What's new with the kitchen?

We're in the final stages of designing the kitchen.  This has been all kinds of awesome.  Picking out exactly what I want for MY kitchen is t-o-t-a-l bliss.  Here's the ideas we've talked about.  (I have specific reasons for every decision I've made, just I thought I'd share the ideas with you.)

The designer at Fergusons wanted to use only the current "kitchen" space for the new kitchen.  My current kitchen is U-shaped, and he was thinking of making it a galley kitchen.

View from when you walk in the front door.  On the left is the dining room.

 Looking at the island - the white in the middle is down the hall is the front door.  You can see the dishwasher, sink, trash can drawer, and built in microwave

Well, that's nice and all, but I wanted to take that wall out not only for a more open feeling, but so that I could use a little space from the dining room, lots of kitchen space, and some of the eat-in kitchen space.  Let's make this kitchen take up a lot of the first floor since it's the heart of the home and where everyone gathers.  This was my design (my idea, his picture):

 Walk in the front door and see the sliding glass door, fridge, double ovens, (this picture has the window removed, but I think I like it there), you can see my cooktop with loads of counter space on either side, and my huge island, with the sink, dishwasher, microwave, etc. in it.  Again, to the left will be the dining room.

 Looking at the cooktop, the white rectangle in the background will be the dining room (with my pretty table, a new chandelier, and that bay window I want to see so badly)

 Closeup of that back wall.  I still haven't decided if I want to put panels on that fridge.  But I sure would love a double oven.  And again, imagine the window there still with the countertop below it.

 View from the family room into the kitchen, with the dining room and bay window in the very back.  This idea has one single height for the island, which would let everyone on the whole first floor see my dirty dishes in the sink.

Then another designer took my idea and turned it into this:

 She suggests putting cabinets along the island for plate storage and as another level to hide the junk in the sink.  I LOVE this idea.  I also love her ideas of the slim pull out next to he fridge and the spice rack pull out next to the cooktop.  Again, to the left will be the dining room.

 Here's the view looking at the island, my front door is right down that hall.  I love her design of the island.  Lots of drawers where I didn't think there was space for any. 

The thing is, I'm not sure I like that table at the end.  I kind of wanted that to be a SUPER long island with seating and cabinet space.  She said she was afraid the island was getting too long (which I don't agree with) and that a third height for the island might look nice (which I agree with).

So, I'm going to tweak the table at the end and I think I'm going to go with the rest.  The contractor comes tomorrow to destroy the wall a bit more than he did the initial day to make SURE it can come completely down without too many issues.  Then when he's positive, we can start ordering things.  Cha-ching!

Isn't this fun????  :-)