1. You will get a lot better assistance with a drawing to-scale including measurements of proposed windows and doorways. A peek at the whole-house layout will also be beneficial.

2. Will you have seating at the island? Cooktops are much less safe when seated people are exposed to heat and splatter. Plus, venting is an issue without an island hood. The options are, apparently, subpar.

3. If you cook three scratch squares a day you would be more than justified with your solo fridge and freezer. This also allows you to have room to store bargain purchases when the opportunity arises. Keep this in mind regarding your pantry, too.

Also keep in mind that kids will grow up and fly away, so having an "adjustable" kitchen is important, too.

Hey mrshalf, we used Kraftmaid Mushroom in our kitchen renovation as well! We have cherry in Rye finish base cabinets, with the wall cabinets and hood in Mushroom. I'm looking forward to seeing your Mushroom kitchen!

I agree with Greenhaven regarding the island cooktop and seating. Also, as she mentioned, think about your kitchen and family landscape a few years down the line. I went from cooking for a family of 5 to just 2 in a matter of 5 months, kids move on and elders pass on.

We also eat a lot of fresh food, I opted to keep a separate fridge and pantry in the garage, an option if you are worried about the separate fridge/freezer taking up too much space in the kitchen.

Best of luck!

I think the previous posters might not have paid attention to the width of your kitchen. I'm not sure you have enough room for anything but a very narrow (24"?) island, and if I'm right, that's not wide enough for either seating OR a cooktop. I'd personally stick with the cooktop on the perimeter (especially with so many children around), and I would put in a narrow island to be used for prep work.

The previous posters have nothing to scale so have no idea how big the island is to be. :o) Although 7' 8" is narrow by any standards.

mrshalf, can you help us out here?

Even without a to-scale drawing, it's pretty clear there's a doorway next to the refrigerator, so it's the refrigerator wall that's 7'8". With a very narrow 36" aisle between the cooktop as drawn and the island as drawn, there's be room for a 31" wide island if you were not to block the doorway -- make the aisle any wider and the width of the island has to shrink or it will block the door.

If the kitchen is 7' wide you can't put in an island. If it's 7' long how do you fit in a 5' wide fridge unit. (unless they're separated)

Somethings off.

I'm sorry for the confusion. The wall with refrig on it is 7'8".

The wall with the cooktop on it is 16'.

The wall with the sink on it is 12' and could extend longer if needed because it opens to a great room.

I'm sorry I didn't include enough drawings. I posted before about what is kosher to share without the architect's permission so I put as little info as I thought possible.

Does this information help? I can ask hubby to draw more detail tonight if needed.

Some add'l questions:

1) where does the door next to the refrigerator lead?
2) Is the sink wall staying, or is that really a peninsula between the kitchen and great room (you refer to it as "opening" to the great room). How much can that wall of cabinets be extended?
3) What is on the right side - is that a solid wall? Are there any cabinets on it? Are there any openings?

I can understand it better, now, sjhockeyfan, thanks. mrshalf, is this the proposed layout or current? We really need more info in order to help you. Have you already paid for your plan? If so the plan is yours to share as you wish. Anything else and I am just not sure.

More questions, though...blfelton is right, you cannot fit two full fridge/freezers on that short wall. Why can the cooktop not go on that wall and the fridge/freezer on the opposite wall?

If your kitchen will open into a great room you may still have room for an island but you would have to reorient it so that it does not interfere with traffic from the doorway.

You also said cooktop, but where will your oven go? 36" cooktop or 30"?

Here is just a quickie mockup, given the dimensions you provided, a 36" cooktop and wall ovens besides two fridges. A 36x48 island will work just fine in that space, there is 42" between wall ovens and island and cooktop and island. Depending on how much you want to impede traffic pattern you could flip it 90 degrees and extend it.

Just for the record, I am NOT recommending this layout, just trying to get a handle on your space and give you a visual on what you are trying to accomplish. If you click the link to the plan you can assume it as your own and tweak it 'tl your heart's content.

Here is a link that might be useful: quickie footprint layout

Another bit of bad news: your only-2-feet-wide island can be no more than about 4' long.

Definitely NOT the cooktop on the island! Sometimes they're fine, but IMHO your island is too small and it makes so much more sense to have the prep sink on the island :)

I'm guessing you have 5' to 5 1/2' for the island....with 16' on that wall. Just a quick sketch from Greenhaven's picture. {{!gwi}}From Kitchen plans

If this is a new build, are you flexible with window & door locations?

Can you add square footage to the house/kitchen?

How big is the Great Room the Kitchen is next to?

Do you have a Great Room and a Family or Living Room? Do you have a DIR?

Do you have a proposed layout for the entire first floor? It helps to show us traffic flow, etc. A quick drawing of the overall layout is all that's needed for this - it shouldn't violate anything if you don't post details.

Please check the FAQ I've linked to below.

Have you considered a 36" range with double ovens?

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ: How do I ask for Layout Help and what information should I include?

I am so sorry to cause such confusion. In just a few weeks we will have completed plans in our hands and I will come back then with beautiful drawings.
Thanks to everyone for your help.

That Lowes room tool looks cool but is quite maddening because I would get the room halfway done and everything would completely disappear only to reappear only when I clicked and held one button. Thanks anyway, maybe I'll take the next couple weeks to play with it and figure what the problem is.

You can draw up the layout or the kitchen space on graph paper, label the widths of all windows/doorways/walls and the distances b/w windows/doorways/walls.

Then, take a digital picture, upload it to Photobucket (or other photohosting site), and post it here.

If the "completed" plans are final, it will be too late to make changes or will cost you extra to make changes. Why not have us work on it now? Check out the FAQ I posted above and the others below:

All Kitchen FAQs: Kitchens FAQ Page

FAQ: New To Kitchens? Read Me First!
FAQ: How do I post pictures?
FAQ: How do I post a Link?
FAQ: How do I ask for Layout Help and what information should I include?
FAQ: Kitchen work zones, what are they?
FAQ: Aisle widths, walkways, seating overhangs, work and landing space, and others
FAQ: How do I plan for storage? Types of Storage? What to Store Where?

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