Consider four speakers in the kitchen area. At first this will seem excessive, but you’ll have very uniform sound in the kitchen. This will minimize hot spots as you move around. Duplicate L/R in the pair closest to the Livingroom and reverse the other pair.

So your saying something like this?  The one’s being the rear surround on a sep amp and the other 4 in the kitchen being on 1 amp?  Think 6” one’s would be adequate?

Yes, and I recommend speaker Volume controls for each kitchen pair.

I would avoid using ceiling speakers for the rear surrounds in the Family Rm if at all possible.  You are just not going to get close to the ideal atmos surround effect when the audio that’s supposed to be coming from behind you is coming from above.  Perhaps your builder can put in floor plugs?

I do agree that a separate amp for 4 speakers in the kitchen is a good choice.  However, you should know that when you play TV audio in the kitchen area, the audio will lag a bit, creating an echo effect that many people are not going to like.  For music playback, their will not be any lag.

ya, not into floor/book shelf types in the L/R area, no place to put them.. was my original thought but changed my mind mostly for aesthetic reasons.. for the limited amount of usage (good movies that need rear), didn’t think it was worth it.. I mostly play music off my phone but thanks for that info on the lag!!  guess I would have noticed it after install.. lol..

k, I decided to do the 2nd diagram but one more question.. I was going to do all 6 in ceiling as 6” but been reading that the 8” sound much better.. Can I mix and match?  Don’t think I need the 8” for the rear surrounds, think it would be okay to do 6” for those and 8” for the other 4 around the kitchen and D/R?  says they should be all one size but also says only if it’s 1 amp.. the 4 larger one’s I want on 1 amp, the rears on another.. 

Amplifiers care about impedance, not size. The listener might care about efficiency if there is no way to balance speaker output in order to accommodate listener location and room size.