I really like your ideas for shrinking the square footage down some! I did some more tweaking based on what you did - and came up with this. Mostly I just wanted to put a place for at least one window in your master bath and see if I couldn't give you back a bit more closet space. This also puts some closets and maybe a built in desk between the master-bedroom and the secondary bedroom which will tend to give you a little bit more sound privacy. No big deal while you child is a toddler but could become important when he/she gets a little older. Note that I also expanded the width of the garage a few inches to keep the walls on the left side of the house lined up because that allows you to have a simpler roof line. I also shrunk the Great Room a bit - again so that back wall of Great Room would line up with the hallway wall but in this case just because, to me, it just seems aesthetically more pleasing. You might not notice it but I also made the hallways a tiny bit narrower than on my original plan. They are still generously sized b/c I tend to like WIDE hallways. I think I had the hall at 4.5 ft wide before so it had room to shrink. LOL! My CAD program says the heated/cooled square footage is 2267. Still a teensy bit more than you indicated you wanted but not enough to make a hill of beans worth of difference in the cost to build. BTW - I just noticed that you had turned what I had previously called the pantry into a big linen closet. You originally mentioned you wanted a "small" linen closet in the hallway so that's all I've provided here. If you think you need more hallway linen storage space, one could take a chunk out of the lower left corner of "her" closet.In this this design tho, in addition to the small linen closet in the hallway, there is a second linen closet in the master bath.

RM :( I'm so sorry to read your son is still challenged. And more so to see you're on the horrific "diagnostic" road trip literally. I wish there was something that could be done to blow that danged road up....I don't miss it and hate hearing anyone is traveling it. I can only hope you have a short trip! Virtual hugs in the biggest of ways hun! I have only this advice, learned in year three of that road....carry a big purse and a wine opener. You'll be a friend to many a parent if you lock the door to the parent room and crack open a bottle quietly :) Screw tops can be your friends as well. (And for those horrified that one would drink in a hospital...you haven't spent months in one I guarantee). A quiet glass of wine at 11 when the kids are finally asleep and it's marginally quiet (only the sickest kids are making noise that never goes away, soft cries of pain...that glass of wine alone in the dark while you thank god that's not your child every so often is a peace you don't understand). Enough of that....back to the chickens! hm here's a photo of just the backsplash uninstalled. We framed it in nordic black antique granite to make it fit the space it's in (Joe the tile guy rocked!) So the funny thing is....I've had to move (because of my son's health we had to leave alaska) so we have a new house and two kitchens to remodel/build LOL So I get to start planning all over again :) I can't wait to start from the beginning all over again....(which makes you wonder if I do crack does it not? I can't afford it, I have to finance another kitchen LOL). Star thanks for the nag. I missed the first one :) (You're good LOL) I'll work on the worksheet over the next couple of days. :)

Thank you all so much for great ideas and comments. Herbflavor thanks, again...you've been so helpful every time I post! I will definitly think about widening the "u". Eliminating the 4th seat would be a big compromise bc I have 3 kids and my dh works late a lot so I picture us eating there together a lot. But I usually eat standing up anyway so...?! That half of the door is fixed anyway so I think I could maybe still keep a seat there. I was concerned about widening the U too much though because I want to keep a comfortable path to the sliders between seats at peninsula and seats at dining table. But you think I do have enough room to go close to end of sliders? Question...Do I really need the Ref panels? They add 3". I have a wall on one side and a full height turned cabinet on other side. Could I just have the cabinets above the Ref attached to the wall on one side and the pantry cabinet on other side? I'd gain 3" of clearance around the island pinchpoint, worth it? No one has mentioned my cooktop shouldn't be within 4.5" of corner, so I'm thinking it's ok? Sena thanks, I do think I'm going to need to put something in my island. Anyone think I could just have 1 row of deep drawers along bottom of island, then finished open shelf above them, so the island/work table is like half "open"?

I like them in thread with a link to more. But, be sure to size them correctly so they don't end up being huge pictures that we have to scroll up/down and left/right just to see all of one pic. The bonus is when the pictures are sized smaller, they are a smaller file size which loads faster for those on dial up. Also, when typing the coding for the pictures, be sure to include the height="300" coding (or whatever height). This presets the picture size as the thread loads so you don't have the text jumping as each picture loads when you are downthread. Note: the height coding doesn't affect file size, it makes it load better on the page. So if your pic is huge and has a big file size, the height coding will make it show up whatever size you specify, but it will still take a long time to load. <img src="http://www.website.com/picture.jpg" height="250">