Island/Lighting progress

I suppose that I should not be surprised that Brent's solution to our smaller island dilema is to build one himself.  That will have to wait til later in the fall/winter.  We can use our current one in the meantime and then will probably put it up on craigslist to recoup some of the cost.  It's a great island from Crate & Barrel, but it will be too big for our needs with the new cabinets coming in.

The PURPLE file folders represent
the size of the new island that Brent will create

From the back door looking at stove wall

From fridge wall looking at the
wall of cabinets/breakfast bar to come

Last night we were up until 11pm (that is REALLY late for us - during the school year we are up at 4:30!) laying out our lighting, switches, and trying to visualize a smaller 3' x 2' island - which is really more of a prep table than island...our stove will still be short on counter space, so it is very useful to have a little extra surface area nearby.  

Sketching out our plans...

We snapped chalk lines to show where the cabinets and appliances will be - VERY helpful.

While we have not chosen the fixture yet (suggestions welcome!), we are going to have the electrician rough for a light approximately centered over the smaller island-to-be.  We also decided that we will probably shift the wall of pantry cabinets two inches to the left so that the light will also be centered when you look at that bank of cabinets.  It will also make opening the right-hand tall cabinet easier.

This morning I am inspecting the 7 boxes of backsplash tile.  I love it even more than the sample!  It has such great variety of whites and grays.  I even found a helpful site for install.  Back to tile inspection..and then NON kitchen related tasks...boo!