The main issues I see with the plan are:
-Kitchen is too small and Breakfast room is extremely small - considering the overall proportions of the other rooms and that you do not have a formal dining . You need 7' minimum for circulation so there is no way you can fit 2 chairs and a table in 3'-5".

-It would be nice to have a small vestibule/buffer space between master and great room.

-The hallway is too long.

Maybe if you relocate the stairs, you can have enough room to make the kitchen bigger and re-arrange the pantry. To make the dining bigger you can have a bay area with sliding doors.

I would not build with this kitchen...this was done by an architect? How does the architect propose that you get laundry from the bedrooms to the laundry room? Through the main work area of the kitchen?

What if you take out the pantry and move the kitchen into that area, with a walkway that won't cut between your range and only sink? This way, you could keep your load bearing corner and still have a larger kitchen.

Is that your only dining area? Is that going to be big enough for everyday? Could you slide the laundry to the right just a bit, and make the dining area a few feet wider, when you make the kitchen a bit larger?

Also, if you don't need the fourth bedroom right now, you could make the one on the right into a dining room/den. That would give you more flexibility and you could still use it as a guest room or bedroom.

Something like this... {{gwi:1512649}}From Kitchen plans

Hope this gives you some new ideas :)

This post was edited by lavender_lass on Fri, Nov 1, 13 at 16:26

@naf_naf - The original floor plan (see below) we based our floor plan off of did have a bay area in the breakfast nook. I'm trying to remember why we decided to remove it. I guess we can consider putting it back. I agree that it would be nice to have a buffer space between the master and living room, but I can't visualize how we could incorporate that.

@lavender_lass - I'm comfortable with the location of the laundry room. It'll have a doggy door to the back yard, and it'll serve as a mudroom for when we come in through the garage (not pictured, but off to the right of the laundry room), which will be the majority of the time. Thank you for drafting a quick mockup. One element I do want to keep is a walk-in closet.

I was playing around with a few mockups earlier today. I will post these later for everyone's opinion, which I greatly appreciate.

Oh, it's not the location of the laundry room...it's the path to it. That's where I think you'll have problems, along with the same path coming in and wanting to use the bathroom.

This last plan you posted avoids many of these problems, because the laundry is closer to bathroom and entry from garage is into breakfast room. But, it could be through the laundry instead.

The kitchen also has the sink and range on the same run of work space....eliminating the problem of people walking through your main prep area. They do still cut between the fridge and work area, but that's not as bad. I see you don't have much pantry space, though.

I would recommend also posting this in the kitchen forum. I don't think the kitchen as originally posted or as you've modified it would be all that functional. I think loading the dishwasher with the sink placed where it is would be annoying. I like that you moved the pantry to be more convenient to the kitchen, so you don't have to go around a corner to get there, but you seem short on prep space next to a water source in your modified version. In fact, that perimeter peninsula seems awfully crowded. Also, what happened to the stairs?

What did you not like about the version Lavender Lass did? I thought it looked pretty functional.

@beasty - Thank you for pointing out the location of the dishwasher to the sink. I may have to space this out more. The last photo I posted was of the original floor plan ours was based off of. It was from a book. What I did not like about @lavender_lass's proposed mockup was how gigantic the island was and how the walk-in pantry was eliminated.

@lavender_lass - The location of the laundry room still does not pose any problem to me. I grew up in a house that my parents built which had the laundry / mud room right off of the garage as is mine, and the bathroom and bedrooms were on the opposite side of the house, which you had to walk through the kitchen and living room to get to.

I actually just measured my current kitchen, which is surprisingly 11 x 13, approximately the same dimensions as my soon-to-be kitchen, so maybe I will mark off the elements with masking tape and get a feel for the space.

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This post was edited by lavender_lass on Fri, Nov 1, 13 at 19:03

Is there a reason for the hallway to the pantry? What if you turned the closet there 90 degrees so the doors face the laundry room and have the door to the pantry open in the bedroom hallway? That way you could have a larger pantry.

I see you have a covered porch. Do you object to having the breakfast nook doors open out? Although I think having the door to the porch in the great room would work better. And does it really need to be a French door?

@dekeoboe - The mockup I'm working on would rotate the coat closet 90 degrees clockwise so that the doors face the laundry room and rotate the pantry 90 degrees counter clockwise so that the door opens next to the range. This would then give me an extra 14" in the kitchen since the pantry would be vertical as opposed to horizontal. I might even shrink the pantry by a foot so that it's 4' wide instead of 5'. Why do you ask in regards to the French doors? Is there a con of having this type?

