I concur the built in desk in the master is just a bad idea. In fact the alcove is a bad idea altogether, you significantly shrink the usable space in your closet for a desk that will probably get much less use. Remember that hanging clothes take up two feet, and the left and right side of your clothes are the same thickness so the best closets have straight walls at a minimum 6'6" apart (that is even tight), and as few corners as possible. The master bath has a nice big chunk of dead space right as you enter it. I would redesign the master bedroom, closet and bath. Personally I would put the bed against the left wall, but I like more space at the bottom of the bed than on the sides. I guess that is personal preference. Square off, and enlarge your closet width by 6" and use your bath space more efficiently. On the two front bedrooms the closets are really bad. A 4'3" closet is useless, 2 feet are taken up by clothes so essentially you have one wall of clothes and a 2'3" of cave. Reach ins will give you the same amount of hanging/storage space and more room space. Then taking all the space out of the closets for a hall takes something not so good and makes it really really bad. You have a huge area for your kids to brush their teeth and wash their face. If you want a Jack and Jill bath then give each room a sink area and a bath in the middle, and don't enter it through the closet. At the mud room, move the door to garage to the center and you will gain coat hanging space on the back wall. In the kitchen you have a sink cabinet, a refrigerator, dishwasher, stove, microwave cabinet, do you want a garbage can cabinet too? Because if you got one you could almost completely eliminate every place for food and dishes in your kitchen. More cabinets, less pantry, less obtrusive pantry entrance. If you are really wanting to build, it might be time to hire a designer to help you. Or better yet an architect. There are too many problems, too many times that you have made small tweaks to the plan that have really big impacts that are hard for you to see. It happens. it's not that you are doing anything bad, just we all have blinders on when it comes to our work.

1. your 2 doorway/isles (cooktop/sink) are too narrow. Since you're making the changes, consider a solid 36" or 40", meaning the end of the countertop/knob-handles, not just the base cabinet. 2. Re peninsula: - no corner susan instead, do a 30" 3-drawer facing range = much more useable than a susan and do a 24" cabinet facing dining room (for infrequently used item, like crockpot) 3. remove the 12" pantry: expensive for what storage you get. instead, think about shallow pantry facing cooktop example: storage between studs Now you can get another 2-5" for the isle. 4. Did I already suggest this? I like my 18" trash pull out under my 36" sink base. example: trash pull-out under sink Then you can make the trash into a 24" 3-drawer base = more storage. 5. Do you already own the FD counter depth fridge? Way more expensive than standard depth but get way less storage. I think you have the space to recess a standard depth fridge, into the closet. goodnight, Amanda

Welcome ME B! For the overall project, you will need someone to determine which walls are load-bearing. Load bearing walls need to be handled differently than non-load bearing. When you remove a load-bearing wall, you have to install headers or posts to take the load the wall used to take. It can be expensive, depending on the span and other factors. I don't know if you need to go as far as hiring a structural engineer, but you will definitely need someone who knows what s/he is doing! You might be able to just hire an experienced and knowledgeable Contractor. I don't know if you need to hire an architect. Is it only the Kitchen you're remodeling? Or, are you moving rooms, adding rooms, etc.? If so, then an architect might be useful. We do have a Remodeling forum where they might be able to help - but I don't know how active it is. (When Houzz took over, we lost a lot of people and many Forums have gone from being very active to hardly any activity.) I would at least check. It's possible the Building a Home forum might be helpful. Remodeling Forum: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/remodel Building a Home Forum: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/build . Regarding the Kitchen layout...most true Kitchen Designers would be better than a general contractor (GC) or architect or cabinet salesperson but you will probably have to pay them for their services, especially if they're independent. Most GCs, architects and cabinet salespeople are not very good at designing a truly functional Kitchen, In addition, many cabinet salespeople are there to sell you as many cabinets as possible - no matter how reasonable or functional the layout. Most You can also post here. If you've been reading you will have noticed that we do a lot of designing here - and at no cost! :-) I would start by posting your current layout and then what you're thinking of doing. We might have some ideas that will help you solidify what you want to do. We might be able to also flag things that we think will be expensive and/or very difficult to do. Even if you don't start out working with us, please bring your plan to us b/f you sign off on it. We can critique it and let you know if we see any problems. If you do want to start with us while you're looking for a GC or others, we have an FAQ that will help: How do I ask for Layout Help and what information should I include? http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2767033/how-do-i-ask-for-layout-help-and-what-information-should-i-include .

