Maureen- I think you could use a prep sink, on your island, between the range and the fridge. 13' is a long way to carry something, to wash it off, or wash your hands...and the prep sink will really come in handy.

As for the microwave, while many people like the undercounter, I would go with one, under the upper cabinets. Safer with small children, and in your case, probably a much better location.

With the fridge, microwave in the breakfast area, and nearby prep sink, it will give you a nice snack center/second prep area :)

If you go by the old "work triangle" formula, one of the parts of it that is still valid is lengths of the sides of the triangle , and none of them are to exceed 9 feet.

Whats through the doorway on the LL?

The thing I regret the most about my small kitchen is that I have no prep sink. It's not because it's too long a walk from fridge to sink to prep. It's that I hate trying to prep in the same space where there are dirty dishes etc. I have a habit of keeping a small bowl of soapy water in the sink at all times so I can clean as I go so this makes it even worse. If I had a kitchen the size of yours, I'd definitely have two sinks.

The microwave at our beach house is below counter and it's the first thing I'd change if I were allowed to change anything (which I'm not!). I much prefer the MW to be at least counter height. I love the arrangement in your inspiration picture.

Palimpsest- doorway is step down to laundry area, powder room and hubby's "mancave"

I love having our mw on the lower shelf of an upper cabinet. The cabinet is extra deep to accomodate a standard mw. I figure this leaves my options open in the future--I won't have to be limited to a certain size, i.e one 12 or 13 in deep (plus technology is always changing so I'm hoping I'll be able to swap it out for something different if desired.) I think I've also seen upper cabinets that are of standard depth but have an extra deep lower shelf for the mw.

If you are still considering a mw in a lower cubby, I strongly suggest setting one up on a low table or chair and try living with it for a while. We had a mw on a low table (not as low as an undercounter mw would be) in our old kitchen and dh and I both absolutely hated it. We found it difficult to use the buttons and to see into it to get food out or to clean the inside surfaces. Mw drawers are an option, but again, it seems like future choices get majorly limited by having very exact specifications.

I think a mw in your breakfast area would work well. If you heat leftovers in the mw, it will be handy to have the fridge and mw close to each other. You might want to consider storing some mw safe dishes near the mw. The drawers under our mw stores our supply of pyrex mw dishes with lids (for fridge storage.)

I knew when we were in our old kitchen that getting a prep sink was of highest priority. There were often log jams at the one (double bowl) sink. It was difficult for 2 of us to prep veggies at the same time and that always seemed to be the task I needed the most help with. It's something for you to consider. If you haven't felt the need for a prep sink up until now, maybe you don't need it. But if your kids might be spending more time helping in the kitchen in future years, it's something to consider.

I also like having sinks at 2 spots in the kitchen because it helps clean up go faster when there are others helping. One person can hand wash large pots, plastic and wooden ware at the large sink while the other loads dishes into the dw at the small sink.

The shelves above the mw are adjustable--another thing that adds versatility to future need.

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I am no layout expert, I only know what has worked for my particular situation. There are 2 things that we thought about during planning that I'm really happy about. 1. Placing the fridge so that it was close to the table while still being handy to the prep zone. I find it makes getting meals on and off the table much easier. Others can freely access the fridge without getting in the way of the cook. 2. Making clean up more efficient by placing the dw at the small sink. I mentioned this above--the main sink is used for all the hand washing of large pots, etc. and the small sink is used for processing dishes for the dw. Our large sink is in the prep/cook area and the smaller sink is placed so that it is convenient to the table and fridge (and others can use it without going into the cook/prep zone.)

I love your ideas. Can we see more of your kitchen. It's gorgeous!

Thanks for the responses everyone.
Janet425- you are absolutely right...as I play with the layout I am constantly surprised that I don't have enough room for things like seating at the island. We are adding 6' to the back of the kitchen so I just assumed I would have all this room, but the space is almost square which does not lend itself to some things. I have given up on island seating and in fact am thinking of reducing island width by 6" to 3' x 5' so clearances around kitchen table area (not drawn in on layout) are more generous. Would hate to spend all this money and have room feel cramped!
Lavender, Cheri127 and Zelmar- thanks for sharing your experiences...I was worried about mw being too low and you have confirmed it. As far as the prep sink, it seems from everything I read here on GW that if you have the space, it can be really useful. I struggle now with one sink...needing to clean dirty pans in sink before I can wash salad or drain pasta so I think prep sink could be a good idea for me. I know my island is small and I will give up storage, but storage is not my issue in current kitchen.Current Cabinets are so old and not at all user friendly...I can't fit most normal size boxes since cabs date to 70's when packaging was not so large.
Tullamore- my kitchen is not even started so I have nothing to show...is your post for Zelmar?

Thanks again
Maureen