Okay, I'm asking forgiveness in advance for opinionated comments: In everyday living, exterior stairs get wet, slippery, cold, icy. And, unless exquisitely designed (to be a statement of elegance), they look tacky. Statements of elegance are quite often inconvenient to live with, although one can bask in the initial admiration of visitors. I know that in some areas, exterior stairs are a... neighborhood tradition; a statement of necessity. And all too often, they look it. I think the architect's foyer is rather big, but oh my, the opportunity to make a decorating statement!! OTOH, I suspect 12x14 may be in proportion to the house. The architect needs to bend his brain so that the top of the staircase does not interfere with your views. I do hope someone has realized that an elevator would be of even greater use, especially if anyone breaks a leg, brings in the groceries or hauls out the trash. And if DW wants a traditional entry, an elevator could certainly take one up to the usual doorway.

Yes but its not just the desired look. If cost is not a factor, anything is possible. But if you have not done a lot of remodeling, you may not be aware of all the associated costs with changing all this. The ceiling, the lighting, framing out the window and wall, matching and replacing the existing exterior. While maintaining the exterior design balance. Moving plumbing, gas and electrical. Your house was built for this kitchen so everything you are considering has major expense to change. You might be better off as far as function and design to bump out the back and redo the whole thing.

Could you show some more of the actual house from all sides as is. I agree whoever is coming up with this plan needs to step away. This is a nice house and needs some TLC but be careful to not let them try to make it something it is not. The 1 st thing I would address is all the weird different sized windows , what is the reason for that?Since that seems to be the place for the entry I would want to have a multi teired deck going to the front door it would be a lot more attractive than what you have and also tie into a larger deck on top.Then the patio could be larger and a lot more usuer friendly.I can’t seem to find a picture but what you need is to make that entry special and inviting so this kind of idea but of course designed for your house it would allow for the larger deck above and the and a much easier walk up the entry.bigger patio,

I should note that while this build seems very expensive, the quote we were given (and again, we've used this builder previously) was way below market - for CA, I know :), not where many smart folks live and pay way less! We are also in unic. county land so taxes waay lower. Water, power, driveway, cable, etc. all at the street, which is why we couldn't pass it up. Low quote was due to the fact that a) we've used him before b) we've referred him 5 clients whose homes he's built and c) he is building 6 other homes in a 2 mile radius at the same time as ours. And, he's allowing us to tile bathrooms ourselves, find and have our own flooring installed, etc. We've done this trim work ourselves on other property, and husband as I've said is quite capable of handling heavy machinery, so while it seems prohibitively expensive, you might be surprised (but CA prices so....take with grain of salt). Everyone has been so helpful, I'm extremely grateful. Will go back to architect to do some tweaks as you've all kindly mentioned (and you've been so consistent!).