First, I have to agree with the above poster who says you're trying too hard to build for a hypothetical future buyer. While I agree that you need to walk a fine line between "what most people want" and your individual desires, you're overplaying the "gotta haves". I agree that you do need to build three bedrooms /2 baths (especially because if you're financing any of the build, the bank probably won't lend on less than a 3/2). It's also true that we don't know what the market will do in 10-20 years. On the one hand, I think there's a lot of "one upmanship" in house building; on the other hand, a whole lot of people are looking to downsize, to tie up less money in real estate, to decrease their monthly expenses and maintenance. Remember, too, everyone knows that age-old advice about buying the smallest house in the nicest neighborhood; if you build without these "bells and whistles", your house will be more affordable to a future buyer, and that buyer will be able to add on a keeping room or an additional garage at his or her convenience. One last thought on resale: If you're really doing all these things to keep your house up to the neighborhood standards, are you in the right neighborhood? Having made those philosophical comments, here's what I think of the plan: - The rooms aren't particularly large, so I'm at a bit of a loss to figure out where 2320 sf have gone. The one big space hog is the triangle-shaped back hallway. This isn't an area that's going to enhance your life, so I'd cut it down. - If you're looking to cut size and costs, I'd look at going with a standard sized garage. I especially would not build that tandem garage thing. It's cutting off a whopping amount of natural light that could be making the house nicer, and I personally would hate to back my car out of that dark cave . . . and I'd hate worse to see my teenaged daughter doing it. - Next I'd chop the Keeping Room. It's not an ideal room: You have to squeeze by the table to reach it, then it has no visual or acoustical privacy. I'm sure it'd be a pretty room with the fireplace and windows, but it's not a practical room. - I'd reduce the kitchen size. I know, I know, NOT THE KITCHEN. This kitchen is large, but it isn't laid out to function well: The middle island is blocking the way, the refrigerator door will block an aisle, and this kitchen will require many extra steps each day. You have a long cabinet run against the wall. I'd reduce the width and stick with just one island. You'll still have a large kitchen, and it'll actually be a better plan. It'll also mean you can skip the prep sink in the island, which is a pretty expensive single-line item. You can also downsize to standard appliances for some pretty significant savings. - A money-saver: Move your washer/dryer and your laundry sink to the same wall; this means you'll only need ONE thicker wall containing water. And since it butts up against the secondary bathroom, you'll be doing double duty there. - Thinking of water and going back to the kitchen, look at how your water is strung across the kitchen: You'll need water lines for the refrigerator, in the island and on the main sink island -- and possibly a pot filler above the stove. Things like this end up driving up the price. Consolidate these things closer together, and you save not only square footage, but also your plumbing bill. - Finally, though this has nothing to do with saving square footage or money, I'd look at flipping the master bath and master closet. If you move the bath to the back of the house, you can have nicer windows, and that'll bring the closet (which doesn't need natural light anyway) in between.

Fant, I like the layout of the kitchen for many reasons. I would have a problem though it being so closed in on all four sides except for the tiny window over the sink and doorway to a mudroom. It would get pretty dreary IMHO. You have quite a bit of storage possibilities so you could either enlarge the window and/or open up the kitchen/dining wall. You could enjoy the lovely window and nutual lighting from both the dining room and kitchen. You indicated the structural walls as you think they are but the very little knowledge I have of support walls, I thought it was rare to have structual walls going perpendicular to each other. I would get a structural engineer in during this design faze.

Part of why I suggested putting the big ref on the back wall is to eliminate the turn at the ref. The ref where the ovens are and the ovens at "alt-ref" can work too. Not at the original ref location because its kinda bad to have the open oven doors and somebody seated at the stools. It's ok for a micro, but not for something where the doors are hot. My personal preference would be to not have oven doors in a traffic aisle. Looking at it again, maybe park an inexpensive drinks ref on the dining room wall if you retain full depth cabinets. A nice looking dorm undercounter or one of those 2x2 ref-frz like the small lg unit. Possibly a bar sink on the dining room wall run for a complete drinks area there. If it has the pantry and a microwave, it easily becomes the express food area for kids. If you want, you can buy a simpler, maybe smaller main ref without water and ice in the door. The prep sink question is a good one. In this arrangement, you might not actually need one on the island (five people will chime in and disagree)! Its a bit more convenient, but not much. If the main ref moves to the back wall, you need one on the island even less. If the main ref moves to where the ovens are shown, you should have one - so that you don't have to cross the cooking area to get to the water. Where exactly it goes is partly dependent on what type of ref you're getting. A sxs or a french door needs landing space opposite the ref - behind you when you're standing in front of it. A single door ref needs landing space to the side without the hinges. So a single door ref, put the sink in the lower right corner of the island as drawn. A two door ref, the upper right corner. The other question about island width was a place I didn't use enough words (again). Without an appliance, the entire run of cabinets on the dining room wall could be less deep by 6 to 12" and the island could take up those inches in width.

I have never heard of a building code that would allow for removing the half walls on a porch - someone could fall off. I agree that you need someone to create plans that comply with building codes.