First, I have to say I love your cat cabana! You are definitely my kind of person to love your pets so much ....

Now to your kitchen: one concern is about your side-by-side ovens and the landing space you'll want / need for them. I can see you have the island behind you, but your prep sink is just there and I'd hate for you to have to extend yourself / potentially trip over an animal (happens to me, at least) to put something hot down.

My other concern is if you've planned out where you're going to store your dishes, flatware, cups, etc. I'm just thinking about where your dishwasher is and what's around it. I'm assuming there are no uppers on that sink wall, instead looking out into your Great Room. ???

I prefer an economy of movement, so that's why those two things are jumping out at me (besides your great cat cabana, that is!) I am incredibly envious your butler's pantry and mudroom. How divine ....

Good luck!

You say you're not sure you like how he has configured the room. What about the room bothers you most? Maybe we can help.

Hate to argue with both of rmkitchen's points (sorry rm), but I see that you are having an oven stack, rather than 2 undercounter ovens...In either case, it seems to me that there is plenty of counter on that side of the room for setting hot things. And I think I see uppers right above your dishwasher for dishes and such?

What I'd really like to know is what is bothering you about the architect's layout, because it looks great to me. The zones are nicely separated so that there is room for every task without people crossing paths. The refrigerator is handy to the casual dining areas, easy to access for anyone coming in to get a snack from the great room, and close to the prep and cooking areas. Win-win-win. The prep sink is in the perfect (to me) location between the fridge and the stove, and also handy for baking projects...easy to access from 2 sides of the island, which is my preference.

I love butler's pantries, and envy you that, but I would sure like to see a better storage pantry. That tiny closet one is something, but not as much as I'd like to see for a kitchen and house this size.

I have little to offer as far as the kitchen design, but can I say that I'm in awe of your total house layout? I'm drooling over the library (among many of the other luscious details and all that space!)

Sorry if I misread your note! I thought you meant that one of the ovens listed in the plan will be your GE ovens stack (inc. warming drawer and Advantium) and the one next to it will be your steam oven. Did I misunderstand? I guess I just assumed the steam oven would be at chest height as all the steam ovens I've seen have been around there (never seen one below-counter, but then again, I haven't seen too many steam ovens!).

And it just didn't occur to me that you'd have cupboards above the dishwasher -- I just assumed your kitchen would be open to your great room. Clearly that's myopia on my part because that's how our house is laid out!

Sorry again if I misinterpreted your note.

Thanks for all the nice comments. The cat cabana was important to me and somehow I need to incorporate a smaller dog kennel for my 5 lb toy dog to use, too. I sure hope he doesn't decide to try and use the cat cabana..but he might. He thinks he is a kitty, too. :)

The ovens will not be side by sides on the right side but will be stacked. I think the architect left one oven there when I mentioned that I was going to do a steamer and he never took it out again. He then ended up putting it across the way. So I should have space next to my ovens to put things down next to it.

I guess I am just second guessing everything we have done right now. I am still trying to visualize how it will all work out. We are not yet into our final plans and I want to make sure that the design is right. Maybe I am stressing a bit, too, much.

The library is my DH's dream room. I would have probably not bothered with something as fancy. But he wanted it, so there it is. It will probably end up being our cat's favorite hang out.

As for the pantry. I admit it is a bit small, but I still have room in the laundry room to store things, too. I managed to get my upright freezer in there. So I will not have a problem getting using some space in there for larger bulky items.

Aren't you one lucky gal?

I'm ready to put my house up for sale and move in! :>)

Not sure if you have sliders off your kitchen by the eating area, or if you have to go through two doors to get to barbeque. I know most of us who walk into kitchen directly off deck would envy you your mudroom for shoe/ paraphernalia storage etc, but for convenience when cooking or entertaining, a direct entrance would be nice too.

I love your house! You have so many great things in it to look forward to.

Here's my take about the kitchen. I have always wanted a kitchen where whoever was cooking or cleaning up could be part of what's going on in the family room...which in our house...I'm sorry to say usually involves a TV show or game. I see that you have a space at the sink to look through to the great room. It looks like your view is the fireplace. Where is the TV going to be? Also, have you thought about just having it open to the end without a doorway?

