I would prefer to have the doors and individual lockers with a decent seat in front so people can actually sit down in front to tie laces, put on boots..... Open lockers look messy in a real home, doors keep it cleaner. But also many kids want life quick and easy and may just drop things on the floor instead of opening locker doors. Doors also add to cost, and here they are expensive, it would be several thousand to do the built-ins in your inspiration picture. So cost.... really factors in on what to do. These are our new built-ins in our new home. I cheaped out due to the cost of the whole house build adding up and put in the standard lockers. I wish we would of spent more for the added expense of adding the side walls to each locker. In our previous build, we had side walls to each locker, one double hook at the back wall higher up and two lower double hooks lower on each side. Making each locker a six hook instead of the only the double on the open lockers. Back hooks for jackets, side hooks for backpacks.... So much better and functional to add the side walls. We still might down the road but our children are getting older, but if I had young children in a long snowy winter environment, it would of been a must. This post was edited by xc60 on Fri, Mar 28, 14 at 0:58

Your laundry/mud/bath is a similar layout to what I have, except I have a tub/shower in that bath. A laundry setup like that doesn't leave you much storage, or room for ironing, folding, or hanging, so keep that in mind. I have to do my ironing in my bedroom. I also don't have a utility sink, to make room for extra cabinets. While a utility sink would be great, I do have a kitchen and bathroom sink close enough that it's not a big deal. And the way the rest of that floor is played out, it puts that bath really far from your guest entrance, office, living room and dining room. You mentioned a downside being that guests will walk through the mudroom, but remember that they will also have to go through your kitchen to get to the bathroom. I'm not sure I'd like that. BTW, you might as well forget about the door between the kitchen a mud room, as it will almost always be open. We changed ours to a cased opening instead of an actual door. I'd have preferred to go with a pocket door, just in case we wanted to be able to close it off for some odd reason, but we didn't want to have to tear into the wall to do it.

I am not a guru but I can give you my opinion. Melanie on the regrets - while trying to minimalize them they still will happen! Flip side is you will likely also have some grrr that ends up turning out different but BETTER than you imagine. IMO stealing the foot makes it much more functional so I would do it in a heartbeat but I am not the expert. It also opens it up and will 'feel' better. I think that's a good spot for a broom closet and charging station and should easily stay tidy. It is about 5' wide yes? That is a nice size space. Measure what you have you want to store in there and then look for pics of what you are thinking. Utility sink in the garage - really in the winter there isn't much dirt and when it's exposed it's frozen too so I'd think the utility sink would get more use in the spring summer fall when it's thawed so I'd keep it on the table too. My opinion - your money. Ha! As far as 'enough room' - it sounds like your kids are younger based solely upon still being in the 'add more' season of life. :) I can tell you only to think seasons, think sports, cleats, basketball shoes, church shoes, boots, hiking shoes, tennis shoes, flops, bats, ball caps, backpacks, lunch boxes, water bottles (if you have girls think even MORE shoes and then purses - ack)........ I will say for my 2 the space we have is more than adequate and it's quite roomy (I just double checked and it's actually 6.5' on a side so each person has 3' plus). That said we also have a closet near that I put off season stuff in and dog food. Winter coats and snow pants and boots are not in the locker area all year. I put them in the closet over spring/summer/fall. As long as you have a spot for that I think you are fine. Off season can closets can always be in the basement as well. There are always sweatshirts hanging and ball caps. Besides that there is always a stray nerf gun, goggles, flash lights and what have you hanging out there. I don't mind it there - it's out of the way and not underfoot! Old house it used to be in their rooms and all over. We had no designated space for outdoor wear anyplace besides bedrooms. If I am feeling brave I will snap a real life pic of it in action. It is easy to pick up and look presentable when needed but typically M-F it's a dumping spot. I like an open bench vs doors because we do use it to sit down to put stuff on and take stuff off regularly. And when our parents come and use that entry they love to be able to sit down to put on and remove shoes. It's comfortable and useful. With your window placement in the bathroom and the exterior door you will find it a nice light filled space. Our exterior door there is 3/4 glass and I love how it lights the hall. It is never a dark space.

I usually agree with Sophie, but in this case, I have to respectfully disagree. Mama Goose explained why very well. IMHO, this is a pretty good layout - assuming the aisles are wide enough and the refrigerator is installed properly (see Chicagoans post). I would add a trash pullout to the island either next to the prep sink or at the end of the island next to the Cleanup Zone. If you can afford the cabinet space, I'd recommend a 2-bin in the island for prepping/cooking for trash & recycling and at least a 1-bin in the Cleanup Zone for trash. ... DW in the prep space... With the DW too close to the Prep and Cooking Zones, it makes it difficult to have someone cleaning up or unloading the DW while someone else is preparing a meal. Dirty dishes sitting next to or in the sink also make it more difficult to prep -- moving dishes around on the counter to free up counterspace for prepping or having to move dishes out of the sink to be able to wash veggies, drain pasta, etc. I am one of those people Mama Goose mentions who thinks it's distasteful to have their post-meal or snack dirty dishes sitting on the island front and center and on display for all to see. Not everyone immediately loads the DW so there are never, ever dishes stacked next to the sink (and most who say they do probably do not in reality -- my mom and a friend both claim they do this -- but I can personally testify that neither of them really do! There are frequently dishes from throughout the day sitting next to their sinks. The reality is that they do it immediately after dinner, but that's it.) I cook a lot and I would hate it if my DW were in the island and in my way! In the end, it's up to each person, but most people will find that separating the Prep and Cooking Zones from the Cleanup Zone works better than putting all three primary zone in one small space, especially when there is so much room overall!