Thank you all for your feedback! Chisue--We plan to eat most meals informally at the island, as that's the way things seem to run in our current home. In nice weather, we'll hope to take advantage of the covered porch. Thank you for looking at both the interior and exterior. We actually don't plan to use the stonework shown on the drawing and I've made a mental note to carefully pick the garage door style to tie in more with the rest of the exterior. We would definitely want steps down from the covered porch; they are missing from the current plans. Andi--I would gladly post so you could see dimensions easily, but must admit I have no idea how to do that. I have drawings in PDF and jpeg--would I need them in a different format? Ignorance is not always bliss... Joyce--I so appreciate your photos and feedback about the MBR windows. Your windows are gorgeous and so are your bed and nightstands! How sad to need to cover them...a problem with moonlight hadn't even entered my mind. Betaiota--How interesting that you suggested a nook off the kitchen! The plan we started with had a nook and DH wanted to swap it out for the covered porch (we're still not in total agreement). Adding a deck off the covered porch is definitely a possibility, but may lose out to more patio space on the lower level. I appreciate your perspective on having too much light in the bedroom. It ties in closely with Joyce's comments wondering about the point of having so many windows if you have to keep them covered all the time. So much food for thought!

Thanks for the replies and thoughts! zone4newby: The island is a work in progress. What is on the plan now is not what we like. We started out with seating for four, then asked for seating for 6 based on a recommendation from friends that just completed construction. They have one less island seat than family members, and said they wish they could all fit there for informal meals. I was fine with having only enough seating for the kids, but my dear wife would like us to have the option of sitting together at the island for meals. My only additional thought was kid seating when we have guests for dinner. All of our friends have kids and we thought the "kid table" could be the island. We are going to address the open hallway above the foyer. The architect thought it would be nice to have a "connection" between levels of the house, but we think we will close it off. We want the extra height to let light in from the windows above the entry. palimpsest: Wonderful feedback on the "extra" gables. I think we can easily eliminate the one at the back of the house. I agree, I much prefer the back elevation to the front. I will address possible changes to the front with the architect. pps7: The front bump out will be a work/study/computer area for the children. If they need peace and quiet, we can watch TV in the room off the kitchen and not be disruptive. I would love for you to elaborate on your thoughts regarding the utility of the mudroom. We plan on having cubbies for each of us as well as a closet and extra shoe storage. We can throw a couple of doors on to cover the washer/dryer and sink area. We like the idea of having laundry facilities in the mudroom - for Mom and Dad's clothes as well as dirty/wet/sports stuff. I agree with you that the house would probably look best with all shingles. kirkhall: The fridge is next to the bathroom "below" the counter with the range. We will also have a beverage fridge on the other side of the entry to the room off the kitchen. We are building in Portland (at about 1000 ft elevation), so not too much worry about ice dams. Baby will be at least 2 1/2 by the time this project is finished. If we feel he's not ready to be that far from us, we can either temporarily use the room above the garage or have him in the room off of the kitchen. Thanks again for all your feedback! I appreciate you all taking the time to share your ideas.

Sorry I hadn't responded in a day or so. My wife and I have been busy discussing changes to this kitchen! My wife is reluctant to give up that 6th bar stool, but we're both willing to make changes to our kitchen to make it right. buehl, Thank you very much for taking time to sketch out some options for us. Very helpful. I would love to get your thoughts on the picture below. It's basically a flipped version of your layout while maintaining the same size of the shell of the kitchen. I flipped your layout because we are trying to have an open feel for the kitchen and want to minimize the U shape. I think this new design maintains many of the advantages of the layouts you proposed, but now that we still need help arranging the different types/sizes of cabinets within our space. laughable and others, We will rethink the trough sink. I like the sink that laughable mentioned and will be looking for something like that. We would love to get some opinions on this design. Sorry for some of the chicken scratchings on the paper. My son got ahold of it and I wasn't able to erase everything. We appreciate all of your help thus far.

Thanks for all the help so far. Work and life have been busy for the last week so I've neglected my kitchen plans, but my architect is back in town and we are meeting with her next Tuesday so I am back on it today. A couple of new thoughts/developments since I last posted after looking at appliances and considering the input of my husband (which I do actually do occasionally, especially on kitchen stuff as he is the more frequent cook!). - instead of double ovens and cooktop, we will likely get a 36" inch range and a speed oven/microwave mounted somewhere on the lower cabinets (I like the 24" Miele, but all others seem to be 30" wide so may go with another brand like GE just to make any future replacement more likely to go with existing cabinets). - on northwest wall we are now considering a 24" or so cabinet with drawers that we can use as a landing area for junk drawer type stuff and maybe a glass cabinet above so we could use it as a bar area for parties. Then the rest of that wall will be a framed in cabinet. I want to install a countertop at regular height (see inspiration picture below) that we might keep a regular microwave on, soda stream etc, and then have room for (non-built in) bar fridge below if we find we need extra cold storage. I think the closet itself probably needs to come out at least 36" inches from the wall to give a little space between the countertop and door, but I plan to use 2 of my 24" doors opening to each other on this closet so the opening will be wide. - I am getting a free built in 15" ice maker from my work. After debating keeping it in the basement, I think I want it in the kitchen (it's nice) because we use a lot of ice. - We will then install a insta hot/filtered cold faucet on the sink, which has me wondering if then we will want a separate prep sink near the icemaker for people getting water (we drink A LOT of ice water in our family). I forget if it was mamagoose or someone else on another thread that suggested the idea of a corner prep sink, but that kind of appeals to me because that is where our current sink is and while I don't want it for my main sink anymore I think it makes good use of space I'd probably under use otherwise. So given all that, does anyone have any suggestions for me before we meet with the architect. I'm still unclear in my own mind what the arrangement of major appliances should be. Here's my pantry idea picture (although this looks deeper than I am envisioning). Here's my existing plans with some additional measurements.