I have a split style home with a planned layout similar to your last one on 3/31. Looks similar except I have about an extra 6' in the length (kitchen to DR) as well as no door to the garage on that side. I think ideagirl2 has good ideas. You will want an opening on either end for easy access into the kitchen or DR side. If the basement is unfinished, then swapping the steps might be a practical solution. A contractor can order a prefabricated set of steps to put in. If the closet in the hall is basically useless then this might be a good idea. Since its a ranch, then you should be able to flip it since there isn't another set of steps going up to a second story where then it would be impossible to flip them. However, this would mean you could not overlay another staircase on top of this one to expand for a second floor one day. You then would have to add another staircase somewhere else in the house and loose space. Moving the utilities can be expensive and it can affect headroom or remodeling plans for the basement. It depends where the waste lines are located in the home more then anything, since they need pitch from the sink to the waste stack. If that waste stack is located where the steps are then the pipe will have to drop below the floor joists below, since they will run front to back, and you will loose headroom. Not a big deal if this ends up in a utility area. Does the garage run all the way front to back? If so I would do the following to the plan noted above. 1) Move the garage doorway more to where the table is on the LR side. Thus, the door would start roughly where the table ends need the opening between the LR & DR. You then will be flipping the DR table and the door. This way when you come in from the garage you can enter into the LR or walk through the kitchen with Groceries. I would make the back window a sliding door. So the table is looking out the sliding door. It will make the room feel much bigger. I am putting in a nice 10' 4 panel sliding glass door for this very reason. If in fact no furniture could be placed between the right side of the fireplace and the wall as you drew it, my last recommendation is more structural and one I am grappling with now in my own home. That would be to make the opening even wider between the LR and DR table area. If you look at your pic you posted of the fireplace. I would take that opening and open the fireplace side all the way to the wall. This will make it more open and feel less cramped. You could even have them cut the ceiling joists and put the beam up so that you have a flat ceiling in the opening. This is what I am contemplating now. You then can see the fireplace for the DR table and the kitchen area, when facing the peninsula. You also can extend a table out into the LR if you have larger company at holiday times.

We are going with a company out of New Zealand for our bi-fold doors: http://www.alvistaamerica.com/downloads/AABrochure.pdf There is a local distributor near us (northern California) and the doors are absolutely beautiful and much less expensive than nana, Lanai, or La Cantina doors. I have see an example of each door, and while the nana seems to be the best quality--I honestly can't see much of a difference. And for our window door configuration, the AlVista door came in 10K cheaper, installed!! Here is a link that might be useful: ALvista America

I've seen hundreds of kitchen windows. IMO having the casing butt up to the cabinets is absolutely fine, and I prefer it. However, it depends on the space. If you have a wall space between the cabinet and the window, it should be at least something you can paint, not a small 3/4" space or less. This is probably not easy to get unless you go with a smaller window than you want. I think the bigger window out-weighs the trim consideration. If I may make another suggestion... I've grown quite fond of an awning window over the kitchen sink. It eliminates the horizontal or vertical meeting rail in the middle of the opening, so it makes the window feel even bigger with an open view to the yard. It offers plenty of ventilation just like any other window. I've done quite a few of these over the last several years and people love it.

We are currently building, and we did 6'8" doors on our lower level, which has 10' ceilings. The exterior doors have transoms, which are at a consistent header height with all the windows. We toured MANY homes when we were researching plans and preparing to build. I just couldn't get used to 8' doors. They just didn't look right to me. To each their own I guess!