This topic can be both a regional and personal thing. Regionally? I'm on the road a lot and can tell you I haven't seen ANY new splits being built around here in many years. They are definitely considered 'dated', because they're almost always 50's tract homes in this area of the country. They're also considered pretty cheap, since when they were built, they were cheap tract homes, made with the cheapest materials available--and unless they've had major and expensive rehabbing are worse now. You're general perception of splits will probably definitely be influenced by the area of the country where you live, and the common opinion of them there. Personally? (and I'll tell you this is definitely influenced by my age--60's--and our health--me, arthritis; him gout) I would live in a tent or a camper before I'd spend money for a split. Having to go up and down stairs no matter where I wanted to go? No thank you. We bought a rancher a few years back, for just that reason. And as some have said, it's inconvenient to be raising a toddler in one as well. And also sad to have older pets who have stair trouble. My sis has a split--which, granted, she loves. It is one of the nicer ones I've seen, in one of the more expensive areas of the country--but it's from the 50's. She has no bathroom on the main floor (and no place to put one), so it was hard for her to entertain our elderly mother and aunt when they were alive, because getting them up to the bathroom was a major chore that took several of us. To do her laundry, she had to go up to her bedroom, down the stais to the mail flor, then down another flight of stairs to the basement, across the family room and UP and another flight of stairs to the garage level of the house. Who wants to do that? I have my laundry on the first (only) floor, it's only about 10 paces from my bedroom, and about 1 yard from the back door and deck where I hang clothes to dry. The thing is, any house is going to have it's fans and also those who don't care for it. With a split, you do have to consider that opnions are going to be 'split' and there is going to be a segment of the population who will never even look at your house when you're ready to sell it--but as you can see, there are plenty of people who love them. For yourself--ask yourself how your health is--is this arrangement going to be a problem in the future? might all those stairs cause you to sell before you really want to? what if you're young and get hurt? break an ankle? or have minor surgery? is not being able to get up and down the stairs going to be a problem? A split level is really not accessible for anyone who might be permanently or temporarily wheel chair bound. Seniors won't buy a split. For myself? You couldn't give me a split--and no, even looking at a fantatic one wouldn't get ME to change my mind--I've done enough stairs over time, and am ready to use my energies in other areas.

We did the 18 x 10 kitchen in our split. Sorry, no pics yet. Also have living room, dining ell, powroom, foyer on the 1st floor. Dining room is 10x15, liv room is 25x15 so they are big enough rooms. There was a dining room pocket door, a pocket door to the foyer plus the back/side door. 3 big windows which face the street, one over the sink, and two in the eating area. I would never give up my sep. dining room, actually an ell. We, too, always ate in the kitchen. I struggled to find a way that we could eat in. I would have liked to have read ellendi's post a few years ago. And I always wanted a big tv in the kitchen. 1. We replaced the 50 year old windows with Marvin casements. Made them less wide by 7 or 8 inches. 2. We had cabinetry made for the eating area wall which is perpendicular to the front windows. It's the outside wall. The cabs consists of two floor to ceiling shelving units behind very tall doors. These two cabs are separated by 31 inches. So between the 2 cabs is an empty wall 31 inches wide. We had 3 shelves made bridging the 2 cabs and on the highest shelf is a big flat screen tv. Jutting out from the 3rd shelf is our kitchen table 30 x 60, The table is made from the same wood as the cabinetry. (I had planned to replace the table with something jazzier but it's just fine. Actually feels unified.) 3. Removed the pocket door to the dining room and have a 5 foot wide opening to the dining room. It feels open and still can't see any kitchen mess from the dining room. 4. Placed an undercounter fridge drawer unit in the peninsula dead corner, facing the eating area. Keeps fridge traffic out of cooking area. 5. Recessed the main fridge about 3 inches into the wall so no fridge traffic jam. 6. Have 2 15". wide pantry pullouts. 7. Have a cooktop and double ovens. 8. Custom cabinetry 9. Easily moved the basement heating ductwork so the heat registers are on each side of the peninsula toekick. It worked.

Beautiful lot and house - the split wouldn't bother me. In fact we lived in a split entry for 23 years and I'm an above knee amputee. When we were looking for that house I said no split entry - well I was wrong on that. We sold that house in three weeks. We also had a four level split weekend lake home - lived there for 16 years and sold it without a realtor. We don't have kids though and we did buy homes now with all the required living areas on the main floor as we approach retirement age.

I agree with @calidesign about the bathrooms. If you close up the door on the right of the master bath and convert the other one to a pocket door, you would have space for a nice, large shower, a double vanity and possibly a little extra storage space. For a guest/downstairs bathroom, I would remove the small closet from the 2nd bedroom (there's already a large walk-in in there) and bathroom door, and convert the doorway near the bottom of the stairs to a pocket door. By removing one of the doors and absorbing the closet space into the bathroom, you will have a more spacious bathroom with storage and room for a larger vanity with counter space. I don't think it's worth sacrificing kitchen space or master bedroom space to put in a guest bathroom upstairs, unless you have guests over a lot (in which case you could create a small bathroom on the left side of your kitchen, but you will lose valuable real estate). I honestly don't see anywhere else it could go upstairs without putting in obtrusive walls in your living room. You could narrow the foyer but because your ceiling are so high, I think it would end up costing a lot for just a small bathroom. Also, it would throw off the symmetry of your house quite a bit (looking at the entrance from the open space, one side would be open and the other closed off; the window would be off-center).