My Dreamhome... Thanks for the recommendation. I am flattered you liked and remembered the plan I did. Great recall as well. My memory is great..its just damn short. Laurensmom.. I am not a fan of this plan either. The screen porch is forced and squeezed between the bedroom and family room and it blocks views from the way to prominent Dining room. The master bedroom or bath /closet should stre\ch out to the left so the house lengthens and doesnt get so confined and views blocked by the other rooms/massing. Do you really want a front loaded garage on a large lot such as yours ? Doors always open ? Not saying this will work but the pantry and espace should flip with kitchen or have them next to hall. The family room will most likely need to shift over and try to overlap the dining area to open the spaces. Right now its way to tight at the Dining and its not a large space so its even worse. Be careful of too much wrap around porch that costs money for very little benfit of actual living. I wouyld rather have a larger living area than porch that rarely gets used. I would also want access to bonus room over the garage from the house second floor. Unless that stairs from garage is needed it could be eliminated and save a nice chunk of change. The family room sticks out as you say you want but a rear wall fireplace takes up what is often times the best view. Not knowing your site and its best features and views I have no idea if this plan takes adavantage of these but somehow I am not thinking so. This plan excites me less than it does you. The master closet should be a minimum 7 ft wide as well for comfortable double loaded rods/shelves. Sorry to be such a pessimist on this plan but I would challenge your designer to do better or cut your losses now. I hope you can make it work and hope this helps a bit. The master shower is too small and their is no linen cabinet/ closet and it feels tight in there. The master bedroom wing appears to be 15' wide on the outside. You buy lumber ( usually in 2 ft lengths and you will cut it off and theow it away. plywood is 4x8 sheets. Carpets usually come in 12' and 15' widths. If walls are 2x6 you dont need seems if 16" out to out and can still be stretched in most cases even if using 2x4 walls. You have a basem]board tha takes up an inch or so as well. The second floor is ok but back wall windows are not a good fit with those roofs below on first floor. These would change as the first floor does as well.

Well I had seen ads in the back of magazines ad. table pads so I got mine from 800/737-3150 Berger's table Pad Factory out of Indianapolis,IN..Anyway they also have a website and when I placed my order either the print ad or internet site was cheaper and when I mentioned it, they gave me the cheaper price. Make sure you get the upgrade to the magnetic lock that joins the two halves and leaves together so they don't slip around. Also, at the time if you ordered a second pad for a buffet etc. you could get that for $40 extra so I did. They will send you a sample kit with colors etc and they have some manuf table bases in their data bases or just give them the measurements. I also opted to get the bags that are lined on the inside to put the leaves into and I'm glad I did that too. Very nice company to work with. I'm sure if you google them you can find them. Good luck and that sure gave me peace of mind when I got my new dining room table 2 yrs ago and I'm so glad I did,,don't have to worry about kids or husband now.

I'm bumping this thread so more can post if they wish, and also to help fussy chicken find out about her chair style. These dining rooms are so beautiful. I love looking at everyone's great photos. You know, I've long considered a DR an indulgence, something for show. For years, I had only a kitchen set in each house I was in. That seemed satisfactory. Even when I had company, we sat on the sofa or I brought in folding chairs and called it good. And it was good, since that's what I had to work with at the time. But in my last home, I turned the "Living Room" into a dining room and study, because we had what the builder called the Family room set up for living. It was so nice to have that area where the grownups could play cards while the kids played at the kitchen table when we had company. In this house, I tried putting my dining table at one end of the long LR and using the front room as a more formal room, but about 2 years ago, I moved the dining furniture in there and bought a sideboard for my dishes. Do we use it all the time??? Well, no. We usually eat on the sofa in front of the t.v. You can do that when your kid is 20. But nothing beats having a real dining room for company or a nice dinner. And I love the patina of the antique furniture, the oriental rug, and maybe a few candles burning just for ambiance. Some houses have no room for this. Some people's families can't spare the space that could be used for something else. But when you can take a little piece of your house, put in a pretty set of chairs, maybe add a vintage sideboard or chandelier..........wow. Just take a look at all the dining rooms pictured above for inspiration. Red

