The arched entranceway I posted is from the Villa Poiana designed in 1546 by Andrea Di Pietro della Gondola better known by the name his mentor, Trissino, gave him: Palladio. The traditional purpose of tall windows is to allow light to penetrate more deeply into interior spaces, a pleasant feature today that was a practical one before gas and electric lighting. Trying to apply this goal to windows under a porch roof creates a design conflict. There seems to be no practical reason to use transom lights whether above windows or doors and they make the openings below appear short and compressed. The term "transom" refers to the horizontal element that separates an opening from another opening above it. That opening or light can be rectangular or a round, elliptical or segmented arch (fanlight). There are endless ways to divided the glass in a fanlight with mullions. Whether or not the spring line of the arch occurs at the transom is a matter of design taste since the arch is braced by the wall not the transom. A good resource for this kind of detailing is "Get Your House Right". Here is a link that might be useful: Get Your House Right

"Do you recommend that we keep the bedroom doors closed overnight to keep the cool air contained in the bedrooms? I notice that when I close the doors, air blows through the gap at the bottom of the doors. Why does that happen and is it blowing the cooled air into the hot areas of the house? On a similar note, is it recommended that we keep the bedroom doors closed during the early evening so that the cooled air in the living room doesn't "leak" into the warm bedrooms?" -- When you put air into a room, it will find it's way out (to the return side of the system). Do you have return grills (that suck air in) in each bedroom, or one central return? If not, then I would probably leave the doors cracked at least (which is what I do, and I have a central return--I too can feel the air coming through beneath the gap, which is there for a reason to let air travel). I'm not really sure on this question; I was hoping someone else who is an airflow expert can chime in here. "Furthermore, does it make sense to allow the house to come up to 81 degrees during the day, only to cool it back down to 76 in the evenings/overnight? I don't know whether we're using more energy to cool it 5 degrees every night than if we left it at 79 during the day." -- Do you happen to know how long the system takes to the space down 5 degrees? 79-80 may be a better option. I don't like high setbacks, but 5 degrees may not be too bad depending on your system's ability. If you have smart thermostats (do you know what kind of thermostats you have?), they can recover prior to your return so that the temperature is AT 76 degrees when you return.

thanks for the input guys! i had pondered the idea of moving that whole wall of cabinets to the right, but realized in doing that the stove would move. i can only move stove a couple of inches to the right (make that 2'), and still be able to fit my waist inside the corner without hip-checking the stove every time. What i really need to be able to completely open the freezer door (past the first point where the door holds it self open) as i can the refrigerator door. That requires 5 3/8'. I have 3/4' i can gain just by tightening up the 12' base cabinet closer to the stove, add another 2' by shifting all the cabinets to the right, but i'm still short 2 1/2'. These cabinets are 14 yrs old, i know i cannot get doors for them anymore, i've tried both lowe's and home desperate, so i'm thinking if i can find a carpenter to make them 9', and move everything down to the right, i might be able to hit it! I cannot modify the opening as the last poster was correct, it's a 8' tall patio door. Find a pic of how far (little actually) the door opens (while resting on the glass of the patio door) Here is a link that might be useful:

January 2024 Ditto to all comments except to add another thing The installers came to install the machine - paid an extra amount to have this done for us. He left with no instructions except to say that he ran an automatic cycle that would take 2 hours. I thought I heard water going into the machine he gave a final tweek to the water inlet tap and left. I glanced ata the machine it said "water intake" how nice I thought it tells me what cycle it is up to . 1.5 hours later it still said the same and no noise of water intake. I rang miele to ask and was put through to the service centre. no bookings for service until another fortnight. Went back to the machine and turned the water tap and it was fully closed! opened it the water came in and the cycle continued! then at the end the door was fully shut with the door lock! Not a good way to start the new year. Sadly I would no longer recommend Miele to anyone. Sad story with the integrated Miele coffee machine it wouldn't froth milk got the service man to come out - cant be fixed, He played around with the water valve Now it can't make coffee! So we bought a free standing Delonghi coffee machine for a fraction of the price, It makes nicer coffee too.