>The design actually reminds me of a church, with the Bluestar at the altar, desks as pulpit and lectern, the sink island separating the nave from the sanctuary, and then the tables, dining table, and benches as successive sections of pews. That's pretty funny! Functionally, actually, yeah, it's the same idea. Gotta keep me a bit separated from the others but still in easy reach. >The prep counter and range are pretty far from water. Rinsing off a knife between ingredients, washing hands after poultry, draining a large pot of pasta, will all require crossing the kitchen and threading between the twin homework desks. Ya'll have convinced me! There will be 1 or 2 prep sinks in the appliance garages, which are big enough. That way, my precious, precious 5' of counter aren't interrupted. There is plenty of clearance to pour out even my largest stock pot--I've already tried it with those space constraints. There is LOTS of extra room--the space doesn't feel constrained at all. And that was with a lower height limit than I'll have. >One of our little friends has a large and permanent burn scar over her arm and back from a similar accident in their kitchen, so I always think about this. So does my Dad.... >The aisles between desk and refrigerator, desk and desk, and desk and whatever-that-is-at-the-end all seem somewhat narrow. When children are sitting in chairs at the desks, there may not be much room to work at the sink counters. The island/island and island/fridge are 36", the range/island is 48", and the island/sink is 51". 51" with stools would be a problem if there was someone doing prep work behind the chairs, but that isn't a situation that I feel the need to provide for, for lots of reasons. Remember, too, that these are all mobile, deliberately so, so they can be altered however fits the space in unusual circumstances. The narrowness to the fridge is deliberate--I had a movable (with a LOT of effort) island in the last kitchen I remodeled, and it ended up 4' from my sink and 3' from the fridge because it gave me a place to set down groceries. With plenty of other paths, the only thing an open door blocks is access to the fridge. And I hate multiple people trying to get into the fridge at once because SOMEONE gets whacked by the door every time, so that's actually an added bonus. Less fussing. >Will the homework desks be at a height to make them usable as work counters (i.e. islands)? If not, then your kitchen will end up having much less work space that such a sizeable kitchen could have. Well, I want sit-down work space for fiddly things like ravioli and dimsum, and I thought that table height would be safest for little hands that help--counter-height for them. (My kids would fall off the floor, if they could. They are also TINY.) I can always replace them later--it's not like they'll be bolted to the spot. The most I'd ever use as active workspace at a time is 10'. I can make them absolutely any height, so I'm wedded to requirements, not to specifics. It's likely that I won't decide until the rest of the kitchen is done and they can be mocked up at different levels. >I am doubtful about the location of the dishwashers relative to the dishes. It looks like you unload the dishwasher in the kitchen, then carry the dishes all the way around the big central dividing island, to the dish cabinet that is in the dining area. That seems inconvenient and slow. In the newer plan, you unload the dishes and set them on top of the buffet directly behind the sink. Then you (or a kid...) goes to the other side and puts everything in at once. It's a pass-over. I mocked it up this morning with my heaviest cookbook, and it works beautifully, without reaching. YAY! >Suppose you placed the dish cabinet close to the dishwasher, and built it to open from both sides so dishes go from dishwasher into the "kitchen" side of the dish cabinet, and are taken from "dining" side of the dish cabinet to the table? Well, I have only bottom cabs there, so I need drawers to prevent excessive stooping, so that wouldn't work very well. >I think I am missing the point as to why you will be schooling the kids in front of the stove, when you will not be multitasking schooling and cooking at the same time. Sorry! Not clear. *I* will be cooking and HSing at the same time. But HSing can't possibly happen if other people are scrubbing pots, doing prep, or whatever. So I'll be doing the blue paths while homeschooling only, and with the prep sink(s), I'll only be going through the central passage with dirty stuff. >The biggest problem that I see with this design is bisecting the large room into two separate areas while trying to maintain them as a single area. It just doesn't work. If you want a separate formal dining room, then put up some walls and have a separate formal dining room. If you want a large great room/hearth room/dining/kitchen area, then get rid of the room dividers and treat the whole space AS a whole space. And get rid of the desks. Why can't the kids do their school work at a large dining room table and you have a separate large working island? There is so much MORE that this space could be adn still be what you need it to be! Because I want a division of space that still has plenty of sight-lines for conversation and multiple family activities. Because I don't want or need a large working island but a sit-down counter for fiddly tasks that can be completely removed when there are tons of people in the kitchen. With the newest floor plan, I have every bit of counter space that I ever use plus two more 3'10" stretches for helpers--plus the island for LITTLE helpers. Tabletop for me is counter top for them. And I don't have kids constantly falling off stools. :-) Because if the kids are in the dining room, so am I! I cannot work in the kitchen during homeschooling hours unless they are in the kitchen, too. I've had kitchens with and without dividers. I won't do without again. It DOES NOT work for us--not in the least. Now, I agree that the 3D plans are way too chopped up, visually. Ghosts of design decisions past, which made LOTS of sense for my previous set up and none for this one, remained. Getting rid of the visual block between the two sections gets me more continuous counter (a HUGE bonus!) and better sight lines, both. I've drawn everything by hand because all the consumer architecture programs I've tried have given me insufficient control (bought and returned 'em all), but that means the revisions take a very long time, relative to the drag/drop/modify plans. So I don't have the new 3D rendering yet.

