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

I have a single inswing Marvin french door with transom in my brownstone parlor kitchen. They are made with an integrated frame so the seal is pretty good and less draft/heat/cold issues than I expected. They are made to order so you can order them to fit your brick opening. Although I looked into having a screen (retractable or outswing) I never bothered. The door is open a lot all summer without much of a bug issue. IIRC, your kitchen is tight and an outswing might suit you better. I didn''t need an operating transom but that might address your desire to "open" a window. Or you could just open your dining room windows - your kitchen is totally open to it. Go to some window dealers with big displays - not HD/Lowes - and take a look at the door displays.

Two options come to mind: 1. a doublehung with removable sashes. It might be hard to find a company who would be willing to build a DH with such an extreme width/height ratio, however. 2. a true "French casement", where you have two window sashes that open up like a French door.

'Magical Encounter' is on my short list. Good to hear it's vigorous. I have a spot where a tree and ivy were removed, leaving the soil depleted. Several TBs not doing so well there. Except for this workhorse.