If you're concerned about the view to the refrigerator, plan to get one that is panel-ready anod order panels to match your new cabinetry so it will blend right in. That trend has been around a long time in Europe and is becoming more of the standard here in the USA, to conceal the refrigerator.

The problem with trying to disguise an entry to a room, be it a bedroom, bathroom, or other private area leading into a more public area, is that you sacrifice a lot of space. Looking at your diagrams and photos, it doesn't look like you have a lot of extra space to work with here. My parents built a home with the rather awkward layout of having 2 bedrooms and 1 main full bathroom opening directly into the one and only living room/kitchen/dining room open concept space. It was a low-budget build for a rural location, and the plan was chosen for more factors than just aesthetics, but nevertheless my point is that we all got used to it in time and never think anything about it now. There is even a behavioral adjustment that takes place that you keep doors closed for privacy and ensure that everyone is properly dressed when coming in and out of those areas--it becomes second nature in time to use the doors themselves for privacy as needed. You could do something like a free-standing decorative screen in front of the door if you wanted, and of course your idea of a vestibule entry is always possible, but I am afraid you may regret giving up the interior bedroom space in order to do something of that nature. Along those lines, I think if you switched the current living room location with the master bedroom, you would feel even more like the master bedroom wasn't private due to that staircase coming right up next to it, so people are passing within inches of your wall constantly.

A few threads recently here at Houzz have discussed passthroughs, and the general consensus is that they aren't favored unless perhaps they are already in place and doing something with them would be expensive. Your kitchen really isn't that large, especially if you want to tweak out space for a 36" range and wall ovens. That range is going to require huge ventilation, preferably a 42" ducted vent hood, and you are going to need all the wall space you can get to add extra storage there. You'll also possibly appreciate some noise separation from anyone watching TV in the living room next to someone trying to cook or wash dishes.

If costs are at all a concern, which you mentioned they were, I would leave that ceiling alone. Your new cabinetry, the addition of a bathroom, and the re-configuring of your walls is already going to be a costly project. I would especially get a firm quote on your kitchen cabinetry before moving forward, as that is one expense that is sometimes double or triple what people expected that it would be. Best wishes on your new renovation.

Ugh, those circular stairs to get to the main living area would be an absolute non-starter for me. Develop a complete plan after you have your budget before you touch one thing or it will be a 100% hot mess and money pit.

I would not want the pass through. Either close that wall completely (more kitchen storage!) or make it a peninsula (with a a post if needed for support). Which to go with depends on how open you want things. I'd probably prefer the wall closed up.

Have you asked the architects about the other concerns you have? It seems like this plan did a good job of addressing a lot of your wants - I'd first see if they can figure out a better solution for the few things that remain.

You need to spend some money and go to the site and see how this is all going to work. It will be money well spent.

Hi, @Anglophilia Thanks for your reply. It's not about the money. We're a military family stationed in CO and are on a travel ban for at least the next four weeks. Before closing, we visited the house several times. It's such a long story...knowing we were moving to the Fort Hood area, we started searching online and found the home. Our daughter viewed it for us. We went to TX, did a home inspection, and were aware of all issues before purchasing. The previous owners allowed farm animals to live in the property...goats, chickens, poo, and pee everywhere! The stench was unbearable, lots of damage and everything from the floor up to 4' needed gutting/replacing, plus a redesign of kitchen and baths.
The house is a diamond in the rough, sits on 5 acres, close to our daughter and two grandkids, and priced well below market value. It is a dream home for us and really suits our lifestyle. We hope to decide on the floorplan while homebound in CO so that once we get to TX, we can move ahead with construction.
@millworkman - spiral stairs can be a pain for sure! Yet not a dealbreaker for us. Whoever had this custom house built seemed thoughtful of that specific stair. Downstairs, there is a living room, an open space for dining and kitchenette, laundry, office, and a jack and jill bath with two separate toilets and sinks. For us empty nesters, it's a great floorplan. Our grandkids will have the lower level to themselves when they visit. There will be a washer and dryer added to the master bath, so no lugging laundry up and down those stairs!

