It's not ceiling height, it's the context of the ceiling height. It seems like the increase in ceiling height corresponded with the rise of the McMansion. Not that every new house with a higher ceiling is a McMansion, but I think it's a result of the same mindset. Most McMansions are a checklist turned into a house. Certain elements are "desirable" or "good" and certain elements are undesirable or bad. The thing about McMansions has generally been that it doesn't matter so much how the "good" gets there, as long as it's there somewhere, that's sufficient. Context and proportion and all those sorts of things are mostly secondary to meaning the list of requirements. High ceilings are one aspect of that. I'm not against high ceilings. I am not against low ceilings. I'm against doing either when doing so flies in the face of good proportions or good sense. I have lived in places with 14' ceilings, 10' ceilings, 9' ceilings, 8' ceilings, 7'6" ceilings and believe it or not 6'8" ceilings. (The 14' and the 6'8" were in the same apartment. They divided the height in half with a loft area. The 14' was main living space, and the 6'8" was the kitchen, a dining area and closets and a bathroom. The 14' was nice because of the Greek Revival detailing, but other than that was a bit too high for my comfort. The 6'8" was not so great...but those are extremes). The 10 and 8 were in one apartment and they both had their benefits. The 8's were the bedrooms and bathrooms, those were fine. I can tell you from living in a building which went 7'6" English basement, then 14, 12, 10, 8 on the way up, that a lot of people don't have a great sense of 6-12" increments over 8. Some people can't tell the difference between 8 and 9. Some can tell the difference between 8 and 9 but not 9 and 10. Over ten and lots of people have no clue. One of my neighbors who lived in the 14' apartment kept saying it was almost 18' (He was thinking the lofts were 8 with a bit over a foot in between, not under 7 with 8" in between...no clue really). ----- I think whats happening now is that as houses get more complex with a lot of rectangles stuck together, they are creating "open concept" that still are made up of complex boxes stuck together in their middles, bleeding into perimeters that 1) go off in every direction and 2) create a bunch of smaller spaces in their own real and assumed boundaries (because we still try to assign rectangular boundaries to complex open shapes) . These smaller footprints end up having awkward proportions because they are topped off by high or multi leveled ceilings. The new construction in many neighborhoods here is built on 12-13 foot lots. The older two or three story houses are 9/8 or 9/8/8 with the first floor a step or two above the street. The the new ones are 6 steps or so above the street. 9ft. basement half above the street/10 ft./9ft./9ft/ and they loom above the street and the other houses in sharp narrow 'fingers'. And the inside rooms are toaster slot proportions.

Is the refrigerator in your spice kitchen placed right next to the wall? (It's hard to tell, but from your picture it looks like it.) Make sure you have enough space between the fridge and the wall to fully open the door and remove the drawers for cleaning. Check the specs for your model. (For example in the one below, it needs to be 15" away from a wall to fully open the door.) Also be sure to account for the space needed behind the fridge for ventilation, and see what the specs say about proximity to a heat source. There are more considerations than just getting it through the door.

It's a interesting question. ANSI standard 2765-2020 (Square Footage--Method for Calculating) provides a standard method for calculating square footage of residential structures. Following the standard, dimensions are taken to the outside of the finished material above grade and the outside of the foundation wall below grade. Using that method, I think you can make a case that adding exterior insulation increases the square footage. By way of illustration, consider two homes with the same interior dimensions: one constructed with 2 x 4 exterior walls and the other with 2 x 6 exterior walls. The home with the 2 x 6 exterior walls calculates out to be larger, although the usable interior dimensions are the same. It's amusing--and you'd need to read the standard to learn-- that a method for calculating square footage gives an option for metric units. Could it be that the folks who write ANSI standards have a sense of humor?

You can do a hard prune on the rhododendron and move it to the right side on your property where you need screening. I would create an enclosure of plants to hide the yard by sliding doors, because that is where most people who don't know better will go. Get a trellis to hide the trash cans. Maybe you can install an arbor over the garage door and extend it out to the steps. Extend the walkway down the drive after you create a rock berm to raise the height. Plant something eye catching to the left of the arbor. I think the deck would look better painted white.