I think its important how you said cost is a priority and you just want to make good choices without going overboard. Given that as a guide, I'd recommend - Floors - It appears all your floors can and should be restored. You need to clean the wood (hot water and scraping) splice in staggered replacement boards (salvaged old boards of the correct wood and age are best) where the patches and damage areas are (find tutorials), remove all staples and popped nails, and then go through the process of sanding different grits, vacuming every bit and then the process of several coats of finish. I would do this in every room except the bathroom. It will look terrible before its refinished, and then it will look really nice. I'd hire a professional floor guy with good equipment and a stash of old boards to use for splicing. Bath - For cost savings, I would leave the bath window maybe etch-treat the top glass and tile it in with a quarter round or bullnose pieces, but if you leave it there I highly recommend using a tension rod and clear shower curtain on that wall to avoid water damage (it depends how sealed up you can make that window from water seeping into the walls)...or use a white curtain to address the privacy issue and you don't need to etch the top glass. Use light grey grout with the subway tile. Take off the lath on the back wall if its needed to make your new wall will be more flush with the window. Diningroom - I'd consider removing that wood wall in the dining room but I'm not clear as to what is on the other side...though I remember seeing a window which would really add to the room. If you have to leave the wall, maybe remove the scallop trim and replace it with something straight and paint it all to blend it more with the room. Kitchen - Kitchen cabinets either rebuild or use salvaged old cabinets. Wood or soapstone counters are diy...frankly I'd look at Ikea's cabinet selection...there are ways to make them blend into an old house with the backsplash, lighting, flooring etc. And its affordable and diy. Didn't catch if you are selling the house, but a fresh and functional kitchen is really appreciated by most people. Also - Some doorways have been moved in this old house, so you can either put in a threshold or replace the patch with couple of boards going in the same direction of the wall so that its flush with the adjacent floorboards but obviously not blended in. This post was edited by lauren674 on Fri, Apr 5, 13 at 14:58

Yes, very exciting! Not only am I excited to have soft close drawer glides, but I'm excited to have any drawer glides at all! The drawers here are just wood on wood and there is no gliding to them at all. More like tugging and sometimes almost wrenching your shoulder out of place when the humidity is up. Yeah, windows are moved and eliminated. We're sticking with the existing fridge but the door can be changed. And there is going to be s bit of space at the end of the run because I accounted for the extra space for a larger fridge at some point plus a little bit so the door can swing back enough (the shortening of that wall should take care of that anyway). I think our water cooler will fit in that space for now or my husband can build something that fits perfectly. That fridge is only a few years old and we have a tight budget and I'm very cheap, so it stays for now! The DW is staying too, but it's a Bosch that's only a couple years old as well. I did splurge on a scratch and dent Elextrolux duel fuel range from Sears Outlet that is white as well. Would prefer all stainless, but standard appliances can be replaced down the road later.

Amber, we paid a carpenter to assemble and install ikea cabinets in our last house. We were living on the other coast at the time. It was still less expensive than comparable quality cabinets I priced out. We are planning to have our barker cabinets assembled and installed this time too. Dh works a million hours and we have kids so I don't have time to assemble. I honestly didn't price out other options specifically this time. I suggested barker as an option to my GC who called and got numbers from barker. He's done a lot of kitchens and used to be a custom cabinetmaker and I trust him. He was impressed by the pricing. I know he was prepared to suggest alternatives if he had concerns about quality or cost. (Obviously neither of us has seen the cabinets yet so can't judge quality reliably yet--decision is based on the specifications and online reviews.). I specifically asked about ikea (which he has and will install so he's not anti-ikea) and he said the savings would be negligible and he preferred Barker's specifications.