Thank you all SO much for your thoughts. Very helpful!! MrsPete your preferences are very similar to mine. I like the exterior and upstairs of #3 and the kitchen of #2 including the big pantry and a lot of space to work with for a nice mudroom area separate from the laundry. I don't like that you just walk through the laundry room in #1. I'm also not sure about the walk through guest room in #1 but you make a good point about a potential dining room for a future owner (not something we'd ever want). I do like the big master closet in #1 but the bathroom is overkill for us. We don't even have a master bath at home and the one at our current lake home is small and basic and we're okay with that. I definitely agree no need for two bathrooms upstairs. We did look at one house we really liked and I loved the dormers and nooks and crannies - so much more interesting than the basic rectangular spaces. I also didn't think about it until mentioned here that only #2 has a view of the lake from the upstairs bedrooms but the other views wouldn't be bad either. I didn't like the exterior of #1 but having a garage up front is typical and what we're used to so that's okay. I just like the looks of #2 or #3 exteriors better. We also want to keep the structure narrow due to setbacks from a river on the side of the lot and also because we want to keep as much woods as possible between us and the neighbors so garage up front is probably more conducive to that. I think the dining space is okay considering I could expand into adjacent living space if needed for a large crowd. I will check the size of my current dining space though as a reality check. The covered porch would be a screen porch so not sure if that's better or worse in terms of the darkness factor. I did have that concern though. The main living space would have southern exposure. Our current place has skylights in the great room. Do people do that any more? Or skylight in the porch to bring in more light (and more expense of course) I love the covered porch (one place we looked at had that) but with MN mosquitoes we really need screen. It's easy to get caught up in all the things you could have but I'd be fine with something similar to what we have now if I can't afford more bells and whistles. I just want a place that isn't four levels with 43 steps down to the lake and neighbors practically on top of me. I probably should think somewhat about resale but our plan is to die here but things don't always work out as planned. I'm all for "the not so big house" concept - less money spent on square footage and more on features and finishes that give the house more character. To answer the question about what's most important: #1 Kitchen - I love to cook so I have a fair amount of equipment I need a place for. I also love having a kitchen open to the living area. Don't like a sink or cooktop in the island/peninsula and want my sink looking out a window so I'd need to do some tweaking of all these plans to accommodate that along with double ovens. #2 Storage - don't like clutter so I like good space for stuff to be stored out of sight. Our current place has a walk in pantry and two good sized closets by back door and a good sized closet by front door. Not huge closet space in our bedroom now but we each have our own so I'd at least want us each to have our own "side". #3 Bathrooms - not a big priority. A basic master bath is fine (probably not good for resale) and one basic bathroom for upstairs guest rooms and one for downstairs guest room. #4 Master suite - have never really had one and don't need one. Just need a room big enough for the furniture, nice windows overlooking the lake, decent closet space and a basic bathroom. Somewhere we want a longer than average tub (as we have at home now) but it could be in the other main floor bath. If money were no object, I'd probably start with #2 and tweak it to my liking. However I think #3 would be less expensive and it's very close. I'm concerned about making the kitchen the way I'd want it since it's a bit smaller and has no pantry. Also the back closet is small and there's no front closet. The closet issue could probably be addressed by somehow increasing the garage space and encroaching on it. So now we ponder just how much we are willing to spend on this as it's more than we would have spent on an existing home. That's one reason I never really wanted to build - you get more for your money in an existing home if you can find what you want. Plus I get analysis paralysis making decisions and choices. One place we looked at we really liked but it was bigger than we needed and operating costs were quite high but purchase price would have been a lot less expensive than this new build we're now considering. Annkh - where is your lake property?

Could you mirror flip the laundry/staircase/entry/den portion so that the den is over by the single garage? This puts the laundry closer to the dirty clothes and the den could be converted to a dining room (or stay a den) when the two upper bedrooms are vacated and turned into a guest room & home office (perhaps?) Does the exercise room become the 3rd bedroom in the lower level? I know teenage boys are not supposed to spend as much time in the bathroom as teenage girls, but is one bathroom down there enough? Do you have a sloped lot so that at least some of the lower level is walkout and doesn't need window wells? If the lot slopes enough, the exercise room would be walkout &, perhaps, the bedroom by the bath. However, I wouldn't want to be the kiddo stuck with the bedroom whose only window is in a well. It's hard to see, but it looks like the master bedroom is 15x18. That is a nice size, but make sure you can place all of your furniture in there since there are so many doors and windows. Does the master bath only have one vanity? That may work for you, but that isn't what folks are looking for in a house this size when you go to sell. I love barrel arches, but that is a fairly formal transition if it is just between the kitchen an utility areas (mudroom & laundry). The 1st floor power room is marginal and, IMVHO, not reflective of the level of this house. Agree that the kitchen has problems. The counter runs are very chopped up. Just some thoughts to take with a whole shaker full of salt - Jo Ann

Honestly, I am not falling for either on first sight. However, on first glance, I like the first plan linked above (pid=2592) -- except that I do not like the entry for Master BR from the Great Room. The porch behind the kitchen might never be used -- it has access from utility room and screened porch. Not easily accessible via main living areas. I'd try to make that entrance into MBR somehow from the foyer side (even though that might mean losing the study area). Also kitchen being of a trapezoidal shape is not something I can understand....why not make the kitchen just rectangle when it's possible? Plan #2 completely threw me in terms of its odd angles and all. But then I'm an urban dweller used to rectangular small lots with rectangular deep houses.

I think this has potential, but there are several areas that seem overly complex when I don't think they need to be. Your master closet is a maze. I think that whole area needs to be simplified. And going through the kitchen to the laundry room is not desirable. Your mudroom, laundry, kitchen and powder room area reminded me a bit of our layout. Below is a screenshot of our kitchen, powder, mud and laundry room areas. Notice how our kitchen only has one entrance and it's not through a clean up zone or cooking/prep zone. And the second door in the laundry room, gives us option #2 of getting into the house without going through the kitchen at all. To get to the laundry room from our bedroom or the kids from upstairs, it's just a straight shot in and don't have to walk through the kitchen or any other rooms to get to it. I didn't copy it but directly to the left is a straight shot to our master bedroom and stairs to upstairs bedrooms, so laundry, while technically on the opposite side of the house, is super easy to get to.