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[tom <tom AT honeychrome.com>]

If you can, live with the kitchen as it is for a while.  Of all the  
rooms in a house, I think the kitchen is the most important one to  
allow to 'self design' through use.  You can think and think and  
think through where things will make the most sense, but until you  
spend some time working in it you are sure to miss something or find  
that things that make sense on paper aren't so practical in reality.   
In our on-going renovation finishing up the kitchen is last on the  
list- in the meantime it is fully functional, but our 'counters' are  
currently made of scrap 2xs and plywood so we can try out various  
configurations, shelf heights and sizes, where things work best,  
where we most often stand to work, etc.  Where you stand to work is  
key- from that you can list all the things you most often need and  
reach for when prepping and you can locate those things close by and  
you can avoid putting heavy-use drawers there so if one person is  
prepping they don't have to move so another person can get into a  
drawer or cabinet.  I like the no-overhead cabinets idea- keeps the  
space open and light.  We use long rails with hooks on the wall to  
hang the cooking implements we use all the time.  Some people think  
this looks too cluttered, but it saves a lot of drawer opening and  
rummaging around when the tools one needs are right there in front of  
one's eyes.  The same goes for the pans and skillets that we use all  
the time- they hang on a rack right by the stove.

One word of warning about making the countertops something other than  
standard height- that can be a 'negative' when (if) it comes time to  
sell the house.  Personally I think the added comfort and convenience  
over years of use far outweighs that possible negative down the line.

Tom