Wow, mud in the pool is my worst nightmare!! I told my PB several times to make sure our pool was up nice and high, we have a neighbor that has that same issue and it takes her forever to get the pool cleaned after a big rain and I didn't want to go through that. Sorry you're having to go through that! There are some good pressure-side cleaners out there, but it would be expensive for you to add one as it would require retrofitting some plumbing and adding another pump. There are some robotic cleaners that don't require that, they just need to be plugged into an electrical outlet and they're self-sufficient other than that. Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with them to make a recommendation, but perhaps someone else can. Best of luck!

In case anybody is still following, lol: I've been thinking of Sena's fridge placement concern. The fridge I ordered has a door that can be reversed and is actually 26" deep with door. So I think we'll try it for awhile where the current fridge has been, on the end of the short L. We can inset it into the wall with the door reversed so it swings left and, thus, won't crowd the person at the sink. I'm wondering if we do this if it will be back far enough to now crowd the line-of-vision to the window? We should be able to get an idea of that without actually before we tear out the wall to see if it will be worth it to inset it. Although i do hate to lose that long baking counter. But we can also take out the side wall to the broom closet and play with the fridge there. If we don't like that, I figure we can get cabinets to fill that spot. They could uppers and lowers with counter and a better landing spot/command center than I currently have. Or just a pantry. Might also make a good place to put a small microwave a bit closer to cooking area. Anyway, just mulling options. It will be fun to play with all this. Went to a big home show in the Big City a 90-minute drive away. Hoping to see some unique and interesting ideas. Well, that was a waste. Didn't really see anything any different or better than what I see at our HD. Bummer. But had a nice visit with my friend that came with me so that's good. Won't waste my time on home shows again if this is all they have. My next venture out-of-town will be to some of the bigger Habitat Re-Stores. I've been told that a couple have amazing selections due to being in areas more flush with cash and a lot of high-end remodels. After looking at photos online, I kinda wish I'd thought to check them out sooner for my fridge. Hoping to find some nice cabinet boxes in the sizes I need so I only have to order door/drawer fronts from Barker. I don't mind multiple trips for the right cabinets as this will save hundreds over buying new cabinet boxes. Wow, I can't imagine building a whole house. A kitchen is enough work for me!

I've added a few staged MLS photos of 1&2) Living/Dining room, 3) Kitchen, and 4) Kitchen/Family Room. It is a 1996 Southern CA tract house with 1750 square feet and 900 square feet in the downstairs area (comfortable but not big). We discussed repurposing some of the rooms as several suggested earlier in the thread and I think we want to leave them as they are. A little bit of divergent thought is always a good way to get a good solution. We don't want the TV under the high ceilings of the living/dining room and we do not find the distance from the kitchen to the dining room to be a problem given that we only use the dining room about 6 times per year. We treat the living/dining room like a sunroom (reading newspaper, etc.) and use the family room for watching the TV. We like having the kitchen and family open to each other. At this point we've made the decision to leave the kitchen within the same basic footprint. Swapping the kitchen and family room isn't a cost effective option for us. We like the windows in the family room and aren't open to removing the fireplace. We think the basic layout of the existing kitchen is OK and are open to ideas to make it better within the same general footprint. Sorry to impose constraints but we want to keep this as a kitchen remodel not a whole house remodel. Any thoughts on the original design I posted and how to better use the space in the kitchen/breakfast area? We appreciate your help.

Oak town, By exterior closet, do you mean the closet that's outside the "lower" wall of the kitchen in the plan? (In my version there's FAU's shown there but on the above plan I posted, they are not shown as such, but that closet is supposed to contain FAU's for two floors). I discussed that with my architect for alternative locations and it was decided that this current location is pretty much the best. By code, we cannot put it under stairs or landing. :( and we are not ready to put it on the roof coz we may possibly have a deck there. Also DH does not want them inside. To answer your other questions: - under stair landing is storage accessible from outside. I think it will be ~ 5ft high -- but if needed this space can be claimed by the kitchen or from inside. - under the stairs is storage accessible from the main hallway that connects the great room with entry. I had it converted to a pantry but took it out (in my revisions) because I realized that it was not giving me additional storage but was wasting it away. So I decided to leave the counter cabinet separate from the pantry. - The new under-stairs storage will be accessed from the hallway. So if I were to use it for kitchen purposes, I'd turn around the corner of (currently drawn) 48" cabinet and then access it. It's not super convenient but not entirely inconvenient either. However, I am open to using that for kitchen if I completely run out of space in the main kitchen. - 48' range is a bit much for me. I do not need so many burners and cooktop grill etc. I have allocated 36" but may actually get a 30". Will decide soon based on my trip to appliance store. Also micro is my most used item so I would prefer it to be at a more ergonomic height. - I need a compact convection and a micro in addition to regular sized oven and thought of getting wall combo to primarily make space planning more functional. In fact, I use compact convection way more than large oven due to my family size (2 adults, 1 kid, and not gonna change). - mama goose, the tall 12" cabinet can go if needed. I am much more interested in keeping kitchen related items first. Hope I answered all the questions.