Stupid software drives me nuts. Is Ikea fixing it all??

Eva - I also like the tall narrow book case idea. Have some pondering to do!

Here is where I am right now.

[DesignDiva]

Looks great! I would swap the DW and the drawer cabinets, putting the DW to the right of the sink, then the 36" drawer base, then the narrower drawer base next to the desk.

Any decision on range vs. cooktop/ovens?

[dtlyme]

Eva - I hate how the Domsjo farmer sink looks when it is right next to a dishwasher, so I want that small cabinet of drawers. I have a similar cabinet between my dishwasher and sink right now and it does not bother me at all.

90% certain I am going with a gas cooktop and wallovens. I spent this rainy morning at a local appliance store to see what numbers they can come up with. Not sure he can beat the Ikea double wall oven price of $1500! He looked at Whirpool's site and could not find the Mumsig match in price. Same with the vent hood. He proudly found a similar hood for about $100 more than the Ikea and not as powerful. hmm. Might buy everything at Ikea except the gas cooktop. I don't like the look of theirs. Saw a nice DCS drop-in gas cooktop for $1400 at this store. Might go with that one.

Kids are napping - so back to appliance research on line!!