Can we see a picture with the mudroom area too? And can you move any walls?

Preferably not but what do you have in mind. Haha

I have absolutely nothing to offer, but I sure think that's pretty!

You might want two dishwashers, one on either side of the sink!

Could you please give us more information? See the "Layout Help" FAQ:

How do I ask for Layout Help and what information should I include?

(http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2767033/how-do-i-ask-for-layout-help-and-what-information-should-i-include)

Do you have kids?

If you drive them home from school, park in the garage, then they need to go through the mudroom, then pantry, then kitchen, to the family entry (which should be the mudroom!) to drop off their backpacks and jackets?

For me, that area needs to shift and the family entry should move down to merge with the mudroom. You could then have a separate real pantry that isn't a hallway.

We do. Have kids. I should have explained that area. We don’t park in garage. Ever. The garage is only used for tools, holding amazon boxes and kids power wheels etc. we are not park in the garage people. The garage entry (mud room) is for recycling, shipping and receiving for packages going out and dog food etc. The family entry is where we come in at. I will bring groceries in through the garage entry sometimes but that’s about it. That is an area I’m totally aware does not make sense on paper or for resale but that isn’t a concern to me. That is just how we live and have done so for the past 5 years. I don’t even want a garage. Hah but husband likes. Any kitchen layout ideas?

But if there was a way to flip that entry/mud room area to make it work the way you’d like AND benefit you at resale time is that an option?

Does the door in the family entry lead to the driveway? Thinking about where you bring in groceries and such.

Yes, we did have it flip-flopped for a while, but really hated the main traffic to the mudroom and powder room being through the kitchen rather than the hallway between the kitchen and morning room. Yes the family entry leads to the driveway right where I park. This is a family split property and will not sell for minimum 15 years. The pantry is more of a Butler’s pantry, microwave and coffee station, kid snacks concealed in big drawers, cabinetry, we have a pantry cabinet next to the fridge for some every day stuff that doesn’t look pretty to display, etc. Trust me, I have laid it out many different ways with the help of a designer. That is not at all my concern and it does work for our family. When it comes time to sell I will probably renovate as it will be 20 years later and my kids will be gone. And never recommend someone else do this because it is very risky, but this home is truly just for me and my family and how we live, and I have a bit of a love affair with Amazon and really need a separate landing area for all of that stuff and recycling and keeping the dog out of the way of getting kids out of the door in the morning while he’s trying to eat breakfast, etc.

What do you plan to put in the morning room? How young are your kids? I agree that the flow isn't optimal for resale due to the garage but understand doing what works. I like having kitchen cabs on the back of the island for 1 purpose, kids zone out of the kitchen work zone. My kids have an end cabinet dedicated to them and there craft/school supplies. They can get it out and do there thing while sitting on bar stools or kitchen table. I had this setup growing up as well and loved it. I would try and move the fridge out of the corner just because you are using the pantry to do other things and think that might be a congestion area during snack time with multiple people. I think you need to think about the flow and how you guys work during different times of the day in the kitchen. Every family is different. I have all 3 of my kids and hubs in the kitchen all the time it seems so I would just make sure if they are usually accessing the fridge, microwave, drink station (hot + cold) that they are all not going to end up piled on top of one another or stuck in a corner or the pantry while someone accesses the fridge. If you could mark up the locations or potential locations of the sinks, oven, range/cooktop, microwave it would be helpful.

Thanks for your advice. Kids are all under 6. The morning room has a large rectangular table and hutch for dinner when we are all home. I don't plan on having any of the cabinets in the spaces that this shows. The architect just put those in as fillers Right now, we have a 5' walkway between the sink and the 48" range (back wall that backs to the family entry) and a d/w to the right of the sink in the island. Just one row of base cabinets/supporting wall and then an overhang with legs probably. Thinking a 4'6" island by 9'6" right now. The corner, we put a pantry cabinet that is 30" deep to push the fridge into the aisleway more so that we could hopefully walk by to the pantry if someone was staring into the fridge. I agree that may be a congestion point. Then the fridge, filler panel, and after that I don't know what to do on that wall that borders the dining room (which is not a dining room- we use it as a flex room/playroom for the kids and will do so over the years for whatever needs they have to "overflow". I like to keep family together and not "send them to the basement" where I cannot monitor what they watch, etc...

Could you close off the pantry add a pass thru to the pantry to keep the kiddies from passing through and add the door from outside somewhere else on the upper wall. Change the powder room location to another part of that room.

Definitely recommend 2 dishwashers! Might be my favorite thing in our kitchen.

