Post floor plan and exterior elevations to provide better context.

Here they are, let me know what you think.

Do not slope the ceiling in the living room ("great room" is not another name for living room), it is fake and looks pretentious. Add more glass in the rear wall and left wall.

Engage the services of a kitchen designer, not the cabinet salesperson.

Rethink the windows in the walk-in closet.

Get rid of the barn door.

Get rid of the gas chamber.

Where are you in the build process?

Most anyone looking at the plan and elevations, including what I imagine the front elevation to look like, will offer some ideas.

As for your question, keep the ceiling flat and at the 12'-6" height, not the higher ceiling above the stair.

We are close to closing. Here is the front elevation and upstairs. We have/want the loft area above so 12-6” height ceiling is not possible.

Get rid of the jack & jill bathroom.

Carry the stone all the way around the house. It looks like you ran out of money.

Have grills on all the windows. It looks like you ran out of money.

Thanks Mark and PPF, I appreciate your feedback.

Simplified elevation. Moved master bath and garage back.

And if you want rock.

My preference with these configurations is to stay away from 2-story open flat-ceiling Great Rooms, as the proportions are usually out-of-scale, exacerbated by 2-story skinny fireplaces and long long curtains on the window wall. So the vault is not a detriment and is not haphazardly placed.

Keep the vault a false ceiling (not integrated into the truss design) and as a separate line item cost. Sit in the space once the roof is enclosed (have the framer hold off on the vault if needed, but they would probably add it later when they are doing any soffit frames around the house) and visualize your preference. Bonus, if you do it, 10 years from now you can remove it (or if not, add it if the windows remain as designed).

The door into the master suite is always going to be in the way when trying to get to the WIC. Large windows in a WIC are not a great idea. Fading happens even with light filtering shades.

We are renting while we build. It is a 1990 2-story with a 2-story great room and loft. It is not a pleasant space and I'm a person that likes high ceilings, just not 2-story ones that echo all over the place! Kids upstairs will hear (and see) anything going on in the great room.

What is the reasoning behind the configuration of the ceiling and windows currently shown in the drawings? They do not seem to relate to anything.

Not a huge fan of sloped ceilings unless it's midcentury modern type design. Your home looks pretty traditional. So to clarify, your choices are sloped as shown? Flat (at what height?) or opened up to a third floor loft w/ railing? Have you considered HVAC issues? I'd worry that room wouldn't stay warm enough and the loft area would get too hot! But I'm not an architect or hvac pro. Something to ask about though.

I appreciate everyone's thoughtful feedback, you've give us a lot to think about. We will have a two story great room, there is no changing that aligning with our preference. The question is, do we keep the artificial slope, or remove it and open it up to two full stories (17/18 feet)? We have considered noise and HVAC as well. At this point in the process our builder would like us to keep the slope as is, to avoid our architect redraw plans and resulting resubmission of pricing. They have warned that removing the slope will increase costs in drywall, lumber, labor, and glass. We are conflicted on if at this point it would be worth it to open it up.

Poor design process. Your decision on the ceiling should have been made long before construction drawings were begun. Now you have to extra costs you have to consider because you have gone down the wrong design path.

Keep it as it is, save money, and live with the poorly designed fake ceiling.

"At this point in the process our builder would like us to keep the slope as is, to avoid our architect redraw plans and resulting resubmission of pricing. They have warned that removing the slope will increase costs in drywall, lumber, labor, and glass. We are conflicted on if at this point it would be worth it to open it up."

If you haven't started building yet, not true. Read my earlier post again and ask more questions if you have some.

Thank you, your earlier post was a terrific idea. It will be hard to say what we really prefer until we can visualize it.