just my 2 cents.. i currently have the set up of your first drawing. where you have the pantry i have a wall to the living room, i put a 6 inch deep 5 foot high free standing shelf along the wall (easy to make) and i keep anything in glass jars on that, i have a reach in pantry.(where your deck is i have a bed room with a bathroom next to it, door facing the kitchen, and the pantry is between the bedroom and bath), the shelf i have is narrow enough not to impede the entry next to the peninsula, and it keeps me from worrying about having a glass jar break in the pantry, everyone who sees it thinks its a great idea (i keep remains of boxes of pasta in canning jars etc). my kitchen is open to the dining room, which no one who i see with this design uses as a dining room because the walk way to the sliding glass doors eventually takes precedence (Florida = Lani), or if they do, the table is pushed up against the wall which leaves seating for 4. i also have a slim cabinet and a semi-corner upper cabinet(s) on the wall to the right of the sink,my dish washer is in the spot of your original drawing, i have a lazy susan corner on the bottom in the corner. The over hang of the upper cabinets makes a spot to park the appliances with a clean up area right next to the sink which keeps things from sprawling, i have a set of drawers instead of a cabinet on the outside of the dishwasher, very handy.. . It seems to me that some people are sit-down-at-the-table types and some are more casual island eaters.. when my daughter was younger we used the large area of the peninsula to make bread and such from the dining room side, that way she could sit up and reach and it was a nice area to use for lots of things. the actual work flow on this for me is parking the grocery's on the peninsula and on flat stove top to load fridge, the biggest problem i have is with the microwave. first had it on the Pinn but if two people were in the kitchen there would be an issue with doing anything with the sink, i moved it to the other side of the sink, between it and the stove, its a better location but it uses up a lot of room and its awkward to get things in and out, for that reason alone i liked the idea of a microwave area. it looks like you currently have a microwave installed in the wall next to the fridge? My neighbor put his on the counter and then made a huge space above for an appliance garage, (think just one big shelf), you'd only have to close off the underside of the stairs really; the cool thing is he used a painting hinged on the corner side as a door. i would say live with it for a minuet first, and then if you were going to do anything i'd put a pantry at the end of the room like in the 3-D model Anna has, also the peninsula, if you are not going to use that room then you might want to shorten it, mine is a bit tight and the other issue is where to put the trash.. if you are an under the sink person then fine, but otherwise i ended up putting it at the end of the peninsula, now its tucked under on the outer side with a stool in front. what is really amazing is that so many people spent so much of their time to help you with this, and that i actually sat here and read each post.. it had a coffee table conversation feel to it, very well done everybody :) best of luck with the new home, the only other thing i would say is, you have to decide if you and SO need a break from the stress of actually buying the house before you start tearing it up (warning: only do ONE ROOM at a time) or if you are the kind of folk who like to get it all out of the way so you can be done with it.. may your home always be filled with love (and big ideas).. Lin

benjesbride, that is a million dollar question. The lower level room will probably become a home office with a foldout couch for extra guests when upstairs bedrooms are not enough. There is a half bath downstairs. TV may go there as well if I ever get one. I see the most time being spent in FR, kitchen and DR. Conversation happens at the dinner table. It is just me unless I have company for dinner. The LR will not get much use most of the time. the house is probably too big for me, but I already downsized and just didn't like anything smaller. mama goose, thank you for flipping the layout, I think this way works better for me. There is just a wall separating kitchen from the DR where you drew the red oval. I would love to figure out a way to have a run of lower cabinets with a counter there, with the bev frig and storage for service. Do you think it will look weird to widen the kitchen a 1' into DR and 1'-2' into FR? It also just occurred to me that I may not be able to put the sink in the bumpout if the basement doesn't follow the same outline. Having plumbing in the exterior wall is a no-no here. I will go to the house first thing tomorrow to check. I am having the first meeting the the GC to discuss my 'wish list' Wednesday morning. Please keep ideas coming.

Having lived 15 years with the refrigerator at the far end of a long kitchen far from the stove/ oven I would try to locate it where you have the dutch door option. That would make the work triangle have much shorter sides. I think you will find it much easier to move about the kitchen that way.

Jeet Jeet- Before you sign on all these add ons, please hire an experienced interior designer that is not affiliated in any way with this builder, to ask about all this. And you want someone who has common sense who will tell you what is a waste of money. Someone who will say to you, how will you change the light bulbs on the top of those cabinets? And what do you need lights there for anyway? There is glass in the top, you can see in them why do you need the lights, the room is lit. And you don't need the glass cabinets either, all the cabinets will have to be totally perfectly neat all the time. Who needs that? And it limits what you can put in them because they have to be perfectly neat. Ask how much the undercabinet lighting is. I'll bet you money that you can get a far less expensive stick-on lighting system at Home Depot or Lowes. A 50 " deep island is too deep. You can't reach across it to clean it, you will have to walk around which is a waste of time and energy. Unless you are 6 feet tall. Very important- don't spend too much money over-improving. You will never make it back when you sell. Your house will only sell for the average house value in that development which you can be sure, was not over-improved. I do suggest finding out if you can soundproof your guest bedroom on the first floor, else there will be problems with your elderly parents. Don't ask the builder to install the grab bars, but do have the builder reinforce behind and beside the guest toilet and in the shower. It may be much cheaper for you to purchase grab bars and hire someone to install the grab bars if and when they are needed. You can ask what the builder would charge to install the grab bars. It may be worth the cost for the builder to just go ahead and do the whole thing for you. See, this is way more important to me than fancy glass-fronted cabinets. And did you choose slip resistant tile for the bathroom?