There's a lot of reading in this thread, and I tried to get through it all. But please pardon me if I missed something and am repeating here or offering a suggestion already shot down. Are you familiar with Sarah Suzanka's books? NOt-so-big house concept? One of the points she makes is that people keep adding on to houses thinking that more space will solve the problem they're having, when it isn't the lack of space that's the issue, but the way the space is used. 10 years or so ago, I took that to heart when I wanted to add a master suite and a family room. After a lot of soul searching, I realized that we weren't using the space we had effectively. We had a living room that was almost always empty. And that when folks were in it, I was almost always far off in the kitchen. You say you're a traditionalist, so this may not work for you, but I urge you to give it some hard thought. Do you live the kind of lifestyle that requires a large formal living room? Someplace where you entertain adults regularly or where if someone were to come by the house for a meeting...insurance discussion, lawyer, etc....you would not want them to see your family room? Either because it's a mess or because you're just a more formal person? If so, stop reading. But if not, consider this: Convert your current living room into the family room and open it up to the kitchen by taking out the awkward powder room. You'll be near the kids and you'll have a large comfortable space for the whole famiy to hang out. If you have a play room downstairs (spend some of the money you'll save by not needing a new foundation to do really good waterproofing job...proper drainage and grading, sump pump, etc.) That can be where the truly noisy, rough stuff goes on. Then close off the current family room and turn it into a quiet, adult haven. Make it a library/living room...someplace you and hubby can go for peace and quiet or an older child (and they will get older) can quietly do homework. Put your masterbedroom suite, as planned over the top and save yourself the foundation costs. You can also use the room, if necessary as an emergency guest room with some creative furniture (a murphy bed? built-in daybed/window seat?) Or you might even think about putting a small private stair case from the adult living room to your bedroom. I'd try to fit a powder room off the family room or kitchen somewhere...if no where else, carve out part of that laundry room. It isn't optimum, since kids coming from the back yard would track all the way across the family room to get there...but it wouldn't be bad. And when you design that upstairs master bedroom DO consider sneaking at least a stackable w/d up there. Right now, a first floor laundry is a god send, cause your kids are little and you need to be close by all the time. But by the time the 2 year olds are in school, you'll be able to do the laundry when they're gone. And by the time they're teens, they can do it themselves. And believe me, the only thing better than a first floor laundry room is a laundry on the same floor as the dirty bedlinens and smelly boy socks. No more hauling baskets up and down the stairs. Of course, the idea of expanding out onto the deck to connect kitchen and family room accomplishes much of the same goals...a separate adult space and an integrated family living space and kitchen. But I don't know if you need to go to that expense, frankly. FWIW....

Beautiful Mahogany cabinets!!! And the tile floor is gorgeous. Your cabinet maker (contractor) must be a treasure of talent and artistry. I am amazed at the precision of your cabs and even the grain of wood. I especially love the builts in around the refrigerator. PERFECTION!!!!!You must be thrilled with how everything came out. And who cares about a triangle work space this is far more practical and lovely. A few questions.... What paint color did you go with? Is the Labrodite leaning toward green or blue? When you get a chance post a picture of the countertop and the matching backsplash. I imagine it is stunning. Did you go with undercab lighting? Do the windows bring in light that changes the color of the wood? I can only imagine it looks even better on a sunny day. What direction does this kitchen face out the window. GOsh I am nosy. Where did you get your hardware? I love it. Is there wood only around the right window and not the left? Or am I looking at a unfinished left side? I can't help my questions I want to see more of your beautiful kitchen. ~boxer

Thanks for the suggestions - - the problem with doing nothing is that we have been doing that for the last 4 years (as we discover these problems) - and they are driving us (mostly me the main cook) crazy. It is basically do these minor fixes or a total renovation (again). Our realtor friend said "if you can fix it for 5-10 k, you will get that back when you sell - but don't do an entire renovation as most buyers are going to see "new kitchen chef kitchen" and be happy, not analyzed the fine details (like me). Some of these things we would need to do to tell regardless (trim panels, moudlings, etc) so to add in making it what we can live with is not that much more. Also it could be at least 6 months up to years before we find the right house - if the one we want even comes back on the market (their short sale fell through - not it is going to foreclosure), it could be a long time. The drawing that shows everything lining up if we keep the island dishwasher is the correct one. If we change the 24 dishwasher for an 18 (the 24 dishwasher is on its last legs, it is the one appliance we re-used during our renovation) it would be a perfect line up with the fridge/pantry wall. The total cost to make the changes is: - $1600 to move the window/build wall back to add another cabinet - so all 3 rows line up (already have materials) - redo island trim/finish other trim - disconnect and reconnect plumbing, etc - 1200 to remove - and remove and recut island down/slim off rounded edge opposite of freezer/pantry and into a new piece for the other side of the range. so $2800

You can do what MR suggests as long as you don't make your island any bigger. You can't extend your island into that space without either reducing the width of the island or squeezing your aisles (12.5-25"-3.5'-3.5' = 3'-5" - that's really not big enough to have a walkway to an exterior door, especially with island seating...and that's using the bare minimum island and aisle widths. So, you'd have to keep your island from extending into that space. You'd probably need to keep it M/L where it is now. If you still want to extend the kitchen and put the sink under those windows, I would keep a prep sink in the island so you still have a water source that's not so far outside the work zone of your kitchen. Regarding the windows...if you decide not to extend the kitchen, north facing windows would be fine in that corner. I do not think they'll impact TV viewing that much...and if you find they do, you can get some shades for them. Same goes for adding them near the cooktop/oven.