The original plans make more sense to me, although my #1 requirement isn't in them: a powder room near the family entrance and kitchen.

I like the MBR suite in the original; you don't want to sacrifice an exterior corner to a closet -- you could have windows!

Your deck/porch areas are not deep enough to use except in your first drawing.

I like the original 'back hall' open instead carving a specific 'pantry' our of the space. You can use back hall closets for any kind of storage. You have plenty of upper cabinets right IN the kitchen.

I love the front elevation! It's so beautiful!!!!!!!!!!

The original plan has a ton of bump-outs and that type of thing. And the whole "sun room" thing is weird, it's not even really a sunroom, and you have to wlak through it to get to the kitchen...it's more like a glorified hallway to me. It's a neat plan, though.

The first plan you made makes the most sense to me...a good way to remove some corners is to just extend the family room out to the main back wall, and voila, two corners are gone. I do see the porch on the side...will it be a screened in porch? When we build a house or extensively remodel our house, a screened in porch will be a *necessity*, but not everyone feels the same way. If you wanted to take the two exterior corners that the enclosed porch makes, you could always convert that area to a sunroom instead of a porch so you are back to just one corner there. Many older rooms have neat little sunrooms like that on one side of the house.

Also, in the second plan, the breakfast area is in a very different place. I personally hate floor plans where I have to walk through the dining area/breakfast area to get to the kitchen or family room and vice versa. But that is just my opinion - it's your opinion that counts the most!

Do keep in mind that a fridge is usually deeper than 2'.

Also keep in mind bathrooms are often one of the most expensive rooms in the house, so cutting down from 5 or 4 baths to 3 or even 2.5 baths would help with costs in addition to the corners, etc.

Chisue, on the original plan, that back hallway area could probably be easily modified to include a family powder room there...it's quite large of an area. I know you love those!

But homeagain, most important is what YOU like best! :).

I love the second plan, overall. I like it better. Combining the breakfast room and great room gives you a lot more flexibility with your space. I also would like what you consider wasted space below the breakfast room... to me, that just gives you even more room to be flexible and have walkways, without feeling too crowded.

Regarding the previous poster's comment about sacrificing the corner for a closet... you could flip-flop the location of the master bathroom and the master closet easily. Then, add more windows to the bathroom. That's up to you and your style, though :) Most ppl want more windows.... I don't! I like my cave, at least in my MBR suite :) (Flip-flopping them would also move the shower/toilet noises away from your bedroom #2... which would be considerate for that person!)

I don't love the location of the half-bath, again, because of bathroom noise near your master. There is also the potential for great room noise/tv noise... but I have a kitchen wall adjoining my master... so, you can't always win! like us, just make sure you sound proof that wall thoroughly if you care about noise reduction :)

I agree with the deck not being deep enough. 8' is tiny in person (and that shape is disproportionate..... but that is something you can add on later. You don't need to obsess about that now :))

I have plenty of cabinetry in my kitchen, but I loooooooooooove a pantry. I moved walls around and removed a hallway just to have one. I also fully support you adding on to the pantry. I love hiding the mess in there, but being able to see everything at once.

RE: your builder question, that is hard to answer. You have to see the work your builder does..... and make that choice based off of that. Do you like the quality of his work? the details he puts into it?

Chisue, Thanks for your comments. Unfortunately, the rooms in the original didn't quite work for us, even though I love the exterior. I agree that the master bath is much nicer than the one I had drawn, but I was trying to eliminate as many corners as possible. As for the changes to the back hall, we have three kids so a dedicated pantry is important to us.

krycek, Thank you! The exterior is what drew me to this plan. I did remove the gable within a gable that was shown on the original elevation to simplify the exterior somewhat. I hope that my change gives it a more classic look. My intentions for the porches are to have a couple of rocking chairs on the front porch, the grill and a couple of chairs, or maybe a swing on the side porch and the deck would have a round patio table with four chairs and a couple of chaise. Same goes for the second plan, except there would be no side porch. The expense of another bath is the reason that I deleted the half bath from the mud room in the second plan. (Sorry Chisue. I know this is a requirement for you but I just didn't feel we needed two full and two half baths on this floor.) I'm not entirely convinced I want the breakfast room between the kitchen and the family room.
I did find these inspiration pics though that I love showing the same kitchen setup as the second plan....

lolauren, I do agree that combining the breakfast area and family room, really opens things up, since the kitchen/br in option 1 is very closed off. I've never had this set up before though and don't know how I would like it on a day to day basis. In the photos above though, it is a very attractive option. I did flip the wic and the masterbath but had to add an extra foot to the width of the house to make it work, which is one of the reasons I had it in the middle originally. I also thought I'd reduce plumbing costs by having the master bath and the powder room back to back. But the masterbath looks more attractive in the rear corner even if I didn't gain any additional windows. I also added a foot to the master bedroom just to see how it looks but I don't think we need the extra space.

I did decide to see what would happen if I removed the side porch and expanded in that direction and changed the orientation of the kitchen. This is what I came up with and I'm actually liking the kitchen quite a lot, no blind corners! This gave me a much larger breakfast room though and I thought wouldn't it be nice to add a fireplace to the center, have the breakfast table to the left and a small seating area to the right. All of this is still in the same space where I had the porch before and since we were planning a flagstone floor and nice railings for the porch, it probably won't change the price too much.

Thoughts on option #3? Is the kitchen too spread out?

Very nice. I think the newest plan makes a lot of sense.

I agree that the latest plan is an improvement. A couple points I'd consider: 1) having a powder bath in the mudroom area might prove to be more practical in your day to day lives rather than forcing folks to walk through the formal part of the home to reach a bathroom. 2) in the master bathroom, if there is a view out the rear, I'd consider moving the tub there and putting the shower and toilet on the side wall instead.

Otherwise, you've got a nice plan!