You need to tell us where the other doorways are and what they lead to. It looks like you were getting rid of some of them in option 2 but that just may be the angle of the picture.

Since you DIYed the bath, I assume you will be doing a lot of the work in the kitchen, mudroom, and butler's pantry. It's good that you are looking at all of the areas together to try and get an overall idea before changing walls. However, since you are relatively newly married, have a baby, and also the house is fairly new, as many of us have mentioned above, your needs in this house are going to change in ways that none of us can actually predict. If you begin with the kitchen, for which you have a good plan that only needs to be tweaked, by the time you finish it your child will be older, you may have another one, and it may be clearer whether you want a laundry or storage in the butler's pantry. When the kitchen remodeling is finished and after your wife uses it for a few months, she will have a better idea of what she might need space for in the butler's pantry. Coming and going during a couple of more winters will help you think through how best to configure the mudroom/breakfast area once the kitchen walls have been changed. Keep mulling over the many possibilities, but since your wife loves to cook and bake, it would be nice for her to focus on and begin the kitchen. It's the most important of the rooms anyway. Make the wall changes you have drawn in, and the other rooms will be fine. You might try putting a small chest, table, or IKEA shelves in the SE corner of the breakfast area to see if something more permanent (upper and lower cabinets?) would be a good place to park the laptop, charge phones, keep cookbooks, have a few toys, etc. (BTW, as per an earlier comment, putting a bench under a window in a cold climate area, even with new energy efficient windows, would probably be a little cool at night or on non-sunny days, so you might want to rethink this.) You could put a pantry/cleaning supplies closet on the wall opposite the door to the basement. Since either guests kids/family will always be using the bathroom on the first floor, it doesn't seem like there would be any point in putting a pocket door between the kitchen and butler's panty--when would you ever close it? In designing the kitchen, mudroom, and whatever the butler's pantry becomes, it would be very helpful if you and your wife make a list of EVERYTHING that you have, or might have in the future, that would need a shelf, drawer, cabinet, closet, etc. and plan to have them stored as close to where you will use them as possible. List the three rooms, and then put the "stuff" under whichever room works best for you. That will help you with your design. Some people on this forum have already made lists and could share them with you. Anne

You know, I agree with you that the island perpendicular to the window wall doesn't feel as right as the island parallel to the window wall. Interesting. I stopped and thought about why that would be. My first thought was that, with the island perpendicular to the window wall, the end of the island closest to the living room now feels as if it's intruding into the walkway between the kitchen and living room. Even though the island ends in line with the side of the fridge closest to the living room, the island still feels as if it's intruding. However, when I look at the island parallel to the window, I also think the end of the island closest to the dining room feels as if it is intruding into the dining room. Even though the island ends in line with the side of the perimeter cabinet closest to the dining room, the island still feels as if it's intruding. So when you're standing in the living room, you like the perpendicular-to-the-window-wall island orientation less (because the island feels as if it's intruding towards you). And when you're standing in the dining room, you'll like the parallel-to-the-window-wall island orientation less (because the island feels as if it's intruding towards you). Given all that, I actually think this shape island (posted earlier upthread) feels the best from both perspectives: That is because the island is completely and clearly inside the invisible borders of the kitchen as delineated by the side of the fridge closest to the living room and the side of the perimeter cabinet closest to the dining room. A square (ish) island doesn't even touch the borders -- it's well inside them by a foot or two, making it impossible for the island to feel as if it's intruding into another room. This home layout is so open that it lacks some of the normal cues (walls/doorways/floor changes) marking where the kitchen ends and another room begins. So in this island's case, a setback from the technical kitchen border helps to clarify things. The island's definitely in the kitchen and only in the kitchen. Here is an edited version that stops the island a foot or two short of the borders in both directions: I'd recommend having seating just on the living room side of the island. Seating on the dining room side puts those chairs back to back with dining room chairs, and I always think that looks/functions a bit oddly.

If it hadn't been for the Kitchen Forum, I wouldn't have known about offset drains or adding a garbage pull-out under the sink either. This forum is also the reason why I have a single bowl and not a double bowl sink. I would never, ever go with a double bowl sink again! My sink cab is a 36". My sink is the Kohler Riverby 33" sink. Interior depth is 9", exterior is 9 5/8" (per the specs). I also looked at the Silgranite Super Single sink, which is 9 1/2" interior depth and a little deeper than my Riverby sink (can't recall exact depth) but IIRC, it would have still worked. If you're doing an undermount sink, don't forget to add the counter's thickness to the sink's depth. Make sure you have a bit of room to spare, too. But if you don't, it's not the end of the world. One poster (badgergal, I think) trimmed the top of her cans to fit under her sink. (dang, I was going to post the link to her kitchen but the photos aren't there anymore, thanks to changes at Photobucket.) I agree that a cabinet under your stairway railing would look odd so hopefully keeping the MW in the pantry is a good solution for you. The fridge on the stairway wall will help hide the pantry view from the DR. That's a plus IMO.