Right off the bat, when you enter the foyer to go to the living room, you have a pinch point between the corner of the office and stairway. 39" is not a very large space to walk by. It's barely minimum if that. Especially considering if multiple people are entering into the living area. It means only one person at a time can walk through.

I would switch your bath and closet in your master, only because do you want to walk further to get to the toilet?

In your kitchen you do not have enough space between your island and your cabinets on either side. 3' is not enough space. How will you even open your fridge, considering you're getting what looks like a large fridge?

Also is that 3' between cabinets or between countetops? if it's between cabinets, you actually have less than 3' because counters are normally 25-25 1/2" deep.

A pantry that is 4' x 4' will only allow storage really across one wall.

Upstairs the bedroom next to the stair, I'd get rid of the WIC and put a reach in closet instead. I'd then move the door to the bedroom over to the side closer to the bathroom. It's a far walk in the middle of the night to walk to the bathroom and potentially dangerous too with the stairs right there.

Your master bedroom is downstairs but the kids are all upstairs. Are you comfortable with that? Also you're downstairs but the family room is upstairs so are you planning on spending most of the time upstairs? Where will the kids be while you're cooking dinner, etc? Honestly this house seems more geared to a family with teens than one with very young children.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of angled spaces as I feel it creates a lot of wasted space that could be better used.

If you square off the angle by the powder room, you can make a big enough closet in order to open a hallway between the front entry and garage entry. It would allow better flow through the house and better access to laundry.

As mentioned, the office must be reconfigured to allow for more foyer space by stairs. Move the wall with the doors a foot and start the angle of the wall closer to the front door. It will still be a spacious office if you take off a foot.

One more... Personally, I hate when closets stick out into rooms as in the one bedroom upstairs that has a reach in closet. If you move the doorway to that room, you can have another reach in along the wall to make it flush.

I like the original Back Hall better, with the half bath more removed from the kitchen. That closet can be 'pantry' just as well as the corner closet in the kitchen, and you'd gain more upper cabinets and counter space IN the kitchen -- even a window.

Is there a back door from the yard into this house or will kids wind through the garage?

Will you use a Guest Closet in the Foyer, or can that space go into the Family Entry/ Back Hall? (Guest closets are never big enough for a large group; coats go to a bedroom.)

Kitchen Island is too big; aisles too small. I go from Fridge to Sink a lot -- quite a distance here.

MBR: I'd put the bed on the solid wall with views out of windows on the outside walls. (A bed against a window looks like the room is too small.) I'd put the closet and shower on interior walls and have another window in the MBA. I *love* having two sinks in our MBA. Move the toilet room left and give it a window.

Only one toilet upstairs...for four kids?

Change out the corner windows in the upper right BR -- left over from corner sink in kitchen below? Move BR doors over a little to fold back tight against their adjacent walls. Setting them out a foot from the wall is a waste of space.

You're not doing carpeting, are you? (I see that in the original plans.)

I just noticed I goofed and posted a previous layout of the original builder plan. Here are the current builder plans. I need to read comments yet but wanted to post this before I forgot.

And here are the plans we did at home with our own program for playing around and trying different things. (just to avoid any confusion)

I don't have time to review comments right now, but I will go back and read those some time today. Thanks again!

Plan for first floor looks very nice. One suggestion: Cut a notch out of office space to open up entry into family room/ kitchen area. Currently looks a bit cramped and that angled wall in the office is not really that useful when furnishing the room... The few square feet lost in the office and added to the foyer would make for a more gracious entry... Just one opinion, though : )

With 4 kiddos would you want that window in the laundry to be a door instead? That would give them easy access to the 1/2 bath when running inside to use the potty while playing (unless you are in the woods and the boys like the outside potty but at least for your daughter and her dirty hands, sandy shoes, etc etc). 3' aisles in the kitchen are tight. I can imagine closet space would be a premium with 4 kids and all of the stuff they have over the years. Do you have guests often? What if you made that front foyer closet a double entry so you could access it off the mud room also? I am wondering if you flipped the office and the entry if that might give you better sight lines to the living room?

I like your master set up with the door closing off the 'suite'. I also like your kitchen changes with the pantry - it's just the snug aisles that I think will drive you nuts. It would me with my 2 kids or even with dh.

I just used paint to do a little shuffling just food for thought. I am no expert. Added door outside and shrunk the office to open the foyer up. Added pocket door to the closet on the mudroom side.

Same as above but flipped office with entry.

I have concerns about a few areas. First of all, I agree with others that the entry hall is boogered up. There is no area for any kind of furniture as well as the tight areas by the office. When standing in the entry, if you look left you look right into the mast bath and shower. I don't know about you but that's not what I want my guests to see. The bathroom door appears to need to be closed as it doesn't fit back onto a wall. Where are towels going to hang? No wall space in br.

I don't have a problem with the master down, we did the same thing 24 years ago. We had a newborn and she just moved out!! we appreciated the kids rooms up way more than the minor inconvenience of going upstairs when they were infants. Now, old legs don't have to climb the steps frequently.

There are mixed emotions over on the Kitchen forum about corner pantries, many believe that they loom over the kitchen. I am guessing the sink is in the corner to mimic the pantry. They are awkward to use as one is placing things and reaching back behind instead of to the side.

We did corner windows in a bedroom and I regret them. Window treatments are difficult and you get no cross ventilation in the room. I would put a window down each of the walls by the next corner. (outside the closet and where the bed is shown) This still gives useful wall space and doesn't kill the entire corner of the room.

