You will need to think about the length of joist under the set too, unless it is on a slab. With longer joist there is a springy effect (think trampoline) and is not good for FL, as there is so much force with the spin cycle. W/D need to be along a load bearing wall for the best stability. Again if this is a slab, no matter. But if you are on wood joist the area needs to be very stiff and load bearing. Look at the specs with your set for recommendations. My Miele set requires load bearing wall location when on a wood joist floor. I have no problems with my set. Regarding your vent run, you might be able to put a buster fan on the run. I don't know if there are limits to the length these fans will work. I will be getting one for my run because it is effectively a 33' run after adjustments for the elbows. Each right angle adds 5' of run in your calculations. See your manual for max. run, after adjusting for elbows and vent materials. My W/D is in my bathroom next to the shared wall with the living room (TV). I put Roxul sound insulation in the stud spaces before dry walling it up. I don't hear a thing, and there are even better sound proofing materials out there for sound dampening.

My two cents: Its not insane, its working out really well for us! When we bought our house we had a basement laundry - which I did not care for (master of understatement!) It flooded, was cold, and the basement stairs are too steep to be safe (esp while pregnant as I was at the time!) So when we did our addition/remodel, we moved the main laundry to the old kitchen space - turning it into a lovely laundry and mudroom. This is by the back door so is fantastic when you come in from gardening or riding and want to chuck your dirty clothes in the wash and jump in the shower (we have a full bath just off the back door too) We also added an upstairs stacked washer dryer unit in the new addition. It is in a big cupboard/closet in the landing/hallway beside the kids bath, right between the kids bedrooms and not far from our master. (We have a big wide landing that leads to the bedrooms and bath so there is plenty of room.) This set up works fantastically well for us - all my moms club friends are green with envy! I actually use both laundries equally - and if I want to do all my laundry at once I have both units going. The upstairs unit is smaller so I use it more for our clothes etc and tend to do bigger things, like comforters etc in the downstairs laundry. It is great for running loads of kids clothes: I can pull them out of the dryer, dump them on her bed and fold and put them away all at once. It is really convenient having the set up right by the bedrooms. We had thought about putting the upstairs washer dryer in my dressing room, but I am glad we didnt as having it in between all the bedrooms makes it really accessible. I do have a narrow linen closet right next to the upstairs stacked unit so I keep a bottle of laundry detergent and a spray stain remover in there. Along with linens for the upstairs. Thats really all I need. We could put some narrow shelves in the cupboard with the washer dryer unit but havent got around to it. We did add an overflow pan which is highly recommend in the event something leaks. Since this is in our new construction addition we have not had any problem with vibration. We also have a roof vent and fan. The stacked unit has double opening doors so there is good access and its right beside the new kids bath so running the pumbing was not at all expensive. Our realtor has said this set up will appeal to a wide range of buyers, since we're hitting the people who like the big main floor laundry and those who like the second floor laundry. But, even if we never sell our house, this is one of my favorite things about our new home set up. I am a busy mum, with a full time job, and we live in the country with lots of mud, so anything that makes laundry easier gets my vote! (That and my bain ultra tub - which I found out about from this forum and LOVE!) So two laundries gets two thumbs up from me! Hope that helps!

Thanks, justgotabme! I ran it by hubby and while he finally sees the merits of having the powder room close to the garage, he doesn't like that configuration. I'm wondering if we could take part of the pantry away (and half the closet--making it more of a broom storage) and put the powder room door where the current garage door is. The garage door would move to the side between the "mudroom" bench and bathroom door. Is that enough space to put in a more traditionally-styled powder room? While I'm drooling over the master closet space in your renovation, I think I'd still want an "entrance" of some sorts to the master--mostly to keep from coming down the stairs, straight into a wall. If we moved the powder room, I guess half the old one would go to master closet, half to hall closet. The other little coat closet could remain as the central place where the electronics stuff would go, OR, as a tiny nook of shelves in the closet between hanging clothes. You know, I never did think of a service door to the garage that came off the front porch! Thanks for the idea. I'll run it by the person who'd be using it most :-) But, I wonder how attractive that would look. And, if it has a window in it, visitors would see how messy it was....and going by our last garage, that's something to hide! I don't know what measurements are necessary in the laundry room--I just need it wide enough for the washer/dryer on one side, the door in the middle, and a regular-depth counter on the other side. Is there any "extra" room that you see in what the current one is? My copy isn't to a scale that's easily measured. A beginning copy from my builder was easy to read since 1/4" on the plan equaled 2' of floor space, but the one my printer prints out isn't. Thanks for all you've done, but please don't spend too much of your time on this....after all, we supposedly have someone hired (the builder's guy) to do this :-) It's just that he's been a little slow, and he hasn't been helpful with suggestions. And when the laundry room was oriented differently (rotated 90 degrees), it jutted into the breakfast room space significantly but he didn't seem to think it mattered. But, I guess he doesn't know how big a table we have. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Ours was okay but different. We've moved even further away from family in this relocation, so we were invited to the home of one of hubby's co-workers, who'd also recently relocated here. They built a house, too, and have only been in a couple of months. It was nice to get a feeling of what it's going to be like (they have a sort-of similar plan and similar decor tastes). Better than sitting in a cramped apartment, eating off TV trays! Anyway, lots to be thankful for--especially internet forums and helpful people. I can't imagine building a house and choosing stuff without being able to research online. Tracey

I think that your dining space is tight the way it is drawn. I also really dislike the 2 islands plus the table all going the same direction. Imagine a couple people sitting at the table while you are finishing up a meal...they are facing the wrong way for conversation. I also am having a very large garden and want to do lots of canning. I would hate to try doing a lot of it in the my Gator's garage stall(not sure what is going in yours, but one of my stalls IS for my UTV). We are planning a Massive deck of which 18*12 is planned for an outdoor kitchen. I'm planning to put a 7 foot Galley sink out there for washing and canning prep. At that size, I can actually have canning parties. I'm really looking forward to be able to do most of my canning outside where I can enjoy the view. We may later add a pool, which I would be able to see from there also. I do not like the path your food will take through the laundry room. I think that space could be rearranged better, even having the pool bathroom over there. I didn't do anything as I don't know what you need to a bonus room. I love your pantry size. It is a crime that you have the little corner etched out of it for the appearance of the front...as you are loosing so much extra shelving space as a result. Will you have a basement? I am using under front porch space for a cold storage room also. Storing canned foods in a 70 degree room for years diminishes the quality of them. (I'm also doing a good sized main floor pantry, but canned goods will mainly get stored in cold storage..) I don't like the location of the 2nd master bath sink. But I spent a LOT of time agonizing over my MB layout. Yours feels more like they just put the sink there because they could fit it in. I'm not a fan of the view you get from the foyer...sort of half of the living room window and whatever could/chairs are at the back of the living room plus the walkway between the living/kitchen. Maybe you are fine with it, but picture yourself coming in the foyer, what decor looks like, and if it is the first impression you want guests to have. You have a large space dedicated to it, so make sure it works the way you want.