Most venting sidelites have seen recently have what is known as a mulitpoint lock (which unfortunately for you is not an easy retrofit). There is not really an easy solution to this from what I know and anything you do will be a bit of a jury rig so from my thinking your locksmith may be correct but their also may be other solutions that I am not thinking of. But I cannot think of anyway a security bar could be used for this application. A hasp and a padlock would be another crude l;locking method but of course that would look like ass. This post was edited by millworkman on Tue, Jul 9, 13 at 8:00

Our last home was similar to this layout in a couple of ways. I would place the entry into the powder room in the hallway instead of the mudroom, if your guests will be using it. I like a bathroom in the mudroom if you have another bathroom for guests to use. My mudroom can get messy in the winter with many boots, hats, mitts.... Would not like my guests seeing that, lol. One I disliked about our last home was the foyer being completely open to our living areas of our home. Was ok with family or friends but with any stranger coming to our door and them having a complete view of it was very uncomfortable. As well as having to have everything clean all the time in the great room..... incase someone came to the door. If I were to do a similar plan again, I would make the front entrance more private. We also had the 3' x 8' front entry door with just over 1' transoms surrounding it. I liked the look of them a lot. But they were also a nightmare with the foyer open to the main living areas. So many times there would be the neighbor's kids or people peeking into them right into our home. Once I had just woken up from a nap and ran out to the kitchen for a drink of water in just my underwear and a T-shirt and saw a little old couple peering in my front door transom windows looking right at me! Ekkkk! We lived on an acreage with at least a 100' driveway and they said they just loved our house and decided to come take a peek! After that, I knew no more large windows in my foyer if it opens up into the rest of home, lol. Here's a couple of photos, dimensions similar to your questions on what it would look like. The first is a little dark, sorry. The second is a little off as it was taken with a wide angle lens: This post was edited by xc60 on Wed, Dec 18, 13 at 16:59

My opinion Therma Tru would be the lowest I would go on the food chain. I would seriously consider Provia at the very least for your front door.

I puzzled and puzzled and finally figured out that the elevation for the range wall is upside down! Where do you eat your meals, if not in the current dining room/playroom? I ask because that's the destination of the cooked food - it either goes out one end of the kitchen or the other! I big on working with the flow of food as it passes from storage to cooking to serving and I think in a small space like yours, it's doubly important. Can you steal space from either end of the sink wall to shove the fridge back in a few inches, or is that only possible on the laundry room end? Are the people in your family right handed, or left handed? I am noodling on ways to shove the sink and stove away from each other so that when one person is standing facing either one they are not about to step on the heels of another who is standing at the other work center. I would sacrifice some cabinet space in order to build in the toaster oven. or toaster/MW combo appliance on a shelf under the counter. I think it might be very useful to get rid of the wall near the window and just have cabinets and a counter die back into the DR exterior wall. it would change the room into an L-shaped room, with the kitchen stuff in the ell. If you decided to keep the wall, you could use it for storage with narrow shelves at right angles to the window. Don't forget to plan on some over-fridge cabs. Bringing them out to the front of the fridge helps shove the fridge back visually and makes the contents more accessible. Under cabinet lighting would be an improvement as right now the person standing at the counters casts a shadow on the work space in front of them from the overhead light. I'm really curious about the position of the fireplace. It seems like it's stuck away at the end of a hall, which is a very unusual place. is it a regular hearth, do you sit or gather near it? Are you keeping your 36" range; would a smaller one be possible? HTH L.