Note - after submitting this, I just saw DonnyMac's posting on 12/8 - Is this the same problem? Sorry for posting an almost identical question...

This looks lots better without the hutch! I think I feel the same way you do about doors. When I asked our designer who was taking my design and putting it into construction drawings what he would change, he said, "You have too many doors!" I told him I needed every one of them, kept them all, close most of them daily and the others weekly, and thank my lucky stars every day that I didn't listen to him! So it seems to me that you should keep these doors for all of the very good reasons you gave, ESPECIALLY because you can't multi-task in the kitchen with noise (I'm the same way), or you will probably regret it. I have a somewhat similar situation at the end of our lower level TV/WS room that sort of funnels down as you approach our stairs--a set of 48" wide double doors on the furnace room on a slanted wall on the right, a set of 48" double doors on a closet that juts out into the room on the left, and a set of 54" double doors to the workshop sort of straight ahead, just past the bottom of the stairs that go up to the right. I had planned every inch of our house, but the closet was an afterthought. When the 3 sets of doors were installed, I thought, "Wow, that looks cool!"--just like I HAD planned it! So, in spite of the irregular nature of the space, the thing that I think makes it work is the absolute sameness of the doors and trim, as well as the relative distance between them. But it's definitely not symmetrical. Our doors have no glass, and are stained 3-panel oak with with a simple 3-1/4" arts & crafts trim. We don't have all of the competing glass around that you have, since there are no windows in this area. Because you only see your 3 sets of doors from the family room, and with your seating arrangement really only facing the 2 sets of doors to the interior of the house, this will probably work out ok. I'd make the doors to the kitchen double doors, and have them open onto the family room walls, and have the lites, trim, height, and frame width match the doors to the dining room as much as possible--make it look like they were all put in at the same time. The sliding door to the deck will look different no matter what you do, but I'd try to get the other sets of doors to match it in trim and height, although I'm guessing that you won't be able to match the sliding door lites' design, since your pictures are showing different styles. Also, take into consideration the lites' style on the exterior windows of the family and dining rooms when you're finalizing your sets of doors. Not sure I'd put glass doors in the cabinets in the family room, since there's already so much glass in this room. In any case, can you try this out with a double door in the 6' space, see if you think it might work, and let us have a look? Anne

There are, for rent, hand crank lifts. You'll need a couple of people to help.

Is your fridge or your freezer the problem? If it's the fridge, then get a large all-fridge for the kitchen and move overflow fridge and freezer to the garage. If the freezer is the problem, put an all-freezer into the garage. All-fridge and all-freezer is more expensive, but ends up using space much more efficiently. One way to mitigate the cost is to buy a commercial model. They tend to give you a lot better bang for the buck. Unfortunately, they also tend to be more noisy. So, that's probably only an option for the garage. We have a "True" fridge in the garage and really like it. If you need more than 4 burners (30" range or rangetop) or 6 burners (36" model), you should review your cooking style. Even restaurants often make do with that. The trick is to use your oven(s) much more extensively. They are a great tool whenever you need to cook things for a long amount of time. In other words, I wouldn't double up the stove or the fridge, but I certainly would get additional ovens if that fits the budget and available space.