We are building a house and have such a similar config, esp with windows. A great feature, but so limiting on upper cabinets. I also had a wonderful kitchen in my last house with a similar layout. For here there are a lot of things I'd do. Question: Are you opposed to another down draft? If so, why do you want a recirculating vent hood? I'd put the table up against the wall (thereby making a new "hallway" around the table to the deck) Tuck a bench under the table on the wall, put a chair at head and foot of table and two chairs on the long edge. When you need to seat two more, you just pull out the table. Also you'd have a bit more room to put the island on the diagonal. My island was like that, a batwing configuration keeping guests outside the work space. My cooktop was on island, two large deep drawers for pots and pans in middle, a bank of drawers on the left and a cabinet for large pots on the right. Wall oven where the pantry is (giving you vertical space above for trays and more cabinet space below, Fridge where the oven is and a foot deep pantry turned sideways of the fridge.Microwave next to the oven on a shelf etc. Good luck. I've been planning my next one for almost two years and have a final design. I drew the "batwing" island for you, but see I can't attach anything. Draw a straight line, come down 45 degrees from each end and draw another of same configuration 3.5-4 feet inside that one.

More details and answers to questions:

Am I opposed to another downdraft?

In it's current location in the island, where the ductwork is, yes I was. I wanted a second counter workspace in the triangle, which seems to mean a flat island.

Put the table against the wall?

Oops, it's not a wall, it's a railing to the sunken family room, with a view across to the fireplace. If there is extra budget for more carpentry, it may become a true half-wall, as sweeping the kitchen floor inevitably spills crumbs into the kids toy shelves.

We thought about sliding the table over, and reversing the sliding door to open on the right. The only drawbacks to that were -- it definitely needs to be a wall, not a railing. We'd also need to reorganize the kids toy shelves -- they stack stuff on top of the shelves and we'd be eating right next to their junk if we can't make it all store lower and out of sight. We'd also have to move a heating vent, which would be in the way of having a mud mat at the new entrance location.

The suggestion to not only slide but rotate the table -- I don't know if I want to sit down to dinner every day in a half-circle, facing into the family room, which is frequently a toy-strewn disaster area. I much prefer the seating arrangement shown for conversation. On the other hand, my hubby liked the idea, so we'll play around with it.

The bat-wing island is interesting, though I don't know that I can have the same size that you describe, with cooktop plus all that storage. The room doesn't feel that big to me when I am in it. I will try to draw one and play around with the idea, though my current software is pretty clunky. When you say draw a straight line to start the new island -- where exactly?

I really need to invest in some decent design software!

Here is my attempt at a "batwing" island.

I could not fit an island as spacious as you describe, but I did put a some "shaved off" counter space on each side. It's actually better than the space around my cooktop now, but the odd shape makes drawers less likely. Full corners got in the way of traffic flow or door clearance quickly.

Main positives: I gained a much tighter work triangle. I got my large pantry back.

Main negatives: I lost my extra counter for a second work area, and I can't find a place for the microwave, except in the corner by the wall oven. I have a combination MW and wall oven now, and it seems like a waste to have an appliance that lasts 20 years (an oven) and an appliance that lasts 5-7 years (a MW) in one package that would be expensive to replace or repair. I didn't think I'd want to do that again.

The table wound up not moving, for now, mostly because it was the least worst option I played with. I think I would need a slightly smaller table with this configuration, though I can get hallway space on one side and squeeze-by space on the other.

The lumber store kitchen designer claims that I could store as much in a 3 foot wide pantry with deep pullout shelves as I could in a 4 foot wide pantry with fixed shelves, because I could use every inch efficiently. I'm not sure if I believe it or not.

{{gwi:1766711}}

I wrote a long post, but see that it didn't go. Write me at susan@sbarton.com and I'll send you a "batwing" island drawing.

I wrote a long post, but see that it didn't go. Write me at susan@sbarton.com and I'll send you a "batwing" island drawing.

Are you completely attached to the idea of a separate table from the island?

If not, I think your layout really lends itself to having a large island with a lower side on the family room side at table height for eating.

If you could change out the family room railing to a half-wall you could then also put some shallow cabinetry along that wall for art project storage, etc. and get that out of the kitchen. This should still allow for a nice pathway to the sliding-door as-is. With the artwork space moved, I think you could spare some counter space next to the Fridge and add a pantry cabinet to the other side of the fridge creating a more built-in look for your firdge and providing additional storage. I think you would still have enough room to create a MW/reheat area and a message center on that wall, alhtough I would want some separation between those areas to prevent spills, etc. on papers.

One thing I notice is that you have 5 ft between the island and the stove...That's a lot! I have 3 ft and it's plenty roomy and quite handy to use the island as prep space that way. And you could still have a reasonably sized island that is further from your table.

If you do a 90-degree door instead of the diagonal one on the corner cabinet you gain 3 things: wider access to the cabinet contents, more floor space, and longer frontage to the counter space. For me, corners are already deep enough without extending the counter out over the diagonal front.

I like your first layout, but I notice your aisles are wide, so you are cheating yourself out of island size. Try 42" between island and cooktop wall and island and sink wall (still plenty wide). Then move your table closer to the family room. (It looks like you could move it all the way to the half wall/railing, unless there is some reason you need to walk between the FR wall and the table.) Then your island could be at least a foot longer and 6" wider, maybe even 18" longer. (Think what you could do with that extra storage!)

re: a 'bat wing' island, I read about one in a fairly scathing blog entry titled "Here's an awful kitchen." (It was pretty mean.) Anyway, the island is designed by putting base cabinets on angles so the front corners are touching and the backs are fanned out. As you can see from the top picture below, it creates an island with a pretty curved counter. But look at the bottom picture and you can see there's a lot of wasted dead space between the cabinets. (There is a bucket in one of those spaces in the bottom picture.) And the fronts could be a bit cramped since they are angled toward each other. (If you used drawers, they's bang into each other due to the angle.)

There might be another design called bat wing that I haven't seen. This is the one I'm familiar with.

Given your current space, I'd go for the first over the second...but yikes! That's very little prep area unless you vow to keep the area beside the fridge clear for working--and then, the prep area's awfully far from other stuff.

As far as a pantry goes, my choice is going to be a 3' wide/30" in-pantry kitchen. It will have drawers below, sized to take my Snapware storage containers (better even than pullouts for usability when everything's the same height) and pull-outs above. The pantry will only go to 6.5' high, too. And in that space, I've drawn out and placed everything I now have without a problem, and right now, I have an itty bitty in-kitchen pantry and a small walk-in pantry. I think 3' would be sufficient for most people if carefully planned.

My oils, spices, vinegars/cooking alcohol, and a few small baking ingredients will have their own homes, but with that situation, we don't keep enough food in the house to even fill up the pantry halfway right now, though space constraints do limit my pantry-building.

I'd advise you to have a regular-depth fridge and then have the pantry next to the fridge be extra-deep, if you can specify that. You have the floor space, but your wall space is precious!

(Personally, I had an island before and needed it about 4' away from my cooking space to not feel crowded out. I especially recommend 4' if you have a dishwasher or oven opening into the space! But it's about personal preference.)