Hi Rose, it's the living room. We thought about opening that wall and switching the living and dining rooms, but it was a bit too complicated dealing with 3 doorways that would be affected. (The house was built as a funeral home and there are doorways everywhere downstairs. In the dining room there are 7!) Yes, on the space to the sink side. The new space is 6 feet plus what we gain from building over or around the stack and chase. The hoosier plus lower drawers would leave us with a couple of feet or so for a rack for leashes, jackets. There would be 40 to 42" inches of uppers beginning around the dishwasher for glassware and stuff to hide. Except for the one to the right and then over the fridge, we're thinking we'd go with open shelves otherwise. With so many doors (4 exterior) we've been trying to reroute everyday traffic to one of the other doors.

First of all, THANK YOU for taking the time to read this, look at my plan, and assist me. In response to some of the questions/comments... The right side that desertsteph mentioned not being able to see/read on the drawing - right now there is a large old butcher block table there, with 3 wall cabs and some shelves above. We do not use the table - it basically collects junk. I think that area could be used much more efficiently. Yes, this is mostly "steamlining and prettying up"! I'm not opposed to changing things *if* it really makes sense to do it but am not looking to change things just for the sake of change. I think I have a good base and there is no need to tear it all out and start from scratch. I just want to be sure that I am making the most efficient and effective decisions. I was thinking of putting another oven beside the refrigerator; it seems like the easiest place for a new appliance. I do have a floor-to-ceiling pantry that holds a ton of stuff. If I don't put in a second oven, the space beside the refrigerator would probably be a combo of deep drawers and a good sized pantry cabinet, and/or some kind of built-in microwave as right now we have a countertop MW that just sits on an old dresser! The floor is pine planks - very pretty, warm color - all the first floor floors are the same material, and it will remain. The hall door sees the least traffic, so it seems like the cook center is already in the best place given that I need to keep 5 doors into this space. The space between the island and the kitchen table is basically a corridor to the living room, so that needs to stay clear. I briefly considered a new countertop with an overhang on that side but the overhang would make my existing top drawers unusable, so I ruled that out. We do not have an entry room or mudroom at this entrance to the house; there is a brick patio outside this door. Our laundry room is as long as the kitchen but about 6 ft wide; part of this is a half bath, some is laundry, and the rest is storage and "mud room" functions. There is a lot packed into that little space but it works pretty well. I have aspirations of building a covered stoop at the back since we do use this entrance all the time, but that will be a few years away. I don't think our site setbacks would allow a full mudroom or entry here. I like the shelf above the cabinets too, although I'm not much of a collector, so I don't know what to put up there. I'm short so it is too high for me to access for storage, and works as display only. I'm having outlets installed above the shelf as part of this project so I can install lighting up there to light the ceiling. My finish plan is: *keep the floors *cover the ceiling with an anaglyptic wallcovering that looks like tin tiles which will be painted white *install crown mold all around, painted white *paint the cabinets white, add a "light rail" piece of trim to the bottoms, switch out the hinges with something less obtrusive, change the pulls on the drawers to bin pulls, and change the door pulls to new ORB/white porcelain pulls *paint the wainscot and trim (now blue) dark brown, picking up on the darkest brown tones of the floor and the dark brown fleck in the laminate countertop *paint the walls a very light cream/yellow (BM Pearly Gates, I think) *I'd hoped to replace the countertop to the left of the range with Corian to match what's on the right. It's probably 20 years old and it looks great, but this CT is so old that I am having trouble matching it. I am still looking at options here - would like to use something white/light colored but have also considered the Ikea butcher block for economy reasons, although I am not sure I am up to that DIY project *I bought subway tile for the backsplash at the range, but I have to replace the CTs first because they are not currently at the same height (only a fraction of an inch off, but against the lines of the tile it will be really evident) I guess my biggest question is - is it worth it to consider moving the sink? Would I gain the same benefit by undermounting a new sink at the existing location on the island and having a butcher block piece made to cover half of it to expand the prep area? That would certainly be less expensive, but would it be as effective as the combination of a main sink and a prep sink? I appreciate your time and your thoughts. Thanks for your help!

Right. Mama_goose I also noted the similarities in those two designs (yours and this one I've modified) I guess I don't love the idea of *any* work zone being in that aisle and the reason is that front door and the sloppy shoes (we are in the NorthEast and in the middle of winter) walking through from visitors (people that live here use the garage door) The main reason we chose the fridge for that area of the kitchen is because it seemed to make more sense in the L shape of counter as a prep area than it did over on the side adjacent to the front door where there wouldn't be as much counter space to spread things out for prepping. But what you say about walking around to a distant corner to grab a drink or something also is an inconvenience. I am also at such a loss as to where I will store canned goods and other pantry items in this design. Having our kitchen at the front of the house is something I had a hard time getting used to at first, but now I embrace it. I do want it to be as inviting as a kitchen can be when guests arrive, and walking into a range area is probably not a great idea.

