Since I'm paying 2.50/sq. ft for installation of laminate, plus an additional fee for old flooring removal, and some other add-on costs, $2/sq. ft. sounds pretty good to me. I'd have gone with Lowes or HD if they'd carried the brand I selected, but they don't so I went with a different company I've used in the past. HD uses local contractors for their installations and warrants them, so I'd say the risks/benefits are about the same.

rhome410 - thanks for the suggestion around flipping the fridge / pantry area. I had considered it early in the process, but we were hoping to avoid in order to prevent changes to the dining room (wallpaper and paneled.) However, as you will see below I created an updated floorplan and included your suggestion. I think it helps with the overall functionality of the space. We considered the full range over the rangetop / wall ovens. We really like to idea of an oven that is up off the floor for both easy access and distance from small children. Also, the fact that the oven + rangetop combo is actually significantly cheaper is a factor. On the other hand, the full range makes the floor plan easier to arrange, provides ventilation for the ovens and also has the benefit of providing an excellent "centerpiece" to the kitchen appearance. I'd say we're undecided at this point. Do you think I have the right pro/con list? kaismom - thanks for the thoughtful feedback you've given on the overall flow and interaction of the spaces we're designing. I completely agree that this is one of the most important aspects of the design process and is also one of the hardest to figure out since it can be difficult to visualize. Let me give you a few more facts that I haven't already provided. First, we live in the Boston area (not VA). The funny thing is that we used to live in VA - up until about five years ago - so I know what you are talking about! Given the combination of relatively few truely hot days and the fact that our backyard has mostly indirect light except for in the early morning, we aren't to concerned about to much light heating up the house. The back wall of the kitchen that faces the backyard does face southwest, so I'd expect great morning light and then indirect light as the day goes on. Second, your suggestion about casual family dining is an excellent point. We were thinking that the island would be the center of family life in the evenings (homework, dinner prep, dining, clean-up.) You will see below that I've created a revised floorplan and added a placeholder for a table to the plan. My thinking right now is that we wouldn't add the table - but it gives us the option. You make some excellent points about how as the kids grow older, all being seated facing each other might be a valuable habit - I'll keep them in mind. Third, you suggested I consider how we interact with the house / yard today. I'd say 90-95% of our entrance / egress from the house happens via the garage. This is in spite of the fact that we have three other entrances (including two in the backyard.) Now that you've suggested I give this careful considering - I don't expect this to change much - so this is probably the most important entrance to get right. The second priority would be the backyard, as the kids get older I envision more time (especially on the weekends) being spent playing in the backyard. In fact, this consideration is why we are having so much consternation about giving up the side view. While not having direct access to the mudroom from the backyard isn't ideal, I'm not sure we can have both the side view and this access. Adding a door from the backyard into the garage or coming through the kitchen wall adjacent to the garage won't work because there is a bulkhead access to the basement in that corner that cannot move. That's unfortunate since this would have been an excellent solution - thanks for the suggestion! palimpsest - you asked about the right front room. It is currently a room that gets little use. We'd like to eventually turn this into a library / study of sorts since the idea of a formal living room doesn't appeal. Adding the powder room of the central hall would reduce the room dimensions from 17x18 to 13x18 - I was thinking this was still adequate space for the use we envision. Perhaps a little more of a rectangle than would be ideal, but still a space we could make work. What do you think? bmorepanic - Excellent point about the double french doors. The more my wife and I think about it, the fact that they swing creates space problems and also makes it difficult to have screens on the doors. I don't see that much opportunity to have both of these doors wide open with no screens as it's either darn cold or there are to many bugs around. Given this, we're leaning more towards a sliding door. The fact that it isn't centered on the hallway isn't all that big of a deal to me, but I'll keep an eye on it when I can get some renderings and make sure it doesn't look strange. I'm still thinking about the idea of moving the fridge to the wall adjacent to the garage. Biggest concern about this is that it moves it farther away from the family room and backyard entrance. Maybe this reduces the convenience factor? However, it does create some benefits around allowing open counter space across the whole backyard wall and what feels like a more convenient work layout. I'll keep this in mind. If you get a chance, take a look at the layout I'll provide below and let me know what you think. sundownr - it's great to hear the dimensions of your space and that you find it functions well. Very encouraging that we will eventually find a solution that will work for my family. Also great to hear you eat at the island and enjoy it - this is what we envision today. Also, the photos are helpful - thank you for providing them. As you mention, I see you went with the full range which solves the wall oven problem. We like the idea of wall ovens for their convenience and also like the ideas of deep drawers under the cooktop for pots and pans, but both the convenient floorplan as well as the asthetics of the full range certainly appeal. We're still undecided there. New Revised Floorplan: I've incorporated some of the suggestions everyone has provided in this update. Still isn't perfect, but I'd be interested to see what people think. Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions!

Thank you all! Being able to get some fresh input and bounce ideas around really helped. Lisa, I think I have enough room there, but when we measure for the 20th time before ordering the cabinets, I will make sure. The 12" or 15" cabinet can be knocked down to 9" and 12" respectively if necessary. And one of my "ideas" for my husband would be to open up that wall further anyway. It's a small hall area (probably about 40" wide where we enter from outside and a bigger opening into the kitchen from there will make things like dragging groceries in easier. Right now we're keeping the fridge we have which is muuuuch smaller than the 36" model I'm using in my floor plans, so accounting for a new one down the line is more reason to shorten that wall there anyway. I'll have to play around with putting something on that basement stair wall--the non cordless kitchen phone hangs there right now so maybe a shallow desk-like piece of built in furniture would work there. After all, I won't have my small kitchen table to toss the mail on anymore. ;-D Lavender, thank you for all your input! I like this new layout much better than my original. The plan was for my husband to build some sort of shelving thing to transition from the end of the cabinets to the peninsula so that's a good idea.

We went through our appliance place, but I believe we could have done it online or through the local rep. It's a Vent-a-hood and yes, it was pricey. We were trying to convince ourselves that by having it done in Black River instead of SS that we'd be just as happy, because that would have saved us some serious money. In the end, we decided it wasn't worth the savings if we would be suffering from design fatigue before too long. We also considered going with a European style hood, which would have been a big savings, but we're seeing a lot of those around so we went for something less common (at least around here.) The plan is to age-in-place in this home, so we'll be looking at this for a long, long time. I can barely stand the sound of a vent fan, so DBF was onboard with getting a Vent-a-hood to spare me from the fan noise as much as possible. (What a sweetie!) Still, it was painful to pay $4,700 for a range hood. We took so long to make our decision that it's likely we'll be waiting on this to arrive past the time when it could have possibly been installed. Feedback on from all of you really helped us make our decision. It's one thing to discuss the pros and cons between the two of us, but having input from others that have been down the same road, or can simply look at a design from an outside perspective, is invaluable. Thank you!!!