My questions: Why does the sink have to be centered under the window? How flexible are you with windows and doors? If flexible (i.e., can change sizes or locations), your options open up considerably. Even just changing sizes (not locations) will give you many more options. Can the window be changed/moved? Can the patio doors be changed to 48" wide total (two 24" doors instead of two 30" doors)? BTW...I also advise you not to assume your teens will be out of the house "soon". There is a very good possibility they will be back following graduation. More and more, young adults are returning to the "nest" for a few years until they can get established in a career and are able to afford to live on their own. This means you could be looking at 3 or 4 cooks and more entertaining in the next few years. My advice is to come up with a kitchen that will work well with one or two (you and your spouse) as well as with 3 or 4. Your questions: Should I keep the short wall at the corner of the peninsula, or should I get rid of it, and make the counter top go all the way to the end? To the right of the counter top, about 1' away is a door to the laundry room. I think I would like it to be opened up all the way. if I make the change as #1 will it look better to have the wall cab at both sides of refrig 12 inch deep? Like the others, I think moving the refrigerator would to the long wall would be better overall. It will get the refrigerator out of the dead end and easily accessible to both people working in the kitchen as well as keep someone looking for a drink or snack from getting in the way of those working in the kitchen (e.g., at the sink or peninsula). It will also open up that area much more. The long wall is plenty open enough that the refrigerator will not "close it in"...not so the base of the "U" where it's currently located. any suggestion on the placement of glass door wall cabs? No opinion right now. Anyone using Wolf 36 inch all gas range - did you make the hood cabinets 3 inch longer on each side (to 42 inch) like suggested by the range instruction? I think it looks too bulky but afraid the heat will damage the cab. I highly recommend making the hood 6" wider (3" for each side). We like the look of decorative hood. However we do cook heavily. We are planning to get a ventilation hood with higher cfm but still wondering if the decorative will hood hold up to the cooking grease and smokes? (To my experience stainless steel is not the easiest to clean either, sigh) I like the idea of a decorative wood hood to match the rest of the cabinetry. We have a SS hood, and it's not that bad keeping it clean. We don't do a lot of greasy cooking, but we do enough...browning meat for tacos, sloppy joes, chili, etc. However, I like the decorative hood idea better! Is a wall oven a must in any kitchen? I'll get a Wolf range with oven. I don't think I'll need it and currently planning to stay in this house for more than 10 years. Definitely not! If you don't have a need for an extra oven, don't get one! However, if you plan to stay in this home when you retire ("age in place"), you might consider at least making a place for one in the future. Or, you could put one in now...maybe an oven/MW stack. Wall cab besides the hood - they are not as symmetric as I'd like. Am I being too picky? No opinion right now. Base cabinets - drawers or pull out cabinets? Pros and cons for each? Which should be next to the cooking range? Drawers! Drawers, IMHO, are far better than roll out tray shelves (ROTS) (a.k.a., pull out shelves). I've linked a thread discussing the pros/cons of each. You may need one for tall items, but you'd be surprised how much will fit in a single deep drawer. If by "pull out cabinets" you mean attached to the door and pull out when you open the door (like a trash pullout, for example), depending on the application, they can also be more useful than regular cabinets (upper & base). I have two sets of pots & pans...for gluten-free cooking (me) and for all other cooking. All of them are stored in drawers...and it's a great way to store them. The "regular" pots & pans are stored in 36" wide drawers under my cooktop...top shallow drawer has knives & prep tools (for "regular" cooking), the middle deep drawer has pots, the bottom deep drawer has pans and a wok. My GF pots are in two deep 24" drawers (fewer of them). My mother stores hers in regular base cabinets and they're a pain to access b/c you have to get on your hands & knees to get the items in the back. ROTS would be better, but then things can fall off. Drawers, to me, are far better. The only other type of storage I recommend for pots & pans is in a corner susan...that's what we had in our old kitchen & it worked very well. Everything was always in right in front of your...just rotate the susan and there's the item you need! How about something like this...assuming the window and doors can be changed...? Layout #1: This gives you a Prep Zone that will not be in conflict with the Cleanup Zone. It also gives you a lot of prep space b/w the prep sink on the peninsula and the range on the right wall. Your refrigerator is located so it's easily accessible from the kitchen, the DR, the LR, and the outside...without non-kitchen work activities getting the way of kitchen activities (prepping, cooking, cleaning up). There's even a secondary Prep Zone b/w the range and cleanup sink under the window. It has an optional oven stack for a MW alcove and wall oven. If you decide against it, see Layout #2 (below) for an idea. You have a 6' wide pantry with 12" deep shelves...a depth most of here at GW have found to be close to "perfect". The shelves are not so deep that things get lost, but they're deep enough to stack 2 or 3 cans (front-to-back), the majority of small appliances, most storage containers (Tupperware, Rubbermaid, Container Store, etc.) I put in a small table, but I don't think you'll need it with the peninsula seating. Speaking of seating at the peninsula, there are 4 seats and a 15" overhang. I did move the peninsula cabinets a bit toward the DR so they're flush with the wall b/w the LR & Kitchen. Yes, seating will be on the DR side with the higher ceiling, but I think it will be fine b/c there are no upper cabinets in that same space to draw attention to the ceiling difference. The cabinet in the corner to the right of the range is turned 90 degrees so it faces the DR. This is a better use of space a blind cabinet, and even better than a corner susan. In it, you could store items needed in the DR...table cloths, place mats, candles, etc. If you don't need additional storage in the DR, it could be used for seasonal kitchen items. Here is Layout #1 with Zones: Layout #2: Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Drawers or doors with pull outs?