You don't know what family life is like. No one can tell you. What we can tell you is that what you think your lifestyle is will change in ways that you can't anticipate when your child is born. Additionally, remodelling is very stressful. It's really not a great thing to undertake with a hard deadline, and you don't want to have no kitchen when the baby arrives. If you have a lot of time, and a good, full service firm handling all of your details, and they expect to be finished several months before the baby, then go for it. Otherwise, have a really serious talk with your wife and make sure that she's comfortable with this whole redo right now. It concerns me that it's you, not she, asking the questions. If that's your way of doing division of labor, fine, but if this is your project, not hers, please, please talk to her some more and make sure she really really really wants to do it. The baby is enough of a stressor without a kitchen remodel. I wouldn't go too far off of what is standard in your neighborhood if you really think you'll be moving within five years. Toronto is very different from where I live (SoCal), so I won't speculate on the expectations there, but where I live, a 36" fridge is expected by buyers (bigger if sxs), but built-in trumps freestanding. In a small apartment, smaller is fine, but in a 2000 sf home, not so much. If what's there now is dreadful, and they can just plunk in a wonderful Leicht kitchen will be quick and easy (doubtful), and you don't care what you have to spend to get there, that's fine. If it's workable as is, and you really expect to move in five years, it's not really worth remodelling at a time when so much else in your lives is changing. From a purely design/aesthetics point of view, since you asked, either size fridge is fine. Built-in is always going to be less obtrusive than free standing. You really don't know what your needs will be when you have a baby, however, and you may be unnecessarily limiting yourself.

''John-the pots make tons more sense there. I was wanting a small pot rack close to the wall to the left of the range hood (for maybe 3 skillets). Would I regret open shelving in (base cabinet) to left of range for pots (a la the Julia Child kitchen)? I wouldn't have to deal with clearance for a cabinet door in that smaller space then. But from the standpoint of funkiness and clutter?'' I think open shelves in the base cabinet to the left of the Lacanche would be hard to get to, because you'd be squatting in a small space (between that cab and the Hoosier-thingy, whatever that is). Drawers would probably be easier to work with, I think. Also you might want a shallow drawer in that base cab for utensils, and maybe even a sturdy pull-out board for more workspace. Because of the tight quarters, I think storing stuff up high would also be useful. Pot racks flanking the Lacanche's vent hood, for instance. You will, naturally, buy a whole set of thick French copper saucepans to feed the Lacanche, and those would look very nice, hanging. I still think a small prep sink near the range would be helpful, to save you from having to lug an 11-quart copper stockpot full of boiling liquid to the main sink. What do you think about fitting such a sink in the narrow base cab that will be to the right of the range? Then maybe drawers under the sink, for oils, spices, and other stuff that you would want close at hand when cooking. I was thinking about your layout, and realized that because you have a sizeable pantry room, the limited storage in the kitchen itself might be workable. Over on the sink wall, seems you could put glassware and dishware in the shallow tall cabinet where they'd be close to the dishwasher (make sure your dishes are not too large), flatware and prep supplies and mixer in and on the 58'' cabinet to the left of the sink. Don't forget the microwave needs a home too. You might also plan on trying a small (2' x 3', say) worktable in the center of the kitchen. If the clearances work, great. If not, it becomes a potting bench or something. One other thing - you were talking about about the view into the kitchen from the rest of the house - which suggests a sink/window that is eye-catching and beautiful? Maybe plan on later installing a large apron-front or freestanding sink - something visually striking? (Shame the window is there, or you could place the Lacanche on the sink wall, splendidly on display.)

1. Pool type: rectangle - 47 ft by 12.5 ft. with an interior spa. Swim length is 44 ft (pool cover vault takes up approx. 2.5 ft. of the pool's length. 2. 40,000 ish gallons 3. Perimeter length : approx, 120 ft 4. Min. depth / Max. depth: 3.5 ft to 5.5 ft. 5. Avg. # persons using (in) pool at a given time during the active season: 2-4 on days when dd has friends over. 6. Max. # persons pool can accommodate comfortably (before seeming too crowded): For lap swimming one or two is fine...for playing around, five or six is okay...beyond that, it gets crowded. 7. For your usage level, would you say your pool is undersized, oversized, just right: Just right given my yard space. If I had a bigger lot, I'd love a longer and wider pool. Daughter and friends *love* the slide....I' might have liked a deeper deep end for diving. Pics:

I think we're going to have to have an electrician come in and rewire the house or something. The bathroom, the two fan lights in the kitchen, and the lights in the main room in the basement go out all the time. Doesn't matter what kind of bulbs we put in there, they burn out. Yet the light over the sink is on pretty much 24/7 and it's been replaced like once in 16 years. For the last long while, we quit buying the "good" bulbs b/c if we get three months out of them, that's a good length of time for us, but the cost is outlandish to replace that often for bulbs that rarely are used. The cabinet door goes to shelving in the hall. If we didn't have the shelving, we'd lose quite a bit of storage, so we can't take the shelves out to put a hamper in there.