Below is a quick mockup of my previous idea to rotate both the coat closet and pantry. The pantry would then be approximately 4' x 7', and I'd probably swap out the swivel door for a pocket door. Rotating these two elements would probably give me an 14'7" x 11'4 kitchen instead of a 12'5" x 11'4".

I also extended the counters of the U shape, and I moved the range to the opposite side.

I still wouldn't have my island, but I'd have more space in the middle, and access to the pantry from within the kitchen.

Thoughts?

there's not a problem with French doors, but, with your plan there will be. your dining/breakfast is so small that opening the French doors will probably cause problems with the chairs.

Are you sure you want the master bedroom facing the front street and not the backyard? You could flip that and insulate the wall between the Mbed and GR.

@stblgt - I think I might add the bay area back into the breakfast nook to allow for more space, which would solve the French door issue hopefully.

The U shape still looks pretty crowded, and the opposite counter space is bare. Have you considered putting the sink and dishwasher on the straight counter space and leaving just a prep sink on the U? I know in my house a long stretch of counter like that would be a magnet for paper, toys, etc.

@beasty - After showing my husband my revised kitchen mockup, he said he'd prefer if we kept the range on the bare stretch of counters, so I guess we're compromising :P

I like the pantry move. What if you put the range in the corner (since sink is in corner) and move the fridge and microwave over to the other counter run. Something like this...
{{gwi:1512650}}From Kitchen plans
{{gwi:1512651}}From Farmhouse plans

I cook a lot of pasta, so having the sink be that far from the range wouldn't work for me. There would just be too much schlepping across the kitchen with a heavy and boiling pot of water just waiting to be spilled all over me or some unlucky soul who happens to be crossing through the kitchen while I'm trying to drain the pasta. But maybe you rarely make pasta or macaroni and cheese or other things that need draining.

Putting another sink near your range would solve the issue. Lavender's new idea does too.

Why no windows on the side walls of bedrooms 2 and 3?

You do NOT want the range across a traffic aisle from the sink. That's a dangerous situation. Having the cleanup sink and fridge located on the long run of cabinets would be the most functional choice. The fridge needs to go on the end, close to the breakfast area to keep intrusions into your prep space to a minimum. Then have a small prep sink and the range on the angled section.

The original plan functioned much better in almost all respects except for the poor kitchen layout. I frankly don't see a lot of added value to the changes that were made. Instead, it detracted from functionality on almost everything affected.

I like Lavendar Lass' squared off kitchen with an island. I don't like that, in this picture, you lost the nice walk-in pantry, but you could regain some of this by extending the reach-in pantry into the area under the stairs.

If you keep the original layout, definitely go with a pass-through between the kitchen and pantry.

In general, I think those angled-counter-overlooking-greatroom kitchen layouts look stylish, but in reality they're not functional. The angles eat up your storage space, and the "walking space" is too little for an island, yet just a little too far from the other side of the kitchen to be practical.

Also, LL's plan gives you a decent amount of space in the single eating area. I would not do doors in the eating area. To use them, you'd have to squeeze by the table. Instead, plan one exterior door on the right side /back wall of the great room -- that makes it easy to use for both the greatroom and the kitchen/dining area.

I agree that carrying laundry in the original plan would've been a chore. It's better in Lavendar Lass' plan. Yes, the kids' laundry must go through the kitchen, but it must go through the "pantry path", not through the work triangle. Acceptable.

No fireplace? Since the great room is rather long and deep (and, thus, prone to darkness), I'd put the fireplace on the wall shared between the master and the greatroom. And I'd go with more windows on that back wall.

Master:

Single closet? Double closet? Personal preference. No difference in efficiency. Your sink area is very minimal to support two sinks.

I like a previous poster's suggestion to flip the bedroom/bath so that you'd have access to the back yard . . . but that would make for odd windows in the front of the house.

Secondary bedrooms -- all nice, and the bathroom is nicely place for the first two bedrooms . . . but the third bedroom occupant must walk farther. If one ends up as an office, that would be it.

I do not like LL's second drawing. Yes, I like keeping the walk-in pantry and direct access to that pantry, but two clipped corners make the kitchen too small, AND still maintains a major traffic pattern right through the kitchen. No, LL's first drawing was great -- if your husband thinks the island is too big, slim it down a bit. You don't have to use every bit of space you have; in fact, if you look at the magazine pictures we all like, you'll notice that few of them use minimal walkway space. We react positively to wider spaces.

I do like that stainless steel stove in a corner picture . . . but what a space hog.

