I think the door should be tucked behind the garage. I am afraid if you put a door in the bay (I think that is what you are saying) it would ruin the look of the bay.

I would definitely leave the wall open in the kitchen by the sink and I am not sure I would move the sink either (although I think the corner sink may leave something to be desired) That is the set up I have now (almost exactly) and it is invaluable.

I have 3 kids roughly the same age as yours and it would be nuts if every time I was working in the kitchen and they said Mom look at this I had to walk around the peninsula to see what was going on.

If you open it up by the sink you lose no cabinets and you gain a view.

I'll leave the kitchen stuff up to the kitchen folks but your kitchen is too narrow for an island I think

I agree with athensmomof3. Keep the sink were it is, however, if you do move it, you need to move it enough so that your DW is next to it, not on the other counter, what a mess that will be. Or even better, put the sink facing the eating area and the dishwasher to the left of it. That will leave you LOTS of counter space on the other angles of the kitchen.

What is the dimension of the kitchen? If you do not have absolute bare minimum of 3 1/2 feet on each side of the island, then don't put one in.

Can you tell me if you are planning on using the mud room in the future as a bedroom? Just asking because you have a WIC off of it, is this more of a storage/craft room?

Why not put in french doors off the living room to the backyard? Do you really need a door off the eating area? If so, then it would be an opened outward from the inside, so put it on what I would call the "West" wall.

The only thing I see glaring in this plan is the placement of the 1/2 bath. Not sure if you really want your guests to be walking thru the kitchen and the mud room to have a few moments of privacy. Pretty bad area if guest is having some issues. :-)

Also, is there any way to put in 2 sinks into the shared bath upstairs? I know the kids are young right now and it doesn't matter, but in another 4-5 years it is going to be a huge issue. I have 3 kids also (11, almost 13 and almost 15) and this IS an issue.

The other bedroom does not have a desk area. If you put it in one, put it in the other. Even if you have to take out the linen closet and have specific cabinet area in the laundry for the linens.

In the Master Bath is that a shower or tub/shower combo??

Other than the above, this is a very nice, tidy, well designed plan, Good Job!!!

Thanks for the suggestions! You both wrote that you would leave the sink where it is- do you mean the original location or the location marked in red?

Athensmom- I was leaning toward leaving the wall open for that very reason, but have a hard time visualizing how things will look so wanted to ask. Glad you think the door would work in the corner- our current home has the deck off of our dining area with a sliding door in the middle. I donÂt necessarily like this set up and think the look of just windows in the bay area would be much prettier.

Imwonderwoman- IÂm measuring the kitchen dimensions as app. 15 x 11.5 (not counting where the pantry bumps out). Do you think it is worth the extra expense to add some square footage to get an island? WeÂve never had an island, so donÂt know if there is any value to having an island vs. the set-up shown.
-We are hoping to put a screen porch tucked in behind the garage, so we donÂt block out view from the living room by putting it there.
-Our designer also questioned the ½ bath location, but we insisted on it. I donÂt want the kids running through the entire house to use the bathroom. They spend a ton of time outside and as kids should, get pretty dirty! We are not big entertainers, so really only have family and the kids friends over. This is the set-up we currently have and it works fine for us. If we were big entertainers, I could completely see where it would be a really bad set-up. IÂm guessing the kids will do most of their entertaining the in rec room we will add in a few years in the basement and that will have a bath nearby.
-As for the mudroomÂno, it will not be a future bedroom. This will be a combo coat closet, cleaning closet and "dog area". We have 3 big dogs and will have their feeding area here as well. We live in MN and it gets COLD so we have a lot of winter gear.
-IÂll check into 2 sinks in the kids bathrooms and see if we could squeeze it in. ItÂs great to get input on what our kids needs may be in a few years- I was hoping theyÂd stay little forever!!
- The desk area in the bedroom may get switched to a window seat for our daughter. Our son didnÂt want anything in his room, so we left it out.
- IÂm glad you brought up the master bathÂI forgot to point this out in the original post. We wanted a separate shower and soaking tub, but as space was an issue are going to tile the walls (so it looks nicer) and have a combo. That is unless you guys find a way to work in both!!

