I don't think any kind of boots needs to be on the floor--I'm not the only person here who stashes shoes (and even snow boots) at torso-level. I have a set of shelves that holds shoes at torso height, and one set of shelves is spaced a bit farther apart, which is useful for the 2 sets of ankle boots we have. If I'd been thinking, I'd have put in compartments for the kids' snow boots (and I still might someday, next to the backpack compartment). I can't see bending over twice--once to pick the boots up off the floor, and once to put them on (or once to take them off, and once to set them where they belong on the floor). The big thing is, you want them not to fall over, and for them to be out of the way. Falling all over on the floor isn't either, since you'll end up tripping over them. And falling off the shelf isn't useful, either. I wonder if you could use plain bookcases and put simple dividers between the pairs of boots? They make these vertical dividers that slip over a regular shelf; they're usually shown holding stacks of sweaters or handbags. But you could put them between sets of boots. Maybe space some shelves tightly for shoes, and others farther apart for taller boots. And get a bookcase/cabinet w/ doors, if you want. It's too bad those shoe cubbies don't come w/ removable dividers, so you can make some of the compartments really tall. I wonder if you could just leave one or two of the horizontal slats out? Here is a link that might be useful: shelf dividers

Speaking to the big, container of shoes idea (be it a basket, or a Rubbermaid) doesn't anyone have issues with dirt getting transferred from the bottom of shoes to the other VISIBLE parts of the shoe - the canvas portion? Or, for winter boots - doesn't the winter drippage get onto parts of the boots you don't want it on? (the inside, or any trim, or laces?) At my front entry, to the left there is small space, but its at the bottom of our stairs, so when thats full of shoes and crap, it makes coming down or going up the stairs a real PITA. To the right of the door, you are in my dining room, and I just can't find the right thing. Possibly a coat tree w/basket. We do have a back entrance, and we have managed to carve out a 3"W by 2.5"D space for coats/shoes/other for all of us. I am not sure how to organize it. (I have a post re: this on the organizing forum) We use both doors equally, so I need some sort of solution at both ends. It doesn't have to be photo ready - but somewhat contained and practical would be nice. ;)

I don't have pictures, and things get dropped by the front door. I do have a decorative metal magnetic perpetual calendar and a message center in the kitchen. The message center is a shallow cabinet at face/chest height standing, which has an electric outlet and phone jack inside. There's a hook to hang the phone on. Next to the phone space are two small shelves, with lips, for pencils, pads and stuff, and one flat one for charging. Underneath is a hinged writing surface, just 8" wide so only for writing phone messages. It folds up to close the cabinet. I was going to put a magnet board on the inner surface of one of the doors, but decided that it was better to have it out. Unfortunately, post-its don't stick to the textured surface -- I got cute ones to go with it! -- but it's easy enough to stick them under the magnets. Putting event cards on the calendar covers up the pretty, but it gets them thrown out as soon as they're over, and easy to find before the date. I've always liked the looks of this mail sorter/message center. They have it on Amazon as well as lots of other places. I've never had anywhere to put it, or anything like it, but it's simple and useful looking. There are key hooks, pockets for writing implements and envelopes, and the pigeonholes can be combined to be bigger. With a couple of holes drilled in the back, family members could put their chargers right in their own pigeonholes, or use the bottom shelf for that. Make one pigeonhole or the bottom shelf for outgoing mail, etc.

My husband was thinking of using the old refrigerator space as a real closed off closet. I wanted to use it as a mail sorting counter/desk. How you use the old fridge space will depend on your needs. Do you need more closet space for coats more than a mail sorting/desk area? Is there somewhere else that coats can go? Ditto for the mail sorting/desk area. If you go with Plan B, perhaps the latter can go in the peninsula area. Maybe you can re-purpose the existing hutch. You can cover any interior mess with fabric or decorative paper on the glass cab doors (corn starch should work and won't harm the piece). I like that option B has a place for non-cooking people to be in the kitchen... Can you think of a way to add feature to option A? What would you think of a small, moveable (maybe on wheels) island? I think the peninsula seating and salvaging the DR hutch are a big plus of Plan B. I'll keep working on a way to add counter seating to Plan A. No, a small movable island is not the solution for Plan A. You do not have enough room between perimeter runs. A movable island would *always* be in the way. The only way I can see adding island seating of any sort is to go with a U lay-out with an 18" wide island that is nothing more than counter with seating. IOW, no storage. It would be similar in size to the long, narrow island in the kitchen pic that I posted on Saturday. Or something like this (but possibly even narrower, I think). How many counter seats do you hope to get? What is the minimum number? I'm open to moving the dining room/living room wall, but I'm thinking of planning that for "phase 2." Thoughts or considerations if moving that wall is to be done at a later date? Moving or removing the wall can be part of "phase 2." I would definitely add the window seat now, though, so that your narrow study/DR will be comfortable. I estimate that the room currently is about 8.5' wide, which is quite narrow for a dining room. A window seat will help ease the space crunch around the table. I'm estimating that your table is 42" round. If it hangs over the window seat by 4", that would leave 66" of aisle between table and LR wall, which allows some room for the table to be extended. FYI, 44" is NKBA's recommended minimum aisle width behind seating to allow people to walk past seated diners. 36" is enough room for people to slide past. We have 28" between kitchen table and couch but DH is the only one who sits on that side of the table; we only need enough room to pull the chair out, not an aisle between table and couch. I'm estimating that the bay is about 2' deep at its deepest. If you don't add a window seat but use that additional depth for a chair, you'd have 50" between table and LR wall and 36" between table and window. Or center it in the room and have 43" at the left and right end. This works as long as it's just a round table. You lose the additional 2' depth from the bay when you extend the table so you'd end up with 31" to the left and right of the table, which is very tight. That's why I suggest that you remove or move the existing wall between study and LR. It would seem out of scale to have a large LR, FR and kitchen and a dinky little DR. Moving the wall will require drywall/plaster repair and floor repair. Depending on what's inside the wall (plumbing, HVAC), you may have to relocate things to other walls. I think it would be a good idea to determine what's inside this wall when you do Phase 1 so that you can plan ahead and avoid having to redo work done in Phase 1 when you do Phase 2. A competent GC should be able to help you with this. How many adults do you think could comfortably be seated in the new living room? I estimate that the new LR will be 13' x 13.5' (guessing on the first since you didn't provide measurement for space, top to bottom). Smaller than you currently have but still doable, IMO. You should be able to get a full size couch and 2 chairs or 2 full size couches or some other configuration of seating. How many do you need to accommodate? What LR furniture do you already own? This seems like a detail, but it would be nice to have a spot to store brooms and mops with a shelf for cleaning supplies and an outlet for charging the handheld vacuum. Where would you put that? You can add a broom closet pull-out in the mudroom area or in a cab next to the pantry cabs. Or in your existing pantry area by the back stairs. Pics of the existing pantry area would be helpful to see how they could be reworked to suit your needs. Lastly, I can't thank you enough. This is all super helpful! I love your suggestions and your photos. Your kitchen is lovely. Are you a professional? Thanks again! You're welcome! And thank you! And nope, just a TKO floorplanaholic (Totally Kitchen Obsessed). =) What would be helpful for you and DH, and for me would be for you to determine what things you want/need to store in the drop zones, how much room these items need and what type of storage is most useful for them. Coat hooks? Cubbies for sports gear? Shoe storage? Drawers for school papers? Charging station? How much mail sorting area do you need?