Your question is a common one and an important one: what advice before meeting with an architect. As a retired architect, my suggestion is to prepare a written list, for which you and your spouse fully agree, that includes: 1) your Needs; 2) your Wants. Needs are very different from wants, so be sure you understand and agree on the two categories. If you have important furniture, fixtures or equipment that you want to include in the new design, identify them and their dimensions as part of your written list. After that, there's really nothing else that a consumer can usefully do. Your photo above, for example, is just a common builder's house, which resembles every other builder's house across the U.S. It doesn't help an experienced and creative architect, except to forewarn them that they have a creative challenge ahead. You must communicate your interests and aesthetic tastes to your architect, but after that allow her/him to use their own experience and ability to explore early, schematic designs with you and your spouse to arrive at an agreeable design to pursue and finalize. Many consumers make a major mistake by taking photographs (like yours) to the architect and, from the beginning, limit the architect's ability to create something responsive and unique to your needs, site and budget. I hope you (and others reading this) are interested in maximizing what your architect can provide for you. Good luck on your project.

Do you have a Habitat for Humanity store or something similar in your area? You might consider trying a place like that and keep an eye out for nice cabinets that have been removed from another house that you could use in your remodel. Sometimes they have the counters too if they come out without breaking. Often these are removed from really large homes and there are enough cabinets for a smaller home and the extras can be used to make filler strips etc to make it look custom to your home. This is rarely an overnight exercise -- it could take quite a while and lots of searching to find something that could work, but it would be more budget friendly than all new. With your current budget you'll be choosing from the bottom end of the cabinet market. Also with your budget you should be considering that you might need to do some of the work yourself which is going to be tough with small children. You mentioned you can save $1000/month. Even if you waited a year to add to your savings that would make a significant difference to what you can afford as well as a contingency for other things that will definitely come up, its not an "if" but "when" when you start renovating and taking out walls. Plumbing or electrical or both could give you issues or pipes might need moving, venting moved etc. Plan carefully and come up with a "must have" list, then a "nice to have" list. Work with someone you can trust and work through what you can get from your must have list with your current budget. Good luck and congratulations on the new home.

Hi Dan, Can I confirm which direction your cafe is facing (North, South, East, West)? Especially for a Western facing shop, you will want a large skillion overhang to protect from the heat as you have. It seems like the LHS wall is up against a street so adding windows into your design will help with the natural lighting and give the opportunity for fans to keep the humidity under control. Hanging mirrors opposite windows can also help reflect lighting, as can glossy tiles for the walls. Thermal curtains for windows can also dramatically reduce heat entering the internal portion of the cafe, although this would reduce light source. There are a lot of factors to consider which are heavily focussed on how you prioritise the importance of lighting, humidity, and heat as well as which direction the cafe is facing. For a more explicit recommendation, a post with more details regarding orientation and how compact the buildings are next to each other would help. I hope this helps you and good luck!

Thank you for the feedback about the roofline and for the porch inspiration. @bpath we could vault the ceiling in the addition. We could have the addition project out as far as the garage does, but I would prefer not to create a “snout” and there is still plenty of space to extend towards the rear.