Why do you ask in regards to the French doors? Is there a con of having this type?

It was really more about the size of the opening. The original plan your plan was based on only had a single door to the patio and your revised plan has the wider French door.

@dekeoboe - My parents built the house I grew up in, and we had French doors in the breakfast nook, which my mom said was a God send for bringing in large items such as the fridge.

I actually visited my parents today and had them pull out their blueprints so I could see how big their breakfast nook is. Their's is 11 x 12 with the French doors, and mine is 10'5" x 12'5", so practically the same. It's so hard to get a sense of size when it's on paper, but at least now I can sort of visualize.

Which way did the French doors in your parents' breakfast nook swing? In or out?

@beasty - They swung in.

Change the swing on the door to the toilet closet in the master. I think Kirkhall is generally flagging it, but she is right and it is a safety issue. If I remember correctly it is because a lot of people tend to collapse when on the "toity" and then falling over and blocking the door from opening and help arriving.

I never knew until I got on here. We had ours changed more because we didn't like having to step behind the toilet to open and close the door.

I can't say I'm fond of the kitchen and having the main traffic aisle behind the stove. But I don't have to work in there so.

You might want to think about how you prep and where you would be rinsing and standing and cutting things and then how you get that to the stove to actually use when cooking. As well as taking a pot and draining it from the stove to the sink. Who could get in the way with that being the main traffic aisle?

Have you considered putting frenchdoors between the breakfast nook and living area. That way they are not in the way of the table in the same way as you have it now. Somebody carrying something to the grill from the kitchen are going to completely have to walk around the table to get there. Plus it allows for better flow in general with people being able to go towards multiple areas instead of having to get behind the table.

In the secondary bath I would take that little bump for the tub to be on the same side as the toilet. That way there is a little less area blocked by the toilet in the tub and a bit easier at least to reach when cleaning than having to reach behind the toilet so far.

LL's last kitchen mockup would be preferred to ANY "compromise" with your DH to put the stove on the "blank wall"/counter run. as Live Wire said, DO NOT PUT YOUR STOVE in the main traffic path from the bedroom hall to the laundry which is also the main path from the fridge to the eating area... Just a bad idea all around. LL's kitchen idea has the added advantage of being able to recess the fridge into the pantry a bit, allowing it to be flush with the counters/not stick out into your already smaller kitchen space.

The kitchen forum would be a big help for you to understand that concept.

And, yes, I am the WC door commenter... You do not want to have an inswing door on a small room. When a person passes out or worse, they are not accessible to EMT/help because their bodies are dead weight lying on the floor in the only place they can fall to--in front of the door swing. The hinges are also on the interior of the small room/space, so they are not accessible to EMTs to take the door off the hinges. The only option they have is to cut the door/hinges, etc. In any case, it wastes valuable time for a person who may have a serious medical emergency (unfortunately, toilets are not an uncommon location for a person to suffer a stroke).

So, I always advocate for an outswing WC door or pocket door, or ...something other than inswing.

Hi Nicole,
How many square feet is your plan? I actually like the original plan you based it on- can you tell me what site that came from? The grid/style of the plan look familiar, but not sure where exactly it comes from.

I have my fridge on the opposite side of the kitchen (along with the Microwave and Coffee Station) and really like it. When the kids want a drink, they don't come into my cooking zone. Even if you don't move the stove into the corner (like lavendar's pic)- leaving it like your revised pic, moving the fridge and microwave make sense- giving you more breathing room near the stove/sink.

I like your floorplans. If Budget wasn't an issue and I could change anything I wanted, I'd add a fireplace and figure out a way to make the MB shower bigger. These things are personal preference items, though. I hope you share pictures when you start building. Good luck.

@JDez - We will be adding a fireplace on the north fall of the living room.

@nepool - I believe the exact square footage is 2,504. The original plan can be found at http://www.ultimateplans.com/Plans/151050.aspx

@kirkhall & @lyfia - I will definitely change the door to the toilet room. I didn't think about an EMT situation, but it makes sense!

@lyfia - I like your idea to move the french doors more towards the living room, kind of between that dead area where nothing will be placed really.

The kitchen seems to be the big topic of these floor plans. I will be moving the stove into the corner in LL's mockup, and I will move the fridge to where the stove originally was. Then the pantry door will be moved next to the fridge. Instead of having a 6'2" x 5' pantry, I'll then have a 5' x 8' pantry. Although it's not the largest kitchen, it will have to do. I'm not a master chef, but at last I'm working out some of the kinks.

Attached is an image of the kitchen from the original floor plans ours is based off of.