I prefer the idea of the kitchen with island, but if you want cabinets on the north and south walls, and at least a 3 ft island, you need a kitchen that's at least 14+ ft. If you want seating at the island that will fit into that width, too, then it probably requires 2 more feet than the 14. It all depends on how much space you actually get to add to the kitchen. I would try to get the laundry room so that it's not a walk-through. I prefer a closed room for collecting and sorting laundry, without having to look at it coming in and out of the house, and without muddy shoes walking through either. I think you should probably be able to add a walk-in closet in place of the shower if you're also adding square footage to the master when you extend the house the 3 or 4 ft. It's really too hard to say exactly what you can accomplish when I'm not quite clear where you're wanting to add the space by your extensions. Are you planning to put in the fireplace? It's a long way from the bedrooms to kitchen and laundry, and the fireplace would make it more complex. You might want to think about how your traffic patterns work in this houseplan...how it affects room layouts, etc.

Bellsmom, We will not be wanting a table/chairs in the kitchen. A peninsula with bar stools will serve nicely for eating/homework etc while my husband or I are cooking. No kids yet, but in the near future after the kitchen and rest of the house gets done I imagine there will be a few ;) Dining room is more a formal style dining room for large gatherings. Just my husband and I doing the cooking. Groceries and trash will go out the back door I want to put on the remaining living room wall after the 24ft kitchen area. We dont do anything more than an average family would probably. We make dinner every night, but arent extravagant chefs by any means. No computer or tvs needed in the kitchen. Small appliance storage out of sight is a must for my large stand mixer, toaster, blender etc. I would also like to do a large vent hood over the range and not an over the range microwave. I like having my microwave at a more useable height, counter height is what I'm thinking. I will try and add some pictures of the mantles etc for style reference later. On my way to the kitchen planner appt.

I'm just talking out loud - maybe some stuff applies and maybe it doesn't. I'm looking at the 42" aisles - they are less than the recommended minimum of 48" for a multi-cook kitchen. Some people are sensitive to stuff like that and some aren't. But I think about what cooking with each other AND the swarm in the aisles would be like ... People take the shortest route all the time - its not necessarily the same as the route that would make you happiest. So, there is a certain pile-up of stuff that clogs the route to other stuff - again a little uncertain of "The Way of The Swarm". BUT the ref and the drinks ref create a pile-up on the dining room side, clogging that aisle. The same clog might explode through the work area if DW doors are open and get in the way of table setting operations. People setting the table would need to be under extreme duress (aka, parental intimidation) to walk the dishes around the outside edge of the island instead of cutting through the work zone to the informal dining. It makes for a challenge. I'd be tempted to go more like the below (just an idea). It sorta shows two island shapes, one dotted, one solid - and it certainly would need more thought. So - instead of butler's pantry, I'm thinking scullery. Dish storage can be in wall cabinets above the sink and in one section of the pantry if you've got a lot. The ref moves back out into the perimeter and becomes twins with a nice fat aisle in front - complete with micro for reheating leftovers or melting sandwiches. It has 3 decent work areas plus a 4th in the scullery. It does not solve the cut through traffic to the informal dining, but takes away some of the strain in the aisle. The scullery can be devoted to a bar without impacting the main kitchen. The pantry area can certainly be enclosed and either look like this or push the doorway back over almost to the dining room wall and have one wall of regular cabinets and one wall of 12" deep shelves. It might help start some other thoughts. I'd also try an "L" shape with the leg on the dining side (runs away)

Alrighty, here's an idea. I've moved a bunch of stuff around, but left the door and windows alone. This gives you a good sized kitchen with an island and prep sink. I left the window facing the fence alone. My guess is that it goes down lower than counter height, so perhaps a window seat would be cozy underneath. It would be a great spot to snuggle down and chat with the the cook, or to sit with a cup of tea and look up recipes. : ) I left the cleanup sink on the outside wall, but didn't put a window over it since you said the view that way wasn't that great anyway. Supposedly, we spend about 80% of our time on prep and only a small amount of time on cleanup, so some people don't miss the window over the cleanup sink so much. It lets you do something creative like this over the sink area if wanted. For the majority of the time you could prep facing the view through the dining room. I'm wondering if you'd need a support post connected to the island, or a large beam overhead. You could do a sink and DW in the island, but that wipes out a huge chunk of it that could otherwise be used for prep. Most of us prefer facing out for prepping than facing a wall for prep. I combined the function of the pantry with the office, giving it the view to the north rather than a fence. If you left the door open or did a pocket door, the kitchen could enjoy this video, too. I annexed the office for the bathroom, with a door to it from the entry and spun the coat closet. I like this option for a half bath, but if you truly use this shower regularly, I'm not so sure about it opening to the entry way(?) Since the linen closet is so deep, the back half could be turned into a bookshelf or closet for the dining room. Table linens? Cleaning closet? I do like how this plan connects the kitchen to the back yard without traffic going through the main work zone. It would be easy to grab something from the fridge or pantry and take it out to the deck.