I was going to suggest holding off, until you've lived in the house for a while, until I remembered about the cooktop on the island.

I look forward to seeing your sketched layout! Use a felt-tip pen on graph paper, and include dimensions.

We're on the 5 1/2 month mark and have already made our list of "most hated things about this kitchen" ;)

The "wall" that holds the right half of the sink and 1/2 wall is a tear down. Warning: Messy drawings ahead.

Current:

What I'd like to do-ish (disregard where the appliances are):

{{!gwi}}

(Is propane, though common, really that efficient or cost effective where you are? I thought it was going out of fashion esp with the long hard winters. Certainly, electric in my area is WAY more common and less expensive).

I like your drawing...but can you tell us what is to the right of the kitchen--what you're opening your wall/half wall up to?

To the right of the kitchen is the family room, which I would like to see (and can't now).

Now:

What I'd like to see while cooking/cleaning:

Wall as seen from family room into kitchen:

As for LP over Elec., it's just our preference. We have always had natural gas, so moving here had it's little bit of "kitchen culture shock". Our winters are not particularly hard or long. We can grill out comfortably 10 months out of the year, no problem. I am familiar with induction, I actually talked my mother-in-law into it when she moved to a place where she could not install LP. I liked it, for sure, but it just isn't what I'd like to do in this particular house

Have you considered an Induction cooktop, saving the cost of putting in a propane tank, associated piping into the house, and dealing with the skyrocketing price of propane? Many former gas cookers on the Appliance forum will never go back after having induction.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardenweb Induction vs Gas

Mama mia, what space you have to work with! Lovely home, can't wait to see how it turns out!

I'm afraid I can't help with your questions. Your house will be lovely, no matter. Great space. And your pup... I am such a sucker for Goldens (had 2 that died between 16 and 17 years). Gotta love all that hair. ;-)

They are great dogs aren't they, sum5463? This is our third and we just adore them :)

Hsw - I now have my main and only sink in the island. My options were limited for good function, but I think it works well for me. I actually love my whole kitchen now, but I had a lot of room for improvement. Good luck!

I'm just curious as i can't really tell, is your cooktop getting moved to the other side? And if so are you using a hood style or downdraft vent? That side is an inside wall?

Will your dishwasher move to where your sink is in the island?

Lastly there are several threads on page 1 right now discussing cabs to the ceiling. I don't have them but wish I did just for a more finished look. Personal preference.

Mgoblue85, do you have pics? Short of that can you tell me what is in your island (DW? Trash? Any extras? Seating?).

lesmobo, sorry, I didn/t see you post last night!

Yes, the cooktop will be moved to an interior wall (where the dishwasher is now) and vented to the outside kind of up and over. Hooded vent, not downdraft. The current downdraft vents into the crawl space and then travels over 25 ft. through the family room and vents out to the right of our fireplace. The contractors have all said that we can vent up and over the terrace which is outside the kitchen. Does this sound right? I know that it's not optimal because the cooktop will be on an interior wall, but that is the only option we have short of tearing down our precious windows and wall space out to our terrace (which we really don't want to do).

DW will move to the island. Thankfully we have crawlspace that is easy to move around in (I can stand up straight under the house).

Oh yes, that is good news. I asked, because MY cooktop is currently on an interior wall and we are NOT able to vent with a hood. Complicated reasons but its been the one thing that I now ask about frequently since it is so annoying. That being said, we are moving soon anyway, but I would definitely recommend up draft vs. down. And never give up window space ;-)

I think your plans look good and you will love getting that sink out of a corner. I've seen some pictures with the sink offset in the island to minimize it's prominence. But I've seen it in the middle too. There is a thread on here right now that is worried that sink is off center in alignment with the cooktop and kitchen. Sink is in the island. Have you see it? Is' a very pretty kitchen.

I would think about though how many cooks are typically in the kitchen. If you aren't careful you could one person at the stove hitting backs with another doing the dishes. Hopefully there is enough space to avoid that.

Here is a link that might be useful: sink in island

Hsw - I'll try and take some pics later today and post, but I have 18' double trash, 33" sink, 24" DW, and 12" cookie sheet cab. Island has seating for 3. Yes, there is a bit of splashing, but that's been when no one is seated...I've only just finished my reno. Was waiting on final inspection before a full reveal. but that is contingent on getting 3 doors installed. The last 10% is a killer!

Thanks ,lesmobo! I saw that thread this morning and it's had me thinking. My husband and I cook/clean together so we'll have our backs to each other a lot of the time. I'm thinking that having the sink kind of offset will help with that, but I'm just not sure how it would look.

Mgoblue85, can't wait to see you pictures! About the splashing, I'd rather be on the receiving end of that then getting hit by grease from the stovetop. My husband's family's beach house has a narrow island with seating across from the cooktop. I can not tell you how many times I've been burned when sitting there while someone else cooked.

Haha! I can't tell you how close I was to having the range top on the island...before I discovered GW, of course. Anyway here a few photos of the island. The stools are squished close to tuck under the overhang - there is more room when people are seated.

West window so light is bad for photos this time of day.

Pull out has trash and recycle bin. Paper towel holder pulls out with a couple extra rolls behind - stole that ideal and love it!

I LOVE your island setup! It's about the size I'm hoping to do and I really would love to do the paper towel holder like yours. Thank you! I cant wait to see the rest of your kitchen.