When I was doing my main floor laundry I paid special attention to the requirements of my W/D set. My instructions stated to place the set next to a load bearing wall. I have joist 16" on center and they are relatively short at 8 or 9' long. So there is no spring to the floor system. I have a 1..5" subfloor. Then a 3/8" underlayment, followed by an uncoupling membrane by Latacrit, then finished with my tile. The membrane and tile I don't consider adding strength. The strength comes from the joist and subfloor setup. This is how I understand it but I am not a professional builder or tiler, just a DIY'er. There have been post where individuals report a lot of bounce to their floors with a W/D in use. I believe these floors are the ones that have long joist and the W/D set is set nearer the center of the floor system where there is no support. It becomes a trampoline. This is especially important with a front loader. I don't know about top loaders. If you use tile, you will want a very stiff floor system anyway, so that flexion of the joist don't crack the tile, with or without the W/D setup. There is a formula to use to calculate joist length, thickness, and spacing, to determine appropriateness for installation of tile. Natural stone takes an even stiffer floor.

The Mr. prefers windows on both north and east sides, but isn't sure how that could work... We both like no uppers as much as possible. We could do a secretary desk, but I need a place for home office materials. I don't feel comfortable using the den/classroom/ guest room as guests will be staying in that space and as much as I trust our guests -I wouldn't want to leave our personal documents there. So the desk space could surely be removed. I don't like the countertop running into the cabinets in the dead corner, not a fan, it feels awkward to me. So no fridge in the corner...But I'm open to moving it, though it would only leave the desk space aND I'm not thinking that's a good option. And thank you for sharing your parents' junk! Lol! They've got nothing on us! We once had 4 junk drawers! I would greatly prefer to have an organized home office space. The thing there has been that the hubs works from home, this using the home office. But it'snot a home office, it's a work office in our home. So we need space for his work office AND our home office. The mudroom area in the house is a hallway and I'd MUCH prefer an actual ROOM where I could put the home office space, we have that on the list to discuss with the designer. So the desk is a temporary fix...a backup. Here is the broader layout. Not exactly to scale, and things are in flux still...need to straighten so of these corners out. The kitchen is off the screened porch, adjacent to the dining and living room. We have a very large dining table, that will be turned to extend for gatherings. The stairs are not at all acurate, other than start and finish points. There are stacked stairs from basement to 2nd story. Thinking on switching the sink/cook top. .. Appreciate the photo links! We both liked the kitchen with slate? floor and 5 chairs at the island. I don't care for the upper on the far side though. Is that neseccary to ballance the look? Hmmm... Really appreciate all the thoughts!

When installing tile - the subfloor must be supportive so it has limited flex (deflection). This is dependent upon the size and spacing of the floor joists, the span, and the subfloor material. You need to get the specs from the tile manufacturer - as far as deflection. A qualified tile setter will determine if your subfloor needs to be improved, or whether you can use that tile. Schluter makes all sorts of transitions.

Carpet hides some of the worst subfloors on the planet. This makes installing new flooring a challenge. And as Tundra has pointed out, tile should be the most expensive option out there. Technically you can add concrete floors to anything you want - if you have boat loads of money and time to do it - anything is possible. So concrete on a second level (assuming this level is wood framed) is possible but with a budget that can't afford hardwood, we can assume you can't afford finished concrete over a "bad" carpeted substrate. A floating floor (of any type) is going to be your fastest remedy. But the stuff that was sitting under your carpet will have to be dealt with. If it is flat and level, then we are fine to work with any floating floor you desire. A "permanent" floor (nailed/glued/stapled/cleated/mortared/etc) is a different story. What lays under carpet is often not good enough to be left in place for a permanent floor. Good luck. A floating floor should do just fine in your situation. And if you wanted concrete, then a tile floor isn't any different. Both are hard on the feet and can be quite loud.