My inlaws have a VERY open floorplan. Between the living room, dining area, kitchen and family room, only 2 ENORMOUS steel beam posts(that are covered and look nice, of course)hold up over half the top story. Their kitchen has bar height seating off of their island and then a large dining room table in the dining area which is between the kitchen and family "room". We eat lunch at the bar usually and then dinners are at the table. So they have a dining room table and seating at the island. My husband and I turned our dining room into a "lounge" and moved our dining room table into the living room. It has the bar, a fireplace and is bigger, so we never feel squished against walls when we eat. Our dinette area off our kitchen has a dinette table, but we have 2 girls who love drawing, painting, etc, so we removed 2 chairs, moved it against a wall and they have an art center there. With our upcoming reno, we will add counter height seating to our peninsula, so we will no longer have a need for the dinette AND dining room table. We'll keep the art center for now, maybe 2 years max, then it will be gone. I plan to redo their rooms so they have ample space for homework, etc in their rooms.

I actually think the original design is fine. I'm assuming you have a side by side CD fridge. If you have a 36" door then it needs to move over. The 42" might be a bit tight (especially considering projection of fridge door and 1.5" overhang of countertop) but honestly, I would still consider it in the range of acceptable. I would first consider shrinking the island by 3" on either end (to keep it symmetrical) if you want a wider aisle, than I would consider moving the fridge over, as I like the look with the fridge in the middle of that short wall. Also seems like there is a hallway on the right side of the kitchen (perhaps leading to another room? dining?) and a fridge in that edge spot could swing out and cause obstructions for traffic. It's really important to consider what is adjacent to the kitchen, not just the kitchen itself. In the alternatives, #2 is way off balance so drop that. Between #3 and #4, it's just up to you if you want a prep sink. I see it as useful as I expect those mullion doors would host glasses, and you don't have in-door water. Having a water source in your drinks area is great, and with a prep sink you have a nice little bar area setup. You have plenty of working counterspace in the kitchen already (imho). Everyone is right about the oven/wd in the corner at an angle. I think it really poses a functionality issue as well -- if you have the wd open, then you can't open the drawers to either side! Drawers leading into both sides of a corner can already create annoying situations (depending on what is stored in the drawers and how often they are opened)... but the warming drawer also butting in with those drawers really compounds the problem. Basically, I agree most with sweeby's, and I also like his suggestions for alternate configurations.

Rhome, you probably liked the first one because you gave me quite a bit of input when I was planning it several months ago. It changed a little after all the great advice I received here. Initially I had the island in that one turned parallel to the range but it was only 6 ft long and I wanted a bigger island so I turned it perpendicular to the range instead. It's funny that you both ask if the coffee bar is going to be open to the family room. It was this photo that inspired me to start playing around with the plan a few days ago... quarrystone I'm so glad I did because I really like the look of plan 2 on paper. I don't know though if I will leave the coffee bar open or not. The interior stone would not be an option, price wise, but I love the way it looks. I had also thought if we do close that wall in, about just doing some shelves above the counter on the kitchen side. What's the word from the other post? Anti-upperitis? Of course, seeing the two side by side like this I notice that my plan has evolved in several other places also over the last few months. That's what I meant about having too much waiting time to play around with it... As far as the laundry room, I'm thinking of having several pullout trash bins in the lower cabinets, that I replace with a hamper to keep clothes out of sight. When redesigning from plan 1 to plan 2, I deleted 2 ft from the left side of the house, resulting in the dryer being jammed into the corner like that. I didn't notice it so thanks for pointing that out. I could easily swap the w/d with the laundry sink so that it is not quite so crowded. I didn't show a door on the drawings between the kitchen and laundry but I like the idea a swinging door here. Do you think that would be a bad idea? Or should I stick with the opening from the kitchen just going to a walk in pantry and keep the mudroom as it is in option 1? For the fridge/freezer, I am planning for the 30" thermador columns. I would love to have the sub zero, but don't think they are in my budget. Good point, phllog, about how much easier groceries would be to put away in the second one. I was just trying to free up some floor space in the mudroom and didn't think about this added benefit. After changing the plan, I then followed up with scale drawings of what each wall of the kitchen would look like. It was then that I realized that I needed a little bit more cabinetry on the sink wall. Here is my rendition. No making fun of my subways now....I love excel! I would like to have the windows (learned on GW) brought all the way down to the counter and extend the soapstone into them to act as a sill. I moved the prep sink to the right one square as suggested. Do you think there will be an issue with crumbs getting between the butcher block and the soapstone? Should I have the end cabinets where the butcher block would be lowered by removing the toe kick? Oh and phllog, the larger vanity in the master will have a tall linen tower attached to it for towels and such. As well as the dedicated closet in the guest bath. I was planning a space for extra sheets/blankets on the second floor, but I could probably convert one of the three coat closets into a linen closet.

