Whether it's kitchen appiances, closets, or ceiling heights, I think we see a great deal of the "bigger is better" philosophy when we're talking about home building. I disagree. A higher ceiling may or may not work for any particular space, and raising the ceilings in the entire house somewhat negates the whole point. Read what Sarah Susanka says in her Not So Big House series: She suggests that larger rooms /higher ceilings can feel "out of proportion" to human beings, and they can rob the rooms of the cozy feeling that the owners wanted. She suggests that you consider a change in ceiling or a change in height to denote "spaces within spaces". For example, you might have a higher great room attached to a lower-ceilinged dining area -- that provides a visual cue that this area is different, and it "works" emotionally. Also don't forget to note that higher ceilings do cost more money. Wall materials come in 8' heights; thus, higher ceilings mean more material, more cuts, more labor costs to install. And then they mean more heat /air conditioning later. If budget is important, this is something you can't ignore.

Here's ours, which still is not used as a desk, although we're getting closer now that the construction tools aren't here as much. I never thought it should be desk height, but DH did and he won. We have the swiveling t.v. over it so if HE wanted to, he could look at it from chair I think. We still have to decide on an appropriate chair. Currently we have a wastebasket and dog bowls under it. Cute, yes? Items jump from that lower surface to the upper one constantly. I had hoped that it would be a barrier, but it's not. In my thinking, we might as well have had entire surface flat. Cork board between cabinet and desk is now used less decoratively. It's a working message center. That's where calendar hangs, thank-you notes and such are posted and oddball coupons get put. Although there's a "pencil drawer" we keep a pencil mug on the desk. Cabinet above desk is 16 inches deep--allows notebooks for financial statements, phone books, etc. Top shelf is unrelated storage of party gear. A permanently mounted power strip at front of bottom shelf of this cab allows DH to put chargers in here and let cord dangle down so that the device is seen and not forgotten once it is charged. He can turn off power to all chargers with one switch. Lobby is to left of desk. I'm trying to put "things going elsewhere" into the shelves in the closet in lobby instead of on desk--lib. books, stuff for Mom's sr. residence, things going to friends, etc. Otherwise, they accumulate on desk. But that's fine with me--better there than in the rest of the kitchen where they used to cluster, esp on top of refrig. because that was by front door. Because the peninsula is right there next to the desk, I would rather spread out on that to do any work with pencil and paper, but then, I'm a person who needs special glasses to focus on arm's length stuff, so I suppose that little desk just looks like too much work--easier to stand and write at peninsula with my multifocus lenses and squint. I clear pencils and paper and calendar and address book off the peninsula at least twice a day and plunk them back on HIS desk. Computer will never be used at desk, I'm sure. (It moves between peninsula and dining table all the time.) Telephone holder lives on desk, at least for now. I'm hoping to get it wired into a place on wall closer to dining room, but until then, it's here. This cordless phone is another thing that hides throughout the kitchen and has to be put away on desk when I spy it. One benefit of this space: For parties, we can clean off the desk and bulletin board, put up a sign or something decorative like this framed piece, then put beverages here. Keeps traffic out of kitchen. Remember--this is Formica, so it's not going to mind.

Higher is better but put it somewhere you can easily reach to clean the filter. For instance if you have a foldable step ladder figure out how high you can reach on that. If you have to bring in an extension ladder to clean the filter you will be very unhappy.

If the floor to the bottom of the fireplace is 24" and the overall height of the fireplace is 36" ... and if you add another 8" let's say for the tile surround This is what you end up with, the TV will be right under the ceiling which is uncomfortable viewing height. Put the fireplace on the floor or max 6-8" above. This is how it will look if it's installed per your description what the builder is going to do this is with a 9' ceiling.