You're right: The two floorplans are very similar in layout and room size ... I'm surprised that there's a 300 sf difference between them.

Having said that, I think I prefer the William Poole design. I like the kitchen in the William Poole house better; it is the same size as the other kitchen, but it seems to be better laid-out. The other kitchen is interrupted by too many doors and has empty space in the middle, which isn't conducive to good work flow. You'd want to talk to some builders to ask about the cost of building ... but at a glance, I'd think that the William Poole house, which is slightly larger but more rectangular in shape, might end up costing the same as the smaller-but-jig-joggy-perimeter house.

Oddly, I think the two have the same pinchpoints:

- The laundry rooms look in convenient in both plans. They're not convenient to the master bedroom, nor are they convenient to the kids' bedrooms.

- In both plans, the master bath and closets is set on the outside, preventing the master bedroom from having windows on two sides.

- Neither plan has a garage entrance that looks family-friendly. That is, neither provides any space for coats, backpacks, etc.

- Both have two kids' bedrooms upstairs and one kids' room downstairs. How will you arrange five kids in these rooms?

I would actually rework the kitchen to be like the Calabash. I need a big island! I honestly can't find any plan where I like how the laundry room is situated so that's no surprise! : ) In our home now it's upstairs with all the bedrooms and that's perfect! But we live in a center hall colonial with a full porch. We desire a little different design now though that would fit with the land we're building on.

The kids' room arrangements will be like we have now, so that's all good. 2 little boys doubled up, along with 2 sisters, and the middle teen son all by himself, but he shared a room with his little brothers for 7 years, so it's his turn now to have a room to himself!

One think I like about Calabash is how the first floor bedrooms are accessed. They take less walking space away from the living room, and have more privacy. If you would use the one bedroom for a child, that's important.

I rather like how the stairs land under the balcony instead of in the foyer. Much more convenient for the kids, and for you when you have to holler up the stairs that the bus is coming soon lol.

Dining room, while not large, is nice and quiet, so could be used for working/studying.

The master shower is bigger! It has elbow room for actual elbows.

I like that the Calabash laundry is not the mudroom, but a separate room. Neither plan has decent space for 7 people's gear.

I prefer the Peachtree kitchen, but that could easily be done in the Calabash.

Both have the master bed going in an odd spot, where someone is always having to walk around the bed or where you walk in and look directly at the nightstand with its cords and book piles (or is that just mine?)

Have you considered working with a person of design talent? Sometimes the cost difference is minimal when you consider you'd have to first buy these plans and then have them reworked to meet local codes. Plus then you can get exactly what you need where you need it.

Having said that, I too prefer the William Poole design. It's cleaner looking without the angles that will drive up the cost to build.

For example, you said in your other thread you want this to be your "last" house. Assuming that happens, I would think you'd want your laundry closer to where the two of you will generate your laundry. The younguns can haul their own if the come to visit you in your golden years.

Additionally if you're building on land, I'd love to see the master have use of the corner of the house vs the master closet. Why should the master closet get the prime real estate?

And if you plan to eventually age in place, the placement of the toilet in your bathroom could become a problem if you ever need a walker or a wheelchair. I have a toilet closet being built in my home, but I put the toilet closet where the side walls could be eliminated if I ever needed the extra space. It wouldn't be as pretty, but it would be very practical.

Another thing if you and DH are on different wake/sleep schedules, those two separate doors into and out of the bathroom and closet could become a problem. Ask me how I know. LOL.

Same thing with the second bedroom. Ideally you want all major rooms to have light and breezes coming from two different directions. Both downstairs bedrooms don't get that. And the way the upstairs bedrooms are designed, they don't either. Pity.

In both plans the downstairs bathroom toilet sits against the master bedroom wall. Now imagine one of the kids or later on a guest using that bathroom in the middle of the night. Ugh.

Having an open to below area from upstairs means noise will travel up and down and it will be harder to heat and cool.

Another thing is that two of the three bathrooms have no natural light.

Kitchen isn't bad. I would flip cleanup sink and cooktop and then make that wall all windows on either side of cooktop. Drawers below will hold so much more you won't miss upper cabinets.

Dining room will be tight in either plan.

If you engaged an architect to design a third design that fit your site to compare to the two plans you are considering, which one of the three do you think you would like the best?