This is the bench in my front bed. I'm amazed at the difference in the front garden. I took this pic early spring '06 before I started planting that bed. Now it's filling up. Here is an old church pew that is on my kitchen porch. Note the cat beds underneath and the cat in the rocking chair to the left. That cat is a feral cat that has adopted my porch and brings his children with him! My husband makes fun of this bench, that it is so small. I explained that the porch is only 4ft deep so this is what works. Of course he sits out there on that bench so it can't be that bad. Annette

I wouldn't worry at all about not moving in a straight line through the mudroom. You won't even notice that slight jog. We used the kitchen door exclusively which was set about 3 ft to the left of the doorway from the kitchen to the DR. It was never a problem. Not awkward at all. I can't see why you can't just move the existing cubbies. And remember as Buehl said, they don't stay little long so the cubbies may not be as important as getting a great layout. An island with seating never gets outgrown! One possibility for the pantry wall is bathroom vanity base cabinets. Sometimes they come in 18" depth then you wouldn't have to do custom. I think 18" deep base cabs with 12" deep wall cabs down the the counter would look great. If it were me and I was going to do tall cabinets, I wouldn't go deeper than 15" (I'd probably even consider 12") because stuff is so much easier to access when stored on shallow shelves. Many people have microwaves installed in the island. Looks great and seems to function well. I do believe you can get them it fit in an 18" deep cabinet; it depends on what size you use (we have a small one as we use it only to reheat beverages and snacks or pop corn). Can you fit 15" between the fridge and range? 18" would probably be better but I think 15" would work. We have 18" between the sink and fridge at it's plenty of space. I don't think it will look like too much stainless with the sink and fridge so close to each other. Were you considering moving the patio doors? If you did that, and put the fridge on that wall, it would be more easily accessed from the family room and the deck (if that's what's on the other side of those doors). I worried about putting a tall appliance next to a doorway the first time I did it, but it turned out to be just fine. I never felt like I was walking through a tunnel or anything. The swing of the garage door looks like it will function well in either direction but I think I prefer it the way it is.

My auntie had that (think your picture done in farmhouse style) when I was 6 and it was fine. I don't really care about the back since I don't lean back much, but I agree with lightlystarched about adjusting one's chair. Also getting in and out in a skirt. At six I didn't mind scrambling. Also, hard and flat isn't so easy on the bottom. A lot of the men in my family are practically tushless and they complain about sitting on hard surfaces. The whole sofa or settee at the table trend is worse for comfort of getting in and out, though easier on the tush. If it's mostly for itinerant grandkids then it looks spiffy and declutters the visual sphere above table height.

Thanks for the feedback, MSDG. Since I originally posted, I was able to convince DH that dead-level isn't as important as my being able to easily slip my fingers beneath to open the windows. :) Our home is 26 y/o, and not a day goes by when I haven't wished we could somehow use that back area for storage. However, the bank you see is a bay window of sorts, in that it juts outward from the main building. Here's the outside view -- bench seating starts where the brick begins: It's difficult to see, but the black shown in the first photo isn't a space/void, but plastic (covering foam/insulation). The space from the front of the vertical studs to the black plastic is mere inches. DH offered to possibly build this area forward so that we could have storage, but that's already a tight eat-in area. Much easier to just get rid of some of our stuff and get more creative with available storage. :)