@Patricia Colwell Consulting, we have a construction loan in place, ready to go, and have allocated more than enough to cover the entire reno. My husband and I have years of experience working on houses with an understanding of expenses, so budgeted accordingly. We drove to TX for closing - right before the virus hit full force and impacted the U.S. We brought our tools with plans to stay a few weeks to demo, meet with contractors and an architect, yet got word of our post lockdown and had to get back to CO quickly, leaving many loose ends. Wanting to move things along and to help family, we've hired our son in law to demo what's definitely not staying and to meet with contractors. He's a muscular guy, is loving the work. Plus is surprising us with his quickness! I'm a home stager by trade @ANNARTHUR HOMES | Home Staging + Design, and we've reworked rooms before, yet adding a bath to this situation is a challenge, and we felt it'd be money well spent to hire an architect. He talked with us while visiting the property...went over our wishes and design ideas in great detail. We received the rough floorplan, and we're working on tweaking particulars with him. Meanwhile, my hope is another professional will see the floorplan and share ideas on how to best to work in a guest bath and redesign the kitchen layout.
Thank you all. Very grateful for advice

@Kristin S. Hello! Agree on the pass-through. It feels dated, doesn't it? We're discussing leaving the kitchen as is and just reworking the island, opening the room up with a peninsula, or widening the LR opening a bit to make the living spaces feel more open.

@Belaria Great idea for the refrigerator, thank you for that recommendation.

First of all, congratulations on a well written and specific post with good floor plans and lots of images. This is far better than 99% of the posts we look at in this forum.

The architects seem to have done a good job of addressing most of your concerns, with a creative solution for the powder room. I would ask them to create an alternative plan which keeps the kitchen and dining area in place but switches the living room and master bedroom. This would create a great room all along the front of the house and perhaps provide more privacy at the back for the master bedroom. The master bath would be in the back left corner with the space between bath and bedroom given over to closet(s). This might provide an opportunity to "recess" the powder room into this space and remove it from the main living space.

I agree with those that suggest you stop demolition until you have arrived at a plan which suits your needs.

@vividk So, I read your more complete story of this renovation, and it sounds as though you're hoping to flip for a profit in a few years, correct? This is going to be a terribly unpopular opinion, but you did ask for advice on incorporating a new powder room upstairs, and I'm thinking to maybe skip that aspect of the project? Here's why: the plumbing changes are no small thing unless you have some low-cost DIY labor to re-route those yourselves. You'll need to be cognizant of venting issues for the new plumbing possibly through the roofline, and upstairs bathrooms can have special problems with draining as well as wide-reaching consequences if there are any leaks. I have an upstairs bathroom that has undergone issues with all the above. If the grandkids are using the lower floor when they visit, seems logical they could just hop down and use their designated bathroom downstairs when the need arose. Were this a forever home for you, I can definitely see the extra investment being worthwhile, but I worry for you being able to recoup that extra cost at resale unless you were just wanting to break even?

The next thing I might suggest is that, looking at the upstairs kitchen-area layout again, I see the potential for you to take out the entire wall and do an island configuration there, making the living/dining/kitchen an open space. This is the most modern take on kitchen design and might appeal to your new buyer in a few years. The current kitchen is just so small that this might grant a feeling of more open space plus give you that buyer appeal that might be helpful when you stage the home for resale. The wall kitchen design would, of course, be L-shaped, and then you could work in an island with some seating that opened into the living room area. Big question is whether that wall is load-bearing, but even if so, you can find examples of islands that incorporate a post on one side for support. It's just a new idea for thought. I hope you enjoy your new home!

Oh, and one more thing. If you do go with a paneled refrigerator, be aware that panel-ready units are typically much taller than regular refrigerators. They come around 80" high or so, meaning it would be a good idea to select the refrigerator before your cabinetry design so you can determine the height of anything that goes above the refrigerator.

@Belaria I received an email notification alerting you posted another message, yet the full message is not showing. Would you please repost? Many thanks

@RappArchitecture It seemed best to provide more info than less, so glad to hear it was helpful! Thank you for the verbiage on switching rooms - we forwarded that request to the architect. My hope is wherever the LR and Master land, he'll be able to work out the powder room addition without the doorway directly opening into a room. Any suggestions on how best to rework the powder room for that to happen?

@Belaria Appreciate the suggestions, thank you. Widening the pass-through was a consideration we brought up to our architect early on, but the wall is load-bearing and returns on investment - & budget - had to be considered. I'm not sure about keeping a post...so we're deciding between two new plans he provided. We're posting them both to get some additional feedback. After 27+ years in the military, we hope this will house will be a forever home!