No load calcs were performed. I did walk each contractor thru the area and pointed out both hot and cold spots. Most thought that more frequent fan operation and longer run times would smooth those issues out. Can't really do much with the duct work as except for the utility room its all 'under cover' (behind sheet rock). I did consider adding a couple extra returns for the 'worst' hot areas. Not to drop this 'fact' on you this late in the game - but it might be worth noting that of the 1800 sq ft, about 1000 Sq Ft of the space includes a 13ft high cathedral ceiling area.. don't know if that affects your thoughts on furnace or A/C size or not. Both of the variable speed furnaces come with 'high end' stats - XL950 and Infinity Controls so I don't think that is an issue. Coil for the Trane would be the 4TXCA031. Not sure which coil is paired with the Carrier - do you have a unit in mind? As to linesets - all would be new 30' pairs as I intend to relocate the Compressor from its current location. Set up #4 calls for a 2 stage 3T AC and a 80K 96% 2 stage furnace - given the ability of the Infinity to control fan speed and that it will run at Stage 1 most of time, is a 20K bigger furnace such a big deal that I need to ask for a more thorough evaluation for a 60K unit?

The reason that I'm using shelves in the pantry instead of drawers is because I want to be able to see stuff from the side rather than from the top. This is particularly important to me for anything that is higher than a few shelves up. Also, in terms of looks, drawers that go up to the ceiling would just look odd. My pantry will house mostly food, but there may be a few appliance-ish items (like the bread maker) that might not fit where I intend it to go from when I made my proposed layout of item housing, so the very bottom of the pantry might keep just a few things like that. My Kitchen Aid mixer will be in my island and I'm using an appliance lift for it, so the door there will be a full length, no drawer. Also in the island, I'll have garbage, so no drawers there, but the center area of the island will have drawers. I had considered a pull out pantry, and if I had room in the kitchen I would do both the roll out shelves and a pull out pantry. If you get places in your layout where you'll have a cabinet that is 9-12" or so, I would suggest looking into that being a pull-out or one that you use for cutting boards, cookie sheets, etc rather than making it into drawers. You'll find that as you lay things out and decide what you want where, the function of the area will dictate what you put there. In my original layout, I had an area by the oven that had one less drawer (it was a deeper drawer), but when I was "finding a place for everything", I discovered that I didn't have a location for oven mitts near the oven and I didn't have a junk drawer to serve as a catch all for the odds and ends we need. So, the one deep drawer got changed to two shallower ones in the layout. Had I not laid things out, I wouldn't have remembered until it was too late and then I would have had a deep drawer that wouldn't have functioned as well as what the two shallow ones will.

I think you have a situation where a load analysis would really pay off. Both "bigger is better" and "big AC is worse" is too general. It is obvious from your experience that the A/C is not sized right for your house. Even bumping one up a half ton for a total of 5 tons in Georgia for 3500 sq ft may not be enough when you like to keep it at 68. You also need to get your ductwork looked at, especially if you increase the size of the A/C units. The main benefit of the variable speed furnace is that it can extract more humidity as the air flows more slowly over the coils and will also increase the SEER of the units. I'm surprised that quote 3 can give you 16 seer with a single speed. The total increase is for two variable speed furnaces, so the price increase may not be that bad. As you say, the new standards for the South have phased out 13 SEER this year, so Quote 1 is not valid.

Without turning this into a meta-discussion, on GW there is generally an unwritten piece of etiquette that once a major decision has been made, people will refrain from further disagreement, no matter how vehement the disagreements had been up to the point of the final decision. And I don't know, I disagree that it's never too late to make a change. Sometimes it becomes extremely impractical or too expensive to make a change. And even if money is no object, there are other people to think about here. I know someone who made several fabrications of slip matched doors for a client who changed their mind a couple of times regarding the configuration of cabinets underneath. When they wanted to change again, the client said "and don't worry we will pay for it again" the fabricators told them they didn't care if the clients would pay for it again, they weren't doing it again, because it was wasteful of materials, and they had other jobs waiting for other people and they were getting tired of doing this one. Ultimately there is no single correct answer for a decision like this, and I don't think anyone in the beginning of the discussion thought that walnut would be wrong. But walnut being elegant and high end doesn't really mean that the ribbed door is a bad choice.