We built the Asheville Mountain plan from them, and had them make modifications to suit our site. Other than a couple minor glitches, the process went very smoothly and we are extremely pleased with the results. Feel free to ask any specific questions, or DM me. My build thread is here:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5803931/thoughts-on-this-plan-for-lakefront-build

thank you so much for your response! I attempted to message you but I'm not sure how to via houzz app?

I sent you a message. Feel free to message me back, or just post questions here if you think others would be interested.

the plan we are working on is the Butler cottage.. I was so concerned with the dining room and the island in the kitchen as we have a family of 6 and this would be our forever home. We are also planning on turning our island like yours and I believe our dining rooms are about the same size as the layout in that part of the home is very similar.. how big of a island were you able to place in the area and how do you feel about your dining space? I've been going back and forth on bumping dining area out but as you know every bump out costs!

Our island is 4' x 8'. That left a dining room area of roughly 9' x 14'. We were able to use a large enough table in the dining area with a long bench seat against the wall of windows. It doesn't feel too tight and it's easy enough to get around the table. I wish there were some photos of the finished kitchen and dining area shown on the webpage for the plan you're considering.

I see the Butler Cottage has a sliding door at the rear of the dining area which opens to the screened porch. I think you'd have a hard time with a traffic flow around the dining table in that layout. We eliminated the doors to the screened porch off our dining area for this very reason. I'm not sure how you could reconfigure the access to the screened porch, perhaps a swing-out door at the edge of the porch closest to the family room?

Other unsolicited feedback is that any traffic going in/out via the mudroom and garage will pass straight through your work area of the kitchen. Not sure what alternatives there are to change that, but it's something that came to mind when looking at the plans.

If you're feeling adventurous (and have a thick enough skin for criticism), you should post the plan and ask for feedback here. As much as I disagreed with a lot of the feedback we received, in the end there were some good points given which resulted in some tweaks that turned out really well in our build. Good luck and feel free to continue posting on this thread as well!

thank you and yes your concerns are right inlign with mine in regards to the kitchen/ dining area.. I wish there were more interior pics online as well.. I even emailed Max to see if he had some more.pics from other builds but he didn't have very many.. I posted awhile ago but when I do it's along the same lines of use a architect as what you received.. I did gain some valuable advice though.. thank you so much for the feedback, makes me feel much better moving forward with Mr Fulbright.. maybe he will have some input for the layout as well

How does the design fit your site?

Is it possible to turn the porch and the patio below into part of the house? Then the dining room can be a sunroom-dining room, and the kitchen could be pushed back, leaving walking space from the mudroom that doesn’t have to go through the kitchen. Especially with six, it’s nice to have some circulation with more than one way to move from one end of the house to another.

bpath yes I agree I'll have to look at that idea! thank you for the input!
Hi Mark, we do not have any restrictions as to size.. I attached our aerial view and did the best I could to update it.. we removed some old farm barns and built a new one.. we were thinking of placing the house were we tore down the barn with the red location symbol..current home with blue dot will be moved off property once new home is built

we own all the land around us

I am not much help with your specific question, but we are building a Max floorplan that we altered with our builder. I fell in love with his floorplans a few years before we were ready to build. I do love the bones of our design and cannot wait to get it finished.

Brandie May I would love to see any pics you are willing to share!

SBDRH I agree with you 100% that's why I was going to PM you because I have posted on here before and thats alot of the advice I received and it was very discouraging.. I just wondered how the house you chose to plop on your land turned out because to me it was beautiful and I would love to plop it on my land too!

Started with the Appalachian Mountain 3 plan. We added almost 400 sq ft under roof (200 sq ft master closet and 200 sq ft covered porch) on the right of the house above the lake storage. We also reconfigured the basement to be a 2BR 2 Bath apartment.

I looked at thousands of layouts before finding Max's designs. We decided to use the general idea of room placement, but changed the trusses, reconfigured the master bath and closet, then added a garage and changed the whole entryway on that side. I think we stayed with one similar to SBDRH, but made modifications that brought the price down... and honestly made the look a bit more plain. We don't have the gorgeous angles in the loft area and without the kitchen bump out, it's quite small. It's still going to be home and I'm still excited. For us I think the look of the mountain house inspired us to go for that same look.

