Whoa, I can't get past the 12 kids! You have done a great job planning your laundry room. I agree, I would go with a retractable clothes line, instead of a pole. One way that you could disguise it, would be to enclose it in a wood box to match the trim on your stained glass window. Depending on the size of the window, it could be hidden behind a wooden valance that you would lift to expose the close line. This would run the full length of your laundry room. Not a good place for kids to be running through if this is a busy intersection in your home. I agree with you on the cut-out on the back of the cabinet over the washer for your water shut-off's. You can store your laundry supplies in there. Depending on the depth of your chimney, the empty space next to it could have a tall utility cabinet, cut-back. The minimum cut-back that I would do is back to a 12" depth. You can either have a regular ironing board in there, plus storage for other misc. cleaning supplies, or have your builder install the necessary support for a fold down ironing board. It obviously cannot be recessed due to the pocket doors. I don't like the storable fold down ironing boards because they really don't give you a lot of space, plus I assume that you have small children. These cabinets hang very low on the wall and litte heads can ram into the corner's of these stand alone cabinets when they are not recessed. I'd continue with the wood flooring for continuity. Why? Because that is why we pay for house insurance...LOL

The bearings on the motor are shot. We don't replace motors. We replace the entire pump. Replacing the motor entails replacing the seal and typically other parts such as an impeller or diffuser. By the time you add up the new parts and labor, you're generally about 50%-60% of the cost of a new pump. With a new pump, you have a new and longer warranty. By July 19th, the Department of Energy is requiring variable speed pumps on new installs. This may be a time to consider a VS pump. They carry an upfront cost, but have a good payback over time. We have using them over 10 years now

Call the plumber to put in a proper trap and get rid of the gunk catching flexible tube that is likely slowing things down. You might have to lose the shelf or part of it. A good plumber could keep things higher up so you have more use of the cabinet floor.

What do you need? Storage, seating, office, entertaining space? Pick one and move in that direction. A reading nook would be great or a built in or a nice bar/beverage center... Lots of options