I think the oven we have now is on the smaller side (standard for the time it was made) - circa 1960's. It has an 11" clearance inside and the Advantium has a 9" clearance if I can place the roaster on the bottom of the oven. I would lose an inch if I have to place it on the rack (which is the way I think they want it for circulation). I am going to phone customer service later today and see if they can answer these questions. We always do Thanksgiving for local family, that is for about 10 adults. We will also have guests later this year, 4 adults plus the two of us. I really *think* I will be fine with just the advantium, it does look a bit complicated to use though. When I used a convection oven this past summer, I was fine with it. Using the convection oven I used was not as complex as the Advantium seems to be. I think my mother (almost 90) will not be able to use it at all. I have never used a Nesco roaster, do you have any tips on using one?

uh, I'd keep looking. that fireplace presumably has a chimney that continues up through the roof (and any floors in between) and could be tied into overall structure. changes here are many (tens of) thousands of dollars before you pull out any walls or replace the required flooring... as for pantry, a walk-in requires reworking the whole floorplan. it looks like you have plenty of cabinetry here, including a bank of tall (presumably pantry?) cabinets in the hall facing the kitchen. I'm not sure I'd invest what it would cost to make the pantry enclosed or what it would do to the kitchen layout. it's best to live with a kitchen for a year or two before doing a huge overhaul, as often you find out you like and dislike different things than you might have expected. this looks like a nice layout, but if it isn't scratching your itch, keep looking until you find one with bones you really like.

The tv looks to high to me. It should be lower. It is lower on your inspiration picture, but, your inspiration picture has a longer lower opening and is either gas or electric. Yours appears to be wood burning. You can build in the sides, and have it all look similar, but, find a new place for the tv and just have a nice pretty picture where you now have the tv.

Good question...That space is actually not that big in real life. We'll likely put the 2 chairs with a table in between that we have in the sunroom now. We may end up with a moveable island in the "butler's pantry" -- agree, it's more of an extended kitchen space. But we can reuse the same cabinets so it will be low cost and extra storage since we'll have less in the main kitchen area. Moving the bathroom was deemed to be more than $10k, and creates a lot more complexity in the project. I am intrigued by that idea, but I think that will actually make the house feel smaller since that will create more of a closed off hallway from our utility room.