A coupe more pics. One is the house without the design (blank canvas). Th other is a design I made that gives the kitchen more width but puts the outside entrance to the pool area in the bathroom itself. I've seen this done down south but don't know if it would be considered strange in CT.

I'm hoping to get some traction on this. I would at least like to get some opinions on the plan with the exterior door to the pool area in the bathroom itself. Is this an ok thing to do? We are in CT so it would really only be used 3-4 months a year.

Would it be possible to put the kitchen where the office is? Then it could open up to the family room. Then you could put the half bath, laundry & closet over in the existing kitchen. Moving the "living room" to the bottom of the existing kitchen & moving the office down into the current living room.

Not a pro and I probably dont have a clue about design. But I wouldn’t want a powder room so close to a pantry if I had other options. I might carve a powder room space out of the family room area to the left. Or make the office the pantry and make more of a separation between bath and kitchen. You may want a shower in the bath with a pool? Lucky you to have a pool and so much space. Good luck

Mark: I see what you're trying to do there. That would work but we use the garage which is at the far left of the plan as our entrance most of the time. Bringing groceries that far and through the living room would be a show stopper for my wife.

Lindsey: The plumbing is actually not too much of a concern. It's an easy tie in from the basement to almost anywhere in that space. The wood stove is not quite that close to the island. I white'd out my name and the designers name there. I don't know off hand but I think it's about 4-5 feet. I think she made the island agular to pull it away from the stove and give the edges some more length to fit more stools. I still don't think it's enough. The maximum length island I could put there with her plan is about 7 feet. The angle are all there for flow as she said.
Not sure what I think of that, Originally I planned on remodeling the kitchen in the original location and just putting a small powder room and pantry on the left side of the original family room. The designer thought, and I agreed with her, that the kitchen would be best in the middle of the home.

I considered adding a shower to the bathroom but iby code t would actually turn that office into a bedroom.

Thanks all for your replies.

We don't even need a mudroom near the pool entrance. That entrance would just be used for the pool and even then, we could come in through the door in the existing kitchen or the screened in porch. Closing that entrance may be an option.

The whole first floor plan is the first pic in the second post. The garage is the room that's cut off to the left. The entrance from the garage is in the bottom left of the plan. This is the door we use most often.

The relative ease of moving the plumbing is only part of the equation. It is still very true that the kitchen design will enhance or detract from the house as a whole.

As far as the wood stove:

• I would hate having a wood stove in my kitchen. It gets so hot, and creates so much mess. The best thing about our modern homes is that if we choose to have a wood heat source, it doesn't need to be cluttering up what should be the cleanest room in the house.
• 4-5' is simply not enough clearance. You want x number of feet behind and in front of the stove for code compliance. In my area it is 18" behind, and that requires a specific buffer wall system. In front of the stove the pad must be at least 24". So assuming your buffer in back is already in place and that your 5' measurement is from the front of the wood stove to the edge of the counter and then taking out 24" from the front stove edge, that leaves you just 3' to walk between the stove and the island. That is simply not enough. 3' is a fairly narrow walkway. 3' is only just enough room for a stool to move back comfortably to allow someone to slide into their seat. 3' is NOT enough for a stool pull-back zone and still allow a walkway through to a public space (family room & office), and when you add a fire breathing stove into the mix it is just dangerous.
• Your designer's drawing should include a to-scale wood stove located in the correct place with the proper clearances clearly marked all around.
• The issue with the backdraft due to a stove hood is still valid. My wood stove is in a totally different room from the range, separated by two walls and almost 40', and we get a backdraft when the range hood is on full power.

I would put the kitchen more to the back. I understand the desire to have the kitchen be the center of the home. To me it makes more sense in your situation to have the kitchen near the garage for easy unloading of groceries and for nice access to the porch for grilling etc. With all the living spaces adjacent to each other entertaining is fun and easy, and all have access to the back yard/pool and the front entry. A laundry closet is sufficient if you want to pop a washer and dryer back downstairs for all those bathing suits and towels generated at the pool. I utilized a reach in pantry system. You could potentially build a walk-in system under the stairs instead. The powder room door is hidden from all living and--more importantly--eating spaces.

None of the furniture in this drawing is to-scale. I couldn't read any dimensions on your floorplan so I made estimates based on the widths of existing hallways.

Thank you for taking the time to put together that response. Much appreciated!

Regarding the wood stove: I do have an outside air kit which would prevent the backdrafts but I hear you on having a dirty wood stove in the kitchen. Carrying wood though the kitchen is not ideal either. The other room has a wood pellet fireplace insert which might be better for the kitchen. I could swap the two which would help with the clearance issue as well.

Interesting you think leaving the kitchen where it is would be better. The two benefits I see are the groceries from the garage issue you mentioned and also it’s nice having that back staircase from upstairs leading right down into the kitchen. That particular space is better for both a family room or a kitchen. The drawbacks to me are having the living room/family room and screened porch all next to each other when basically they are of the same function. Attached are two pics of the very first plan I started working on when we were going to leave the rooms where they are and just open things up. It’s very similar to the drawing you provided.