If you take 3 1/2 feet out of the width of both the kitchen wing and the bedroom wing, you're done. I'd make both kids' rooms 11x12, and take 1 foot from the master bath and two & half from the master bedroom.

I bet once you do it, you won't even miss the square footage.

We had to do the same thing. It was heart-breaking in the moment, but once we tore off the bandaid, it was fine.

You won't need the space between the fridges if you have the dream island.

You don't need 2 laundry areas (at least not 2 that are both side by sides...)

And, even with lots of family /friends over, you don't need SO MUCH mudroom space.

I agree with the above, You won't miss it if you just take out a couple swaths.

I am not good at shaving stuff off either - things grow so easily don't they!

We are similar in the whole see the front door from the mudroom thing. DH thinks no big deal and I think - no WAY! He is anti-door too so we have dropped it for now and I'm hoping whatever the designer comes up with it won't have that in it since it's not a requirement for either of us.

Only comment I have is if you are going with carpet for the childrens' rooms you might appreciated staying within 12' - you could find a remnant for less $ or at the very least avoid a seam! I do think some rolls come in 15' but not near as many as 12' so you would be limiting your choices also.

Good luck!

I think zone4newby hit it -- shave off from either side and you'll be fine. But my comment has to do with the questions you didn't ask (of course).

You're on acreage, and your DH is all about the mud room, dog wash, etc. Is this a farm/hobby farm? Are there horses or other livestock? Big garden? Big workshop? If so, where are those things, and how are you envisioning people getting from those places into the house? Because your mudroom opens from the garage. If coming from the barn/shop/whatever, am I expected to get into the garage (car doors or man door?) and then wind around the cars in the garage to get into the mud room?

As for the dogs -- it sounds like they are a big part of your life. And that they get muddy. Are these indoor/outdoor dogs (not hunting dogs in a kennel elsewhere on the land)? How do they get outside? Is there a fenced yard? Where is the access to the fenced yard? If the access is through the back of the house, then the muddy dogs have to walk through the house to get to the mud room to get cleaned up.

Finally, you're a family of 4. If the garage is a 2-car, that means one or two vehicles will always be parked outside in the drive, or in a pull-off area. And that is probably the kids' car(s). How is the kid meant to enter the house? Open the garage and go through the mudroom? Or will he take the straight line to the front door?

You might want to consider a breezeway of some kind between the house and the garage. It can have a door opening to the front for the driveway parkers, and to the back for those coming from whatever activities take place in the back. It can also work for the dogs if everyone is disciplined enough to take them through the breezeway to be let in and out.

I don't like a prep sink on an island either. I also don't want a regular sink or stove. I'm with you. Use the island for serving.

zone4newby, that sounds feasible, but I'm having trouble with the island in the kitchen. I'd like the traffic to the island to be 'out' of the kitchen... ok maybe just ditch that area behind the frig. Now I have to keep looking. thanks

kirkhall, I totally didn't think about a stackable washer/dryer, I will definitely have to work that in. thanks

Autumn.4, that's a good point about wasted carpet if over 12'. My other plans always had 12x14 rooms, maybe that's why!!!! thanks

I'm not a kitchen expert-- have you posted in the kitchen forum?

jakabedy - We are not planning any animals other than the cats and dogs. I will have a large garden and my dh will have his shop. He is planning on putting a living area in the shop, by that I mean kitchenette, living room type area, bathroom. So we will have water and septic in the shop. Most of the gardening items will be 'cleaned up' in the garage, before coming into the house. And all cleanup, other than my dh's clothes, he will do in his shop. There will be a service door into the garage in the front, on the side and in the back. I do like your breezeway idea. I hadn't taken that into consideration, but I definitely will now for a better flow of things.

Our dogs are primarily outdoor. They have a big fenced area with a dog house. It is heated in the winter. We let them in our current foyer now, when it is really cold out and they aren't running around much - mostly cuz I think they are bored and they can hear other activity by just being in the house. We also bring them in in the summer when it is way too hot for them outside. They are always brought in through the garage. In fact we only use our front door for gatherings. All of our families enter through the garage.

The garage will be 3 car, and all of the tools, and toys will be moved into the new shop so the garage can be nice and clean!!! Kids also park outside and come in the service door of the garage now, that will probably stay the same.

I will have to explore a breezeway, and better access. Thanks for your input.

If you flip the master closet and laundry, you could have the laundry accessed by the hallway as well. Then you could eliminate the mudroom laundry all-together. If you have no animals/not a working farm, then you don't really need laundry at the mudroom entrance (compared to the hog farm I grew up on. Having laundry in the mudroom was very handy to drop dirties and not take them through the house.)

As it is, I don't think I'd want the laundry to be in the mudroom in your house, the way you describe the mudroom entry being the main door for all of your families...

Something else to think about.

I haven't posted to the kitchen forum. This plan was 'designed' and then we were not able to build. That is why I'm not starting with a penciled drawing. The designer and the company closed, so I do not have any of those plans, and have to basically rebuild what I remember and this plan is way bigger than my original. We went back and forth on things with the designer: proper windows, proper stairway openings/sizes, etc. and I never got a set of blueprints with the most current changes. I of course, had a lot of things out of proportion that the designer 'fixed' and now I'm back to square one! I know many of the architects on here hate it when people post a plan they created on their computer, but this is the easiest way for me to make corrections. I will redo this plan to chop out some of the square footage and hopefully will be able to get some more advice on the flow, the kitchen, etc. thanks for your input!

I'd move a stackable w/d into the shop for the really dirty stuff, get it out of your mudroom.