How much are you willing to change?

Are you willing to move the laundry out of the kitchen area?

Are you willing to switch the kitchen and the eating area?

Are you willing to get rid of the dog leg peninsula?

Can you move the door from the garage into the house?

What does the rest of the floor plan look like?

We are considering adding a second floor over the top of the garage to be something like this:

I am willing to move the laundry, yes, just not sure where it would go.

I am open to switching the kitchen and eating areas if you think that would be best.

I'm not sure where else the garage door could go, but I am open to moving that as well.

I would love to get rid of the dog leg peninsula!

Also, as you can see in my little sketch, I really want a bigger pantry.

I know I said we don't have a dining room, but you can see that we technically do. But it is used as our music room as that is a higher priority for us. We are casual diners.

Go big or go home ;). Here's an idea, which moves spaces, but basically leaves the existing footprint. I moved the laundry over, but it could stay as is, and the overflow pantry could go between the laundry and the existing bathroom wall. You'd have plenty of storage space in drawers in the base cabinets, and a full-height pantry beside the fridge. I'm guessing at dimensions--you'd need to layout everything on a grid, for accuracy.

I circled the thick stub wall, for possible removal, but I suspect it's structural, or has utility chase(s). The red rectangle on the left is a possible switch in garage entry, and the red rectangle on the bottom wall is a possible new window to match existing window.

You could also adjust the fridge to the left slightly, and recess it into the closet space behind. The island could be make deeper, to accommodate two stools on the end, but one stool might interfere with the open DW. If the aisle is wide enough to allow someone to stand at the end of the DW door, no problem, or the stool could be tucked all the way under the overhang when not in use.

Fridge recessed into closet, alternate laundry layout:

Disadvantages are you lose a downstairs bedroom, and the plan does not provide for an entry closet.

The other room is where do they put their instruments?

Do you need 3 bedrooms downstairs?

Interesting idea, but yes we will still use all three bedrooms downstairs. One is an office as I work from home and the other two will be for my daughter and a guest room. The music room is more like a living room or parlor. It has a piano, guitars, ukuleles, and also a chair and small sofa currently. We sit in there a lot.

Assuming the guest room is the one with the bed drawn in, here's another configuration with instrument storage and seating, which might work--unless your piano is a baby grand. The office alcove could be smaller, depending on the amount of space you need. This probably wouldn't work if someone is often practicing musical scales while you are in the office--maybe a sliding door, or pocket door for separation? ;)

This looks like a typical Florida floor plan. Are you in FL? Is the house on a slab?

What will a second story, only over the garage, do to the look of the front elevation?

Depending on when you bought, what property values are in your area, and what construction costs are, it might make more sense to sell and move to a house that better meets your family's current needs.

What is your budget for changes? Realistically? What else do you not like about the house that is expensive to change? What is the total that you would spend making all of those changes? What will that buy you when added to the selling cost of the house?

Our house is in a highly sought after area in our county in Florida, yes. Looking at comps, I am pretty sure our house could sell as is for at least 150K more than we bought it for 8 years ago. We have a beautiful pool, are on a cul-de-sac, in one of the best neighborhoods within walking distance to the best schools. Another bedroom, bathroom and bonus room would seem to only raise this value in theory. I was going to get bids and see if the addition could be done for around $125K which would seem to be worth it whether it raises the value or not. Honestly, our county is growing so fast that there may not even be any contractors willing to take on this kind of project. And my association of course may not even approve it. This is all very hypothetical but I'd like to see if it is possible.

There is a floor plan almost identical to mine on the other side of town which has a second story, so I am sort of copying that one for my house plan along with the elevation. Which would be similar to this picture. It's not identical, but very similar.

And I am aware that it might make more sense to sell... we are definitely weighing the options. We have several directions we can go at this point and aren't quite sure which one to do. Home prices are extremely high right now and that makes us hesitant to buy, even though we would also be selling high.

Maybe we need to take a step back here and leave the kitchen and laundry where they are. After thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I don't want to make such drastic changes even though it seems like a great setup. Maybe just move the appliances, cabinets and counter tops around to help make it more efficient?

http://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2018/