Wow, here I am almost 8 months later and there is very little progress toward our bathroom! No word at all from Jim, the contractor. I wonder if he is still doing the commercial job or if he even wants our work. Plus, Toby, our dog, is even older now - 16 - and on prednisone, so he is peeing a lot. He has doggy dementia, too. He is not terribly confused, not enough to put him down, but there is no way I want new, clean grout on that floor. The bathroom is on hold until he decides to take a trip over the rainbow bridge. I have just contracted to replace the last four windows in the house. The aluminum sliders will be gone in 6 weeks or less! We are getting an awning window for the bathroom with a blind in the glass that can be raised and lowered. It is our sunniest room, and light from that window lights up the whole end of the hallway. I wanted the option to raise the blinds up. The three bedrooms are getting double casement windows with blinds in the glass. Hey - I don't clean, so the blinds are a major, major plus for us! Now I have to get windowsills for all three bedrooms. And for the bathroom, the need for a windowsill is forcing me to decide on the counter top for the vanity. It seems to me that they should be the same material. Tomorrow I am going to try to find the Cambria Quartz source for the area. I want the place where I can get a leftover piece of someone else's slab, since I need such a small piece. My vanity is only 18" x 46". I am hoping for the color called Parys. [houzz=https://www.houzz.com/photos/cambria-countertop-2010-traditional-kitchen-phvw-vp~2704735] Since I still have not chosen the color for the wall tiles in the bathroom, the color for the vanity top is going to determine what direction we go, since it is the next critical decision that I have to make. I like Parys because it is dark and will contrast with the white sink. It will also contrast with all the different wall tiles I have considered. I especially love the glowing blue bits in it. It reminds me of my favorite stone I use when making jewelry, Labradorite! It has that chatoyancy, that glow when it catches the light just right. Opal also does that. Parys just glows in any light. Other things I have made progress on have to do with the vanity. I have sanded it and have decided to replace the original drawer pulls. No way will we enjoy finding the little bail that recedes into a groove on those babies. I am going to fill the holes and then drill one center hole and use a glass knob with chrome in the center. I had already purchased three of them to use on the new cupboards that I was adding into the wall across from the vanity. I have also removed the metal floor protectors on the bottom of the 8 vanity legs and discovered that the small feet that can be leveled that I purchased will fit into the ends of the legs. Holes have to be drilled for them. Because the floor will be made waterproof, and sloped toward a drain, if I did not put levelers into the feet of the vanity, the whole thing would be unlevel and the sink would not drain properly. A and C below make up my leg levelers. Yes, I do try to think of everything. When you have THREE YEARS to do nothing but plan, you do a lot of planning! I have also purchased the shower plumbing - the rainhead, the shower temperature balancing valve, and three volume controls, one for the rain head, one for the shower head, and one for the hand-held, and the controls will each have those labels on them! I already had the shower head. I still have to decide on the hand-held system. I also purchased a really cute hand towel holder. I don't like the rings because the towel gets bunched and does not dry well. This one is from Ginger and it has two bars that move on a swivel, independently of each other. The bars are 12 inches long and the holder holds them a good 2" away from the wall. Plus, since they swivel the whole way around, if one is particularly wet, you can pull it away from the wall and it will hang perpendicular to the wall as you wait until it is dry. In this picture, they show the arms out away from the wall. Normally, they will hang closer to the wall that the thing is mounted on, I would think. For instance, I plan to hang it on the wall to the side of the vanity. The arms would be folded up close to the wall most of the time. I suppose you could install it on the wall next to the medicine cabinet and have the towels hang over the vanity area, if you liked.