Wow! Lots of questions! Haha! Let's see. We live in New Orleans and are a very casual, fun, energetic family. DH and I are in our mid 30's and have a 9 year old and a 6 year old. Both kids are active outside of school. TV is a big part of our lives because of sports, movies, kids, etc. But Mike's Den is where lots of the sports programming will take place. :) We are planning to offset the TV and put it to the side of the fireplace for two reasons....1) Now that the kitchen is further over, if someone is in there, it will be more centered to the room as a whole and 2) it can be a bit lower and more at eye-level if it's not above the fireplace. We can make the built-ins accommodate the TV at a level more comfortable for viewing. There will also be a playroom/media room upstairs for the kids. So the Living Room TV will be the group/family TV I suppose. We take turns cooking but both work. So we aren't gourmet cooks but we enjoy cooking meals. We enjoy conversations from the kitchen, thus wanting the open plan. I'd say that because of kids' evening activities, we probably cook 3-4 days a week maybe? Other nights we grill or get take out, pick something up or go out to eat on the way home. The porch. The house (again, in New Orleans...flooding) must be elevated a bit). This porch is elevated with the house. I know we will also have lower space for a table and chairs and the grill, that we haven't laid out yet. We actually did talk about widening the porch. How wide would you suggest? My dad suggested 1-3 feet wider. What do you think? The front door...you see the stairs to the right of the kitchen? And the open pass-through there under the stairs in the drawing? If you go through that pass through...actually straight from the back door, you'd pass the turned stairs above you and a guest room above, master below (in the drawing) and the front door is that way. It's a narrow, New Orleans lot...50x122, which has made things interesting to lay out! :) Thanks again guys! Your feedback is great! Oh, and again, the furniture placement and the kitchen appliances, etc. is just there in the drawings as a guide. It's not fixed or anything. It's just a visual thing for reference.

Yes-I think we are being asked to pay a lot of middleman cost. In addition to the cabinet builder/craftsmen who bid a few years ago, we have a very good tile installer replacing a poorly built shower floor in our master bath. I know he could do the backsplash too. We did pay to have a design done by the renovation contractor we are talking with. When meeting with his KD, I have found that I know about as much as she does, and more in many instances, about appliances and materials, largely due to reading this site for over half a decade. And she would send us off to the store of their choice to shop for sinks and such. If I am doing all that work, what am I paying them for? My weakness is with the measurements -and now that we have a CAD drawing of that, plus a ton of other information collected over the years, I'm not sure why we would pay someone all that money. I've really done most of the work already in my shopping and studying. We also have another designer who worked with us on our previous project, and I know she can step in for a reasonable cost and work with us on materials and tweaking design if need be.

lisa_a... I am flabbergast! The ideas originating from this forum never cease to amaze me. That folks are able to take layouts and turn it around in a matter of hours, or less, and churn out something completely different simply amazes and delights me. Alright, DH loves your layout. He likes having a dedicated area for our kids near us, and especially one that is directly across and in line of sight of kitchen. We will likely still make our guest bedroom upstairs our office so kids aren't mucking in our stuff (missed bills are not a good thing!). While we'll keep the main floor office for our kids. It just makes sense to give them a space for arts & crafting/reading/playing while we cook. It'll also be easier to help them with homework later on, and yes, definitely easier to keep an eye on them surfing the internet. Concerns... We do entertain and have BBQs often in our backyard during the summer months. The most used path to our backyard is via the kitchen. Will the 42" entryway be sufficient space for people to go in and out of? Also, I'm not sure about putting a down-to-counter dish hutch by that backdoor. Post-BBQ, it's often a steady stream of dishes back into the kitchen for clean up. Would maximizing counter space here be more practical for post-party clean up? Did you perhaps mean an upper cabinetry-only dish hutch? That would afford me both cabinets and counter space. I really like the fridge location in your layout. Makes for an easy path to unload and store groceries when we get home from shopping. Should prep sink be relocated to fridge end of island instead? The current layout has both sinks so close to each other that I wonder if it's worth the extra money to put in two sinks. Also, assuming my dishes are stored in cabinets/drawers near the sink. Is that too far from the dining area? If I store them in buffet counter area, then I'd be carrying them across the kitchen from dishwasher to dining area. No matter what, a trek seems unavoidable. Any tips on how to get around/minimize this? Note, one of my kids' task when they feel up to helping is to put away dishes in dishwasher. So I've spent the past few hours trying to rework the layout to see if I can keep the existing wall between dining room and kitchen. This would save us a good chunk of money since that is a load bearing wall, whose removal would require us to put in a recessed steel beam. I've tried making our current dining room into kids' office/play area with pocket doors (we're loving the pocket doors!) and our office the dining area with perimeter counter space, but just haven't been able to make it work. Sigh! So it looks like the money will have to be spent. One improvement though (I think). I loathe the narrow hallway we currently have. It just seems like dead space to me. So rather than keep it, I've modified your layout to put our coat closet and duct work in the existing hallway space instead. This allows for a wider entry to the dining/kitchen area. This new closet would also be deeper that what we currently have, so I'd be willing to forgo the closet nook as I can stuff things into the deeper closet and also in the main floor office. I'm also tempted to extend the powderoom to 72" so the sink can go across the toilet, thus making the powder room foot print narrower and opening up the entry to the dining room even more. If I do this, I can then reposition the door as debrak2008 suggested to prevent toilet views.