I guess I'm thinking about cooking and missing those Super Bowl commercials...wait...the DVR has saved me!

By the way, we have a living room/family room combination that we use as a great room with a pool table in the family room. My kitchen looks over that.

Good luck with your house. It certainly is a dream.

Nice plans! I saw that you will be having bookshelves in the hallway which is something I thought I would do. How wide is the hallway leading to the library? Lucky cats!

Lots of nice features, but the kitchen seems a bit cramped for the size of the house.

I agree with rhome about the pantry being a bit small, and if that were it, to maximize usage, I'd make it a cabinet style, single door, with rollouts so that you don't lose step-in space or items in the back. I'd also prefer it in the actual kitchen.

I also noticed your comment about a warming drawer underneath two other ovens. If the warming drawer is down low -- like a deep drawer often put below double wall ovens, it gets away from you cooktop and it isn't very close to the serving area, how likely would you be to use it? I know I wouldn't use one down low no matter where it was placed in the kitchen.

Also, the more I look at it, the more the fridge looks shoved right next to what looks like it is supposed to be a china cabinet. That spot over there feels forced to me. Am I reding it right?

That is for my tastes. For my dad, give him a 4 car gagage and a 1 BR apt and he could make do. For me, I know I could alwasy put a little more into a kitchen. I also have 4 people and 2 or 3 pets in there a lot. If this is your "last home", I suspect your numbers may be fewer and your needs for space and storage may be a lot different.

Do you get to the dining room via the butler's pantry? Thats a long way to walk around.

I'd push the refrigerator back a few inches into the wall so its face was flush with the counters.

Ditto on the pantry size. I would gladly give up my formal living room for a huge pantry! Personally, I love to cook and we spend probably 75% of our non-sleeping time when at home in the kitchen. So having a spacious, well-planned kitchen would be the most important thing to me if planning a new home.
Your house looks dreamy, have fun with it.

Gorgeous house. But with all that space and all the passageways, the main trafficway through the house really, really deserves some of its own, instead of being funneled into the butler's pantry (huh?) and being required to detour through either the dining room or kitchen to continue. You'll all be using that route 90% of the time. In a home like yours (or anyone's) it should be beautiful and gracious and should take everyone efficiently to your center stair hall, specifically keeping through traffic out of the kitchen. And from wearing holes in whatever lovely rug you might someday want in your dining room.

My first impression of the home design is that it's broken up by today's standards. Most houses now are designed with a more open floor plan in which the areas flow into each other. Unless you are looking for a very traditional (old fashioned) house, your plan does not lend itself well to entertaining and family living. With all due respect to your architect(I'm not one), I think you will enjoy your house more with fewer interior walls - especially the one between the kitchen and great room. People congregate in the kitchen, and yours appears to be boxed in. If you decide to open up your kitchen, you have many more design options.

I'm loving your home too - but I'm with the last two people who have replied - the way to get INTO the kitchen seems a little weird.

Think about the friends who will be coming over for parties with their trays and platters of goodies. They either have to walk right through the great room to get to your kitchen OR walk right through your dining room. Neither seems like great option to me.

To me everything else in the house seems so well planned and the kitchen seems like such an afterthought.

Great comments! Keep them coming. I like the idea of pull- outs in the pantry. Sounds like it may be better than having a walk in. You are all giving me something to think about.

Yes, the built-in buffet was an add-in that we requested due to limited storage space. And I agree it looks like it was just kind of stuck in there. I will be having my cabinets custom made so I am hoping to make it look better when done. I could recess the refrigerator back into the wall, but will that impinge on the entry space from the garage?

I am afraid to open up the the den/kitchen area too much as I will lose some important cabinet spaces. I currently do not have a walk in pantry in my own home but we love our shallow depth (recessed in) wall cabinet. I open it up and can find everything. Although, my bulky items do have to go in a small hall closet.

If I were to open up the space between the two rooms, how would that open up more design options? All I see with that would be open air with lost cabinet spaces. I think I would rather have more cabinet space.

