second floor

I like your plan. I'm not too good as a critic, tho. I'm sure someone will give you some good advice. Good for you on building it yourself and hope you can break ground soon.

Nice, simple plan -- should be inexpensive to build.

I like the size of the living room and dining room, and is that a den in the back corner? With the stairway to block sound, that'll be nice and quiet. However, I don't like that the den door opens across the stairway -- that problem could easily be avoided by redirecting the door into the den.

The sight line from the entryway is a little off -- I'd adjust the back door so it's straight ahead of the front door. It'll be welcoming from both sides.

I'd put some great built-in book cases on the left wall of the entryway. It's wide enough to support them, and it'd be a mountain of great storage.

I love a U-shaped kitchen, but not this one! The aisles are too narrow, and the island -- as it is shown -- will be a barrier. If you want the island, an L-shaped cabinet would work better.

The downstairs bathroom looks too narrow. I think it would work better to put the bath across the whole back of the room . . . and put the toilet and that world's smallest sink on the wall shared with the kitchen.

You'll have plenty of space for shelving or hooks in the long mudroom.

Are you sure you want the laundry downstairs so far from the bedrooms? You're going to carry 4 kids' laundry up and down those stairs and across the kitchen. I'd get very tired of that.

Upstairs the hallway looks narrow, and it's definitely going to be dark.

The vanities in both upstairs baths won't be generously sized for ONE sink, so they won't support double sinks. The space in the kids' bath could be arranged better -- you have plenty of space, but so much is devoted to walking space at the entry area.

Is that attic area beyond the master bath? Could you extend the closet and have a massive walk-in closet /storage area?

Just a quick sketch...mainly with MrsPete's very fine suggestions :)
{{gwi:1449136}}From Kitchen plans

Thanks! The back room on the first floor is an office/kids playroom. I am planning on doing room trusses above the garage. If we ever do make it a room we would relocate the closets on that side of the house. The only reason the sliding doors were where they are, was because we were thinking it would help get furniture up the stairs. And the reason the laundry is not on the second is we couldn't find a great way to do it. We didn't put a whole lot of design thought into the kitchen just yet. She just knows she wants a large kitchen. Same with second floor bathrooms.

She seems to be stuck on the kitchen design she came up with. Any advice on getting her to sway? lol

What is the space between your breakfast bar and the staircase? Simply a walkway to the patio doors?

I can appreciate her wanting an island and the breakfast bar, but the kitchen area from the mudroom door all the way through the staircase is off kilter. The kitchen is cramped and then there are empty wall and huge walkways......

I like the redesign, but I would make that island longer from left to right and have all of the stools on one side. I know you don't want your backs to the dining, but I would like that better.

Have you considered moving the staircase? I think it would be nice to have the playroom opening facing the kitchen so you could actually see the kids while working in the kitchen...I'm guessing you would like a room that can stay messy and people won't see it?

We agree we want the stairs to be in the back of the home, coming more or less into the kitchen. Just something more unique. The island in our plan is not supposed to be as large as the plan shows, it will be a lot smaller. We have some family that has an island/bar combo and whenever there are people sitting at the island, it is always cramped. Our inlaws have a kitchen very similar to the one we designed and it seems to work ok. We wanted plenty of space behind the sitting area on the bar for people to pass through. Being able to watch the kids is not a big deal.

The kitchen is actually pretty large . . . but it's over-stuffed with too many cabinets. People think that they want "a big kitchen", but they really want an efficient kitchen. An excessive number of cabinets works against you -- yet so many people seem to "circle the wagons" with as many cabinets as possible around the perimeter . . . and then an island in the middle. This U + island rarely works, but people keep drawing it!

I don't want it to sound like I am writing off your advice, as I certainly am not. And we may need to do a complete kitchen redesign to accomplish what we need to, but take into account the kitchen will be the focal point of the first floor and will be used a lot more than an average kitchen. We cook, (3 meals a day) bake, as well as can a lot too, and will be homeschooling the kids so we need a lot of counterspace. Also you can't tell from the pictures but the left of the kitchen is the refrigerator, then a large pantry cabinet, then a double oven.

What's with all of the wasted space in the middle of the home? It's not pulling it's weight in usefullness, bur i'ts costing ou to build it and heat it over the uears. The original kitchen is a pretty bad design, with a lot of extra walking around that barrier island and with no real space for extra helpers. It's inefficient.

The upstairs would e much better if you used the space to the left for the master, and then use the central space to add a full bath instead of a powder room. Everything else is too rough to comment on.

I cook constantly too, and I used to have a small baking business in my home. I'll say again, oversized and stuffed with cabinets isn't the answer: The answer is efficient. You want enough counter space . . . but you don't want every bit of kitchen space filled with cabinetry. You also want space for walking comfortably, and you don't want barriers between you and your work spaces.

Lavender Lass' layout is much nicer. She's eliminated one difficult corner and the "trapped behind the island problem". You have that nice wide island for rolling out baking items. And you could lose some square footage in the middle of the house without loss of functionality.

What I'd still like to see in LL's layout is a larger pantry. A pantry is the best, least expensive storage you can have -- much smarter than housing your items in expensive cabinetry. And if you have 100+ cake pans (like I do) and 20+ cake stands (like I do), you'll love being able to see them all at once.

Thanks for all of the advice. I have to get my plans drawn up by a designer (for my loan and permit) and im sure he will be able to help polish things off and help with the kitchen design. Hollysprings what do you mean by too rough to comment on? This is basically a rough layout to get started. there is a full bath upstairs. (2 actually.) with having 4, and maybe 5 kids, we wanted the extra half bath for that reason. I know we need to find a way to use the space more efficiently. (upstairs) as far as downstairs, we don't want the area to feel closed and cramped, and with the space we need for the bedrooms upstairs, it's what we came up with