What is your plan for the morning room? Taking 4 ft from it will make it oddly shaped and not particularly useful for many things.

Is the production builder ok with changes like you are proposing?

We are able to make changes for a fee. I am imagining the morning room primarily as a place for breakfast/snacks and homework or arts and crafts for my three children.

Also wanted to add, that with the morning room option, you lose the upper cabinets on the rear wall of the kitchen to the right of where it shows a window

This is a bit confusing to me. It seems as if the stove is on an outside wall, and the sink in on an interior wall (and that there is a fake window over the sink to look into the morning room). Is this correct? If so, are you able to add a window or two to the stove wall? Just trying to understand to come up with something more functional.

@Design Girl - you are correct except that when you add the morning room option, there is no longer a window or upper cabinets. The rendering of the kitchen is based on the original, without morning room. I really want to add at least one window to the current outer/stove side wall.

"We are able to make changes for a fee."

Have you asked about this fee? Typical production builders get minimum 3 to 4 times what changes are worth and credits will be pennies on the dollar.

@Sandy - Got it - So it's ok to add a window or two on that side. - How much room do you have until you get to what looks like windows/doors on the left side of the morning room? Can those be eliminated or do they go somewhere? Just trying to see how much flexibility there is.

Don't forget a water supply to the refrigerator. I didn't see it indicated on the plan.

^millworkman is right. Plus many production builders have limited changes allowed. Before you get into all of this make sure the scope of work you are proposing is possible by the builder. IOW's your definition of changes could be massively different from what the builder would allow. And if he does allow it, the cost will be enormous.

In general, I don't think the builders plan is functional. The placement of the fridge is odd making you walk around an island to get to your sink. Is there a way to rework the entry from the garage. I think there is enough space to have a great functional space, but this is not it. How much can you change, and how much will it cost?

Thanks everyone. So we do not have exact numbers so far, but to the extent that we are adjusting placement/rearranging, rather than adding, it’s not a huge fee. Although it is a production builder, we are building on our own lot, and they do have a large menu of changes/additions (like we can see the cost for adding a window, or converting a cabinet to a drawer bank etc.)

I agree that reworking the entry area/pantry would be a good idea. It seems that there could be just one door into the kitchen on the garage side.

I was also thinking of moving the windows on the left side of the morning room closer to the rear if needed.

@Sandy - Can you post the measurements of the pantry, closet etc, so that we can work on rearranging the entry from the garage. We have the measurements of the morning room, so if windows can be moved, then we can work with that. If I get those measurements, I can work on something this evening. What size fridge do you want? Cooktop and separate ovens, or range?

Anything special, or sizes you want would be helpful as well.

I would open up that wall for sure. What is the connection to the back yard? It looks like a fireplace on the family room wall to the backyard? You have a lots of space up front in living and dining room. Are you formal entertainers?

And, where is the big TV going to go and do you want furniture oriented to it? In the family room? That is always my question. Figure that out before you figure out the kitchen island and morning room.

@Design Girl - thanks!! We are wanting 36” cooktop and separate double wall ovens. Standard depth 36” wide fridge. We prefer microwave above counter height. We are open to sink in the island, but not cooktop. For the island we would like 9 or 10 feet long and about 5 feet wide.

Measurements for pantry, WIC, and entry are all 6’5” deep, and 7’4”, 5’6”, and 6’5” respectively. We need to steal about two feet from the right side of the entry to make the butler’s pantry. Thanks again :)

@Renee - we will have a deck behind the fireplace in the family room, accessed by the door from the family room. We have an attractive wooded yard on the left side and rear of the house.

We are a large family and frequently have guests and socialize in non COVID times. We plan to place the television on the wall of the family room shared with the guest suite. We are thinking of furniture oriented to the television, but without closing off the fireplace. Thanks!

Where is the laundry?

Laundry is on the second floor with the bedrooms

You say you're going to lose the upper cupboards and the window above the sink, correct? Then why not remove that wall and have a double-island kitchen with the sink moving to the island closer to the refrigerator and stove. You'd have an eat-in kitchen with great light from those windows.

And a better work triangle. Imagine you're going to cook half a bag of carrots. You take them from the refrigerator and clean and wash them at the sink, dodging around the island. Then sink to stove, then back around island to refrigerator. I wouldn't like the island in the middle of the traffic paths.

@Sandy - I've posted a layout below that is current and functional. I did steal 1 foot from the morning room to do it, but that room is totally large enough to accommodate a large table for informal dining. I've centered the cooktop on the 17 foot long wall and flanked it with a window on each side for symmetry, and to bring in great light. I prefer not having to walk around a barrier of cabinets to get to the kitchen table (which I assume will be in the morning room). I've left the garage entry/pantry/closet alone, because in this layout, they work. The plan specified a 48 inch fridge, so I left that in as well since it fits. The kitchen is open to the morning room (no cabinetry or wall) and family room. There is ample storage and almost any cabinet can be either a regular cabinet, pull out cabinet or deep drawer storage. This design also has the benefit of not having to deal with the dreaded corner that is always problematic. There is now a functional work triangle (in red). I gave you the 10 ft long island you requested, but oriented it a different way from the original. This allows people a straight shot from the kitchen prep area, and from the garage, right to the table, family room or kitchen without any barriers. You should be able to sit 4 to 5 people at the island. I made the island 4 feet wide, because I think an island any wider than that starts to look like a huge mass, and is difficult to get to the center to clean. Builders are often not the best in making a kitchens function well. I like this plan SO much better than what was there. It seems to address all your wants/needs while being functional and open. Let me know if you have any questions.

A few thoughts/questions:

1. The kitchen itself seems pretty good sized, but it seems like the cabinets/island only take up the leftmost two-thirds of it, and there's a fair amount of unused space on the right where you could extend the cabinets and the island. So, I don't think you need to push the kitchen into the morning room, but rather push the kitchen into the poorly utilized area on the right.

2. Where do you plan to eat meals? The dining room seems to be a long haul from the kitchen, and I can't imagine wanting to eat every meal in there or at the island. So, I'd consider putting a dining table in the morning room.

3. Also, since the morning room is full of windows, I'd want to open the wall between the kitchen and the morning room to get more light into the kitchen.

4. The builder's layout is pretty awkward. There is a barrier island between the sink and the fridge that you'll constantly be walking around. The sink should be on the exterior wall so you can have a window above it rather than the cooktop. The cabinet to the left of the double ovens is going to be weirdly claustrophobic.

With all that in mind, I'd do something like this.

I eyeballed the measurements as best I could off the floorplan, so while not perfect, I think it's in the ballpark. I think it only ends up pushing into the morning room by about a foot or so. (And that's including a 48" fridge/freezer, so if you go with a 36" fridge, you can save a little space there. If you do that, you might need to make the two pantry cabinets on the bottom wall shallower, too, to have enough clearance for seating at the island). The island contains a 24" microwave drawer on the top right. And the Gardenweb crowd that can't stand island hoods will object to the cooktop on the peninsula, but I think it's probably workable, and I'd like having the view out the back windows.

Thank you so much @Design Girl and @Matt E. These are some great ideas and really help me visualize it.

@Sandy - You're welcome. I wish I knew how to use the programs like others do - Oh well - This design is based on my own kitchen and I paid an architect and kitchen designer for this project. I have to say, its a beautiful, functional and balanced plan. Good luck and please ask if you have any questions.