Aw, this thread had me cracking up right up until the deaths in the family. I'm sorry, John! Reality crashes down yet again. However, if you're still auditioning meatloaf recipes, this one might not touch the cheesy bacon versions, but it's the only meatloaf this non-meatloaf-eater has ever liked...and my meatloaf-loving, late FIL said it was the best he'd ever had (of course, he was probably just happy to have someone cooking for him). ;) I had to find this online since my DH packed up my cookbooks. My preference is for the mustard topping. Great flavor, good way to hide veggies (but not strongly flavored veggies like spinach), and still recognizable as meatloaf. Doesn't hold it's shape as well as some (possibly because I tend to over-process the veggies). S-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d Meatloaf from "Cheap, Fast, Good" Cookbook 2 large eggs 1/2 cup tomato juice (or tomato-vegetable juice such as V8) 1/4 cup ketchup 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 cup dry bread crumbs (packaged or homemade) 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats (not instant) 6 cloves fresh garlic (or 2 tablespoons bottled minced garlic) 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, optional (or 2 tablespoons dried parsley) 1 medium-size carrot 2 ribs celery 1/2 medium-size green bell pepper 1 large onion 1 pound lean ground beef, defrosted if frozen (85 percent lean is recommended) Cooking oil spray Mustard-Brown Sugar Topping or Ketchup Topping Mustard-Brown Sugar Topping 2 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar, packed 1/4 cup prepared mustard Ketchup Topping 1/4 cup ketchup 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar Cooking Directions Preheat the oven to 350�F. Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl. Add the tomato juice, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and black pepper. Stir well. Stir in the bread crumbs and oats. Set aside. Peel the garlic cloves, if using fresh. Turn on a food processor and drop the garlic cloves, one at a time, through the feed tube. Process until finely minced. Then drop the fresh parsley leaves (if using) through the feed tube and finely mince. Peel the carrot and cut it into roughly two-inch pieces. Cut the celery into roughly two-inch pieces. Core and seed the bell pepper half and cut it into roughly two-inch pieces. Add the carrot, celery, and bell pepper pieces to the processor bowl and pulse until the vegetables are cut into very small pieces (but not soupy). Transfer the vegetable mixture to the mixing bowl, along with the bottled minced garlic and dried parsley (if using). Peel and quarter the onion and place the quarters in the processor bowl. Pulse until the onion is cut into very small pieces (but not soupy). Add the onions to the mixing bowl and stir to mix well. Add the beef to the bowl and, using your hands, thoroughly combine the meat with the vegetable mixture. Spray a large loaf pan (about 10 x 6 x 3 inches) with cooking oil spray. Spread the meat mixture evenly in the pan. Use the back of a spoon to spread the topping of choice evenly over the meat. Bake, uncovered, until cooked through, about one hour and 10 minutes. Let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Mustard-Brown Sugar Topping Stir the brown sugar and mustard together in a small bowl until smooth. Ketchup Topping Pour the ketchup in a small bowl and add the vinegar. Stir until well blended.