I built a house with a large kitchen and I had two dishwashers and I loved that! And, I only have two older kids! I also had a big sink and prep sink. Loved that too. Would do both those things again if I did a big kitchen.

Love two dishwashers idea. Did you do side by side flanking the sink?

Here are new renderings I worked on. VERY ROUGH. Prep sink centered with floating shelves above maybe?

Legs on island

I like the look of the range on the back wall. The location of the fridge does not seem ideal to me. If you plan to eat most meals in the morning room, functionally it makes sense to get the fridge close to that space. Picture getting up and down for more drinks, the ketchup, oops, we need salad dressing, etc, and you can see the benefit of the fridge and table being close to each other.

Once your kids hit the double digit years, you are going to want and need a second fridge. Plan for it now. Our family is at that stage currently, and fitting everything into one huge French door fridge is a tough juggling act for our family of nine. (We have an 15” undercounterfridge too, but it’s inadequate for the overflow even though we buy no water, soda, alocohol, very little juice, etc.)

Some families love their two dishwashers, me, not so much. Those that love them typically have one on each side of the cleanup sink, which is what we had in our previous home. We use large pots and pans which don’t fit nicely into a DW, cast iron skillets and knives that have to be hand washed anyway, etc. I found the Tetris puzzle of filling two machines, and the chore of unloading two DW’s to be overwhelming; it was even worse for the kids. In this house we’re back to one dw and hand washing the overflow. No, I’m not crazy about the drying rack left out on the counter all the time, but this setup seems to work better for our family. Assess how you cook and clean, what chores you want to assign, etc.

Keep in mind sinks are magnets for dirty dishes lying around them. Is that ok with you to have all that front and center on your island? Some are bothered by this, others are not. Where will you prep? The island makes a great prep space, but that can be tough to access if it will be covered in stuff waiting to be washed up or put in the dw.

@laughablements thank you! Great tips. I agree on the fridge. Where do you suggest. Put the range on other wall? Also, we want an under counter fridge in butlers pantry and we will have one in the garage I believe. My husband nixed the two dishwasher idea last night anyway. Haha

I wish Rhome was still here...she was good at figuring these large family kitchens out, but there are others still here that are great, too. You might want to look at Rhome’s own big family kitchen for ideas: http://rhome410.blogspot.com/p/my-kitchen.html

My hunch is that you have enough space in the family entry, pantry, powder room area to meet all your needs (i.e. a full sized fridge and full freezer could go out there) but right now those spaces aren’t configured in the best way possible.

Love your ideas to make your space work for your family. It is a nice big space - i'm not an expert but have been finalizing our design to accommodate our family so been TKO - and these are the two areas that I'd want to look at a bit more:

1) powder room/mudroom/family entry/pantry - lots of space, but could potentially become even more functional. You're smart to focus on what you want, but the current layout is causing a hiccup with the kitchen flow

2) the fridge/snacks placement - seems to be a flow challenge

Idea #1:

It looks like you can have a nice family entry and have it connect with the mudroom/not have that go through your pantry.

What if you shifted the powder room to the other wall? And put a long run of cabinets between the mudroom from garage and family entry. There might be enough space for hooks or shallow cabinets on the powder room wall as well.

The fridge & snacks are far from where you are coming in the door, and where you are eating. I would want them over near/in the morning room - could you do a little area in there with a sink, refrigerator drawers, snack drawers? like the box in blue.

Then your fridge placement isn't as much of an issue, and you could potentially close off your pantry from the mudroom/use your pantry for a 2nd fridge when they get older/you need the space.

Idea #2:

Or, to give you a full corner of cabinets/no thru-traffic into the pantry in that corner, and access closer to your morning room -- do you move your pantry to be 'behind' the current range wall?

Blue - pantry - with entrance from kitchen, or via family entry. I'd want from kitchen, in a 'hidden' door

Green - benches/hooks. looks to be as much storage as your original.

Pink - powder room

Orange - fridge (or do fridge drawers here and a full fridge on the wall with the range)

Yellow - range. Corner placement isn't for everyone, but it looks like it could be a good option for you - and either way, I'm sure a KD could help with a strong layout if you move the pantry entrance.

@Nic and @Karenseb. These are great ideas. I like idea #1 and also the idea of putting the powder room over by the window. I'll have to see if I want to give up the open space in the mudroom area, as it worked very well for us the last time we built this home. I'm not a corner range fan since it is 48", but I liked idea #1! Will keep you posted and thanks again for the time you took to do this. You had some fabulous ideas!