Bumping this up, to see if Buehl sees it...if not, I'll try an email :)

I'm in the list of "In Progress" kitchens in the Finished Kitchens Blog. (I'm still in the ABB Club!)

Here's a pic of the back of the seating peninsula. Note that we used a plain finished end panel rather than a decorative door panel. It was partly budget but also partly that I didn't want extra edges that could be kicked and nicked by people sitting at the peninsula.

Here is a link that might be useful: Buehl's Kitchen Pictures - Finished ABB

Thank you! Your pictures are great, love the zone information and close-ups of the message center and niche behind the cook top.

How wide is your eating area with the stools? About 5' from wall to end? I like the way you finished it...no trim is a good idea :)

Good guess! The seating peninsula is 62" wide. It fits two people comfortably. We do have three stools and while I can squeeze them in, when we tried adding people to the stools there just wasn't enough room!

(We originally had two stools, but one broke and JC Penney sent us a replacement for free. My DH figured out a way to repair the broken stool without being too obvious about it, so we ended up with a "backup" third stool!)

This post was edited by buehl on Wed, Jul 24, 13 at 13:31

That's clever! I think your stools are so pretty...they match the cabinets and look wonderful in the space.

I just want two stools, since sometimes the third person can feel like they're watching a tennis match. I'd rather have a third person across or on the end, but I don't think I'll have room for that.

What a beautifully planned kitchen and organized photo library.

But I'm confused about 1 thing... Buehl I thought you had a completely different kitchen.

Did you move?

No...it's the same kitchen we remodeled in 2008.

Maybe you're thinking of someone else? Could it be the perspective? Here's another from the other end of the kitchen.

What was the though process behind having the cabinets on the sink wall going all the way up to the ceiling, but not doing that and instead breaking those cabinets up on the opposite wall?

Buehl, do you have 8 ft ceilings? (I'm trying to figure out what style of hood to use over induction and looking for pix of different options for an 8 ft height.)

Lori: Yes, we have 8' ceilings - for the most part. It varies by an inch or two throughout the kitchen. (That's why the "filler" piece was so important in the crown molding on the top of the cabinets - it allowed us to adjust the crown to fit the actual ceiling height w/o affecting the decorative pieces of crown and w/o making it obvious there was a difference.)

Here's a straight-on shot of the hood. Note the small soffit - it was needed b/c about 3 or 4 inches of PVC pipe stuck out beyond the upper cabs on the right. The soffit was extended the entire width of the opening b/w the cabs for a symmetrical look. (There was no need for it at all on the left side of the hood.)

Creative solutions, Buehl-- you'd never know. I live in a 1919 house now, and there doesn't seem to be a "planar" surface in it! That's one thing I'm looking forward to with new construction!

Does your shallow drawer under the cooktop open?

Buehl, how much space between your frig and peninsula? The peninsula in my much planned-but-may-never-get-to remodel is going to be about 52" long, then floor space (hopefully 36"), then counter-depth frig. The width of my kitchen is only 10 feet. Your space looks like how mine may turn out...

KBSpider: Lol! You will have more room than I have! That space, or "pinch point" as we like to call it (courtesy of someone on GW), is one of the things our KD messed up on...at least indirectly.

Originally, we were supposed to have 42" - a nice aisle width b/c of the refrigerator. However, our KD really made a mess of the measurements in our kitchen (long, long, long story) plus we had to build out the cooktop wall in our kitchen by 6"....so we ended up with...32-1/8"...yes, that's right, less than 33"!

I was upset initially about it until someone on GW reminded me that we most doorways are around 32"...so in normal use it wouldn't be an issue. The difference here is that we have a refrigerator that opens into that aisle & there is not enough room for someone to pass by when the refrigerator doors are open and someone is rummaging around in it.

In reality, it's rare that someone wants to get by when someone else is using the refrigerator. Do I wish I had more space there? Absolutely! Can I live with it? Yes.... It's one of those things that I had to "make do with" b/c the cabinets were already onsite and I wanted a peninsula that seated two comfortably and would work as another workspace and staging place for food for the DR.

Buehl, I didn't realize you were still ABB. I am going to send you an email today about F&I pricing I got. If I forget by the time I get to my laptop (which is very possible considering how many things I have going on right now), please send me an email and remind me !! Also, sorry I haven't done what I said I would do yet. Had something unexpected come up that has taken all of my time the last several weeks.

Buehl, thanks so much for letting me know the width, and how it's working for you - the floor plan is a bonus! I've been toying with the idea of making the peninsula a teensy bit longer, cause 52" seems a little tight. That would knock down the space to 33", but the frig won't be directly across from the aisle (kinda kitty corner), so may be even less of an issue than yours (at least, if the latest plan I've done actually ends up being THE plan...lol). Of course, 3" isn't all that much extra, either...decisions, decisions! Thanks again - it's a big help!