As Chi said, that house is designed for a narrow lot. Probably for an urban infill lot (it reminds me of all the newer houses on the Toronto-based real estate shows). So while the floor plan may seem a good fit for you, I don't think the house itself will be a good fit for a 1/3-acre lot. And there will be no architecturally fitting way to simply add a garage bay to that plan. Are there any restrictions for your lot? Is there a minimum square footage? Is this an existing neighborhood where you'll want your home to fit in with existing homes?

I'm with the others: Lots of wasted space here, and this house would come out with an over-sized, too large for comfort. As an example, let's talk about the kitchen. You say that you tend to congregate in the kitchen, so you want it to be BIG. That's a typical first-thought, but it probably won't get you the kitchen you want. Imagine you're cooking, and your guests are seated at the island. You're going to put out some snackies and drinks -- almost certainly on the island. So you end up doing your prep on the cabinets next to the kitchen . . . your guests are not only seated too far from you across a giant island (too far for comfortable conversation, that is), but you have your back to them. Give up the idea of BIG and focus on how you want the kitchen to function. Once you know what you want to accomplish, then you can lay out a much better plan. But never confuse BIG with better. To illustrate the problem: My current kitchen is HUGE, but it's not functional, and I hate it. FYI: I didn't choose it; I kind of ended up here - not a story worth repeating. Although I have miles of countertop, my storage is all in the wrong places. I have workspace a-plenty . . . but I always use the same little 3' section because only one portion has really good lighting and is oriented towards the family room, where everyone else is. Unfortunately, that 3' spot is also the most convenient spot for dropping mail, keys, etc. so it's always cluttered. For no particular reason, I have a desk inserted in the middle of my cabinets. My refrigerator is against a wall, so the door won't open all the way, and I can't open the doors all the way to remove the shelves for cleaning -- yours will be the same, if you do that corner thing that's in your plan. My kitchen is a modified galley design, and my cabinets are about 5 1/2 foot apart, and it's too far for comfort --- yet I don't have enough space to set up a different configuration of cabinets. Another negative of an over-sized kitchen or bath is that you may find yourself "priced out of" the nicer finishes. When I re-did my countertops about eight years ago, laminate was my only real option. Anything else was simply too expensive. Likewise, with approximately 80 square feet of backsplash, I was stuck with choosing something simple and cheap. As we build this new house, I'm looking at smaller baths and a smaller kitchen . . . but that means I can afford the nice glass tiles and granite that I want instead of the cheapest thing offered at Home Depot. It's true of other rooms too: Replacing the carpet in my 27' family room was over 3K; hardwood was prohibitively expensive. I see the same mistake throughout your house plan: BIG spaces, but lack of function: - Your shower is extra-long, which means it'll never feel warm in there. - Your master bath is huge (and expensive), yet most of that space is going to walkway. - Your laundry room is wide, yet it doesn't really give you good function. Imagine yourself pulling clothes from the dryer: You pull out a couple items, walk over to the countertop to fold them . . . get a few more items, walk to the countertop to fold them. Instead, plan an aisle of 3-4 feet and place the countertop across from the washer/dryer. This requires less space, and you stand in one spot: Pull out clothes, pivot and place them on the countertop. Fewer steps. - Consider the location of your laundry room: From the master, you'll carry your baskets through the entryway, around the giant island, through the dining room and mudroom . . . and then you'll carry them back again. AND by placing your laundry room so far out of the center of things, you're running expensive plumbing lines an extra distance. You'd do well to cut down the size of the master bath and place the laundry room in some of that space . . . AND stack your upstairs bath near the staircase, somewhere close above your master bath. I also agree that the garage will dominate the look of the house. 2400 square feet for the first level. I have 2400 square feet total, and we have two rooms that're NEVER used. We do have one less daughter, but the concept is still valid.

We built off Cool House plan chp-31382. Not a 'farm house plan' and has an attached oversize garage. The nice thing about an attached garage is with any luck, you can orient it on the west side of the house to 'hide' a sustantial part of the house behind it to minimize solar heat gain. One reason we picked this plan was the all hip roof that is stronger and gets an insurance discount here in hurricane country. Also, I wanted to go with a single level home as it's easier to manage heat gain. A 2 story is difficult to manage window and wall heat gain like you can do with a single story with oversize eaves. A metal roof or radiant barrier in the attic can compensate for the extra roof area with the single story. We've ended up with a 2000 sq ft home with an average $130 power bill (includes pumping from well). 10 foot ceilings and heat recovery unit on A/C also helps. I'd suggest you spend some extra time researching all the little things that can add up to substantial energy bill savings as you narrow your plan search. Good luck, Gary

Part of me wonders if it would be less expensive to buy an extremely old house and redo it from top to bottom instead of finding craftsman and paying a premium to make a new house look old. My knee jerk is "probably not, and only if you were to find an old house that was excellently taken care of and didn't require a lot of fussing with to become workable for modern lifestyles." That said, there is a whole "new old house" movement. There is a "magazine" (published once a year, but with an annual kitchen and bath issue, and a source guide) called New Old House, a number of online articles on the topic, and some excellent books by Russel Versacci, among others. (I'm particularly fond of "Roots of Home," but I haven't seen his newest one yet). Now, I, personally, don't have the budget to really to it up right and use all authentic natural materials, etc. But it is possible to gain some helpful tips and develop you "eye" for what makes a house look more authentically "old."