We used Plain & Fancy cabinetry. We have a mudroom with built in cabinets and a bench adjacent to the kitchen, but we actually ended up with a desk in the kitchen. I needed to have the phone, laptop, and drop area there for convenience. It does get messy but it's better than the mail ending up on the counters. What helps our area is a window at the desk. We do have a built in file cabinet to the left, which is great for keeping track of kids papers, bills, etc. I am very happy with the desk. Honestly, though, I am the only one who sits there. When the kids want to do homework they end up at the island. But at least my island doesn't have mail on it! We have a cabinet beside our clean up sink with 4 recycle bins. I thought it was a silly idea pushed by the contractor, but I have gotten to really appreciate it. For some reason, my family had a difficult time carrying the recyclables out to the garage. But they have no problem pitching them in the special indoor bins. The kitchen table is in the foreground of this desk picture: This is a little further to the right showing how the desk ties into the kitchen. The shelving to the right of the desk holds cookbooks. You can also see a tiny bit of the mudroom/bench area to the left where the backpacks end up: And just to show how it ties into the rest of the kitchen with the island where the kids prefer to spread out their homework, this is just a little further to the right of the desk: Hope this helps. Good luck to you!

I think that's a great idea--you could move the shelves out and have a bench with shoe cubbies underneath. Shelves above head height for a basket with each family member's name for gloves, scarves, hats. Pegs below for coats, as you now have on the left wall. Good luck. Images of mudroom benches.

Mom of seven here. We farm which means everyone has two full wardrobes of everything: Farm and Town. I have some quick ideas for you, no time to be diplomatic sorry. You need to purge. Dozens of hats are not necessary for six people. Choose two each: one light weight beanie and one really warm toque. Ditto mittens/gloves: one lighter weight for dashing to the grocery store, one heavy pair for skiing etc. Each person's stuff will fit in one basket. No one needs more than one pair of Crocs or flip flops. Those can go on a shoe rack by the door. Put a towel hook over the closet door, that's where everyone can store their towel. Colour coding avoids fights: Payton can't say that Blake stole her towel if hers is yellow and his is green. Bathing suits can be stored where they change. Check out the rental area at your local ski hill. Recreate that storage situation with one set of boots and skis for each. You mentioned that this kind of equipment is stored outside but: I see ski boots! Where you have a hanging rod, instead install a pullout clothes drying rack. Put one over the laundry sink too. The white organizer looks disfunctional in that it seems stuff can tumble out easily and it's too hard to see what's at the bottom of each bin. A basket or drawer on a bench is best in my experience, those cube organizers are ok too but then they have to pull a drawer out and hold it while they search. Instead I would put a deep bench or two under the hooks and set baskets on it. A coffee table actually works well for this. Put boot trays in front of it to catch drips. The hooks are too high for anyone under twelve to reach independently. Lower them for the kids. Add shelves above them. Having said that, I don't see any toddler stuff here. Time for peeps to get responsible.

A few updates and I will get some better pictures once i get everything moved out but i have the door into the bathroom cut in. I have been having trouble with Pella who we bought the door from which has put this on a 3 week hold so far as the issue still is not resolved. We are considering stacking the washer dryer. The location we were considering would be where the closest machine to the wall is. The plumbing in the wall was moved over to allow for the new door to the bath and I have some electrical lines that need installing for the new panel in the garage. Doing this while we have the walls open and since the electrical panels are below this. We have a few tiles we bought to see if we liked them but I am not sure i like any of them. I think if i were to pick it would be the darker 12x24. Any thoughts or opinions on tile, stacking of the machine or anything else here?