I'm no layout expert, so take this with a grain of salt. A couple of things I see.

One is that I think it is usually easiest to properly vent a range on an outside wall (although I think that if this is a single story build, you can pretty much ignore that as going through the ceiling and attic and out the roof should be fine.) I can't tell for sure if that's an open counter from the range across into the great room? If so, I'd rather not have a range where kids could slide their homework, etc. over into the cooktop. I'd much rather have a prep area facing the great room and the range over on an exterior wall.

The second is that I can't tell where the refrigerator is in the plan you posted above, but I think it must be a long walk from the great room for anyone to get a drink? I generally prefer to keep that kind of foot traffic out of my kitchen.

I also can't tell how the kitchen is connected to the exterior, either for grilling and eating outside if you do that or for getting groceries into the house.

Is that big space in the corner a pantry?

North, south, etc aren't marked on your layout that I see and I can't really follow what your alternative layout is. Can you draw it for us? Just a layout on graph paper is really helpful if you can do it. (You can print graph paper off the internet if you don't have any handy.)

If I'm visualizing your island layout idea correctly, it should be a big improvement over what you currently have. I see nothing but traffic congestion issues in the layout pictured. I think in its current form, it's definitely just a one person kitchen.

Could you draw your proposed layout, as crl_ requested, including the measurements?

Ok...please be easy on me as I have no clue about kitchen design.
We definitely want something other than the original design.
This is what I was thinking. Does this seem functional for 2 people to work in? Is the sink and stove being back to back a bad idea?
If this was your kitchen, what would you do?
Thanks again for the input.

Your changes look like a big improvement to me. My in-laws have a kitchen with a layout similar to the original, and it always feels tight in there.

I'd play around with exact placement of the appliances- probably don't want the sink to be directly across from the range. (And also consider getting a single bowl sink, rather than the double you've drawn.) But in general, the galley w/ island seems preferable to the original IMO.

I am no designer either, but I like this much better than the original plan. I happen to like the sink across from the stove.... So easy to fill a pot, turn and put it on the stove or pick up a pot of pasta and turn around to drain in the sink. I do second the suggestion of making it a single sink though.

One thing that you might think about is the placement of the fridge in relation to the dining area. In particular, is there going to be an issue when you are getting the meal to the table and one or more of the family is helping by moving beverages or condiments or whatever from the fridge to table?

I don't know about convenience, but please DO make certain you have enough upper cabinet space available for storage. I've a bad back, so oodles of upper cabinet space are a major consideration.

A couple of thoughts. Extend the cabinet wall past the island to the windows in the breakfast area. Don't worry about symmetry with the island. This will allow additional storage for items coming out the dishwasher on the island.

You could also consider placing the sink and dishwasher on this part of the extended wall. This would solve the problem of sink and cook top working against one another. If you moved the sink and dishwasher, you could place a small prep sink in the end of the island that would service the refrigerator, too.

The current arrangement for the refrigerator is fine. It allows you to recess a full depth refrigerator and give it a built-in look. This will be cheaper and will provide you with additional refrigerated space. Be sure to allow for proper door swing with that angled pantry.

This will also allow you to place a counter for microwave and coffee stuff next to the pantry. This placement won't get in the way of the cook. This would make a prep sink at this end of the island a bonus, too.

By moving the sink(s) and dishwasher, you reduce any traffic behind the island. I hope this makes sense.

Oh, I agree with the rest. The island plan is a huge improvement! It will alleviate the traffic jams and look so much better.

4 feet is the minimum recommended aisle for back-to-back cooking. If you could move the island over a bit to get a wider aisle, I think you'll find it more comfortable. I'd recommend at least 54". You could do it with 48 but those extra inches will make things more comfortable if two are working at the same time.

And, yes, consider a large single sink. There are lots of discussions about them here at GW. You might want to do a search for them. A single sink gives you so many options and makes clean-up so much easier.

I would definitely put the fridge in the B spot. You want it as much out of the cook/prep area as possible so people can access it for snacks and drinks without getting in the way of the cook.

Also, moving it there, gives you a nice, long counter that you will probably find valuable.

I agree that you might want to consider extending the kitchen down toward the breakfast area. You might also want to consider making a few adjustments so you can have a prep sink. My laptop is getting some maintenance done. When I get it back up and running, I'll try to draw something out.

I also like the rectangular island setup much more than the original draft. I definitely would offset the sink and stove. The problem isn't when the cook wants to use the sink, the problem is when someone is working at the stove and someone else wants to work at the sink. I like the idea of extending the counter and adding cabinetry across from the DW for dish and glassware storage - convenient. Lastly, I would go 54" and only 54". Once you get to 60", it becomes TOO wide.

OK, here's a plan that might work for you.

{{gwi:2138632}}

Fridge: I like it there as it's well out of the working space and can be accessed by the non-cooks for drinks and snacks

Clean-up Sink & DW are the red squares. I think you might want to widen the pantry a tad so the door can be on the side facing fridge. This gives you a short wall where the DW door can be open without blocking anything. If that is visually unappealing to you, you could keep the door to pantry at an angle if you lengthen that wall. This would require moving the fridge down a bit but that's easy to do as then you can just move the door down closer to the corner. Either way, it gives you a good clean-up zone out of the main cooking areas.

Clearance from fridge to prep/cook zones: In order to ensure that there is good clearance to walk around an open DW, you might want to move the island a few inches farther away from the fridge wall.

The blue square is your prep sink. There is plenty of counter space for prepping plus if someone is prepping while someone else is at the range, each has their own space. Prep sink is still close to range for filling pots, etc.

The poorly drawn, black square with dots/circles inside is the new placement for the range. The black square beyond that is more counter space. You don't want a cooking surface at the end of a counter as the space there can be handy and it also protects someone walking by from getting burned.

I don't know if it works for you or if you'll want to tweak it a bit but I think this gives you good zones. It also follows ice-water-stone-fire, i.e. food goes from fridge to prep sink to prep counter to cooktop/oven. Search for a great post by Marcolo that explains this simple yet valuable concept further.

You might want to move the prep sink down just a tad closer to the fridge wall, roughly centered between clean-up sink and range for better spacing.

Hope this helps.