In terms of the addition of usable square footage, it's difficult to say. What I can tell you is that we are gaining an 8x8 bathroom on one end of the upstairs "hall" and a walk-in closet on the other end, and neither of those was possible before. We are actually raising the entire roof on that side of the house in addition to the dormers so we are also eliminating the knee wall in the bedrooms. I anticipate we'll gain quite a bit of usable space there as well. The scope of the project is pretty vast. In a nutshell we are taking the roof off the east side of the house and raising it, adding in the shed dormers, adding windows in the bedrooms in the shed dormer, adding the bathroom (which I would say is medium to upscale in terms of finishes as we're doing tile and a frameless glass shower), reshingling the entire roof, adding the deck and pergola and adding a sliding door to access the deck. The estimates we received ranged from $50,000 to $130,000. Once we got a little deeper into the inner workings of how our house is put together and what we need to do in terms of structure, it looks like we'll end up spending in the range of $85K. (Ick ... I've not typed that number before. That makes it a bit too real for my tastes). We also live in an area that seems to be on the higher end in terms of building expenses and I have no idea why. The roof, for instance, is not going to be anything special (30-year asphalt shingles) and accounts for about $18,000 of the budget. This is a project that started out of necessity. Existing dormers (you can see one peeking out in the existing house photo) were installed improperly and never insulated properly. After having insulation and roofing experts come out, we determined that the only way to really FIX the problem (which involves shoveling the roof when it snows, going up on a ladder to break up ice dams every time its done snowing and occasional leaking) was to remove the dormers all together. Of course we also needed to reshingle the roof. And as long as we're doing that .... and well, you know how it goes. Sort of takes on a life of its own.

Thanks, all. I'll try to answer some questions. First, it is just the two of us adults with no youngsters in the house, so no need for a kid zone separate from the main cooking area. We do not do heavy cooking and only 2-3 times per year will there be more than two cooks working in the kitchen at once. Also, this is essentially a budget reno with Ikea cabs, stone/quartz, backsplash all coming in at $10-12K. The galley layout is staying the same, with appliances staying where they are (except for relocation of the counter-top MW). The layout works great as-is. The long bank of cabinets has an indoor garden on the other side, so is essentially an open galley wall rather than an "island." There will be no seating/access on the opposite side. The wall opposite the large bank in the photo has a 30" range (staying) with 30" of cabs on either side and the fridge. The uppers will be gone. Two reach-in pantries flank that wall. Here is a photo that sort of shows it, absent the pantries: 1) trash pullout. I know this is a great idea for most folks, but we tend to push the garbage to maximum density. Also, we don't mind just pulling the can over to the counter for heavy prep needs. (Yuck, I know, but its how we work!). 2) Warming drawer - there is one in the range. 3) Second sink - I don't think it would get much use, and it would be essentially "next to" the main sink, albeit several feet away - a little odd?. There is a bar sink in the living area for emergencies, although it never gets used. 4) Drink Fridge - this is a strong contender, and would remain useful even if we eventually upgrade to a fridge not manufactured during the Eisenhower administration. There is also the possibility of locating this at the wet bar across the room, but it would be less prominent in the kitchen. *The fridge drawers are nifty, but I don't think the benefits would outweigh the cost for us. 5) Pet feeding center -- I hadn't thought of this. Dog food is now in a tub in a closet near the door (they eat outside). Cat food stays in the room where cat's dish and litter box are. A good idea, but I don't know that it would give us any real increased utility. 6) Cleaning product pullout -- all of this will be in the sink base and should fit there. 7) Extra 4-drawer stack. I've got one planned at the "junk" end of the kitchen, and there will be a lot of "top" drawers elsewhere, so I shouldn't need this. 8) Micro drawer -- this is probably the top contender if we decide to expand the budget a bit, It will get the MW off the counter and out of the pantry. _______________ Thanks so much for the input, fellow kitchen folk!

One thing with a 10" overhang is that you're not saving aisle space because stool legs splay wider than the seats for stability. Your real usable aisle space is from the stool feet over, regardless of whether they're covered by counter or not. On the plus side, maybe you might as well create an overhang generous enough to tuck them all the way under? It'd not only be more comfortable but look a lot better and be safer. Of course, it also means you need to choose and measure stools before making your decision. These tradeoffs are all very personal decisions, but, knowing how much even shallow storage holds, mine would be to look to the cabinets for the extra inches needed to make this work. I purchased ready-made Ikea 12" drawers for the top row of a line of 12" deep bottoms, with shelves below, so I would imagine drawer and sliding shelf mechanisms are available in a number of depths. If needed, I'd also plan storage for the Christmas dishes and the 3-element slow cooker used maybe twice a year, or whatever as needed, somewhere else in the house. This post was edited by rosie on Wed, Jun 5, 13 at 8:13

Saltlife- I-N-I!! woot woot! Thanks for the encouragement. White Dove is high on my list to look at for cabinet colors. I am definitely wanting to bring in texture to the space. I love the fabric on the couch in my inspiration room. Raee- Simply White is another white I've made note of in many of my houzz inspiration rooms. Thanks! Rosie- notes taken, we are having some built ins on each side of the stone to ceiling fireplace. One side will likely have book shelves, check :) Ruby- the hardware color is giving me fits....at first I was set on black/orb....but I think I will get less tired of a silver color over the long hall. I'm still a bit undecided as to which direction to go in....I like them both. EAM44- Thankfully my builder has an interior designer on staff to help me make the paint choices....but I will say that I am very familiar with Chestertown Buff as we have it in our current family room and love it. It looks much more yellow and very similar to my inspiration room as compared to the swatch you posted (at least in south facing natural daylight) BUT I am open to other colors perhaps a little more cleaner than CB. We also have Hawthorne Yellow our current kitchen and it's "too" yellow for what I'm after. Unfortunately the inspiration room used a custom color that I'm unlikely to be able to replicate perfectly. Thanks for your suggestions, I will add them to my list and evaluate them fully with the interior decorator! Thanks so much to everyone, you guys are all so helpful. Decorating/Design is not a natural skill for me.