I like the openness & overall flow of your plan. I do agree with you on the kitchen space. Have you thought of doing a large island with a bar area on the family room side vs the small island and then another counter with peninsula? You could move the ovens to the opposite wall giving a framing effect for the rangetop & hood (they will be bracketed by cabinets on either side bracketed by the fridge & the ovens. I think this configuration would simplify the overall traffic flow of the kitchen space and optimize the space. I personally don't care to walk through my laundry room everytime I enter the house. I agree with some of the above comments above about putting your pantry area where you have your laundry room now. I'd then delete the door separating that space from the kitchen. You could then make your current pantry into a laundry room. The powder room is pretty far away if you're outside and need to use the facilities. If you're working or playing outside, you could be tracking dirt, mud or grass through the whole house or through the master to get to a bathroom. I'd probably see about reworking the current laundry space to make it pantry space as mentioned above and combine it with some of the storage space off the work space in the garage to create a new entry & powder room. Love the shower in the master bath, but no tub? That might hurt resale if you ever decide to move. Tub or no tub, I think the master bath could be reworked to be more efficient. Off the top of my head, maybe you could extend the walkin closet at the door down to where the sinks currently end and have 1 big closet vs. 2 smaller ones, then move the sink to the opposite wall in a straight run. I'd shift the toilet down to the end of the sink run. The door to the bath could be moved over toward the sink run a little which would allow a little extra depth in the closet on the opposite wall. If you wanted to, you could move the closet door out of the bathroom and give it a separate entrance on the bedroom wall if you wanted. Here's a visual of these potential changes for you... (Note: Shower remains same size-just relocated, tub can stay or go, pantry remains same size-just relocated, swapped refrigerator to wall bordering laundry and put double ovens where refrigerator was originally.)

Congratulations on a drop-dead, gorgeously done dining room! I agree with the rest here that if you lower and center the chandelier, add a one or two buffet lamps and a new centerpiece to the table, it could pass as a "Candace room". I love what you've done with the drapes! The table centerpiece is very nice, but it mimics the lines of the arrangement on your buffet too closely. That one is stunning, BTW . . . don't change it, please! But, a large, low, well-done table arrangement would be perfect. Look for something that's at least twice the diameter of the one you have now. Jan mentioned a large green bowl filled with dark pebbles and a pillar candle. I have one very similar to that on my family room coffee table that I made a few years ago. I found the bowl, the black river rocks (polished, smooth and approx 1-1.5" each), candle and faux succulent, etc. all at HL. I'm not suggesting this exact one for your table (the extra branching greenery wouldn't work for yours, I can see that already), but it may give you a jump-off point for making one that works for you. Lynn Lynn

geokid, I forgot about Young House Love's kitchen...I've seen theirs before. It looks great. I'm afraid their kitchen is bigger than mine though. wendyb, your space looks wonderful. In the pictures it doesn't look cramped at all to me. You might have more room widthwise and less room lengthwise than I do. I can see how traffic patterns could be a challenge. If we go with a rectangular table I'll probably run it lengthwise in our space. I looked around the web for a while yesterday and I came up with this photo which looks like similar space and layout to what I have. This has a round table, but I'm not sure what size it is (I think I'd be looking for somewhere in the 44-48" range). It has both chairs and barstools: I also found this one which has chairs similar to what I've ordered. Mine are the armless version though and mine have wood legs not chrome. Also, this space is quite a bit larger than mine. I definitely like the chairs with this style of table:

That IS a cute chair, great score! Grandmotherly in a good way, if that makes any sense... that same feeling of enfolding cuddliness, I can almost smell the sugar cookies and Earl Grey tea. I actually like the matching pillow better, although it needs to be re-stuffed and really plumped up nice and fat - I think the chunky dark pillow breaks up that lovely feminine curve of the back, keeps the eye from moving smoothly over it. Wish the thrift stores around me had such goodies! Although if you don't mind my totally unsolicited random opinion which you are completely free to ignore or even tell me to shut my yap ;-) I wouldn't use a leather club chair for the other chair. I think with the partly-leather couch it could be a bit too heavy and make the yellow chair seem a little bit "all by its lonesome" as both the only all-fabric seating piece and the only pale-colored one (unless you did something like a buff-colored leather, which I just can't see working). I can imagine a small-scale wing chair - a low, almost squatty one to properly balance yellow chair, not a really vertical one (heck, if you lived closer I'd give you one we got as a handmedown that needs reupholstering. Comfy and sturdy and actually the fabric is brand new but but whoever picked that gaudy floral was stoned or something, and I do want a more vertical version) - in a lighter-colored, texturey, flecky fabric picking up colors from your tapestry couch fabric and a little of the red and yellow would be charming, IMO. Then pop a pillow on it that doesn't match anything at all, like an antique-type needlepoint one. If you were going to have two additional chairs besides this new-to-you one, I'd say go for it with one in leather and one in fabric. Oh, and I love the dog in the admiral's hat... is that a print? And if so, who is the artist? If you didn't mind I'd love to get one to go with my other "dogs in uniform" prints. :-)