Lavender--thanks for your thoughts. I do need a place for beverages off the larger buffet space at the end. Appetizers would go on the buffet first to be replaced by the main meal later. I always have a problem finding a place for drinks. They could go on the buffet with the appetizers, but then they'd need a place to go after that when the meal was set out. I'm not sure where I'd put them after that. I'd like a space for them to live permanently. Depending on what kind of entertaining we're doing (kids party vs. holiday vs. adult b-day), usually we have a couple bottles of wine or a pitcher of cocktails I've mixed up in bulk ahead of time, water, and a non-alcoholic beverage like an herbal lemonade (whatever looks good in the garden--basil, mint, lavender, or my fav rosemary!) or a fruity iced tea. Usually people help themselves. Rhome--Looks great! I can see the mirror! ;) I think that's probably best functionally, even though I love the hutch idea visually. Those uppers are 12" deep, right? Even though they would stick out a bit farther than the wall, I think that's fine. That wall with the art would be a great place for something cool or creative. Did you create that modern art yourself? ;) Thanks again!

Deb, one question that I haven't heard yet is, is your library-media room the main gathering/ tv watching in your home? It's a really lovely room (actually every room you've shown us is lovely). I'm so impressed with the gorgeous bookcases your DH built. I see that you have steps down to this room, which would mean that you'd be carrying platters and bowls of food, plates, glasses, etc, down those steps for every meal that you serve in there, as your new dining room. It's only two steps, but you need to seriously think about whether this would become a real irritant after a while, let alone a possible tripping danger. Unfortunately, having the steps would make it near to impossible to move the wall between the present dining room and library, to give you more space in the dining room. That would have been ideal . . . if it was possible. More questions and thoughts: ~do you have a family room or living room that you can move the tv into comfortably? ~ what do you and your DH actually need the most, a home office or a butler's pantry? ~ With both rooms having wide doorways that open into it, instead of actual doors that you can close off, will you be happy seeing a desk and other office things in full view from your kitchen (which is lovely, BTW)? Friends and family will be passing through it getting from your kitchen to the new dining room. ~ If you turn it into a butler's pantry, are you willing to set it up nicely enough so as not to detract from your kitchen or your new dining room? ~ another idea to consider is to just incorporate the present dining room into the kitchen with, perhaps, built-in cabs to house your nice serving pieces, china and crystal in glass-fronted cabs with closed cabs below for storing what ever you need. You could set up a seating area on that side, too, and/or a secretary desk and chair that you can close up when company arrives for a meal. Personally, I think that turning your present dining room into a sitting room, would be a wasted space, that probably wouldn't be used all that much. But, that's JMHO. Anyhoo, just some other things to think about. Lynn

mal First it's your home & only you truly know what is best suited for it and your family - The responses re: concern above I think give a good general opinion about resale - that has the potential to be a negative. lascatx brings the pt to light I would tend to agree w/that op. Not opposed - necessarily - just a different op - it's not my home.... try to imagine a time when the house is being sold - the first thing the broker will ask is "what is this room?" - If you have other options to put the mud area esp I would go that route - since you do come in throught the basement why not try to retrain your family to let that be the drop off zone - cubbies/hooks/baskets etc.... When you put appliances & plumbing in DR it would be difficult & a big expense to change that back in the event of resale & a broker saying changing it back will mean X$$ Perhaps contacting a broker or 2 before you decide may help in understanding what the market calls for in your area. To me, esp if you have other areas to designate, it just seems like a not clearly defined room - mud area & kit should be 2 separate imo.... Try to imagine being the person who is your potential buyer - walk in your own front door and what do you like/not like - Could a potential buyer walk in and say "do I take my shoes off here or take the cake out of the oven" Good luck

