Here is a another view of the kitchen cabinets behind the island

The split on GW is approximately 50/50 :-)

If you are not putting or storing anything on it, I would go one level.

So you have seating at the peninsula and the island? Plus a table?

In your first picture, what's to right? on the other side of what looks in the picture like a half wall?

Typically, folks like to have a raised counter to hide what's in the sink, but that doesn't apply in your case. What do you envision doing on the lower counter?

I also notice that you have several base cabinets with doors, not drawers. It also looks like you have a lazy susan in the peninsula corner. That space could be better utilized by putting drawers on each side of the counter, and putting a door on the back side, for storing less-used bulky items.

One level. It would mean an unbroken expanse, which means more usable work area.

My question is about the peninsula/door area. Can you explain what's happening there?

Is this a house you're living in and remodeling? Or a new purchase or...

Thanks for all the feedback ! The kitchen is a remodel we
Thought we could add that peninsula at the end for extra seating. It will just sit two people . We are also adding the window at the end for the view of the woods behind the house . Any opinions on the peninsula ?

I thought that was a door, not a window. That's why it seemed particularly odd. But still, that seems like a lot of seats there. Island seating, peninsula seating, dining room table. How many in your family?

I had a peninsula that blocked off part of my kitchen, and the space behind it ended up being the place that collected junk. Granted, mine was on the way out of the house, so that's probably a big reason why. It seems a bit odd to me, but I understand working around odd existing conditions (looks like you've got some angles there).

Bizzaro dysfunctional layout. Needs to be addressed. Post an actual floor plan for help with that.

Who will want to sit in the corner on that peninsula when the island is so much more inviting?

Post your layout with measurements. You have so much space, but it looks poorly planned. Maybe you can widen/relocate the sink window and not put in the new one. Both windows look boxed in by all those wall cabs. You could also put the MW in a cabinet and get a vent hood. Right now it's looking builder basic, which is a shame considering how much room you have.

I don't see any benefit in this case of having two tiers on your island. One larger surface will be so much more inviting and so great for prep and projects etc.

I'm wondering what the reason is for the angled shape of the island. A simple rectangle would have a more updated look, IMO and it seems that you have lots of space to achieve that.

I think for the amount of space you have, you could have a great, functional kitchen. The way you have it designed now is not utilizing the room to its fullest, and it creates some odd areas. I agree that posting a layout of that part of the house drawn to scale would help the layout/design experts suggest the best use of your space. Hollysprings, the kitchen designer who posted above, is one of those experts.

To the original question, I much prefer and suggest a flat island.

Definitely no peninsula. It's odd to have both it and an island, and it's really odd to have a peninsula that just cuts off a small corner of the room. Usually it is used to divide two distinct, large areas (e.g. diving kitchen from dining room).

I have a strong preference for having one big flat island with the whole surface the same height. It just kills me when you have a great big, wonderful space that you could totally spread out on and set out big cooling racks or cookie sheets and generally have endless possibilities with, but instead someone decided it'd be better for half of it to be unusable. There are SO many ways to add some separation to your space without sacrificing such an awesome work space.

You need to get rid of the peninsula, run the counters into the corner and straighten out the island. Only one level on the island.

Then you need to post floorplan, measurements and proposed layout.

Right now your prep space is probably between the sink and the stove, right in front of the dishwasher, which then becomes your clean-up space. So now two major functions of the kitchen are being done in one little spot. You have the potential of lots of counter space which will allow better placement of appliance and serve to give you a much better functioning kitchen.

Here is the floor plan that our local kitchen center did. We added a few dimensions . Let me know if there is any other dimensions. This is the setup that the kitchen center did. We are open to any new ideas and dining room layouts. Thank you for your help !

The floor plan helps a lot. But need some other info
1. How many are in your family?
2. How often do you have guests for dinner?
3. Where do groceries enter the kitchen?

If you have only 2-4 family members in the home, and if you do not often entertain for dinner, could the table rest against the exterior wall and be pulled out when additional seating is needed?

Here's a quick sketch based on a few assumptions about the usual size of family and the entryway for groceries. Might be some usable ideas here. I did assume that island seating would not be in use during company or family dining.

Passages may be too tight. Not sure how much fiddle room there is with the sofa's placement. I drew island at 5' wide. It could be only 2' wide with storage on only one side. I thought the extra storage and work space would be desirable if you have room for the greater island width.

It also might be better to align the right edge of the island with the end of the cabinet run below--making the island 4' wide.

This post was edited by Bellsmom on Sun, Sep 7, 14 at 11:36

Bellsmom, thank you for the ideas. My husband and I were looking at that same option last night. We had thought about a 4' x 7' Island square the way you said and running the cabinets all the way down to the sliding door. We also like your idea of putting the table closer to the wall and being able to pull it out whenever you have extended family over. Right now our family size is myself my husband and our son, we plan to have one more child. The 4 seats that are accessible on the table when it's against the wall is probably all we would use except for the holidays. Thank you so much for your input and drawing. If you have any other ideas we would love to hear them.

I don't have any other ideas now, but I suggest you and your husband "noodle" over this and come up with another option, and post it with a new request for help in layout. Start with a graph and details like family size and so on.

I do really think you can come up with a much more efficient use of your space than the one suggested by the KD.

If you decide to do this, you might read over this thread (and the one Buehl links to) before posting. Some REALLY good information here.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to get more responses

How much do you entertain? Seems like the double tier island design kind of invites people to sit "at the bar" (especially guys who might be a bit intimidated by a kitchen, LOL). Never thought this before until I saw your design. I have a single flat surface for our island because I wanted maximum prep space and we don't entertain much so I understand there are two points of view.

Just a thought since so many here seem to think the single flat surface island is best.

Also, how old are you? I'm 68 and I wanted to make sure I had some prep space where I could sit and do prep. Of course your penninsula kind of provides that function but does seem to be overkill with the penninsula AND island. But I am not one of the professional designers that hang out here. Just wanted to add my two sense.

Are you able to move the window down and enlarge it so you can have your woods view from the island? I think the old window placement contributes to the imbalance--you can see the old kitchen's footprint and it looks like you tacked some extra cabinets on the end by eliminating the dining area in front of the sliders. If you could move your window, I'd switch the range and the sink. That would also eliminate some of your uppers, which would give you a more open, modern kitchen design.

I like how Bellsmom put the dining table into the LR and out of the walkway from the bedrooms. Is your LR large enough to accommodate the table? It sounds like you'll need a real table for the holidays, and I think that is your only option. I don't know that you need to run counter space all the way to the sliders since you won't prep there, so a pantry is a good idea.

Is that a wall oven next to the fridge? A range and a wall oven?