I'm with rhome in tossing B first. There are things I like about A and C, but I think I'd have problems working with either. If non-cooking traffic is a major concern, A could be a problem, especially if you are having to carry pots of boiling water or pans with hot grease across that end of the kitchen to get to the sink. That layout needs a prep sink in my mind and the island would make more sense than giving up limited counter space in the cooking area. Also, make sure you'd have room to get into the corner cabinet -- the dog dish and shelves look like they are too close. The fridge is too far removed in C -- I'd want to put in some fridge drawers near the range so you have a tight work zone there and let the large fridge store food to the table and extras. But that would take away storage for pots and pans unless you want them under the top of the work table. Without it, I'd have a very hard time working in that kitchen. If it were me, I'd keep working on DH and working with mock ups of the layout (tape, boxes, move tables and chairs, take notes about every move you make in the kitchen during the day -- and try to walk through planning a big dinner party, birthday party, etc. I think the sink island and shallow storage idea or the prep sink in the island give you your best use and function of that space. Is DH afraid of the cost or just saying it can't be done? I moved gas to my island when we bought the house, then capped that off and ran water and electricity to the island to have a prep sink when we remodeled. We have a slab foundation, no basement and a bathroom above. That aren't a lot of arrangements more limited than that and I used to think it was not a possibility for us, but we did it and it wasn't that expensive (about $500 for running lines under the slab). We got so much out of it too. We also closed off a doorway (we had 3 going to the driveway and garage along one wall of the kitchen and breakfast room) and gained a hutch with refrigerator drawers and and espresso machine that has turned out to be a popular favorite -- but we almost didn't do it because we thought it would be too difficult and expensive. The cost wasn't that great (spent more in cabinets and the fridge drawers). The challenge came when both reusing and matching brick were more difficult than we expected. Instead of a brick wall, we put in a faux barn door that ties in with the garage door. There are ways to work around many things that are less trouble and expense than you might think. I'd at least ask those questions before you close doors on possibilities.

Jerry Lee Lewis recorded a song about what can result from this sort of domestic "debat". Went something like; You're right She left She's gone You're alone The answer is; (A) leave the ac off,raise one or more windows. (B) use a fan if you have one to bring cool air in or blow warm air out (C) Alow air to circulate a little longer after house cools down, you want the air to cool walls,furniture ect. (D) Close the windows,turn air conditioner to the tempature you want to keep the house NOT 1 DEGREE LOWER (E) Injoy marital bliss

My grandmother's test for a house plan is "how many steps do I have to take with full grocery bags in my hands?" She always wanted the fewest possible steps. If you have to trip your way through kids' shoes, backpacks, etc., in the mudroom (which is really more a hallway in your plan) then bringing the groceries in can be a chore, especially if you have to turn left and then right to get to a landing spot for the groceries in the kitchen. With that in mind, you might consider moving the door from the garage into the house left, so that the hallway runs from the top left corner of the garage straight into the kitchen. Put the mud room off to the right side, and the pantry off to the left. The laundry room can go where the mud room is in study B, or you could move the powder room down to that spot and put in a drinks fridge and bar where the powder room is (facing into the family room area). It might help, as you are thinking about whether to keep a big pantry area, to chunk out what will go in the pantry. I'll give you a sense of our "chunks" of storage and how they work in our kitchen, but you really need to customize this to how you live. (For most people, for instance, the idea of a coffee maker only getting used once a week is exceedingly strange....) We have a much smaller kitchen, so we keep less used appliances and pans (like the crockpot, fondue set, and turkey roaster) out in the garage. We also store our cases of drinks, extra paper towel rolls, napkins, and other things we buy in bulk out in the garage. In the kitchen, we have one corner cabinet that has all our baking items (flour, sugar, cooking chocolate, icing tips, muffin pans, etc) all in one place. It's near our oven. We have a set of rollout shelves in a lower cabinet that hold all our canned goods (different kinds of soup stock, and tomato stuff, mostly, for making spaghetti and other sauces) and all our boxes of pasta, rice, etc. We have two rollout shelves that hold all our plastic bags and tupperware containers, along with my daughter's lunchbox. One rollout up is the snack shelf, which contains anything she's allowed to help herself to. (Extra special cookies and cordials go up high where she can't reach them as easily.) Another rollout contains cereal boxes and dog food (I know, weird to keep them together, but we didn't have enough space for a dedicated dog feeding station!) Above that, we have appliances we use about once a week (waffle maker, coffeemaker, ice cream maker) plus grill tools (because that cabinet is right by the back door headed out to the grill). All this is to say, you don't have to put all that stuff in one big pantry in your kitchen, even though you can if you want (it seems like you'll have plenty of square footage). Instead, think about how to distribute storage throughout your kitchen so that it'll be near where you want to use it. Have fun with the planning process -- it's great to have a chance to make a kitchen that really works with how you want to live!