Not too bad.

Flip the powder door and fixtures so visitors do not see the toilet from the front door.
While I like the kitchen booth set up, my personal preference is to flip the kitchen counter/booth so the kitchen is open to the family room.
That's all I have :)

Is there a garage that goes with this house? If so, what door do you use when coming in from the garage?

What is the makeup of the family? That guides a lot. Is the laundry room upstairs?

The refrigerator is practically in another room from the kitchen. If it were closer, it would be so much more convenient for making meals and refilling glasses.

Try laying out some furniture cut outs in the LR and FR, and see how you'd like to furnish them.

The garage is under the living room, it's at basement level. Our family is 2 adults and two kids. I am taking away the nook, so that I can have more cabinet space. If I open up the kitchen wall half way to the family room where can my range go? Thank you for your help.

The laundry room is upstairs.

What do u think about the dimensions? Living is 20 x 15, dining is 13 x 15, kitchen 20 x 20, family 15 x 19, office 10 x 12, foyer 13 x 16.

Kitchen doesn't need more cabinets. It's already borderline too large for efficiency as is. It just needs better layout with thr fridge moved to the same hemisphere as the rest of the working components. I'd do as naf naf suggests and flip the space with the range on the wall next to the deck. Put windows to either side of it if you don't want to lose the visual connection with the deck. You might angle that corner by the DR for the entry door to the deck. Put the fridge all the way to the end of that cabinet run, next to the DR and add a prep sink to the island.

Do you think this plan is better or worse? How can I improve? The staircase was flipped and the office became a little smaller. Kitchen seems huge and still sort of close off to the family room. I can't flip the cabinets because of the sliding doors to the deck, unless I put the deck on the side of the family room, but it feels better where it is now. Do you think a deck of 13 x 14 is big enough?

Do you think this plan is better or worse? How can I improve? The staircase was flipped and the office became a little smaller. Kitchen seems huge and still sort of close off to the family room. I can't flip the cabinets because of the sliding doors to the deck, unless I put the deck on the side of the family room, but it feels better where it is now. Do you think a deck of 13 x 14 is big enough?

{{!gwi}}

Abekker,
I prefer the congruity of the first plan.
The family room on the second plan is too small.

What about something like this? The shaded area is the refrigerator - recessed, so it is even with cabinets.

This post was edited by naf_naf on Fri, Mar 7, 14 at 11:10

The family room on the second plan is the same size as the first. It's the office that got 3 ft smaller. I like your plan, but my concern is having the door out of the dining room instead of the kitchen. Also, I have an open 2 story foyer including stairs, would this work with your staircase?

You can have a 2 story foyer.
Stairs going up can be open to foyer and you can have a door to basement.
This is just an idea to show kitchen open to family room. I will not be offended if you do not use it.

I really appreciate your feedback. The bottom line is that the family room should be more open to the kitchen. What do u think about doing a half wall in the first plan? Meaning that only having the bottom cabinets on the wall to the family room.

The only other problem with your suggestion, which is a really good one, is that I am cutting into my 13 feet dining room, which would make it extremely narrow. Hmm...any suggestions?

What do you mean I am cutting into the dining room? Au contraire - the stairs are narrower than the pantry you have now so you actually have a wider dining.
I used your first sketch to trace over it so the office is also bigger.

This post was edited by naf_naf on Fri, Mar 7, 14 at 13:11

I love naf_naf's idea with the kitchen island facing the family. Functional and attractive. You will like knowing what the kids are doing while you are in the kitchen. :-)

Update

It seems too open now, what do you think? How can I improve?

I'm not sure what to do about it, but I think the foyer seems huge. It's wasted space. Especially when you have a large piano and other furniture filling your living room.

And I don't like the teeny tiny twin closets by the front door. Couldn't you get a closet under the stairs somewhere instead?

I won't actually have a piano and if I will it def won't be a baby grand piano. I think the architect was just trying to show how big the room is. I will post my basement layout tomorrow. The garage is in the basement with lots of closets. The ones in the foyer are 3 ft, they will have the day to day jackets we wear, which is really 1 for each. I might do a circular stairs, any thoughts? How is the back looking now? Any suggestions?

Here is the basement.

The back wall will even out, so this will change a little.

The back wall will even out, so this will change a little.

I would have a large deck off that back of the house that connects dining room to family room. Maybe have the deck behind dining room covered. Then an uncovered area behind kitchen and family I love being able to walk outside from family room. It is nice to have a door inviting you to get off your couch and go outside.

Naf naf thank you so much for your great input. I am hoping to get some more feedback from you :)

abekker,
I see that you have the garage under the living room so the stairs I suggested will not work.
Do you have the second floor?

This post was edited by naf_naf on Sun, Mar 9, 14 at 12:02

I don't like that you can look all the way through to the kitchen sink from the front door. If you can get that blocked (change your stair direction), it would be better for the way I live...

I was thinking to flip the stairs back on the right side. It would give partial view of the family room from the foyer, I would imagine. Also, I can put the range where the sink is. Do u think the sink would be better on the side facing the deck?

Naf naf, I don't have a pdf of the latest plans. He is reworking the 2nd floor. Second floor will have 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. Which demesions can't u see? I will ask him to email mon.and will forward to u.

The only thing with the stais being flipped on the right would make it kind of tight downstairs in the basement. Also, my architect likes it the way it is because he says the living room is more inviting without the staircase in its way. Not sure what to do with that. Also, what bothers me is that the family room wall is not aligned with the kitchen wall. The wall the is withe the office. Shouldn't the kitchen and family align? Architect says it's fine thet I can have shelves, bookcase, builtins on that wall. Thought?

The wall not aligning with the kitchen and family room doesn't bother me. If it was off by 1' or less it would but since it appears to be off by about 2', it seems intentionally different. (When it's less than 1' it seems like an oops/poor planning.)

It would be convenient having the lowered eating peninsula on the island but if it were me i would stick with a massive rectangle island with seating on 1 or 2 sides. (I saw a post on here not long ago showing one and I'm bummed I can't find the link!)
When you design the kitchen I'd make sure to plan for an under counter fridge for water/juices/wine/beer since you are planning a counter depth fridge. I know for large family gatherings I would love drink station that was out of the main kitchen work area.

Should I push the kitchen cabinets back to align with the family room wall, by where I have the question mark.

Naf naf, I just got an updatd plan from the architect

Here it is

Here it is

{{!gwi}}

Your plan is fuzzy, so can you tell me, what is the dimensions of the powder room?

I ask because, I've had a bad (temporary) injury where I was really glad I had a full bathroom on the main floor of my house--I couldn't go up the stairs for about a week. Any longer temporary injury, I would have been REALLY grateful for the full bath.

Your powder room looks just small enough to be too small for a shower or tub. But, more generous than a normal powder. If you could find a little more space to get that tub, then the office could be used temporarily for an injured/disabled person... It happens to most people.