As for our broken-up design. I like a Traditional home. I currently live in one. I like having private more quiet spaces. Believe it or not I recently had a young family couple call us who found out I will be putting this house on the market soon. They are looking for a less open home to buy due to the noise factor of their current open design.

The LR and DR were designed for pocket doors to keep out my animals when I am not using them. These will be glass pocket doors to allow light and open up the space visually. I can't stand that my cats and dog now have access to both rooms and lay all over my DR table and LR furniture. I will be having all wood floors with Oriental rugs so I don't think I will have to worry about my carpets going bad.

There will only be two of us living in this home. We will be living on the main floor. The majority of our square footage is actually on the first floor. The home looks much bigger than it is going to be. The left end of the home that you don't see (couldn't fit it on my scanner) will have a MBR suite with a large walk-in closet and an additional second master (exercise room) with a separate full bath.

The second floor is separated. The bonus storage space (not to be finished) over the garage can only be accessed through the laundry room. We can not have a basement due to the high water table where we will be moving.

There will be two bedrooms upstairs sharing a Hollywood bath and a sitting area above the library. This area has two staircases that access it. One from the library stairs and the central staircase.

I happen to be someone that doesn't care about the trend for no walls and want to fix food in my kitchen (enjoying that experience with my kids), but don't want it to be where I entertain. I also want to make Thanksgiving dinner, or do any other kitchen project, without guests being able to observe the process or the dirty dishes from everywhere in the house. It's not a necessity to have everything open if you don't want it that way. You can see out, but they can't see as well in, and that seems great to me. Also, your table area and seating at the island do provide room for guests...Best of all, they can visit with you without standing in your work zones.

I do, however, agree that it'd be nice for the everyday use of those living there to be able to get to the kitchen without going diagonally across the great room to do so. I think I would consider sacrificing that little closet and part of the lovely butler's pantry to create a path from the entry, just across from the stair landing. You won't be able to see into the kitchen from the foyer, but be able to get there without taking a long hike through other rooms.

I am like you as well, I like old houses that were a jumble of room, little nooks where people could go and sit and hide. I used to babysit for this family who had a large vitorian and it seemed like very step was a new little room and I just loved it. I like that my kitchen is closed off - I'm also not much of a fan of the open kitchen or big huge open spaces.

Anyway, I think that's what I liked about your home - all the rooms. So don't get my comments above wrong. I think your house is really neat.

What about adding a small porch outside the dining room and mudroom area? You could replace the window in the mud room with a door onto the porch. This would give you access almost directly from the kitchen to the front of the house in the event of a party with friends bring dishes etc. I don't know what the front of your house looks like but I think small porches on the front of houses look charming.

buffetgirl: I like your idea of opening up the pantry through the little closet to make another entry into the kitchen. However, that closet in the main hall is to be a coat closet for guests. The closet he added in the LR with the cabinet, I didn't like as it infringes on my LR space.

So where would you suggest we put a coat closet for our guests then? I suppose they could use the mudroom, too. But we will need extra hooks for them. I am looking to go with cubbies in there, but still want to keep the closet for out of season coats.

I also forgot that I would most likely have my central vaccum supplies in that closet, too.

I thought the closet opening into the entry was for guest coats, but see why you would want to eliminate it. Classier to have the closet tucked away, too. Are you using the understair area for anything so you could inset a closet from the living room hallway side?...Or does the AV closet open into that space?

Unfortunately, you are right that the space is taken for AV equipment.

Also if anyone is interested. I figured out how to resize the plans and I have posted the full plans of our home over on the building site for more comments. It appears that many of you are having more problem with the flow of traffic into the kitchen so I thought maybe I would get some additional help from those people over there.

Here is a link that might be useful: My House plans

I would love to see your cat enclosure/cabana when it is finished. We are trying to design a garage as an inside shelter for our cats with an attached outdoor enclosure that will lead out into the back yard. Coming up with ideas that will withstand their claws, etc. is not easy.

For those of you interested in the cat run, we are looking to adapt this for the cats and somehow get a kennel area for my dog in there, too. I am not sure how it is going to look and the plans will have to be able to pass our community's standards committee, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Outdoor Cat Enclosure