So I am terribly trigger shy and definitely sorry for being such a bother. I spoke with realtors and as I imagined and you all suggested, we will lose value and buyers with a 2 bedroom house. I have been thinking of some alternatives. 1. Use 1/3 of the office space to the edge of the window as a large closet for the master bedroom. Turn the window in that office to a door to the backyard and make the kitchen space and the remaining 2/3 of the office an open kitchen and dining area. Steal 2 feet of kitchen space or add to the current half bath, to make it a full bath and make the dining room bedroom #3 with full bath. We will probably end up using that space as the office. 2. Move the kitchen into the dining room and use the window in the current dining area as a door to the backyard. Remove the half bath and include that space in the kitchen to make a kitchen/dining area. Wall off what was the kitchen,to create a bathroom and walk in closet for the office, which will now function as a small master bedroom (11x9). 3. Use 2/3 of the office to make a closet and bath for the master bedroom. Make the dining room a bedroom, and expand the kitchen to include the other 1/3 of the bedroom, and the current half bath for a kitchen/dining area. Use the kitchen window as backyard access. The only trouble I have with that idea is the fact that you will have to walk to the other end of the house to use the bathroom if you are in that 3rd bedroom. The layout of this house has been kicking my butt for 4 years now. I will not let it win! Do any of these options make sense? Any thoughts or suggestions. I think the one thing we decided is that we are not moving unless we have to move outside of this area altogether because of work. Let me know if you have questions.

hamamelis, we don't have a coffeemaker but we do have a vitamix that gets a lot of use making smoothies. As for the question about why that workplace is unused... well, here is a picture of the kitchen as it currently is, and some lengthy observations about our behavior in the kitchen... you don't need to read all this :-) The red areas are theoretically available for prep, but in practice, people tend to move to the dining room table (which is not far away) when the preferred (blue) areas are unavailable. The workspace on the short wall is the top of the ikea "varde" that has a large butcher block top. (by the way, these three large drawers are the most useful part of the whole kitchen, holding all of our frequently used plates and bowls, cups and glasses, and most of our pots and pans.) In practice, the most preferred and busiest area is the 18" bit of counter to the left of the stove. This area is so busy because it's on the direct path between sink and stove. We also use the left half of the stove... we have a cutting board that we put over the left 2 burners. And we also extend this area with a very small kitchen cart (not pictured) that we put on the other side of the 18" counter. The area to the right of the stove mostly gets used as a landing area and also is cluttered with bottles of oil, kitchen utensils, and a big knife block. The areas next to the sink also get a lot of use, however no one likes to use the area in the corner of the sink wall. It is on the other side of the dishwasher from the sink, and we are always opening the dishwasher, creating an obstacle between the sink and the corner. Also, the light isn't as good there, because the kitchen doesn't have undercounter lighting, and the electrical outlet in that corner doesn't work. So, we hoped that the area on top of the "varde" would make a nice prep space, however no one uses it either. I think there are a lot of factors...the drawers are always being opened because practically all our stuff is there, so if you try to work there, you're always being interrupted by people opening drawers, and there is nowhere else to stand there; there is no task lighting (there are no outlets on that wall at all); people don't seem to like working on top of the butcher block surface; and finally it's farther away from the fridge than any of the blue areas (except the dining room table) and in order to get to the fridge, you have to cross all the traffic between the sink and stove. Noticing that we didn't like using this area for prep, we put a small bookcase on top of it, about 10" deep, and that is where we put our most frequently used pantry items, particularly things like snacks and cereal, because no one likes to use the upper cabinets. This puts these pantry items at a level where kids can easily reach. It reduces the depth of the countertop area in front of the bookcase/pantry to about 15", but this isn't a problem because it's mostly used for snacks, and assembling food on plates when there's something to serve. But those are all just problems with the current kitchen... I am sure that the new kitchen will work much better, thanks to the lovely people here who helped with the design :)

Beth is correct re: resale value in 20-30 years time. A 'flip' is sen to happen inside of 5 years (2-5 years and then you are OUT). That's when you pay attention to trends. A long-term floor is one you live with for 10+ years. At that point you IGNORE the trends and resale and pick what YOU WANT. Living with a floor for 10 years while HATING IT is one of the worst things you can do to yourself. It's like buying the most uncomfortable mattress for $30K and not being able to sleep for 20+ years. With your time line, you want to purchase and install something that works for you, your life style and your expectations. The 'look' of something is only valuable to you. In 20 years your Realtor will tell you to rip out all the floor OR offer a flooring discount to the next seller. That's the type of "Fashion Time Line" we are talking about here.

Thank you all for the feedback. As much as I didn't like some of the comments, I do appreciate some. We are adding windows to bedroom 2&3 since we're on a corner lot and that side will be open. The other side of the house has a close neighbor so I don't want them on that side. I plan on buying or building a murphy bed style table to go on the wall outside the laundry room that way it can be out of the way most of the time but easy to put out when we want it. I'll put a painting or something attached so it's pretty when folded up. I can easily store some stacking chairs in the laundry room. We have a little slide and trampoline I expect the kids will want out at all times when we have this extra room so they'll probably have that in this space most of the time.