must haves for home "professional" kitchen.

You'll benefit from a butler's style pantry for storing the myriad dishware an entertaining focus requires. Also gives you a place to clear dirty stuff to without cluttering up the work area.

Multiple dishwashers, again, the butler's pantry would be a good place for some of the drawer style DW to handle just the tableware. Then you can put one or more normal ones in the main kitchen for the cookware.

Multiple refrigerators. Even as just a modest home cook, I need two refrigerators. Condiments from all the different world cuisines start to take up more and more spaces plus the specialty bits I make myself that keep well but don't all get eaten at once. A dedicated freezer, probably a wine fridge...

Rather than an island or peninsula, I'd get kitchen karts wtih lockable wheels. they can live in one place like an island most of the time, but then you can roll them out tableside for doing something there or next to you at the counter or sink for specialty work. More versatile and can still look nice. On the down side, you lose the options for sinks, stoves and power outlets at the island. You can do these spring coiled power outlets you pull down from the ceiling to use as needed but they won't look very good.

A LARGE sink is very handy. Mutlitple sinks come into play more for what you have to wash by hand. How big the item is, how many and so on.

We remodeled the large dining room into the new kitchen, removed the wall between the old dining room and the old kitchen, and the old kitchen became the smaller part of an L shaped single room. Large U-shaped kitchen with separate 48" island with sink. Main sink in the U-shaped part has a large sink and a small sink as an integral Corian unit. All countertops are Corian (you can sand them down to remove scratches or stains so I like 'em).

ANyway, the point is, I wouldn't be without the two small sinks. They each have a garbage disposal. The one in the island is absolutely indispensable. CHop your veggies, and sweep the unwanted material right into the little sink and grind it up and wash it down the drain.

doc

Not necessary, but convenient. Especially if you are dealing with chicken and have to clean everything you've touched on that counter without having to move it all to the other counter where the sink is.

As for what I'd have: magnet strips, loads of counter space, two refrigerators, a chest freezer, twin ovens, a six burner range, either a griddle cover for the range or a flat iron grill to the side of it, and a really good hood. You've never smelled stink until you've burned fish(we all have) in a kitchen with no windows and an underpowered hood fan.

Also, if I had my way in my house, I'd have the range and flat iron facing the ovens rather than next to or on top of them.

I'm in the process of designing a new kitchen, and have given a lot of thought to this.

I'd include a built-in deep fryer. And, as Phil says, multiple refrigerators are a must have. My current two are barely sufficient. I keep my deep freezers in an out-building, but if I had the room they'd be part of the kitchen.

Primary consideration is storage and work space. You can never have enough counter room. Whether permanent or moveable is up to you. Unlike Phil, I would opt for the island, cuz you'll run out of wall space pretty quick, with no place to move the carts anyway. Don't forget the space under the island, which can be great for storing things.

I would include a special cabinet for storing sheet pans, chopping boards, and the like. Usually practice is to have an open box, with dowel- or ballister separators. What about large items, like stock pots and the like? If you use them you'll need a place to keep them.

Speaking of storage, pots, pans, and, omigosh, lids are always getting in the way. Plan on storage space for them.

How do you intend handling your small appliences? Either dedicate counter space to them, or plan on storage space.

A roll-out pantry comes in handy, and prevents the usual problem of losing stuff in the back of the shelf. What I'm planning, fwiw, is a roll-out pantry under the sheet-pan cabinet.

Most on-the-island sinks I've seen have been used for washing hands more than cleaning up. It's not a must have, but can be very convenient.

Don't forget an adequate range hood!

Do you have strong feelings about how your knives, measuring spoons, ladles, spiders, etc. are stored? I don't care if they're on-view, so tool magnets are important to me. Ditto hanging racks for my most-used pots and pans.

Wheew! I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out.

Most kitchen carts have drawers and storage shelves underneath so you're not losing storage space compared to the island.

I like islands, don't get me wrong. I'm just thinking of their usefulness in an entertainment cooking setting.

I totally agree with the large sink. That makes such a difference in making a very useful kitchen. I personally like the sinks that have a divider down the center, so you can separate clean things with dirty things

You've got a pretty good work triangle going there. I also like the idea of a roll out pantry, having just used a kitchen with one while on holiday.

Are you going a second fridge? I'm a busy home cook, but have 2, the smaller one kept mainly for meat. What about having a deep freezer somewhere? Maybe tucked into the utility room.

Ensure you have good lighting too, nothing worse than trying to cook in half light...my kitchen's like that, renting so can't do much about it.

Got plans for lots of shelving above the benches? I would assume so :) They're great extra flat space/storage. Or a hanging rack with hooks for colanders, pots and pans, country kitchen style. I reckon they look great.

Decent ventilation is a must.

Keep us in the loop and let us know what you end up with.

DC

Make sure you have a pull-out for trash. Your guests don't want to look at your trash can.

dumb question probbaly, but.. do you have a bathroom down there already? if you're going to be doing a lot of entertaining there it would be convenient and to do the plumbing now while you're doing the reno might be cheaper.
kathee