Much of the second floor is going to be difficult to keep warm in the the winter even if it is well-insulated, since it is over the garage, work shop, or air space. You'd have to have an excellent, really reliable insulation sub (can be hard to find) who sealed everything really well with 1" of spray foam plus additional good quality insulation--all of which would add to your cost. If it were me, I'd nix this plan. But . . . since you'd really like to have a 4th bedroom, why not add one over the great room instead of having the vaulted ceiling? Ask your DH if he really wants to pay extra to heat that large great room space now and in the future with energy costs being a big unknown. Since you have a tight budget, it seems to me there are lots of better, more energy efficient plans available. Anne

I would do everything possible to avoid breaking the kitchen counter for the pantry door and get the range away from the passageway. Perhaps the pantry could go where the mudroom half bath is and that bath could move elsewhere. The Library needs the additional space as well. I would also try to reduce the distance between the kitchen counters to 42"min and 48" max perhaps by using a wide rectangular island. The stair winders are drawn backward and are not allowed by any national building code. I assume the stairs are mislabeled. The door to the study should open into the study and perhaps relate better to the entry hall maybe even be a pair of doors. The garage doors appear small. The furniture seems undersized and the dining table is short and wide. You should measure your furniture.

Ok, so I just re-measured to be sure. I should have pointed out that the 11' x 9' did not account for the hallway closet that intrudes on the space. So footballmom, you are right. Because of the closet, functionally I guess the room is a lot smaller, as the closet takes up space next to the dishwasher. So here are the more specific dimensions; - Long wall with range in the middle: 140" (currently about 54" to left of range and 56" to right) - Sink/pass-through wall (up to closet): 87" - Window wall: 115" - Wall where fridge is now (up to doorway): 60" Note that the window isn't centered, so there's only 23 3/4" on the right side of it, but 37 3/4" on the left. This is why the fridge sticks out beyond the window where it is. Part of the reason we were thinking of "regular-sized" appliances is resale. Not that we are planning on selling soon, but are trying to take into consideration what potential buyers would want. Also I wonder whether smaller appliances might actually make the room seem smaller by association? Maybe not I will definitely give the idea of a smaller fridge and DW some more thought. 3" of space next to the fridge is do-able. I think that this would only allow opening the door to 90 degrees -- I would be able to pull the right crisper drawer out enough to reach the contents completely, but not quite enough to remove the crisper drawer. I don't think this would bother me. Would it bother other people? Buehl, what do you think? The OTR is vented to the outside (that wall is an exterior wall). Jillypie, I don't think I would have room for a fridge where the D/W/ is now. Bmorepanic, we don't have a basement, just a crawlspace. We had toyed with the idea of moving the sink and making an opening through the passthrough, but it would probably be too costly. No heating in that closet, just a million coats and shoes and an electrical box. I'm interested in the idea of running cabs under the window, but then still have the problem of where to put the fridge. In one way, I do like the idea of the fridge on the range wall, as this would help to visually break up the cabinets on that wall - esp if we get a nice-looking ss one. Divamum, I very much appreciate your Sunday morning musings :) I agree that the kitchen should be a place to live rather than just cook. I'm thinking that maybe if we open up the pass-through wider as well as taller (ie above dishwasher), then maybe we could put a couple of bar stools up to the counter there. There's not a whole lot of space in the DR, but maybe just enough? Kitchenkelly, we are planning to go crazy with lighting too :) I really like the idea of pendant lights over the sink area. Definitely undercab lighting. Hmmm a sconce is an interesting idea maybe I can find a place to put one of those Seems like everyone is in agreement that cabs should all go to ceiling in this space and not be varied heights. Anybody disagree? A couple of KDs (I'm still deciding which KD to go with) have suggested leaving a gap at the top and putting lights up there to flood the ceiling with light and make the tops of the cabinets "glow". One of them had suggested having only the cabs above the range go to ceiling. What do you think of this idea? Thank you all so much! I will try to post some pics soon of different options. Meanwhile, please keep those ideas coming!

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read through these posts and to post advice and suggestions and constructive criticism. I am taking all of it into consideration and some of it was not what i wanted nor expected to hear, but what I needed to hear. I feel as if a little more explanation is needed. We found a builder that we really like and everyone that he has built for has been really happy. He had several plans that we could look at or if we had any plans he could build whatever we liked. He has a gentleman that could draw and customize a home for us. We thought it was architect at first and the price was so good because we were going through him and he would then be able to have our house plan to use in the future. Upon our first meeting with the gentleman that was going to draw up of dream home so we could make it a reality, we learned that he was not an architect, or designer. He's retired now from 40 years of experience woking on/building homes and is good with the software. He is very kind and has been very patient with the many changes we have made along the way. However, we soon discovered that he really has no design ideas or suggestions. He just draws whatever we ask him to or whatever I draw to send to him. If we wanted something a changed, the standard procedure was to just make part of the house bigger, we had gotten up to almost 4400 square feet! If we didn't like the way something worked and asked for a change, he would fix that issue and cause 2 more. I got so frustrated that we are trying to build our dream home and pretty much the only person I had for design help was myself. Uhm, I really want someone with much more skill and talented and better taste to design my home. I know what I want, I just do't know how to get there. We have been working on this for 8 months. I got so frustrated that I gave up for 3 months. Our neighbors are using the same builder and they had difficulties getting their design as well. However they had found a floor plan that they liked and just had him make changes to it and add a mother in law plan. I firmly believe that we are his first truly start from scratch home. Again, this is the guy the builder sent us to to have plans drawn, not our builder. Giving him credit he has taking my very very basic sketches and turned them into something the builder can build from, but pretty much the design is about 99% me, not that I wanted it that way. Here is where I'm at, so you can see that he is doing all the builder type stuff. We don't want to be difficult, but we want a good design. We don't want the builder to think that we are difficult or indecisive because we just can't get there with his guy. I'm at a loss! Several people wanted to know the lot dimensions. So here they are: It is at the top of a ridge, has some slope to it and has a nice open are in the middle. Of course we want the house to sit about at the arrows part of the lot. There is an utility easement of 20 feet on the right side of the lot, but the utility poles are more like 30 feet inside the property. I really do appreciate all of your insight. It has been eye opening. I'll make another post addressing questions and comments. Sorry to be so long winded.