Carla you are absolutly right when you say we need to go beyond holidays b-days and weddings. just last night I was reading in the graceful bee site and something that I read made me think think I need to take pictures that tells about the life my family has lived. My dad loves to fish but I don't have a picture of him fishing. My grand daughter has asthma occasionally she is hospitalized and I don't have a picture of her or her new friends in their hospital gowns. She doesn't have a computer at home but I have software for her when she visits. That the first thing she want to do when she comes over. we made brownies with her ez bake oven I didn't get pictures. My sister just moved I left the camera home the day we were painting and cleaning.I'm going to keep my camera out at all times and take pictures of life. The good, the bad, and the ugly. LOL And hopefully my future scrapbooks will tell about the life the people in them has lived.

Peace, I don't have much time this a.m. (Saturday is our busy day, and I don't have any rendering software at home--to keep the job and home a bit separate.) but I have to say, that's a much busier roofline than your line drawing would lead me to suspect! And, it's surprising that the gables run N-S rather than E-W. That's why advice from an experienced contractor on the scene is so much better than an anonymous internet person! But, having suggested that you think out of the box, my first suggestion to you would be to try to live within the current plan without any expansion. That's always the cheapest, and it's the best investment for resale since additions won't "pay you back" unless you plan on living there for 10 years or longer. The chimney and the stairs really eliminate much of the potential openness between the family room and the living room. But, if you eliminate that wall all the way to the chimney, and use the sunroom space, I can see turning your current kitchen into a very efficient galley style arrangement that will still be as open as possible to the living room. Keep the sink in the same location (always a LOT cheaper!) or scootch it down towards the family room a bit, and just run that run of cabinets all the way along that new wall between the patio and family room. THe range would go on that wall between the sink and a full sized glass door (single "french" door") between the kitchen and patio. Put a pantry where you show the fridge, and put the fridge on the new "mudroom" wall (and maybe laundry?). That is, make a wall extend east from the stairwell through the porch (right about where the post is in the rear shot, I'd imagine) to create the other wall of the "galley" where you create a "snack zone" with a microwave (and maybe a beverage sink?) for all of those snackers coming in from outside. The new small "mudroom" would give a place for coats and boots and flotsam to drop before it hit the kitchen. You wouldn't have to change any of your footprint, and you'd get a very efficient kitchen that would be as open to the living room as structurally possible, with minimal structural issues to be solved. No, it doesn't give you an island, or seating in a kitchen, but it will literally probably be a minimum of 50K less of a project, which if you plan on moving in less than 5 years, might make these changes be more in the realm of being able to be recouped. Like I said, Saturday is my busy day at the showroom, so I probably won't be able to check back in until Sunday to see your response to my radical rethinking. And, I'm probably making a few assumptions about you that may not be entirely correct, such as this being more of a first or second home for you (I noticed the young kids toys.) rather than a home for a mature family. If this is a home from which you will never move, then the dollar amount "invested" in remodeling is less of an issue, as you will get years of enjoyment out of creating a larger and more functional space to live in. You might post your current home's layout with a request for other input about creating the optimum kitchen from what exists and you'll get a LOT more input from some very talented forumistas with a more specific appeal to a layout challenge.

Ellendi- We'll start with the main part of the house, with the utility room area as an addition. Most of the plan is already there, but the porches are new. ML- Thanks! I know this has always been your favorite plan, too. I've always loved the kitchen, but I think the utility room/powder room is much better. Dilly- It's more of a cottage/farmhouse, but the exterior rooflines and entry are very much like the inspiration pic. The pergola and swing would look wonderful, but the half timbers are a little more Tudor than we'll probably have. I love climbing roses, wisteria and lots of flowers, so definitely more cottage with a bit of farmhouse feel (I hope) with the porches and big kitchen. I really like english cottage and french country farmhouse, so we'll see where we end up! :) Here's my favorite inspiration pic for the kitchen area... From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures

Funny nightowl, our original desire was to buy an old bungalow but we couldn't find one that hadn't been completely remuddled and would take more money than it would cost to build to fix, or would be a hazard for two aging people. I love old houses and the old details you can't get nowadays. So when the opportunity came up for a small plot of land downtown, we jumped on it. I will definitely keep you all posted. Meanwhile, tomorrow our RE agent's photographer is coming to photograph our condo and we are planning on putting it on the market mid January. I hate the idea of having to move twice, but we would rather do that than chance the market (which is red hot right now where we are) changing in an election year.