couldn't you still put a linen closet on the wall outside the 6x7 closet? It looks like there's room there on the other side of the door opening. If the diagram is accurate, of course. That linen closet can be shallow--you can fold towels & sheets, etc., to fit a VERY skinny shelf if you fold them in fourths like this: ________ ________: :________ ________: (fold them in half, then fold the ends back toward the center fold, like an accordion) And you only need about 4" for most cleaning-supply bottles (depending what you want to put there). (You can even make the door be flat, and paint it to look like the wall, and hang pictures on it.) Otherwise--I think you're right about the extra foot making a difference in how many hanging rods you can have. How badly would you need a linen closet, if you can't fit one in the way I mentioned?

I definitely appreciate everybody's input and advice, so, thought I'd come back and give you all a little update. There are some issues with changing the layout, specifically moving the range to the interior wall. The venting is going to be problematic, because of location of the garage doors and also some HVAC equipment in the path. Would involve a rather long, inefficient run with multiple turns to avoid these things. HVAC guy basically said, Please don't move it there. Not only that, but the small wall that Karenseb suggested to remove - is part of a larger load-bearing wall. I have a healthy mid-range kitchen budget but these changes could be a real budget buster. Especially as we don't know what other surprises are lurking once demo begins. With that in mind, and my husband's wish to have the range and hood as a focal point centered between the windows, aesthetically nicer than staring at a fridge from the island seating, as well as simpler ventilation, any other suggestions? Should we keep dishwasher to the right as it is now? I plan to move the sink further down the run, ending at the right end of window instead of centered, to increase counter space on right side of range. For the few times a year I would cook a large spread of food for entertaining, I do have a butcher block island on wheels that can be rolled over to serve as surplus counter. Plus the big island directly behind. Other changes - we are leaning towards forgetting the separate oven and going with the aga range (plus my trusty Breville smart oven). I think then we would just make the beverage center section all countertop, space for Breville, and center the bar sink on that run. I asked my kitchen designer to draw up an L shaped window seat, into the alcove, maybe shelves or small upper above. As we can have lots of pantry space, with affordable shelving instead of cabinets, in the current hallway/future walk through pantry.

I agree with moving in and considering for a time, but here is something to consider while you're doing that: What drove this idea is the first room you enter into from the front door doesn't seem suited to anything but being a dining room. As a living room, it's odd that it's so small compared to the other living spaces, and, as you already said, there's no good wall for the TV. You also wouldn't want that room to be a kitchen for many, many reasons. However, that room would be a perfectly functional, reasonably-sized, not-weird-seeming dining room. If that room is a dining room, that also means the nook under the stairs would be a very logical area for a buffet. If that first room when you enter is the dining room, then the next room on your way into the house should be the kitchen because you want your kitchen and dining room handy to each other. As it happens, the current-dining-room-suggested-kitchen space is large enough and offset enough from the current-living-room-suggested-dining-room that it would be possible to funnel all traffic past the kitchen rather than through it. So your work zones in the kitchen won't be inundated with unwanted visitors. Furthermore, this suggested location for the kitchen is still handy to the back deck for outdoor eating. If those first two rooms become the dining and kitchen, then that leaves the current kitchen space to become the living room. It's a little unorthodox to have the living room as the room farthest from the front door, but it actually makes a lot of sense for this house. The other two rooms really do lend themselves to being the dining room and kitchen, and the current kitchen space is a good size for a living room and has two walls that could be the TV wall. It's also handier to the back deck/yard than the current living room, which I think will actually be a real upgrade. With the exception of shortening the two dining room windows (which isn't a structural change) so they're above counter height, none of the above requires any changes to any of the walls at all. That's nice because I think you'd get the most out of your space if you do bite the bullet and move some walls in the left half of the floor plan. The way it's currently laid out really, REALLY isn't as good as it could be. Since you don't have a guest bedroom downstairs, you don't need a full bath downstairs. You just need a half bath, and the shower space could be allotted to something else that would be more useful. Furthermore, you also don't really need deck access from the left side of the house, and having that deck access means unnecessarily losing a lot of space to a long hallway. On top of that, you have such an odd, circuitous entrance to the master bedroom that is (a) weird, and (b) means unnecessarily losing even more space to walkways. And lastly, there's a couple chopped up, not-optimally-shaped closets. Moving walls around quite freely in that general area, I was able to fit in a large master bath, a large master walk-in closet, a dedicated laundry room (that is accessible off a hallway, placed where the dryer can vent directly outside, is handy to your room, and yet is still far enough from the room that you won't be hearing the machines while you're trying to sleep), and a bonus hallway closet. Note that I shifted the doorway to the hallway from the current-dining-room-suggested-kitchen slightly so that you couldn't really see either the half bath or the master bedroom from the living areas.

If you ever need to clean the vent/fix the machines/mop up water etc... if is easier to access the machines if there is not a cabinet directly over them. I have had several configurations of corner cabinets and I am over them! What seems like a good way to utilize space ends up making the existing facing cabinet so small it is unworkable. Not to mention the severe hassle when something gets dumped off the lazy susan. I would do the straight run that does not sit on the counter. If you also wanted to do floating shelf over window or rod over window you can It just wont be connected to cabinets and that is ok.