Wantoretire ~ Your exercise is different than mine at this time of year. Just don't do too much, if you know what I mean. How heavy is a snowblower? Yesterday it was pretty dang warm down here and I was sweating while I worked outside, up and down a ladder with my hand clippers trimming the inside of our front hedgerow. I started getting tired and 'tripping over a blade of grass' as DH laughingly said yesterday. That was almost the truth. I finished up what I was doing and came inside. I was hungry too and no wonder it was almost noon. I had been at it since 8. I need to mow, and there is more trimming around the property to do, but that will be another day. Down here it's never ending, a 365 day a year possibility of working in gardens. This morning it is COLD here, so I was racing around before leaving for work, covering a couple of garden areas because it is supposed to go down into the 30's tonight and feel like it's in the 20's. I did bring orchids and some other things indoors, some which are in the shower. : -) Gardening is really great exercise and even though it does wear me out at times I love it. The rewards are great! Happy gardening/exercising. FlowerLady

Here's an idea. [Click on it to see it bigger] This layout keeps the pantry door where it is for ease of bringing groceries in from the garage and includes a pass-through b/w the pantry and kitchen that has a door. When visiting the pantry, you can put the items for the kitchen on the pass-through counter for later retrieval in the kitchen. In the kitchen, above the pass-through, is the TV mounted at an angle so it's visible for more people/tasks. (More later) Cleanup Zone... The Cleanup Zone is separated from the Prep and Cooking Zones. Dish storage is across from the DW in the island. There are 54 inches of space for dishes, glasses, silverware. The Trash pullout is contained in the Cleanup Zone.. I toyed with putting it in the island, which is a better location, but I think you need the 24" of space it would have taken from the dish storage on the end of the island more. You don't want upper cabinets, so that means your dishes, etc. will have to be stored in base cabinets. Prep Zone... You have at least two Prep Zones: Primary on the island; Secondary b/w the cleanup sink and range. The island Prep Zone has much more space to work with...25" on one side and over 7 feet on the other side. That 7 feet would work really well for not only large prepping projects, but also for (cookie) baking, crafts, science fair projects, school projects, wrapping gifts, etc. It's a wonderful expanse of space! Both the primary and secondary Prep Zones have a water source - making them each a truly functional Prep Zone on their own w/o having to cross over into the other Prep Zone for water. As your three youngest get older and start helping, you will really appreciate having those two Prep Zones! Cooking Zone... The Cooking Zone contains the range and, on the outside, the primary MW and wall oven. Both the cleanup sink and the island prep sink are close enough to the range to be used for draining pasta - choose the sink to use based on what else is going on in the kitchen. It's adjacent to each Prep Zone so the cooks can easily go from the Prep Zone to the Cooking Zone w/o crossing through the Cleanup Zone, crossing the other Prep Zone, or having to go around the island. The oven is located where it can be used when baking or roasting. No running around the island to put food in the oven or to check on the food or to take the food out of the oven. Snack/Tea/Coffee/Beverage Center... Snack/Tea/Coffee/Beverage Center contains a small MW for heating up snacks. I recommend a MW mounted under the upper cabinet and off the counter to keep the counter clear. There is also an under counter Beverage Cooler/Refrigerator for keeping drinks and other refrigerated snacks. There's plenty of storage for silverware, dishes, and mugs in the area for ease of access. If you drink coffee, you could even put a coffee maker there. ...

I am going to make some kinds of generic comments based on one of my favorite remodeling columns as well as a well-known architect. The remodel-column guru always hit home to me with her proposed solutions because they were based not on adding so much square footage, but on identifying why certain rooms in the house weren't used much, and why folks gravitated to one area, and then flipping or re-orienting the spaces and traffic flow to use all of the home to best advantage. Whereas so many typical remodel solutions seemed to involve converting a garage or adding yet another room when the original home had significant sq footage already. Of course the innovative re-purposing solutions still might have involved some additions, bump outs, wall removal and so forth, but quite often involved taking into account the best views or adding great windows, French doors when needed to access the deck or yard, flipping the kitchen so it was oriented to great views rather than a less-used dining space, and so forth. So an example of a common "mistake" is that someone might add a large sunny family room or sunroom to the back of a home that already has kitchen, DR, FR, LR, etc ( at high expense)in order to have light and air, but not connect it well to existing spaces, and then the whole family crowds into the sunroom and drags meals out there ("we spend all our time here"), but still does not like being in the existing kitchen and DR and FR, which still must be heated, cooled, and cleaned, instead of getting the right design help to remodel the existing spaces to work together and have the light and views and connections needed to "feel good". That would just be an example, and is not to say that one can't add a terrific sunroom that was the best thing they ever did! You're already thinking along some of those lines. Continue with evaluating the light and views and what your family expects to do together and apart; as noted, screened porch provides access to fresh air, but the effect on light entry is to be looking out into shade and dimness ( unless you add skylights to the porch, which is also an option to consider in remodeling,for just that reason). You would know more about how you might use the kitchen-FR connection (this was a useful combination for my family in order to allow kids to be on computer, do homework and feel connected to the kitchen). As another form of inspiration, you might also like to read The Not So Big House. It also speaks to the features of home design that contribute to the "feel" of the spaces so that we create spaces that are really used and enjoyed every day as opposed to lots of "rooms" that are not. I think many architects and designers are more comfortable with "additions" rather than the idea of re-arranging existing space within the home.

Here is another drawing with a wider kitchen and moving the ensuite toilet. Is moving the wall 11" to create a 15' 8" kitchen worth the effort? Is the kitchen too wide now? Is that island just a barrier? I love having a small table and nook for casual/breakfast family dining. This plan also brings a new window into the kitchen which I like. Buehl's wonderful plan doesn't involve widening the kitchen beyond its current 14' 9" which is fabulous and will certainly be more cost effective. Each square is 1' x 1', my hand drawing is obviously imperfect though, apologies. I will try to perfect using lay out software this weekend.