The mudroom is huge, what all goes in there?

The hearth layout has a chair in front of the sofa right now, if you line up the chair front with the sofa side that chair will be Much further back toward the island...the configuration you have now is misleading.

Jenswrens- I think all your designs have been very pretty. As for the coziness factor, I agree...it's a beautiful room, but not as cozy as I had imagined, when you described what you want.

Have you thought about putting the fireplace in a corner? One of your other plans on this post had the two chairs in the corner, looking out the windows...what if they were looking at the fireplace? It wouldn't have to be that particular corner, but you get the idea. Very cozy, curl up in the chair in front of the fire, but still have the ambiance for the table and chairs.

As for the kitchen layout...not my area of expertise. It's very bright and airy! As for the mudroom...yes, I think you need one and I like how you have it set up, but I see what you mean about wanting a screened porch, too. I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions, but don't worry, your kitchen will end up being beautiful and functional.

Are you going to have a window for growing herbs? I love the idea of herbs in the kitchen...but I guess that's the romantic in me. If I lived in a warmer zone, I'd love to have bourbon roses hanging on an arbor outside the kitchen windows :)

jenswrens- I didn't see the inial thread, but I think it's lovely. I am particularly fond of all of the windows. PP may have a point. Once you move the chair back, it might give a different feel to the room, something less removed from the kitchen. Also, it could just lack coziness on the screen. In reality, once furnished and decorated, it might feel more intimate. As much as I like the balance the fireplace gives the hood, I'd be tempted to play with the corner fireplace idea, to see if it warmed things up for me.

Jenswrens- Just a thought about the mudroom. Could you switch the oven and fridge? I love the way they look now, but if you could put a door between the wall oven side and the long counter with the cooktop (kind of lined up with the door to the butler's pantry) could you access the mudroom that way? You could bring your mudroom over flush with that (north?) wall and have a bigger screened porch. Also brings the fridge closer to the dining room and living room.

If you did put the fireplace in the corner (where the closet is) you could have big windows around the eating area and maybe even french doors to the screened porch. If you want a really big mudroom, you could put decorative cabinets or a desk to the left of the oven and have your pantry/closet maybe as part of the mudroom..don't know if that works or not, but thought I'd suggest it :)

I think the open look is beautiful!

I didn't read the first thread so some of this may have been covered there, but the huge size of the mudroom did strike me immediately. (It's bigger than our current kitchen---you could fit a lot in there with room to spare!) If it were me, I'd want to take some of that space back for an outdoor space. (Not sure where you live, though, which would make a difference in how much use you'd get out of a bigger porch.) Alternatively, could you take a chunk of the mudroom for a walk-in pantry with a door in the kitchen? Or maybe even a door off the mudroom, since you have lots of storage in the main kitchen, so the pantry could be for longer-term storage or bulk items.

Beyond that, it looks lovely, and I don't know enough about big kitchens to have much to offer on the layout front. :)

Jenswrens, I hope you know that the meanness heaped on your previous plan was from us wanting you to have a really really great kitchen, not just a pretty one!!

First impression, this is a much, much better plan, and should fine as is, though, as with most plans, some tweaking can probably improve it. I have been noodling around with your design and came up with nothing that worked. You've done a great job, and it's worth all your iterations and efforts.

I love the way you've conserved your windows and gotten the wall space you needed for your tall units by reorienting. And I love your complex island. It's a little quirky, which makes the elegance of your design interesting. If you don't think you need two dishwashers, I don't think you do. The aisle size is fine for baby goats. I once did an analysis and decided that 40" bare minimum to not feel cramped and claustorphobic, and 54" the maximum not to be too wide. You're a couple of inches past that, but you have the "goats". It won't be bad. The biggest issue in that is landing space for the fridge, but that's something that can be worked with. Maybe a folding tea cart for the odd thing that's just too heavy to carry to the counter. Maybe just group effort.

I think the hearth seating is going to be cozier than it looks in the drawing. Over and over I am reminded how seating doesn't look on paper like it takes up the amount of real room that it does in life. Plus, when you were drawing you left a nice, open passage between the hall and the porch. IRL, there will be a dog lying across that, at the very least. I really think by the time you're done decorating there will be plenty of cozy in the room, and you need the space that's currently empty. (Says the one with the big rooms--maybe it's just the big roomness that's making it feel uncozy. You want a big room. The agoraphobia will pass.)

Why is mudroom junk visible? Can't you put in a door? Doors are really useful barriers to unwanted sights. The other thing you could do is just put a small partition wall inside of the doorway to block the sight through. Or if you're trying to let in light, make a textured glass partition there. That is, something sticking out of the South wall, about 3-4' wide, that people have to go around to get to the mudroom proper and blocks people seeing in. A partial vestibule, if you will. Or even a decorative, freestanding screen.

I see the value of making the porch bigger though. Do you need a powder room there? Do you want people not crossing the hearthroom to to other powder room? Or do you want to move that (I forget). But, if you make the porch bigger, how do you enter the mudroom?

I think you could design something like a potting bench on top and a pet station under counter height that would serve both purposes and make maximum use of your extra mudroom space. I don't imagine that one would usually want to be doing gardening tasks and feeding both at the same time, so sharing the space seems natural.

Okay, my big question is about the wine room. A window? Really? The North wall helps, but I wouldn't even want the wine on an outside wall. You're going to need plenty of extra insulation there.

AHA!!! If the powder room is in the mudroom, would that be okay for company to use? If so, you could remove the powder room as shown, move the wine room to the interior, and make part of the current wine room into your pantry. Pantries aren't fond on windows either, but most pantry foods don't mind small changes in temperature, whereas you should keep wines at even, nonfluctuating, temperatures. Light isn't great for either, but you can do a temporary solution for that, like blackout film, if you don't want to take out or board over the window altogether.

The dishes don't go in those pretty glass fronts? and the drawers below them? The problem with dishes on the island shelves is enthusiastic tails and cat hair. You could add doors.

As to the rest of the kitchen proper? Is that the two microwaves between the glass fronts? They're pretty there, but I usually use the microwave on stuff right out of the fridge or freezer. If you do too, that distance could be a bother. I don't think there's room for them on the other side though, and splitting up the MWs and the coolers, and putting one of each on each wall breaks up the pretty.

When I first looked at the plan, I thought the appliances between the glass fronts were double ovens. If so, those are okay there. Most things that go in ovens start out as pots or trays on counters, and you have the single near the stove for moving between those. If the double are really the microwaves, I might trade the single oven with one of the microwaves. But that depends on how you cook and live. What's more important? An oven by the stove, or a microwave by the fridge? Maybe a little MW near the fridge for defrosting a bagel and melting butter, with a big one on the other side?

I stand by the first thing I said, though. No matter what might not be perfect in this plan, I could live with it as is. Everything but the window in the wine room.

The aisle size is fine for baby goats

LOL! :-) I am at work right now so only have a moment to comment.

I actually can't wait to get home to play around with some of these ideas (corner fireplace, moving the door to the mudroom, etc).

And of course I know that it was "tough love" in the other post. I like to hear from everyone, both good and bad. After all, that is why we have this sounding board, right?

Now I feel I can move on to the more detailed stuff... More later.

Jenswrens, it might be interesting, instead of the sink build-up, is to do a one level island with a perpendicular 'table' coming out of the island (if that makes sense).

This would allow folks to take advantage of the FP and view, allow you to prep and mingle and also allow you to make a cozy seating arrangement around the FP, with the couch facing the FP to act as a room divider of sorts.

Jenswrens- Looking forward to your next design. I forgot to mention, I love the lamp you have over the dining table :)