Carol, I too struggled with furniture placement. A recent thread helped me figure out how to address it by moving the fireplace to the corner ( Fireplace Location Thread ). Then, I got on the Bassett website (something I just stumbled across) and came up with this arrangement for the furniture ... which I think is close. However, I think in reality, I can pull the loveseat a little left and forward to allow more walking space to the MBR as you are suggesting, palimpsest *ignore the extra pieces of furniture I scooted over to the side while I was fooling around with this ... :). As for the door from the MBR to the porch ... yes, we have been discussing it from the beginning. As you suggested lavender lass .. the furniture placement is one consideration; our bedroom furniture is pretty massive. In addition, although the initial plan is to screen that porch (we're on the same page again, lavender lass!), we're also considering some day turning it into a sun room. So we question if we will want the door there in that case ... ??? Still being discussed ... I appreciate all the comments and encouragement. The house has totally been designed with ease of movement and retirement living in mind. We want to be able to entertain, and also keep an eye on each other fairly easily ... ;) I think once I've got this kitchen figured out, we'll have knocked out all the questions I still had floating around in my head in regard to the design. And I have all you and many other wonderful, creative, generous GW'ers to thank!!! Lezli

Accurate measurements make such a difference, don't they? = ) You have 30" more to work with- yay! - and that makes all the difference. That should give you enough room to add peninsula seating back in. Let me play with your plan some more today and see if I can find a happy medium between storage and counter space, especially prep space. Have you done a tally, including measurements, of all your kitchen items? Doing that in addition to grouping items by use will help you determine how much storage you need and where you need or want it. Your current kitchen has a lot of doored base cabinets, which aren't nearly as efficient in storage as drawers so you may find a new kitchen holds a lot more than you think it will. We didn't change our kitchen's footprint but because my cab storage is heads and tails better than it used to be, I have room to spare. Would you be okay if you only had one sink near the range? I know it's not nearly as convenient but given your kitchen's modest size, I haven't been able to come up with a plan that puts both sinks near the range that still gives you decent counter space for prep between sink and range. One more sink question. What is the minimum single sink size you'd be okay with? Shrinking your sink cabs to 27" (bowl would still be larger than either bowl in your double sink) would help. Side note: My knowledge of Kosher kitchen needs is limited since none of my Jewish friends keep a Kosher kitchen so let me know if I goof on something in that regard. Sena, I missed seeing your suggestion until now. Sara, Sena is one of the talented GWers who can provide elevation drawings. One of these days I'll learn how to use my Chief Architect program so I'll be able to do elevations but I haven't set aside the time to delve into the program.

Hi Richard, I'll talk about our process first, After 17 years and raising kids, we did a major remodel, changing the layout of our house. It involved not one, but two architects as well as a landscape architect! The first architect just wasn't a good fit. After the schematics, we went looking for a new person, which turned out to be a good idea. That was the first lesson --just because someone has worked out for a good friend, doesn't mean they'll be the right fit for you! I was out some $$ but it was better to shift than to keep going with someone that I wouldn't have been happy with and spend $$$$$$. The landscape architect was brought in because the newly opened up floor plan called for the extension of a really wide porch with equally wide steps going down. And from there, we realized it would be much much easier if we were to do as much concrete work as possible when the guys would already be there, so we also had them add some walkways and a pad of concrete along with a new fire pit in the backyard. Our builder was an important resource as well, full off good ideas that saved us money and time. We interviewed several before choosing one. It was important to us that the company had a money manager who managed all the finances of the job, and that this part of the job was organized. I've seen way too many builders who were poor at money management, fail to complete jobs. We also had a timeline --which alas, we overshot due to several unforeseen complications. But overall, everything has been handled well. Once we had all agreed on 'the plans,' both sets (architectural and landscape) were sent to structural engineers, and from there to the city for the final stamps of approval. From our first inkling that we wanted to do this to the day the first sledge hammer was raised was at a least two year process. You could do it faster, but other stuff came up. Besides the longer timeline gave us a chance to figure out how we were going to finance all of this! This is a layout from when the mother was shackled to the kitchen doing all the cooking and the family was "lounging" or whatever. Today, the kitchen is the focal point, and I can see where you'll probably be moving not only walls, but plumbing, electrical, and possibly also having to put in a new header beam! As for the bathrooms --I like big bathrooms. I think it's the way to go --besides, if you think there's a chance you're going to grow old here, or older parents will move in, keep in mind accessibility (room for walkers, wheelchairs). Good luck! Take your time (but not necessarily 17 years!). Just live in it for awhile before you do anything. You'll figure out what you need over time.

Just treat it like 2 rooms one for the fireplace and one for either nice entertaining or the TV.