The wiring may not be conventional because the power or the light circuits are not coming into the switch boxes and some creative wiring was done. The easiest way to figure this out is to first disassemble all switches and lights to access the wiring. Find out which wires in each box have power and make a diagram. Next shut off the circuit so you can check each wires resistance/continuity. This will allow you to determine which cable is feeding where. With a voltmeter/DVM set to OHMS pick the first wire to check and make sure there is no continuity. With the meter still connected to the wire go to the light or switch box you think the wire is running to and touch the same colored wire to ground (this is assuming it hasn't changed color by a connection somewhere else). The meter will read close to zero ohms when the wire is touched to ground (some wires may read a low resistance if it is connected to the light bulb so you may want to remove them). Do this for each wire until you have a diagram showing where all wires are going/coming from. Then is is a matter of having the wire supplying power go to the common of one switch. The two other wires in that same switch box must get to the other switch. The other switch will have the two wires coming in from the first switch and then the wire going to the lights connect to the common of switch 2. It now is a matter of connecting the wires through all the boxes to achieve this configuration. If you cannot figure this out then a picture of where all the wires go to the switches and lights. Good Luck!

I have the exact configuration of a full depth refrigerator (ours is SxS, but the door situation is the same idea) next to a pantry. I was worried. I checked. I measured. I worried. It turned out perfect. The pantry door opens beyond 90 degrees. Actually it opens to its full stop which may be 110 degrees. Here's why. The door is about 19 inches wide, which sticks out WAY past the closed refrigerator door. So the cabinet pull can only hit air and since the door approaches the refrigerator at an angle, it goes past the refrigerator door before it extends as far to the side as the refrigerator. I don't know if that makes much sense. I'll post a picture if you haven't already decided against it. I do have a 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inch refrigerator side panel instead of 3/4 inch so that helps too. I'm not sure if I can hit the refrigerator with the cabinet door if I try intentionally. I think I can, but my point here was that the cabinet door would open past 90 degrees which is necessary for a pull out. Having the refrigerator stick out past the cabinets (standard depth ref.) has another side benefit. It's harder to hit the cabinets with the refrigerator door too. In my case my refrigerator has a stop BEFORE the cabinets. I can force it further, but it stops automatically before the cabinets. If it were counter depth it would probably be too close to the cabinets when open and might hit them. - Jim

The better (less confusing) way to check a switch is to disconnect it and test it with an ohm meter between the common and each of the traveler terminals. If you have continuity between the common and one traveler terminal when the switch is in one position, and between the common and the other traveler terminal when the switch is in the other position, then the switch is good. With the mtvhike method, it could still just be wired wrong. (Inconclusive) As you can see, there is more than one way that only one or zero terminals could be hot if it is wired wrong. Or even that all 3 terminals are hot.

"There should be sufficient returns and you balance the supplies." I have a long and narrow ranch house, with two returns (one at each end) and the HVAC equipment located at one end. The far end wasn't getting enough air flow and so was colder during heating season and warmer during cooling season. I had two HVAC contractors out to assess the problem- did the supply ducts need resizing or balancing or what else could help? Both said the problem was that the return ducts both went directly back to the equipment and because of how air flows, the shorter one would draw much more air than the longer one (at the far end of the house). Both said the ducts were properly sized but there wasn't enough return draw at the far end. With a forced air system, the air flow is affected not only by the blowing of the supply lines, it's also the negative pressure of the return ducts. The solution was to run a trunk line to roughly the center of the house, and then do a Y to run two ducts of roughly equal length, one to each return grill. The result was amazing and the balancing of the return paths and size made the difference. While rooms with closed doors (like bedrooms) do need to have the return air flow accomodated somehow, designing too much of an octopus for the return paths may affect the airflow throughout the house. Yes, jump ducts can transmit sound but the passage can be baffled and if carefully placed, the problem is minimized.