Keepthefaith MIGirl and Brandie May both of your homes are beautiful!
We will be doing some adjustments also to keep the cost down.. one was having a daylight basement instead of a walkout.. Im just so indecisive over that dining area! Bumping it out will I'm sure cost thousands..

@SBDRH I wish there was a 'love' button for your above Houzz forum summary. I went through the Houzz ringer June 2019!! I designed my own home and had a draftsman draw it. (GASP!) It was horribly stressful. An even worse thing to happen was to stay on the forum and learn that some of the criticisms made toward my design had been or eventually were implemented in the commenters designs.

My fat, dark, cave (that wasn't, lol):

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5726663/floor-plan-advice-feedback-please

I am pretty sure I need to burn my house down. I violated everything in SBDRH’s post except the rear of my house faces east. I also have no coat closest at my entry and my laundry room is not located right near the master bedroom. But I love my house and it works for the way my family lives. I never posted my plan on here knowing I would get torn apart.

Rn one of the things we have considered is that with it just the 2 of us we can go with a more narrow table and a bench on the one side. We kept the doors with a covered deck that could be closed in eventually if we wanted to make that room the DR. When we have family over we will use the island as a buffet. We kept the sink under the window and moved the fridge to the outside by the table. That gives us uninterrupted cooking when people are helping

Keepthefaith MIGirl that sounds very similar to the modification we are going to do! we planned on moving the fridge where it currently says desk and placing the stove centered on the wall where the fridge currently is.. I hated to give up my window view.. does it feel tight to you when family is over with your current table? dining measurements are currently 18x12

here's the current layout before changes

@Rn81 If you want seats at your island, you should plan on at least 5' from the counter to the table and that's for a non-traffic walkway (yours will be high traffic, so really you should have more than 5'). We have 4' now and it is one of my biggest pet peeves in my house (dining room light and windows are centered with table so we can't push it over without making things look off). It isn't clear how things are measured in your plan, but assuming the 12' dining starts from the edge of the island, that will leave you 7' for a table and chairs AND outdoor access. It's really not enough, as most tables are 3'-6" and most would recommend at least 5' from the table to the wall if you have doors. If you want to test this out, set up a table and chairs against a wall in your current house and see how it feels to you. It will be a busy place, and if it's cramped it will bug you forever. I think it would be a shame to go through the whole process of building a home to have this space be less than sufficient.

If you change the rear doors to windows and use a swing door at the side of the house, you may be able to make it work without a bump out. Just consider the location of your light fixture and windows, as the dining table should leave 5' to the door. Honestly if I were building a home and had the space, the screen porch would be off to the side anyway so I didn't block the light and views from my windows. Not to mention, if money is a concern, saving the screen porch for later can save you a lot of money during your build.

Personally, I'd suggest moving the fridge to where the double ovens are shown. That way, anyone coming into the kitchen to get something from the fridge wouldn't need to enter the work zone as you're cooking. Then you could center a range on the wall that backs to the pantry. We did similar changes and went with a range that has double ovens, and my wife loves the way the kitchen works and flows. We also moved the sink to the island, but it sounds like you prefer an open island.

With these changes you could also eliminate the desk area to open up the dining space and allow for easier flow around the dining table.

12' will be fine, if you shift the island down a few inches and move the fridge:

A Helpful Collection of Visuals · More Info

A Helpful Collection of Visuals · More Info

thank you all for your suggestions! cd7733 thank you for the diagram, I am a visual person and it really helps seeing the lay out! I think I'm just going to see what it would cost to bump it out as I really wanted to turn the island to fit at least 4 stools

@SBDRH that cracked me up. Not only did my floorplan suck, I also was stupid enough to buy a lot with a West backyard. And don't forget the 'must follow' checklist for a well-designed home. Horrors if you don't follow that. Loving my horrid home and the sunsets.