OK, here's another one. It gives you most of what you want: Layout #2 Kitchen: It has: Good workflow Nice separation of work zones so more than one person can be working in the kitchen at the same time - preparing a meal or snack, cooking, or cleaning up. -- Refrigerator, Prep Zone, and Cooking Zone are one side of the Kitchen with plenty of workspace -- Cleanup Zone is on the other side with plenty of workspace and, now, quite a bit more dish storage. In addition, the dishes and Cleanup Zone are near the DR for ease of setting the table or clearing it. There's a 24" wide x 15" deep tall pantry on the end of the Cleanup Zone - this is to hide dirty dishes a bit from the DR and hide them completely from the LR. I discuss pantry cabs in the DR discussion below. Between this pantry cab and the two in the DR, you have 6 feet of pantry storage. I wish they weren't separated, but with your wants and constraints, compromises are needed. 36" range. The Cooking Zone is also well-protected from traffic - both the range and the ovens. There's a 24" wall oven in an oven stack with the MW in an alcove above. -- Under the MW alcove and above the oven is a pullout shelf to use for MW landing space. -- The reason for the alcove is that you can place an inexpensive MW in the alcove and, if it ever breaks down, you can easily replace it - no worrying about whether it will fit the existing trim kit for a built-in. -- Oven landing space is on the other side of the refrigerator 48" or less away. NKBA Guidelines recommend oven landing space should be within 48". You could also use the counter over the DW - although it will be a bit more than 48". Finally, you might be able to use the MW shelf - but be careful of heavy items. It has three seats at the peninsula. With the different seating in the DR, there is sufficient space for both the table and peninsula seating. The trash pullout is located in the Prep Zone and near the Cooking & Cleanup Zones. Far more trash & recyclables are generated during prepping and cooking than cleaning up, so locating it in the Prep Zone makes the most sense. Peninsula: Yes, there is a sink in the peninsula - a prep sink. I know you didn't want one, but, again, if you want the large range, the extra oven, etc., compromises are needed and this is one that I feel strongly is needed. Without the prep sink, this layout will not work well. The peninsula still has plenty of space for staging. -- I did do an alternate layout with a corner prep sink, assuming it can be done with the chase. However, it doesn't follow very good workflow b/c you're moving back & forth from the peninsula where all the workspace is to the range on the other side of the sink. There isn't enough workspace b/w the range and sink - and that's where it's most useful. What did I tweak this time? :-) The Living Room wall is no longer extended "up" - it's extended "down" toward the Dining Room by 26" - based on your previous removal of part of the LR/DR wall. I.e., I would keep 26" of it instead of taking all of that part of the wall down. That may or may not help with expanding the LR/DR doorway down toward the bottom wall. (See the DR layout to understand what I'm talking about.) The short wall b/w the Kitchen and Basement Stairs/Study is still shortened by 12" I moved the windows so they flank the range and they are both 39" wide. I strongly recommend counter-height windows! (See this thread: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2484108/counter-height-window-pictures-please) That black box, btw, is what appears to be a chase of some kind that you cannot move - based on your layout. . Layout #2 Kitchen Zone Map: . Layout #2 - Alternate Peninsula: . Layout #2 - Alternate Peninsula's Work Zones: . Layout #2 Dining Room: I changed the doorway to open it up more - assuming you can do it. If you cannot, then leave it as is. This layout has a partial banquette - a bench along the window wall for two seats and the rest are chairs. This should work for just about any family - with or without children and empty nester or not. It also contains two 24" wide x 15" deep tall pantry cabinets - shelves, not pullouts or roll out tray shelves (ROTS) since shallow shelves are much more useful than deep pullouts. With 24" wide cabinets, things easily get lost in anything deeper than 12" to 15" - shelves or pullouts or ROTS. If you wanted a pullout, then, I wouldn't have it any wider than 18" so you can see everything by looking on one side or the other. I do not recommend ROTS - you end up opening & closing them looking for what you need. With a narrow pullout or shallow shelves in a cabinet or built-in pantry, you can see everything at one look (or maybe two with a pullout). The table is not centered on the room b/c of the door on the right. You need more space to get by b/c of the door. If you moved the door "up" toward the Kitchen, you could center the table and have 38.5" aisles on both ends of the table. The bench, however, is centered on the room - mainly so I could symmetrically place the two 24" pantry cabinets. If you can move the door, I would.