Here's an idea: All perimeter counters and cabinets are 3" deeper than standard: -- Counters are 28.5" deep. This gives you more workspace as well as more room behind the sink for a faucet and to clean behind -- Base cabinets are 27"D. If your cabinetmaker does not offer deeper base cabinets, then pull standard 24" base cabinets out from the wall -- Upper cabinets are 15"D. This should not be a problem - most cabinetmakers today offer 15"D upper cabinets. All zones are nicely separated, which allows multiple people to work in the Kitchen at one time - preparing a meal/snack, cooking, and/or cleaning up. There are four defined Prep Zones, with potential for others throughout the Kitchen. There are 3 Prep Zones on the island - two of which are adjacent to the prep sink. The third is around the corner and while it is not directly adjacent to a sink, it's close to both sinks. There is a 2-bin trash pullout next to the prep sink. The Cooking Zone is on the wall for ease of venting. It is surrounded by ample work/landing space. There are two cabinets on the left for tray storage and pot & pan storage on the right. Additional pots & pans can be stored in the island. The Cleanup Zone is on the perimeter where dirty dishes are hidden from direct view from the Dining Room and Family Room. Both DWs flank the cleanup sink. There is also a 2-bin trash pullout b/w the cleanup sink and the range for easy access from both the Cooking Zone and the Cleanup Zone. Dish storage is located in several locations near the DWs and all to the left of the cleanup sink. This is so your dishes are located near their point of use - the Dining Room. Dishes are also stored near the DWs for ease of unloading. Finally, dish storage is located where someone can set the table or load/unload the DW without getting in the way of those preparing & cooking. Since you have a large family, you probably have more dishes than most (I grew up in a large family - six children as well - and we had more dishes than most.) Dish storage is located: -- A 24" Dish Hutch is to the left of the sink/DW. It has a 15" deep upper cabinet that goes to the counter above a 27" deep base cabinet. I recommend the first 6" to 9" of the upper cabinet be either a drawer or two or separate doors from above so you can open the doors above even when there are items on the counter. A nice thing about this arrangement is that if you are short or while your children are, dish storage is lower than in standard upper cabinets. Instead of starting 18" above the counter, storage starts 9" or so above the counter. [Note, I originally made it 36" wide, but then I remembered that you have a Utility Shaft at the end!] -- There is a 42" dish drawer in the island for additional dishes. The drawer faces the sink/DW side. With an aisle 51" wide, you should be able to have both the DW and the drawer open at the same time - nice and easy for putting dishes away! -- Finally, assuming the Utility Shaft is not as deep as the counter, I propose putting a tall dish cabinet in front of it for additional dish &^ glass storage. The refrigerator and freezer are on the periphery so both those working in the Kitchen and those just looking for a snack or putting away groceries can access it without getting in each other's way. They are also located so non-Kitchen workers do not have to cross through the working part of the Kitchen to get to them. The MW drawer is located on end of the island - near the refrigerator/freezer and a water source. Most MW'd food comes from the refrigerator or freezer and many need water added to them when MWing. As with the refrigerator, the MW is located such that both Kitchen workers and non-workers can access it without getting in each other's way. The Pantry is located just outside the main Kitchen work area. A walk-in/step-in/reach-in pantry is a much better use of space for pantry storage - it's more flexible, it costs much less, and storage is more efficient. The island has seating for eight. Two seats have 18" of knee/leg space for tall family members or visitors. The other six seats have the minimum recommended 15" overhang. This will be find for short to average height folks. There is a 12"w x 27" tall Utility pullout for broom, dustpan, swifter, etc. If you prefer, it could also be turned 90 degrees so it's a 27"W x 12"D cabinet. To the left of the pantry is a Tea/Coffee/Beverage Center. It's located outside the Kitchen proper to allow anyone to make tea/coffee, etc., without encroaching on the Kitchen's main work area. If you'd like, you could add a bar sink and, possibly, a refrigerator drawer or under-counter beverage refrigerator. Note that a bar sink is smaller than a prep sink, so it will not take up as much room. A bar sink is usually small b/c the most use it gets is to fill glasses for water or to fill a coffee maker, etc. Prep sinks, on the other hand, get a lot more use and more space is needed so they are generally larger. . . Zone Map: