Toying with the Layout

It's been almost 7 months since we laid down plans to make-over our kitchen. Wowza. We have accomplished shockingly little in that amount of time. Unless, of course, you count raising Baby B. He's keeping our hands pretty full. :) But as time and budget allow we've very slowly been taking small steps in the kitchen, from replacing the broken stove and microwave when we moved in, to tearing down the wall between the kitchen and living room, collecting a mish mash of cabinets, snagging the sink of my dreams, painting, and finally installing new shelves. And it turns out that maybe it's not such a bad thing that we've been slow to make any major changes (like to the layout and cabinets). Because...wait for it...I've had a revelation. Well, that's a strong word for it. I've at least changed my mind! I think.... Here's what I'm thinking. This was my original plan for the kitchen:

Which I still like, but the more I think about what would be functional for us, the less I think it is the way to go. Enter Plan B:

(ha. ignore the craziness on the left wall. I forgot I changed that in the drawing, and it will be staying as-is for now. oops. Also I had trouble with my coloring, so ignore the sink & stove. Ugh.) The big change is ditching the fold down bar for a permanent peninsula instead. What do you think? There are a few main reasons I'm considering this layout instead.

1. Added Cabinet Space - It will only add one or two shallow cabinets, but in a kitchen this size we need whatever we can get. Those extra inches of storage would be awesome! 
2. More Workspace - We would gain several feet of functional countertop, which would be great for spreading out to cook or work on projects.
3. Bar Stools - There is still room for a couple stools in this layout, which I really want. Plus I don't think we need to worry about fitting the table in the during Christmas. We can just do without. Priorities. :)
4. Buyer Appeal? - I feel like buyers might be more interested in a peninsula than a weird drop down bar thing (those are the words I'm guessing they'll use to describe it).
5. Enough Space Around the Peninsula - Building the peninsula here would leave plenty of room to open the fridge, and room behind the stools for them to be pulled out.

Opinions? I'm still a little on the fence about it myself. I slid our table around to kind of mimic the way the layout would flow, and I actually feel like that's been working really well. And I have disastrous pictures to prove my point. (the bin of tuperware = Baby B's playground)

It's nice having the extra work space, and I've never felt even a little like it was too crowded or awkward to walk around. But, as usual, I'm afraid to commit until I over-think it for a few days. Weeks.

Also, we're thinking about doing butcher block countertops instead of concrete because they would be easier to install and we wouldn't have to worry about them turning out right (if we try concrete and mess it up we're out all the countertop $$$).

 photo via pinterest

So, any thoughts or opinions on they layout or countertops? What problems do you see with the ideas? How about benefits? Help me out here!

p.s. you can still enter my giveaway until 5:00pm tonight! Click here to check it out!