I dunno maeve, I've never had the luxury of a kitchen that suited me. Having said that, the two best designed kitchens I have had were also the smallest. One was the kitchen in our Airstream and the other was the kitchen in a mobile home. Both made very efficient use of small space and had remarkable storage capacity for their small footprints. I really dislike my kitchen in this house. It is ugly, very inefficient, and has less storage space than even the Airstream. I'm a bit of a gear hound when it comes to kitchen, so don't know if the kitchen exists that has enough storage space for me. While I am good at making do with what I have, in the kitchen, having the right, good quality tool for the job greatly enhances the efficiency and pleasure of cooking and baking, especially with respect to baking pans and knives. I also really like to have plenty of mixing and sorting bowls in numerous sizes, and at least 2 sets each of dry and liquid measuring cups and spoons. I don't have a dishwasher, and would rather wash more dishes than have to repeatedly wash and dry the same measuring implements.

I think the 1st question to answer is how many people are usually in the kitchen working at one time?   I have mostly been on my own in my own kitchen, so find a galley kitchen very efficient. If I routinely had at least one other person working with me, I would prefer something with more distance between work stations and would adhere pretty closely to the classic triangle of stove, sink and refrigerator. That is the configuration of my Mom's kitchen, which is pretty efficient, and allows sufficient space for at least 2 people to work without tromping all over one another.

I will tend to avoid recipes that are much easier to prepare with a small appliance such as a food processor, blender, waffle iron or electric mixer because I have to keep those items stored where it takes a little digging to get to them.

If I had more money than I knew what to do with, I would definitely take advantage of the more recent small appliance "garage" designs for my food processor, blender and a good stand mixer (which I have never owned), because they would be very accessible and I would use them more and cook more diversely.

My kitchen is not busy enough these days for hanging storage of pots and pans to make sense. Unless I use a pot at least once a week, hanging it turns it into a dust collector.