home4all6, I had an idea that could be a middle ground between working within your home's footprint and a MBR suite/kitchen addition. It is spurred by my memory of your comment that the FR addition was either built to be or could be turned into a first floor MBR suite. This likely won't be appealing to you since your children are still quite young but it won't be that many years before the idea of having some space between their rooms and yours will be quite appealing. Also, I don't know if this holds true for your area but first floor MBR suites are popular here because it means that people can stay in their homes longer. On to my idea: Build an addition for a larger eat-in kitchen, addressing mudroom, side entry stairs and PR issues at the same time. It's possible that an addition may offer up other possibilities for a PR location that won't require losing your home's center hall entry. I know you don't use it and wouldn't miss it but losing the central hall entry could be a negative for future buyers. Then, at some point in the future (that will arrive sooner than you realize), convert your FR into a MBR suite and convert the 16x13 room you are currently using as a MBR into a bonus room/media room. Is the existing laundry room large enough to be a walk-in closet as well? If not, you'll need to relocate this when you convert the FR into a MBR suite. Or perhaps include room for W/D etc in your mudroom plans. I don't know your market so please ask local realtors which of the potential revisions will make your home most appealing to future buyers. I'm not saying that's what you need to choose but it's good information to consider as you decide how to proceed. btw, this thread is coming close to the 150 cut-off so it would be a good idea to start saving all the information and suggested plans now before they drop off the forum.

I would like to see even more of the existing layout and how the different levels relate to each other ... to pool, 'down' to game room, 'up' to bedroom, to garage, etc. Is the pool on the same level as the existing kitchen ? Is it right by the house or across the yard ? Is there any type of patio, covered porch, or deck off of the back of the house now ? Where does the driveway run - do guests park by the front door and come in that way, or does driveway have them parking by the garage entry ? Do the stairs at the front door go up ? Up to what ? Where does the door go under the stairs at the end ? Also, what are the dimensions of your existing furniture and any appliances you will be re-using ? What about items you are planning to purchase ? I am concerned that you may not be allowing enough room for clearance around your breakfast table because I do not know it's dimensions. Take the size of your table and add a minimum of 36" on all 4 sides just to edge/slide past or scoot around seated diners. You need 44" on the sides to allow someone to walk past a seated diner. In other words, if your table is 42"x60" and you add 36" to each side, you need a minimum of 9'6"x11'0" totally clear area just to scoot around seated diners. I am thinking something totally different than the plans you have shown. To get you thinking outside the box . . . . How about if you carve a niche out of the existing LR for a more formal entry with walls and doorways so the first thing a guest sees when they walk in the home is not the mess in the kitchen. Use the current Piano room as the family room overlooking the pool area. Put the baby grand in the current dining room and the dining table where the butler is currently. The table will run long ways from the front of the house to the rear. Open this new baby grand/dining space up as much as possible into one long room or, even better IMO ... depending on the size of your dining table, move the wall a couple feet so that the new dining end is longer and the baby grand end is smaller and they are separated by a wall with a wide doorway or arched opening. If the new dining space was 11x15 or 11x16 instead of 11x13, you could easily have a dining table 4x7 that would seat 8 and have room to pass around the end of the table to the doorway into the new family room. I imagine the new baby grand room to house the piano and some limited seating. A much better view when a guest first walks into the house. : ) Where you currently have the living room, it will now be somewhat smaller because of losing space to the foyer. Use the old living space for a combination keeping room with breakfast, desk/homework, sitting room space. The remainder of the current living room along with the current kitchen/breakfast will be the new kitchen. In my experience, most people congregate around the kitchen at parties and gatherings. This layout would make the kitchen and keeping room one big space which would be a great area for entertaining. Between the new kitchen and the new dining room (old butlers) will be a wet bar and storage space similar to what you have shown on option B. Be sure to also carve out room for a coat closet, vacuum storage, toys storage, and a designated space where mail/bags/junk, etc can land very close to the garage entry (but be easily hidden by cabinet doors or something if someone comes over). Depending on the pool and patio location, it could be nice to turn the double windows at the end of the of the old butler/new dining into French doors opening onto the patio. It could also be very nice if this was opening to a covered Lanai or screened porch.

I've been following this discussion without comment because I haven't had anything to add to the excellent ideas you've received from the more talented folks helping you. I just wanted to say that our previous home had a combo bathroom/laundry on the second floor by the bedrooms. It was never a problem as the only people who really saw that bathroom were us, the kids and the kid's friends. My kids and DH weren't always the best about getting their laundry actually in the hampers but I didn't growl too much about having to do that since everything was right there. No walking anywhere carrying dirty clothes. We had a shelf above the W/D that was long enough for a laundry basket for each of us. When I folded from the drier, the clean clothes were sorted into the basket for each person and then they were responsible for grabbing it and putting their own things away. Sometimes, they just grabbed something clean right from the basket without putting them away. Again, fine with me as long as their basket wasn't overflowing. If it got to that point and was bugging me, I'd just move their basket to their room. Again, easy, as the bedroom doors were only a few steps away. My long-winded way of saying that while a separate laundry room would be nice, if it is going to cost more than you'd like to spend or take up space you need for something else, don't sweat having it all in one room. As long as you have a nice powder room for guests on the main floor, you're fine, imho. And another vote for not changing your lovely woodworking in your foyer. My former home also had a similar foyer and no convenience would have been worth ripping out any of the lovely finish details in it for me. Some things are aesthetically pleasing enough to put up with a bit of inconvenience, imho, especially if you love it enough where it makes you smile each time you loo at it.

Here's a view of your current kitchen--sorry you didn't get any responses on the other thread. Firstly, I would make the counters deeper than standard, with custom cabinets if possible, and deeper drawers for more storage. If you keep the counter-top appliances out and also keep canisters for baking staples, having 30" deep counters will leave more space for work areas. Deeper upper cabinets on the range side can hold your copper pots and large vessels--maybe with glass doors, so that you can find them easily. If you have high ceilings, taking the cabinets to the ceiling will add storage space, too. I'd put the DW on the right side of the sink, and use the area to the left of the sink for prep, with secondary prep and baking on the right counter. Put the small appliances in the area where they'll be used. (I gave you a red KA :). You can have deep drawers to store the cast iron pans and the appliances that aren't used as often, and dishes can be stored in drawers under the baking counter, close to the DR entry. I'd put the trash pull-out under the sink, and have all drawers in base cabinets. I drew open shelves to the right the sink, but that could be an upper cabinet to match the one on the left. GW discussions--all drawer base cabinets.