Thanks for all of the input!!! It sounds like a pendant may not be in my future. I loved the idea of it but as I was looking at it more, I was worried that there might be too much going on there. I was having second thoughts and wanted to get opinions from all of you. Holly-Kay: we are planning on changing out the chandelier above the table to a bronze finish to tie in with the darker wood and fireplace things. But I see how a pendant above the sink might be too much. Snookums2: we removed the dark screens and it looks much better. I can't wait for everything to get started! I thought about tiling to the ceiling but wasn't sure since our cabs don't go to the ceiling. We are going to add a taller crown but nowhere near ceiling height. That may be the subject of another post. Nosoccermom: great idea about hanging a balloon. I don't have photoshop but maybe I could cut and paste something there and post again. Thanks for the suggestions!

My DH pondered your responses and looked again at the space with the island taped out. We have 3'7" on aisle walkway with two stools underneath island - we can increase that amount to 3'10" by moving 3" which gives us 3'3" on the other side where our shaw sink and DW are located. Remember on that wall we have to the right of shaw sink the DW a bit of counterspace then it jogs R to the east wall. To the left of the sink are 2-3 banks of drawers and then it opens up into DR. The only claustrophobic area if we minimize clearance on sink side would be only to the right of the sink. Remember, the island which is directly opposite & is decreasing in length by 6" so there is more clearance between range, aisle to sink,DW and garage door. Hope this articulates what this looks like. To summarize, we will chop off the end of the island by 6" to create more space around the range, island, garage door. We will move the entire island towards sink side, AWAY from appliance & pantry by 3". DH will raise height of island from countertop height to an inch or two above that to create better visual interest between long island and long countertop on sink side. This is the best we could come up with. We did not have this discussion regarding clearances with our KD and that was a huge oversight on our part and hers. We have to work with what we've got. DH does not want to give up seating at island as that's what is driving the entire design from his standpoint. He envisions sitting there, drinking a cup of coffee and looking out our new thee bank of windows. It almost looks like living in a treehouse as we're up on the second floor and have many deciduous trees in the back yard with an open lot right next to us. Feels very private. If I could figure out photobucket, I'd take a pic of the plans I just found and post them. I've opened up an account before and that's as far as I got. Thank you so much, all of you, for your feedback. Lisa

The more bumps, roof lines etc the more expensive. The cheapest to build is a box, so the closer to a box your footprint is the cheapest, therefore I would say the farmhouse would be more to build. I noticed the laundry was upstairs in the farmhouse also, will this be a home you live in when you are older? If so you may want main floor laundry. I do like that the dining room is part of the kitchen, never had any use for a seperate formal dining room myself. In #56 the master bath seems odd for some reason, and a long way to walk to get a quick change of clothes, I would probably put a sliding door to one of the closets from the bedroom. Laundry does seem ackward here because its not a straight shot or even semi straight from your bedroom to it, where all your clothes and towels will originate. I love the front porch and overall look of the house though. The William one has some good things, the sun/kitchen nook is large enough to be a dining area on its own, allowing you to re-purpose the official dining area and use it as a library/den, etc. You could even make the kitchen larger: taking away space from that dining room, and use the smaller new room as a office/workout room etc If you added 4 extra feet to the bottom of the kitchen, the remaining "dining" room would still be more than large enough for office/workout space. That is still larger than bedrooms I have seen in smaller houses! It has lots of storage and a great porch. And everything you need as you get older is all located on the main floor. You don't mention kids so I haven't really taken them into consideration much, but he farmhouse does have a nice activity/playroom on the 2nd floor, and the William one has the bedrooms spaced a little apart which could potentially avoid some sibliling conflicts, plus that huge future room as they get older and want friends over or a media room. For me I would narrow it further to the farmouse or William. And probably lean more toward the william one because its squareish, seems to have more useable space, and potential with just a few changes.

"... the floor level isn't too far from the house." In my case, that would settle it. It would be a hard surface patio. "... we are also tossing up either using an umbrella or pergola so we can use it all year round." Most pergolas are open to the sky. What makes it usable year round ... protection from rain, sun or both? "... I dont have the skills to choose colours, plants, screens and so on so it looks like a good job." Where you need to start is with a LANDSCAPE DESIGNER ... not a contractor, unless he is also a designer, or is capable of doing good design. The range of talent varies widely. You have to examine their past work to see if they have good problem solving skills. If there is not a good local designer in your area, it is possible to find someone who will work by remote, but this demands much more out of you, as the provider of all information.