3onthetree - thanks for your questions; I'll try to answer them here... - I believe all are the 4" lumenaires except for (2) 2" over card table. Yes, that's correct. On the remainder of the adjacent open area (kitchen, dining, foyer), the same fixtures are used, with 2" (WAC R2ERAR) being used on counter/table surfaces and 4" (WAC R4ERAR) being used on 9' high areas. - Is the opening on the 11' wall a sliding door, windows, or open to another room? That opening connects to the Kitchen and dining spaces, which are one contiguous area, abutted by the foyer (split level type thing). What you see peeking through there is the E end of the dining table near the chimney and the E end of the island on the S side. - Why is the reading chair lodged into the kink between the FP and wall? Really, because we wanted a reading chair in the space, with enough individual seats opposed and after a lot of cad variations and mock-up it's what practically worked out. That space passes through to the dining space. It's not really an area that needs to be walked through, per se... but long story short, my wife and I were in debate as to if it should be left open or closed off, and she won and was right.... light and seeing out the N patio doors from the other space would have been lost. Looking closer at the drawing, that chair may not sit quite so close to the chimney, but give/take 6-9". It's the only piece in the room that we don't have yet, and so might have made it a little larger just to fill the space. - A floor receptacle at the couch and some wall receptables are shown sporadically. How to plug in the reading chair lamp? Yeah, I currently have the cad layer turned off for electrical, but didn't turn off the layer with the exterior half-hot soffit holiday light receptacles. There will be about 10 receptacles in that room. - Is the mini-split cartridge up high? Why is there a light highlighting that wall then? Good question. The head on the wall is probably around 8-1/2' to the top of it, at about 9'-3' ceiling. I do want to get light on that wall because a) it may have some sort of photos, decoration on the wall b) getting light on walls has a real impact on the ambient light in the room, esp given all the glass in this room. I did push it out to about 33" off the wall, based on a test with a sample light. It will show up and have some light on it with a little shadow, but tried to position at a distance so as to not have it highlight the wall unit. - Is the FP massing the focal point, is it electric (more a visual piece than wood burning), or is the art on the FP more the focal point? Or is the drawing indicating the FP faces the Kitchen? The fire place is an odd situation... old masonry structure that had been converted to double sided by the owner decades ago, when they did an addition E of the chimney. We are converting it to a gas insert, and there is no double sided gas insert on the market, so we elected to have the FP point to the LR, and a mason closed up the W side. Artwise... not quite sure what we will hang yet... I have some large framed prints that may go there for now. Something on each side of the chimney. There really isn't much wall/display space post remodel, so this is one place to have something on display. - What is the need for the 2" tasks only at two corners of the card table? Is your pendant chosen and will it, in combination with the built-in seating, take focus away from the Living area? Conflict with the size/type of lamp next to couch? The pendant isn't chosen yet, and will probably not be something overriding.. It's physically far enough away that we are comfortable with it not competing. The thought on the area is that this is an area which will either be used for cards/games/etc at some times, and other times a working space (kids homework, paperwork, etc). So, we wanted to provide two layers of light - pendant with some ambiance and softer area lighting as well as some task lighting. My guess is the task lighting will only be used 10% of the time, but come in handy. - The chandelier looks centered on the FP and 11' opening, but not the windows over the bookcases. Will the bookcases and windows coverings further accentuate how the chandelier is not aligned with them (as well as the 3 recessed)? The built-ins are not going in at time of initial construction (budget), and we are still working out what they will be. There is a strip of windows across that wall, which start about 7', so they will go to some level below that, with the top being 12-14" deep, and most of the space in these being to display objects more than books per se. Likely will have to put some lighting in those, too. Base cabinets deeper for storage of blankets, audio equip, sub, games, etc). The chandelier is centered about the fireplace (and north facing Patio doors, which contrary to the drawing is a 4-panel setup with the two center panels parting), as the furniture layout is built about it as well. S 'patio door' is a 2-panel wide opening door that pockets into the wall. I had not thought about the bookcase centering (well... I don't recall if I thought about it, as it was some time ago), but just checked and the fixture is only 1" off center of the book case. Good question, but let me know if you have a recommendation. - Is the swivel chair covered? Yes, it's this R&B chair... I think my wife picked some golden microfiber. The fireplace opening is much narrower than the structure, so there is sufficient space according to the insert mfg. - Is the Living lighting designed in relationship to the Kitchen/circulation lighting given the openness of plan? In general, yes. However, we are not intending to have equally uniform lighting everywhere... there may be some dimness before moving into another area for some transitions. - Given all the questions above, the lighting is apparently being designed for this exact layout and furniture. Is there a need for more of a flexible layout, either with this furniture, or different? Or that the roof structure may not allow exact placement as indicated? Yes, that is correct. Furniture is already in the garage, and we would rather design around the current than 10 years down the road. There may be some minor tweaks to the center lights, based on framing, but not by much. Most of those perimeter lights I've already verified with the laser. At this point, I'm mostly trying to figure out if 3 lights are genuinely needed on the N side, due to ceiling height, and loss of light out the doors, as well as the placement of the lights relative to the chairs on the S side of the LR layout. I did a little testing in the original proposed location (behind the swivel chair), and wasn't entirely happy with the shadowing, and also don't want to position the lights in a location where it will lead to odd face shadowing. Similarly, want to ensure that the fixture in the center of the LR seating area kind of holds its own area to some degree without being overly washed out by the recessed lights. Here is a look at the overall space from the other end, though I don't have one handy from the LR end.