So I have a question on the counter height island--how deep is the counter? Ours is counter height and when we moved in I envisioned using it as a breakfast seating area. Never happened--we use a small table in the Florida room. I'm considering a remodel down the road and am thinking of making the island a bit smaller (closer to standard counter depth.)

We have a Foxglove CYV, one of the first things we did was to go from counter to bar height. It hides some of the mess you may have while preparing meals and we enjoy sitting at bar rather than counter height. I do think it does add some separation between the kitchen and dining area. When we have a neighborhood social, the food goes on the dining table and the high counter is used for desserts and or appetizers.

Questions 2 was : "So I have a question on the counter height island--how deep is the counter?"

We did away with the "breakfast table".. to you point just steps away from counter island eating area and adjacent dining room table .. and of course lanai table .. and maybe even outdoor table .

We now have a 14 foot long counter height island that is 5 foot wide at the center and 4 foot at either end.. Most split counters have a usable 15 1/2" on top and 24" on bottom.

Con #3 is a pro for me. Split level much much much better. Split also looks better in an open floor plan. But to each his own.

Bar height and counter height, if this helps. Please disregard the black lab fur on the floor. Good luck on your decision.

Bar height wins for us!
 

Have had counter height and now have bar height. The bar is about 10' long, lower counter about 25" deep, and top counter about 16" deep. This concept, as mentioned in other posts, does have a cleaner look and is efficient for us. We are likely going to sell our transition villa and will look for the bar height split in our next home, too. Good luck!

I've had granite in 3 homes starting in 1993, 26 years of granite and nothing more to do than wipe it down with a damp cloth and surfactant. Granite can also take very hot pans placed right on the counter with no damage unlike the resins in Quartz counter tops that will leave burn marks, you also have to be careful cooking with a crock pot on quartz and scratching it. We had a leftover piece of granite that we had framed into a cutting board placed next to our cooktop, used it for 13 years and never scratched it.

I noticed on the Ivy model in Marsh Bend that they did away with the L shaped two level and replaced it with the lower single level counter that is not L snapped and they also removed the smaller Island and placed the counter back closer to the stove. It added more room to the living area (which is not needed in an Ivy) but reduced the room to work in the Kitchen. They have to do that to have room between the stools and sofa or chairs. With the L shape you can put 4 stools on the other end and still have full use of the living area.

Ditto. I have the same experience with 20+ years of granite. I laugh when I hear people talk about all the “maintenance” required for its upkeep.

I guess I have been misinformed about the upkeep for granite.

I have had a light colored quartz counter top for 15 years and I do not have a mark on it. And mine gets a lot of use with pots and pans and crockpot.

I thought so. My quartz counter top is only a couple of years old but it looks as good as it did the day it was installed. And I cook quite a bit.