One more question, should I expect the contractor to provide an actual price for the demo, flooring, etc. or is it reasonable to just expect an estimate that may fluctuate based on what's found behind the walls? You need to ask the contractor what his 'reasonable' estimate is. Addtionally, you need to think through what is acceptable to YOU. The more room you have in your budget, the greater the risk that you can take to let prices fluctuate. I generally start the remodel without a firm budget and let everything fluctuate. I have done multiple large remodels in my current house. I decide for each line item if it is worth the price to me or not. My budget is quite generous by most people's standards. If you are in a situation where if you run out of money then you can't finish the house/kitchen, my way of handling the budget would not be advised. (Imagine for yourself: I moved the doorway but I don't have the money to pay for the countertop that I wanted....) If your budgeted amount is close to the contractor's original estimate, I would not let things fluctuate. The risk if too great that your house would NOT be finished. I have seen multiple situations of this in my neighborhood.

Hi Marcolo Thank you. It did not occur to me to simply eliminate that box and replace it with storage. I just figured we were stuck with it. And you are right: it is just an empty box sitting there taking up space. And, since it is made of uninsulated 3/4" wood, it probably makes the kitchen cold. So either of your ideas -- the bench or the cabinet -- would make that space more useful, and warm it up at the same time. Fiberglass for the door. I will investigate that material. I had asked one carpenter if the door could be remade in Azek, but he thought it would not be rigid enough. So I started thinking about Azek with a backing of plywood, but then I imagined that double layer would again make the door very heavy and difficult for me to open and close which is why I haven't taken pictures of of the headroom yet. I need DH's help for that project, and he has been tied up with a tennis tournament this week. I think we can do it on Sunday. Hi rmtdoug, Good points, all. Although it would squeeze the sink closer to the cooktop, I will ask the carpenter when he next stops by about shortening that wall from the mudroom to the kitchen, I would very much like to do that if it is not too costly, especially after seeing lisa_a's latest design with an expanded mudroom just off that space. When I saw her good idea I realized we would not have to preserve much of that mudroom/kitchen wall at all to maintain the current size of the mudroom since we could just open up the other wall and, until we get a shed built, store a whole lot of necessary gear close to the back door, including a snow shovel in winter and a rake in summer. Hi lisa_a, What an incredible design idea. I absolutely love it and it solves so many of our problems simultaneously. The pocket door between the bath and the shower is a clever solution. The only sticking point is that the maximum opening on that wall (where you have shown the entry to the new mudroom) is only 28" because there is an old chimney on one side. The chimney is shown on the architectural drawing as a funny shaped rectangle protruding into the "shower" area on the plan. That unused chimney is actually a square that sits outside the kitchen on the mudroom-side of the wall. However, I so love your design that I want to use it anyway. If we ripped through some of the trim on that bathroom we could widen the opening to a suitable sized doorway. I realize I need to upload all the dimensions of the mudroom, the BP and the dining room. My design software has arrived and I have used it to outline the kitchen with some gross dimensions, but I need to get all the dimensions on it because you and Jillius have had to guess the measurements of areas outside the kitchen. I see you drew the stairs opening to the living room. Thank you. Now that you have imagined how that will look, do you think the opening to the kitchen from the living room should be closed up and the sink sited there? I ask this in case we can afford to widen the kitchen opening from the mudroom as rmtdoug suggests since doing that would cut down on the length of the sink/cooktop wall. The distance from the inside wall of the kitchen (the one with the mudroom on the other side) to the furthest wall of the BP (with the dining room on the other side) is 181". The distance from that same kitchen wall to the closest-to-the-BP dining room wall is 185.5". Let me know if those measurements are not what you were looking for.

lyricfox: The easiest way to widen a door opening is to replace the jack studs (the ones which fit between the bottom plate and the header) with either metal brackets or a combination of the brackets and thinner wood. Even with modern 2x4's which are 1.5 inches thick, you would now have a potential opening of 33". (The original 30" opening plus the 3" gained by replacing the jack studs) In older houses, you may have studs that are actually 2x4". Now you have a potential opening of 34". I doubt, however, that any reasonably new walker would need an opening greater than 32". 32" is also the standard opening for wheelchairs as defined by Americans with Disabilities codes and others. Where HandyMac's suggestion becomes really important is in the width of hallways. These need to be a minimum of 36" wide in order for wheelchairs to be able to turn into doorways. In all likelihood, most older houses would have halls this wide anyway, but I would avoid a house in which they are more narrow. Widening a hallway is not impossible, but it would be much more complex than widening a doorway.

"Rather than learning roof flashing from the internet, hire a good roofer." Good advice. If I owned a roofing company one of the requisites installers would have to meet before installing roofing is building a jungle survival hooch from plant material or a man made material similar to large leaves. It doesn't sound possible but ask anyone who spent time in rainy third world areas like Southeast Asia. The natives can't afford sheet metal,tarps,tar paper and such so they build shelters from plants. A pretty good example of roofing principles can be seen from inside a wood shingle/shake attic. There's daylight every where and appears a cat could crawl through gaps but it doesn't leak if properly installed. There is little if any visible tar or cement on a properly installed roof and no amount of tar will fix an improperly installed one.