As others have said, your most efficient and productive use of time may be to discuss with your spouse/significant other, and reach agreement on the following: --A list of your essential "needs"; --A list of your desirable "wants", which is very different from the first list; --A list of your essential furnishings and equipment to be moved into the new house, including critical dimensions; --A list of your storage needs such as closet storage, equipment and gear storage, etc., in lineal feet Present this list to your architect and discuss with her/him your budget and other thoughts. Let your architect sort out all of this in a series of conceptual studies for your review and comment. This is what architects are educated, trained, licensed and experienced to do. Presenting a stock plan (or worse, an owner developed plan) is like presenting an Internet diagnosis to a physician and asking for a prescription to treat the Internet diagnosis. It's a waste of time and money for everyone. Spending time doing one's own plan only builds an owner's preconceived ideas and takes more time and money for the architect to demonstrate why, where and how the owner or stock plan simply doesn't work well. Save yourself time, money and frustration--find an experienced architect with a successful record with houses of your particular type and go there for the proper services. Good luck with your project!

I have followed your plans a bit, and have read through quickly, but have a couple problems with the newest plan. I feel strongly about these things on your behalf, so I hope I don't come off as rude or only negative, because I know you've worked and come a long way here. I really am only trying to help you avoid regrets. 1) The biggest problem is that the refrigerator is completely out of the work area, and through the cleanup zone from the stove and prep areas. The stove, prep sink/prep work, and fridge should form the age-old work triangle. The idea of zones is to share things like the fridge, but not cross through and create traffic problems between workers and things like open dw doors. I've said it before, I think the cook takes priority in having access to the fridge, because he/she often needs something QUICKly, and doesn't have time to traipse through the kitchen and around everyone and everything to add something to what's cooking on the stove. 2) The island size seems, sorry to be blunt, but ridiculous to me. Based on the aisle measurements, it seems to be about 8 ft by 9 ft. This is almost the size of some rooms in our house! How will you clean it? What will you use as a countertop? I love expansive islands, but I am afraid this one will be so big, and not look nice, as Laurameh expressed above. I prefer one-level islands, though, and don't think varying heights would solve the problem here. 3) I hope you're not planning to hem in your cooktop with structures that divide the counter? There are ways to achieve the hearth appearance without the towers shown in magazines that come down to the counter and all the way to the front edge. They would block movement, reduce flexibility in your work area, and block the light from the windows. Comments to other discussions that have gone on before: Aisles: I have 4 ft aisles behind my sink and baking areas, but only 3 ft aisle between rangetop and island. It is as Bmore explained...Dishwashers, fridges, and oven doors take room and people need to get safely around them...Maybe even work on the opposite counter. But in the cooking area, I want to prep, turn to the stove, turn back to retrieve prepped items, etc. I don't want to run back and forth, just turn. Also, the tighter aisle, hopefully, discourages traffic from going through and routes them to the wider ones. As a matter of fact, I've shown a photo of our 36" aisle before, because it's much roomier than I expected, and 2 cooks, or cooks and our 2 dogs fit there pretty well! :-) 30" counter between 2 tall elements: I think you've moved past that, but just in case...I could agree with Bmore's and Lisa's comments about the hazard of that becoming a junk area only and not having room to work, in some cases. However, if the area has a specific purpose, it can work great. We have a 30" counter between a wall and a fridge. It is our 'breakfast/snack center.' We have our toaster oven there and keep things like cereals, crackers, chips, and bread in the cabinets there. I could also see such a spot as a place for the coffee maker and supplies, etc. If it has a purpose, a limited area like that can serve you well.

Well, I don't know that this works perfectly, but it gets at least somewhat of everything you want. Perhaps that is enough?The family entrance to the home is in the side. Enter there, and you'll pass the 5' x 5' half bath (with a window!) and a closet and hooks on the back of the pantry and/or on the long stairwell wall. Not the most elaborate mudroom or half bath ever, but it's more than you have now. If you would like to trade traffic flow for a bigger closet, you could always close off the entrance to dining/kitchen areas from the mudroom. (If you're carrying groceries, you'd probably enter the house through the deck doors anyway.) Like this: In addition to the half bath and mudroom, this plan also gains you a big kitchen with an island that is not a corridor kitchen. Moreover, though you cannot see the entire living room from the island, you can see the entire dining room and about half of the living room: Note that, though the living room does not change in size, it has a new traffic pattern running into it from the new hallway. This will shift any natural living room furniture layouts to the right. Does that leave you enough room for a decent furniture layout?

thank you, Flo. I'll try to figure our a way to get better photos, and I uploaded the kitchen only as an edit to the original post. I agree re: lighting, the skylights unnecessary (esp with lots of windows and sliding glass doors). So instead of two different ceilings, would you just exist with a flat 8 foot ceiling? I'm trying to picture it in my head, as I really desired "height". the design of the step-down was for two reasons: 1. out of consideration for my father in law who is wheelchair bound: trying to keep a relatively flat space that allows him to mobilize/sit in rooms without us having to physically transport. So the family room can let him seat "above" us while still feeling included. 2. also, the step-down room allows me to get the 9 foot ceilings I want (since we are keeping the upstairs structure above, the only option is to lower the ground) Any thoughts on kitchen design? Or room sizes? Do they feel spacious even if sqft lacking? Any ideas?