This is my thoughts on the new layout. I will post actual photos.

this is part of the actual kitchen.

these are the hideous stairs to the upper level. (The ugly pink carpet is throughout the upper level - including the 4 piece bath!) That will also be changed, so if you have ideas on how to do that, too, I'd appreciate it.

this is the wall that we will remove. Right now it has cupboards, the fridge and stove and a small area for a desk

Wouldn't you want to keep your sink under the window where it is now and have your stove down to the left of the sink so your prep space is between them? OTherwise, your plan looks pretty good to me but I'm no layout expert.

You got some fancy stairs! Actually, can you get someone to make you a curved handrail of some sort? I've never seen stairs like that before that I can remember. Seems like doing something special with them could be cool...

I'll take a look at the layout, but off the top I can say the island is too narrow to accommodate 2 people in the end (think 2' per person on the end + more if there are posts and the other seating needs to move down as you can't jam 2 people in the same corner). I think you should take a look under the carpet on those stairs. I'm betting it covers some very nice wood. I always surprises me what people will cover up with carpet...

What about something like this? You'll have a problem with the big window as it's not at counter height. Make it the same size as the other and the stove becomes a great feature in the middle.

Hi, Mjher1. To my mind, you're doing a very good job so far. I could work there, and I really like both the creation of a strongly defined entry and privacy from it for the family areas. How about a display niche in the entry storage wall to help define that as a nice space in itself and not just a utility area to quickly pass through?

Regarding the kitchen, one big suggestion. Redraw what you have "honestly" so you really know what you have. Your counters will be no less than 25" deep and well could be deeper if your walls aren't straight. Your stools won't be one foot wide and always pushed in. Draw them their real sizes (go measure the footprint of some) and in real positions when when in use.

Your refrigerator will need to be enclosed by an end panel at least and preferably an end wall (could set 4x4s sideways and clad with 1/4" drywall for an approximate 4" total width), but depending on how deep it is built (i.e. hides whole depth of fridge or just to door) it could require extra inches to open. Fortunately, you do have extra inches to massage as needed.

BTW, although I'd want to keep at least 40" between fridge and island, you have much more to work with between island and stove. I have 35" and like it a lot, so that's a 7" range to play with. As Cam suggests, your island will probably have to be significantly shorter to accommodate the rest of the layout.

Stairs? No matter how laid out would still need no less than 4' extension into the room, right? I'm thinking leaving them as they are and finishing making them beautiful with a custom, thin banister (probably metal) might be really nice. They do have an elegant curve and to me also are not awful, just not what they can be--finished as a significant feature. Their curve could be echoed elsewhere, too. The only alternative I could see that might be worthwhile would be if both your upper and lower floors had sacrificeable space for setting them back into those levels. Unlikely, but...

Cam 349. I love your idea of making the big window the same size as the other one and that would give us wider cabinets along the left wall. I'm not sure if we could make the window narrower though as the exterior of the house is angel stone (I think that's what you call it-it's all long stones all different colours, lengths and widths.) That would be very hard to match if to fill in the space we'd need to fill in by changing the width of the window. We are for sure going to shorten the window height to make it counter height though. I love the idea of the stove being centred between the 2 windows. I wonder if I could make the smaller window larger? In your drawing, it looks like you made the island shorter and wider. I didn't think of having a more square island. Good idea. We have a corner sink in the house we have now and that is the only thing DH insists for the new house-no corner sink! He hates washing dishes in the corner:)
Rosie- Good idea for the railing. We will look into getting that made. We are also going to put the same hardwood into the new kitchen area and up the stairs into the landing. That will make the stairs look better too. I love your idea of echoing the curve somewhere else. I didn't think of that! We will put up an end panel by the fridge.
Thanks for the great ideas.

Any other ideas for appliance placement? I want induction but I haven't seen a slide-in where I live. So I was thinking about cooktop and wall oven. Could a wall oven go in the right corner? Does the wall oven and cooktop have to be close?

There are 3 at Sears.

Here is a link that might be useful: Induction slide-in ranges at Sears

Layout option 1

Layout option 2

cam349 - thanks for the tip about Sears. I drove to 1 today and much to my surprise the "Electrolux" which is regularly $3699.99 is on sale right now for 2999.99. I might have to get that baby:) I'm just going to check out the ratings. Thanks again for that.