I am with Virgilcarter on the tunnel effect and with kirkhall on the need of a shower. There are 2 spaces downstairs that could be used as a bedroom if there is the need in the future. I am not sure why you have a fuzzy/complicated connection between the house and the garage. If you want something cleaner, take a look at the attached sketch. Is the same area and I added a 3x3 shower. If you do not need the smaller closet you can have a 5' wide shower. I did not detail the windows or some of the doors, I concentrated on the kitchen/mud/bathroom area. I made the garage slightly squareish (same area) to avoid the tunnel up front. It is not as important in the back, specially if you place on that space a porch. I also show a different stair (wider) that allows a wider office and foyer, just for your consideration. I do not know how this will affect the upstairs. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: R Redding Home

Just some little things... The narrow pullout bases can be very pricey - check with the cabinet maker. Remember that with framed cabinets, the pullout itself will be at least 3" less wide than the cabinet. With frameless, it will be 1.25 to 1.5" less wide. So if you want to stretch dollar bills, simply do larger cabinets. As an example, the 9" cabinet by the range can be married to the 22" drawer cabinet and produce a 30" cabinet with a 1.5" filler. It sounds ridiculous, but that alone can save a couple of hundred dollars. Having a filler is important when both sides of a cabinet run are up against a wall. Walls are rarely completely level, or square and the filler "takes up" those small differences. You need to allow some air space on both sides and the back of the ref - generally, its an inch or two. Corner pantries right beside a ref are difficult (not impossible) to do correctly. Unless you are getting a fancy ref, the doors of the ref need to be in front of the side wall of the pantry. If they aren't in front, the doors won't open at all. Also, if you need to pull the doors open past 90 degrees to clean, you need to insure the entire door depth can fit in front of the pantry and its door trim. Another small issue with corner pantries and ref huts - The counter should die into the side panel. The counter will be roughly 1.5" deeper than the base cabinets. But the over the ref cabinet needs to be mounted flush with the front of the side panel (or so the cabinet doors are flush to the front of the side panel). I'm not saying "don't do it". I'm saying be very careful and thoughtful about it because its very easy to get wrong - even when done by professionals. As drawn, you wouldn't be able to open the ref door all the way and the ref door and the pantry door have high probabilities of running into each other. There is no possibility of having the side panel turn out in the correct place or be the correct depth for the counter. Personally, I would make the cabinets the same heights - either 42" or 48". The every-other-one pattern looks cluttered. I'm a little bit wondering where you're going to keep the ladder.

Thanks everyone for the feedback Yellowducky, I will take another look at my closet situation. The French doors are mostly for looks since the balcony is very small. I may look into French windows flanked by two stationary windows which I remember seeing on another colonial somewhere on the net. Another idea maybe to use a french-wood slider instead of the swinging door. Thanks for the heads up on the dumbwaiter. CP, I think DH forgot about the media wall (hopefully he won’t be reading your comment anytime soon:). I was never fully comfortable with the entry being right in front of the counter and I think Mrspete just nudged me a bit to the other side. I think either would work so we will see what DH has to say. Chispa, good point. We are planning on soundproofing the washer dryer wall but I will think some more about that. Bpathome, the bathroom vanity is actually 6 feet long which I think will be fine for two skinny girls. Plus they’ve already seen the two sinks so it’s probably too late to change things. The vanity in the Master is 7 feet which I agree could be a foot bigger but I think will still work. I will think some more about the wall of shelves inside the wc though.

Littlebug has a point. We've discussed the powder room/mudroom situation before, but here's another possibility. Mary- I know you DID have a bay window on the back of the house, at one time. So let's say you did it again...with a little banquette. Then you could have a breakfast/game table with built-in storage on the opposite wall. The island/table would give you plenty of seating for entire family (as would the dining room) and the breakfast/bay table would be great for drinks, games, snacks, etc. And a pretty view out the back. I would also add windows back to each side of the range...and maybe a wall oven with microwave over it. Great for a baking area! This also gives you room for a larger mudroom (storage on both sides) and a little hall to the bath, with linen closet. Just a few ideas :) Along with one of my favorite pictures.....