We are located in central FL the front of the house faces east, side porch faces south. The western side of the house is heavily forested. Heavily forested still won't keep the west sun from the back of your house. So let me get this straight, the best elevation to allow light and sun in without the extra heat of west and east elevations is south. Yet your south elevation has a closet, a mudroom type entry and a guest bedroom. I'm also in FL. SW FL to be exact. I oriented my house so front faces north and back faces south. I have large eaves (32" wide) that let in the filtered sun this time of year and when I was at my house 2 weeks ago, the outdoor temps were in the mid 90's (before the rains came). Inside the house, even with windows but no insulation yet, there were nice cross breezes and it was actually quite bearable. Sofar we have decided to make the following changes: Move the fridge to the sink side of the kitchen on the outer edge Re-resize the shower to 42x60 for proportionality. Squaring up the roof and adding an open gable over the side porch. And... Rename the "office" to "entry". Yes all good starts but not enough for the overall flow of the house that mrspete keeps mentioning. Im not super concerned about where the towels are hung, we hang them to dry after we use them. We set a dry towel and clothes on the bathroom counter prior to bathing. And in reality unless you have a towel in the shower with you or can reach one from the shower, water will get on the floor. So let me get this straight. You're spending big bucks and/or your hard earned time creating this house for you and the Missus but instead of working out even the smaller details, you just don't care? It's not important for your overall comfort and making things easier on you? What's the point of building if it's not to take what you've learned and make things better for you for now and into the future? As for water getting on the floor, there's a big difference from reaching next to the shower to grab a towel on a hook and having to step completely out of the shower to walk across the aisle to grab a towel on a bathroom counter. One creates about 3 drops of water and the other requires being careful so you don't slip on the wet floor. Thats what bath mats are for. And these are the things that will not help sell your place if you ever have to sell. High ceilings and the elevator shaft feeling I will take into consideration. I love high ceilings. My first floor will be 10' in the main rooms and 9' in the hallways. Upstairs will be 9'. My house is 2870 and the height works with the size of the house. What happens is when the ceilings become too high, it actually then makes the rooms feel smaller. There's a balance between just right and too high. In general I enjoy high ceilings and am a bit more comfortable with slightly higher than average ceilings for the size of the space than usual. I think 10' in the main rooms and 9' in the bathrooms and hallways will work fine in your case. The other added bonus by making the hallways 9' is that when you walk from the smaller space into the larger space, it makes the larger space feel even larger. It's a visual trick Frank Lloyd Wright used in most of his houses to great effect. Im also not too concerned about storage, we really take de-cluttering seriously. To be fair storage for a mop, broom, and vacuum "was" lacking but with the relocation of the fridge we have room for a large vertical cabinet on that "wall of storage". And how about the few coats, raincoats, shoes, etc you have? Even in Central Fl it gets cool. But for mundane "every day" things, asside from clothes and shoes, I cant think of anything my wife or I use that would be put up regularly? Seriously, not poking fun, what are typical items that would be stored that we would need easy access to? Cleaning supplies. Brooms. Mops, Vacuum. Rags, Linens. Books. Hobby supplies. Spare toilet paper, spare paper towels, light bulbs, household tool kit, household sewing kit, your favorite beverages, canned goods, ink cartridges, computer paper, pencils and pens, guns if you keep them, pet food, extra soaps and shampoos, toiletries, iron and ironing board, place to hang wet laundry that can't be put in the dryer, etc. Living in FL you just learn to deal with getting wet. Raincoats help.