Thanks again for all of the input!!

I would move the sink facing the breakfast area if possible. I have that set up and it gives you a view out the window while you clean up. It also eliminates the corner sink. I assume the peninsula will have a raised bar to hide the mess at the sink?

It looks like you would have to expand the kitchen significantly to get an island in which means you would also be expanding the upstairs and basement and entire footprint of your house.

Yes an island would be nice for additional storage but you need to ask if it is worth the significant additional expense to you.

I do disagree with the previous poster about having the sink next to the dishwasher. Nice but not necessary. My sink is on my peninsula and my dishwasher is roughly where your sink is drawn in. It is just a couple of feet down, and the dishwasher opens up right behind me standing at the sink so it is easy to put things in. Even more importantly, it is easy to unload as all dishes and flatware are immediately above the dishwasher or to the right in a drawer. In fact, if given the choice, I would rather have my dishwasher closer to where the plates were than to the sink. Having the sink on the peninsula also allows folks to put their dishes easily in the sink after eating rather than walking through the kitchen to do so.

The only other thing I noticed is that you garage is wider than your house . . . Is there a way to side load your garage? It looks like a triple garage so it appears there would be room on the side. Garage doors are so massive that they tend to draw the eye directly to them rather than to the more attractive front door entry.

Athensmom- we were hoping to have a side load, but in order to swing the driveway around enough to accomodate one, we would have had to spend a ton of money on site work, as there is a drop off into a wetland area. I'm hoping that with landscaping, we can try to get the emphasis on the house. Thanks for all of your thoughts!

I think that the area for the table off the kitchen is too small. That is an area where people will be constantly walking back and forth. I would widen it maybe a foot or so. Can you put a leaf in the table, or is it just 5 feet wide?

If someone is sitting at the table, and someone is at the bar stools by the counter, then there won't be much room to walk. Why not lay it out with the table? I think that the table would be pushed back to the windows a lot.

Hi BMXMOM: In regards to the island, I guess it all depends on what you plan on using it for. We are having one in the new build, with only 3.5 feet of walking space around it, from the sink to the frig side (more on the ends. But the island will be full of large, deep drawers and will hold all my dishes and glassware because we are not having any above counter cabinets. I am also putting in 2 dishwashers, one on each side of the sink. Then all I have to do is turn around to put everything away.

If you are using the island just for countertop area and are going to try to shove one in, I think you will get tired of it. You do have lots of counterspace with your current set-up and yes, I think you should put the sink facing the eating area too, with the dishwasher next to it, or leave it in the corner of the counter area as it is originally. My kitchen is 12.7 x 13.7 U shaped with integrated fridge/freezer and drinks frig and my island is 5.5 x 3.5. If I didn't have the integrated items the island would not fit.

If your 1/2 bath works for you where it is, then go for it. You know what works best for your family, especially since you have a set-up similar to it now. :-)

I too think your eating area will get cramped with the round table. Might need to purchase a rectangular one or bump the area out to accomodate the round table. I love large, round tables but it is difficult to make space for them.

In terms of the garage, you can do a great job landscaping it to help out with the aesthetics, but I fully understand the need for 3 garages, even just for the extra storage!!!

Hope some of this helps :-)

Hi! I marked out the new kitchen and dining area in our current house and it will be very tight walking between the table and stools. I love my table, so hate to part with it. We only add the leaves at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that adds an addition 2 feet to the diameter, so we may have to crawl under the table to get through!! We did discuss bumping the dining area out by another foot or two and have also been discussing making the bay area into a rectangle and having it jut out several feet and then vaulting the ceiling. I'm thinking that may cost quite a bit, but figure it will be cheaper to do it now than 5+ years down the road. We are planning on staying here forever, so want to do things right in the beginning, but also don't want to be "owned" by our home.
Thanks so much for the help!

