Lexmom-I haven't reloaded my pics yet, but as soon as I do, I'll post a pic of our home's exterior as you requested. Seems like there should be a pic somewhere in the 'How is your build progressing?' threads from maybe last July, August or Sept. You have a very nice plan overall. There are several things I would think about... -Is the laundry room large enough for the # of people living in the house? -No bathroom near the garage entrance--picture this..DH is hot, sweaty and dirty from mowing the grass/gardening & the kids are dirty from playing outside and making mudpies--do you really want them having to traipse all the way through the mudroom, kitchen, family room and hall to get to the bathroom trailing dirt and grime as they go? -Do you really need 3 areas to eat (breakfast room, island seating & dining room)? That's square footage that could be cut & save $$$ or you can trade that square footage for something else--like enlarging the area behind the garage to enable a powder room to be added and a larger more functional laundry room. -Is 16x18 wide enough for the family room? Subtract ~2' for the fireplace protruding into the room, and a minimum of 3' for the walkway behind the sofa and you're down to 11x18 for usable furniture space. -In the master bedroom, 13'4" is a little too narrow IMO to place a bed with a dresser/armoire on the opposite wall and still have a nice size path to walk between them/open drawers. -The living room is a "dead end" room where the rest of the common areas on the first floor are open. Have you thought about opening it up on the foyer side? You may want to check out some of John Tee's plans. Many of his plans are very similar in layout to what you're after (note that the exterior elevation may not be exactly what you're after). Here are links to a few plans that helped us tremendously when it came to trying to decide stair placement and other layout issues. You may want to browse through his various plans on his website and see if any of them would work for what you're after. http://store.johntee.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=JT&Product_Code=1003&Category_Code=2500-3000 http://store.johntee.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=JT&Product_Code=1320&Category_Code=OVER-3000 http://store.johntee.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=JT&Product_Code=1327&Category_Code=OVER-3000 http://store.johntee.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=JT&Product_Code=335&Category_Code=OVER-3000 Hope this helps! Here is a link that might be useful: House Plans by John Tee

Looks nice. I have the same question/concern as kaismom. We have a 39" wide aisle between island and DW. When the door is open, there is only 14" between open door and counter edge and 15 1/4" between open door and cabinet side (no decorative end panel). What type of fridge are you choosing? SxS or bottom freezer? CD (counter depth) or SD (standard depth)? We have a CD, bottom freezer fridge. The freezer drawer extends 18" out (not including handle). If you're choosing a SD, bottom freezer fridge, your freezer drawer will extend farther than that. It would be nice if you could have both DW and freezer drawer or fridge door open at the same time without interference so definitely check these measurements. Does the island include a seating overhang? If it's only 36" wide and you're planning on 1.5" counter overhang, you only have a 10.5" seating overhang. NKBA recommends 15" for 36" high counters and 12" for 42" high counters. If you're tall, you won't want to skimp here. Even if you're not, you may not want to go with less than the recommended minimum. It won't be as comfortable to sit at the counter if the overhang is on the shallow side. Now if you've lived with shallow seating overhangs and are fine with it, then never mind. ;-) Where's the MW?

So...you're eliminating table eating completely? Are you sure that's wise? Or, are you planning to have seating on both sides of the bar area so that it "imitates" a table? I would recommend going with a table-height bar if that's the case...i.e., 30" total finished height with a 36" + knee wall width depth (36" + 4-1/2" = 40-1/2"). For 3 people on each side, it will have to be at least 6' long as well (24"/person). Which, even if that's the shorter wall (12'3"), you have enough room for it. But, don't you think a table would be more flexible? Take down the knee wall and put in a table...they should take up the same space, maybe even less... Tables can be moved around. (We used to move ours around when we had parties to serve as a serving space. We'd move the chairs to the FR and shove the table against the wall & windows so there was more room to move around in the kitchen and b/w the FR & kitchen.) Oh, and children grow very quickly! Before you know it, they'll be pre-teens & then teens...so plan accordingly! (If your response is that you don't plan to be in the house that long, then think about trying to sell a house w/no room for a table anywhere!) I just wanted to bring this up before you absolutely decide...i.e., think about the ramifications of your choice.

Well, it seems pretty good to me from a functional point of view but....I'd put something dangly over that baker's table, or even a downlight sconce. Why? Um, because I'm short and I wouldn't bang my head, and because I like dangly fixtures. I might even be tempted to splurge on one of the adjustable pulley-type pendants, but that might be a bit much. What's going on the wall over the baker's table? Maybe I should ask that first. And of course you already said what's going there--shelves. So never mind. :) I'd still be tempted to do some dangle. I'm not always very practical.