I'm adding to this discussion much after the fact, but writing for those who stumble across this post with the same conundrum. We are contemplating taller doors for our new build right now and while reading this my husband looked at pictures of our last house that had 8' doors and 9' ceilings. The living room had french glass doors (8') and windows that started at maybe 2' up and ended at the same height (8'). The kitchen (separated by an interior wall from living room) faced the same direction, had same hight door, but windows that started higher (probably just over 3') and were probably only 7' at the top. I never noticed that they were shorter at top, and the bottom starting higher worked because of nearby table height, but the windows always seemed somehow small and I never could put my finger on why. Both rooms looked out on a lake view and the living room felt like it took the view in and the kitchen felt like it closed it off. I'm contemplating our own new build decision as I type and think of how I loved the tall doors. The adults are in the 5'8" to 6'2" range. Both the previous and new house will have a price point at approximately twice the wider area average (but in line with their neighborhood) which I do think should be a key consideration. When looking at listings of near by houses in our price point, I notice that many have 8' doors, and I love them, so we will plan on them. With regard to windows, I think we will stop them at 7' in rooms where they aren't right next to taller doors and with uninspiring views (the driveway or street) and splurge for 8' top height in rooms that have a view or want to feel open to outside. We also will consider how the combination looks from the exterior. Basically every window needs individual consideration.

Here R several ideas 4 U:

In response to your structural comment responding to my post, let me try to clarify what I intended to say. In your first photo, the long exposed beam to the left appears to be below the roof ridge (the high point of the roof). If the exposed wood beams we see in the photo are not simply decorative (with the real load-bearing roof framing above them), I would expect to find a post within the kitchen wall seen in that first photo directly below that ridge beam to help support it. (It may be a smaller post than the visible one in the photo below the other long beam to the right of this ridge beam.) If true, that hidden post should not be a problem for you since I don't believe you intended to expand the kitchen toward the left direction in the first photo. The visible post is the one you'll hvae to work around. If you simply want to create a high counter seating area between the current kitchen and the "dining" area of the living space, keep in mind that, measuring from the cabinet face when standing in the kitchen looking toward the living area, you'll need to include (1) the depth of the cabinets, (2) the thickness of a supporting wall for the higher countertop (42"?) behind the cabinets, 11-12" of knee space below the counter, space for the counter seats (when occupied and not completely tucked under the raised counter space), and circulation space between those counter seats and whatever seating you have behind them (3' might be a decent minimum). Take a look at how much this will intrude in your living/dining space furniture arrangement. I understand your kitchen storage preferences, and it appears you have considered what impact those preferences may have for your layout. It's just a matter of sitting down and laying things out to scale to make sure you can get what you want before building or demo'ing things.

To me the higher the better. We are in the process of building and chose 10' on the first floor and 9' on the second. I wish I had done 10' both up and down! My builder said the cost wouldn't have gone up that much if I had decided to do it. I think I just went with the standard way of doing things without giving it too much thought initially. I have to say though that most of the rooms on the second floor have nothing above them so I opted to have the ceilings follow my roof line. This adds so much drama to these rooms (I did have to fight with my architect over the ceiling heights though...but I stuck to my guns and I love the way it is turning out). Here are some pics...two bedrooms and bonus room.