I think numbers is right that a pocket door would be best in this case. I have the same layout but with a bit bigger vanity. I prefer to leave the door open when doing my hair and makeup. If my vanity were as small as yours, that door would drive me crazy.

Rebunky - Thank you for that. Very kind of you to take the time. Your design is very good for where you placed everything. We tried variations of this design but could not fit a regular size fridge in that space. It covers the window, and a counter depth is not in the budget, unfortunately. Plus that jog is 48" wide and what do you do with the remaining space? There's too little to do much but too much to waste. The main thing that would bother me, however, is we would lose so much counter space by not not utilizing the north wall. One thing I've learned in living with a small kitchen is that counter space is the highest priority. It trumps everything. We will mitigate the closed in feeling you mentioned at the U end of the kitchen by use of shelves and wall hangers. This is why few of my plans include uppers. Both of us are non-traditional thinkers and will be fine with shelving replacing a lot of the uppers, and that will open up the kitchen a lot, although it is a trade-off with a more cluttered, or should I say "industrial" look? We have some shelving now and dust is not a problem (at least when I'm not remodeling :), plus we will have pretty good air filtering when the HVAC system is finished and no carpeting in the house (yet another reason to keep the kitchen closed off as it would be extremely noisy with no carpets). As bmorepanic said above, you have to pick your poison. I'm an amateur too. No need to apologize. This is the first kitchen I've ever designed with actual skin in the game. Plus, I'm a guy and that makes me extra ignorant when it comes to kitchens :) All the advice I get here is extremely helpful. I've learned so much by doing just what you did, jumping in and trying something.

smm - it's like you have ESP! The last 24 hours have been all about cabinets (even more than usual). At the risk of getting eggs thrown at me, I'm considering changing course on cabinets. I've been researching Cliq Studios cabinet company, and started talking to them today. I wore my contractor down, told him it's basically the same thing as his preferred cabinet supplier, but I like Cliq's options more. Although I'm sure Sophie et al. would say if it's Chinese they're all the same, I feel a lot more comfortable ordering from them (they have 50,000 facebook reviews, mostly glowing, 5-star rating with Better business bureau), and I think this is a step above other ready-to-assemble cabinets I've looked into. They're having a 40% off sale right now (I know that sounds so cheesy..."act now to get 40% off"). I'm impressed that Blum motion glides and soft close hardware come standard, they use I beams to strengthen the boxes, they're carb 2 compliant, it's comes pre-assembled with free shipping and...did I mention they're having a 40% off sale right now? We've got a pretty tight budget and can only change cabinet suppliers if the cost is comparable, which, based on the rough estimate I got last night on their website, I think it'll be. So, long explanation to say that I'm leaning toward an off-white color called "Painted Linen".

The one in the master bath is called a single or double-hung window. If you can slide the top down too, it's a double. I have both side to side sliders and double-hungs in the kitchen. I can advise against double-hung - they are fairly difficult to operate (leaning over the counter to operate the catch in the center), although its nice to be able to have some air moving near the ceiling. Windows come in standard sizes for a given manufacturer, but all manufacturers do not offer the same sizes. You can get custom made windows, but they are really expensive. You can get single casements in 36" wide and about your desired length, in the standard sizes from some makes. Whether they match will will depend mostly on adding grids between the glass panes in the same pattern as your existing windows. It will also depend on how picky you are about it. Casement windows will likely have a slightly different appearance around the edges on both the in and outside. Other details might be a little different from different makers. The new windows are a different height anyway (I think) and your second story windows are different from the first story so the slight exterior appearance difference doesn't seem like something to worry about to me.