I see how you are trying to get what you want but truly as you build custom, there comes compromise. IF you really want the features you desire, then they have to be prioritized, you simply can't have it all! If you want the open plan then make that the priority and compromise elsewhere. I see that if this house is facing SW rear, your great room will have such glare you may not be able to see the TV! (Tip: have windows tinted prior to installation, will save $$$) I think the whole mudroom could be redone. do you really need the two toilets so close to door? I realize hubby may get dirty but how often? Also the master closets are larger than the bedroom 3, are you a professional with large amounts of clothing or is that really necessary? the dining room looks odd, it is so close to the kitchen table island. Can you push over the kitchen to the far right of the shaded step door(is that the front door?) Maybe connect the great room to the garage and eliminate the guest entrance. You are missing valuable functional space with this plan. Also the only thing in the center of the home is the great room and it has a dining room table in it! I wish you luck, if you think it doesn't work now, just wait till you build it. Even in my 10K home, I have design flaws- that I have to live with!

Actually, I should have mentioned that we eat in our dining room every day. I shouldn't call it a "formal" dining room, because it's not "formal". If someone bought the house, they'd recognize it as a dining room, separate from the kitchen (though it is completely open to the LR). When my kids were little, we ate mostly in the kitchen. Now that they're bringing home STUFF and dumping it on or next to the table, we eat in the dining room. Lately I've been more strict about decluttering and not dumping stuff in the kitchen -- so we're back to eating in the kitchen sometimes. Our dining table can hold 12 people when expanded, and sometimes we have that filled, plus people eating in the kitchen, too. So I'd like to have someplace people can sit in the kitchen, even if it's not a table. Seskatchewan girl: wow, what a lot of work...I will have to fetch my bifocals and take a close look!

Regarding the desk to pay the bill.... Where is your computer for the kids and yourself? You need to design a space for that. You will be on that computer alot! Give it a nice space with window and "indirect" natural light (to avoid glare). You want this place to be in the central area of the house so that you can keep track of your kids when they are young and you can see what they are doing later when they are school aged. Do you really need seating for 7/8 on your island? It seems like bigger is better but if you are mostly leaving the island seats empty on your daily use of the house, then you will have not have a family cozy eating experience. This house lacks a place of sheltering and closeness for a family. It has a hollow big feeling to the house. Not ony that, it is a large house with very few windows to let in natural light. Your biggest fenestration surface comes from the outdoor kitchen which is covered and you will have very little light from there. I would try to create a place where you can be cozy and together as a family in addition to a grand space. A corner nook, a window seat with comfy chair in front of it so you can visit etc... You don't want to create a house where the only place of cozyness is in the bedrooms. You want the family to be together doing things that is more than just watching TV. Is there a nice little corner where you can curl up with your kids to read, play board games etc? You have used a lot of corners in places where there is not much value to the corners, ie bathroom, shower and bedrooms. Corners are expensive to build. Corners can be an amazing architectural elements if used well. Big corner window with a nice seat under it, for example..... Look at your master bath. This is a great use of bump out and corners. I would add the windows on the sides as well so that you have the drama of sitting in a bath tub surround by windows. If you are going to spend the money to have lots of corners in the house, use them to give you corner window in the kitchen which would be to die for or to give you a corner seating with nook and windows. Currently, you have a tiny little window in the kitchen. What if you turned the kitchen around so that you have a large wall of windows which wraps to the corner window and the island looks out to the window. Even if you have the most boring view out the window, it's gotta be better than eating while looking at the range. Where is the view and light in this property? That is the first thing you need to focus on. Build the house so that the light and the view is maximized. For example, if the outdoor area is the best light and view, I would put the kitchen where the gameroom is so that you look out to the garden from the kitchen.... Put the bedrooms in a simple rectangle. For example, push the kids bath up to the top right of the house. The master bath shower and kids bath share a common wall, the plumbing goes there and you same some money... Rework the main area to give it more interest with windows and corners. Once that is done, then you can focus on the kitchen.

Wow HollySprings - tell me how you really feel. This design is a colloboration between me and the KD, not just the KD trying to make a showy kitchen. This is also after I have thought about, researched, read a lot on GW (on zone areas specifically), posted some intial layouts and gotten feedback and made some changes. Yes, I need to continue to tweak it and incorporate the feedback I am getting - like making the left side of the sink 18" and moving the MW (which I need to change anyway b/c of how much it sticks out it makes the counter top space underneath it almost unusable and that is suppose to be my baking area). I don't understand why you don't think someone can prep and someone else clean at the island at the same time? I did have a trash pullout in the island originally but moved it out so I would have more storage where I use it daily/need it. Instead, I incorporated 2 trash pullouts instead of just one (left of the cooktop, opposite the island and far left of the oven - but still close to the sink). I don't bake that much and I almost never do "sear and finish in the oven" dishes so yes the oven is far away but that was a compromise I was willing to make. I don't know where a "better" place for it would be. The door to the garage is actually going to be on the "other' side of the couch so right next to the mudroom-like lockers. Basically where it is in the as-built image below. We already have hook for coats there and use it regularly. What everyone is referring to as the Butler's pantry isn't that exactly. It is more of a bar area and will be used to store liquor, wine, tumblers and wine glasses - no dishes or silver. We need to have a place for this stuff and this is what worked so it was away from the action in the kitchen but you could still stand there and make a drink for someone who is sitting at the island or in the keeping room and converse with them while doing it. And, someday when the dining room is a DR again, it will work well to have the bar there. I realize it sounds like I am trying to defend myself and the design. That's not my intention as I am open to suggestions but I am trying to give the rational behind why things are currently designed the way they are. Here is the as-built with dimensions: Starting with a "clean slate" what would you do, to open the space and make the kitchen better for casual entertaining and a comfortable place for family and friends to hang out? Would it be helpful is a posted photos of the existing space? MtHouse - very interesting idea. The thing is it would work well to have the playroom at the back of the house, but I wouldn't want it there once it is a dining room again. It would be a waste of the view and windows to the backyard for a room that is rarely used as a DR. The other potential problem is the current playroom is right at the front of the house so I'm not sure I would want to make it into a mudroom. I hadn't thought of making the current breakfast room into the kitchen but I'll give it some thought. I wonder if it would be big enough...