OK... first time all day that someone is not screaming or crying in my house. Crazy day today. Lavender- I wish I could see more pics of that kitchen. It's great. It even has the same cabinet style/color, island color, and flooring that we are planning to have in our kitchen. The 1 car garage is 15'10" wide. Is that big enough to steal space from it? I'm pretty sure we are limited by the property line restriction on the sides of the house. Our lot is 110' wide and 235' deep with untouchable natural green space in the back 1/3 of it. (100'x235' treed natural green space on the west side that is owned by the development.) Bump outs are a bit tricky because of our lot limitations. We hesitated to bump the kitchen out too much because it will limit our backyard patio and landscaping space. A lot of the odd bumps in the floorplan is because during the design process we did a 1' bump out of the kitchen, and several feet to the music room. Both rooms used to be even with the rest of the house. Lyfia- we put the master in that location of the house because of the view. :) Plus, I've never liked the idea of the master bedroom or bath being on the front of the house. Peytonroad- Thanks! Someone else pointed out the wasted space in the mudroom/powder room area. I'll have to keep thinking about that one. You all have given such great ideas and things to think about! I'm not sure if I mentioned this on this thread, but we've hired an independent architect to oversee the build. I'm meeting with her soon so that we can go over any of my concerns. This thread has been wonderful to collect ideas and issues to bring to her. Would love to hear any other ideas if you think of more. You all have been wonderful! Thanks so much!

I have the MW drawer. Yes, I would rather have a regular one installed in a tall cabinet at chest/neck height, but it didn't work in our kitchen so a drawer it was/is! The MW drawer has all the features of a countertop/regular MW (sensor cook, sensor reheat, soften, melt, defrost, etc.) so you will not be sacrificing MW functionality. A drawer is certainly better than a regular MW installed below counter. Even though we're a tall family, the MW drawer has worked well for us. The controls are angled up slightly and it's easy to lift things out of it. It's a snap if you have to stir something b/c you just open it, stir, and close it - even better than a regular MW. You also do not need a turntable or have to turn items in the MW as the technology makes both obsolete. We also use the MW a lot...with the exception of the refrigerator, it's probably the most used appliance in our home! BTW...The drawer does have a "child lock" so you can lock your children out for now. (It won't be long, though, b/f you'll want them to learn how to use the MW safely...probably another 5 years or so for the older child.) Oh, and unless it's a design issue, get the 24" one, it's the same size as the 30" and you gain another 6" to use for another cabinet (make one wider or add a 6" filler pullout). [The 30" has more trim to make it 30" wide...not a larger MW.]

This wouldn't address the microwave issue, but I have a double oven range that I absolutely LOVE. I use the top, smaller oven every day - it preheats super fast, and it also has a toast setting (enabled us to get rid of the toaster). This pic is of our old house, but it's a good pic of the range. In that kitchen, we had a shelf for the microwave right next to the range, as you can see, which freed up counter space. At first I thought I wouldn't like the microwave up so high, but it worked fine for us (no higher really than an OVR micro). Anyway, this might not be exactly what you had in mind (we have a pretty low-budget kitchen compared to the kitchens on this site!), but thought it might be helpful.

As Sophie and HandMac have stated. The STAIRS are your biggest problem. If you can have them carpeted, then you will want to do so. The next big problem is the subfloor underneath the 2nd story carpet. Carpet HIDES the WORST subfloors in the world. I mean THE WORST. Carpet can hide humps and bumps and lumps like no one's business. And the only way to assess the subfloors properly is to (you guessed it!) remove the carpet. Hopefully the subfloors have maintained some semblance of "flat" and you can go straight over top with some moisture/pet resistant laminate. And remember to add in the cost of a decent underlayment for the laminate (vinyl isn't allowed underlayment). The NOISE difference between carpet and laminate is enough to drive some to drink! A decent underlay/pad (1/4 cork or 5mm Quiet Step) will offer some outstanding noise reduction...but you will have to watch the height of the landing/top step. It could push your entire stair system out of code (yes there is that pesky code popping up again when it comes to stairs). Sigh. Do you see why everyone is telling you to be cautious about code?