Nice plan. Critique  First IÂd consider getting rid of the bumpouts  blah. Mudroom has access only from the garage  may be a problem, but given the design I see no other great options unless it was reconfigured. Bathroom next to the kitchen is a design problem that, if it can be avoided, should be. Again, I admittedly donÂt see a better location. Consider providing a closet option in the Music Room if resale (and use as a bedroom) is a possibility. Upstairs, the enclosed toilet/bath concept may be constricting in such a small space. Maybe get rid of the door within the bathroom  to say nothing of the problem of a swinging door in such a confined space. Laundry upstairs  consider adding a humidity/timer exhaust fan in the w/d area.

Rethree- thanks for the suggestions. We are working on any possible options to get a direct door into the mudroom, so the kids aren't having to run through the garage. We have the bathroom divided because we have a boy and a girl and figure that privacy will become more of an issue than it is at their current ages. Wondering if a pocket door would free up some space? Thanks for the suggestion of adding the exhaust fan in the laundry- may not have thought of that.

I would love any additional input on the floor plan, but also have some exterior questions. I really like the craftsman look and am wondering what we could do to the exterior to get this look. I was hoping to be able to have more substantial pillars, but the designer felt that may be too bulky. I'm also wondering if we should get more decorative windows in the front. Thanks!

I think I decorative window is needed for the smaller windows, if you are going with the craftsman look. Maybe the frame of the window could be a color to give contrast or stained glass designed from the craftsman era. I can't tell the length of the porch but it does seem it may be too small for the scale of brick and post needed for the craftsman look (though I'm not an expert in design or planning). Perhaps you could ask if the craftsman type columns could be scaled down enough to still have the craftsman look? I would definitely add the 2'in the bay area now and keep the table I love, just my opinion though. I love the walk-in pantry and the large walk-in closet off the mudroom. Best wishes and good luck with planning your new home!

The bathroom next to the kitchen thing, mine is similar and it is so handy.

When I posted my plan, it was brought to my attention also, and I stressed over it a bit, but there wasn't any place else I wanted it. So we did put in extra insulation. You can't hear anyone doing their business. You can hear a little bit of the flush sometimes(if the door is closed, always if open) but it's not that bad. I think it would be the same if we had it anywhere else due to the openness of our floorplan and this floor isn't huge.

It is so handy for me if I am in the kitchen. I always wait til the last minute, or have to hurry back for something. It is also nice because it is off the mudroom, right off the garage and there is another exterior door in from the porch but so far most come through the garage and not the other door. I have only used it to let the dog out.

The whole idea was to try to keep the dirt and mud somewhat confined to that area. If you are working outside or just getting home, you can come in and do your business without tracking through the whole house. With kids, I think it will be the handiest place for it.

We live in the country also, and just because you take your shoes off, doesn't mean you don't still track other debris through the house. (same as city I imagine, with mowing the yard, etc.)

If we have company or a large crowd and they feel they need a little more privacy or more "time", they can go upstairs, or downstairs, or master bathroom even. If you are having a gathering, your whole house is open to your guests so they will have other options.

So I don't know if it is a sanitary thing that ppl advice against it, we don't have codes so I can't offer any advice from that standpoint but we do not open directly into the kitchen but it is just around the corner somewhat similar to yours, or if it is just from a noise viewpoint, we all gotta go so you know what someone is doing when they are in there but I guess you don't want to hear every last detail or be heard so I would make an effort to try to muffle the sound somehow, but from a standpoint of functuality, it works great for us and I can't imagine having moved it somewhere else.

I hadn't thought of stained glass, but love the idea. I'll definitely look into that. I'm not at home, so don't have access to the plans, but am thinking the porch is a little over 20 feet. I would love something with stone (even if it was a smaller scale), but don't want it to look too heavy either. Does anyone have a porch with stone at the base of the pillars, but on a smaller scale?
Thanks!