Are you okay with kids coming in and out of the sliding door in the eating area? The laundry isn't really wide enough as is to put a door at the end of it. Are you having a basement? Living where there is winter, where are the numerous coats, hats, boots, etc going to be stored for 6 people?

I feel there are several flaws with this plan that need to be overcome for you to truly be happy here for 30 years. Was this a stock plan or did someone draw this up for you?

Foyer issues have been covered -- I'm with everyone else, and I particularly liked the phrase "boogered up". Very Halloween.

The master'll be very private, but I'm not sure you can get large furniture (like a headboard or a double dresser) down that twisty-turny hallway.

Living room /dining room look fine.

This is a "trap kitchen", meaning its island will trap people in the U, and the whole thing looks a bit cramped. With this much space, you could do a whole lot better. I'd also consider moving the freezer into the laundry room. You don't spend much time at all in a freezer, and it doesn't really "earn its keep" in the prime kitchen area. My first thought is to rearrange it something like this:

Imagine the blue boxes as U-shaped cabinetry. This layout allows you to see the kids at the table and in the living room ... and you could make the peninsula wider for bar stools for them ... but they won't run through your work space. I'd place the refrigerator in the red area (perhaps with a beverage station right next to it), and then I'd make the rest of the red area into reach-in pantry. This would be MUCH more storage than the pantry shown on your plan.

The laundry is close to ... nothing, which means MANY extra steps for you. At the very least, I'd open up the garage entry to the foyer so you'd have a straight shot into your bedroom corridor and the steps to the kids' rooms.

I disagree with an above poster about making the laundry room window into a door: Back doors get used -- side doors are just left unlocked accidentally.

Upstairs:

You have four children ... but three bedrooms upstairs. You say you intend to build another bedroom in the basement in the future. I personally would arrange things differently: I'd make what is currently a family room (upstairs) into a fourth kids' bedroom. This'd keep all the kids corralled upstairs. And then in future years, build a family room in the basement. The kids won't want to hang out in a room apart from you for years anyway (well, mine never really did). This just seems "nicer' to have bedrooms all in one area.

I wouldn't use a pocket door on the kids' bathroom. I think your chances of that door being broken are about 100%. I'd like to see some storage for the kids around the sink area -- with two sinks you have essentially none under the vanity. I don't like the bathroom being divided into three rooms, each with one item in it. Kids can share without undue trouble (I was one of five sharing a bathroom, and while I remember shortages in other areas of our lives, the bathroom was always a non-issue). With three boys, I might consider a urinal, but since I'm a girl-mom, I'll let other people discuss that.

I don't share the above poster's concern about a closet sticking out into a room; I'd use it for something -- like a built-in desk or drawers. This would work better if you move the door just a bit farther down the wall ... in fact, I think if this were my bedroom, I'd rather have the door down the hall, nearer the bathroom.

The floor plan definitely addresses most of your needs. Couple of things to consider - I like the master bedroom privacy, at the same time, it is very removed from rest of the house and too close to front entry. I am not sure how often front entry will be used, you may encounter situation, where guests confuses master bedroom door for powder room or entry closet ( I had that happen to me in a previous house with similar layout). Another pointer - in my case, when I am leaving the house, often times I have to run to master bedroom to grab personal things, like batch for work, scarf, last minute makeup touch up...etc. Usually, during the morning rush. So master bed / closet distance from garage would be inconvenient for me. Not to mention hauling the laundry. Just make sure, this distance does not impact your life style.

- Would it make more sense to have a laundry closet or main laundry upstairs ? I am guessing 4 kids will generate lot of dirty laundry. I see a chute, is it also used to lift clean laundry upstairs ?

- I also struggled with kitchen isle size. I had more flexibility with L-shape kitchen. So we played a bit when cabinets came and decided to go with 4' isle on all sides. I think 42" will work too on one side, but the side where you have the Fridge, definitely go with 4'. If you do not get integrated, it will stick out a bit (even cabinet depth). When you open the bottom drawer, it requires quite a bit space. Just make sure you do the calculation with the model of Fridge you want to buy. Don't forget to add 1" gap behind the fridge. When it comes to kitchen and bathroom, you have to design inch by inch to get it right. I like the long island in the original plan. It seems like it has seating on the Fridge side, which IMO, is too tight.

- Overall I think, the flow can be improved. Imagine, someone from upstairs need to get something from kitchen/pantry/mudroom - they will need to climb down, cross living, dining, kitchen...etc. IMO if the front and back entry are connected it will improve the flow.

Here are two options. I did not change much in the first one. Just created a small hallway/vestibule to create a sense of privacy to master bedroom entrance. It can be done easily since you already have the hallway on the other side.

In second one, I changed master bedroom entrance, which created lot more space for the M.bath and better arrangement, again this is just my 2 cents :). I would suggest having window in the toilet room, its easier to do it in the 2nd option.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions so far

A few things we're considering

1. Open Mudroom - spouse's concern is that it isn't saving many steps and would open the house to more mess (coats, shoes, snow).

2. Adjust island size and aisles to fit needs and provide walking paths. Perhaps rearranging kitchen appliances.

3. Master entry by foyer / Foyer size / stairs. We definitely agree the foyer is small and it may be better to have the bedroom opening off of the living area with a vestibule. This is an issue we would like to explore further. Possibilities include adjusting the stairs, moving them, making them straight stairs or L shaped to get some more floor space.

A few things we're keeping:

- love the master downstairs and separate from the kids.

- spouse and I have been testing if we truly need one or two sinks by pretending we only have one these last few months. So far it hasn't been an inconvenience at all.

-Thought about door out laundry but the kids go out the patio now and it is not an issue. Seems like a door we wouldn't use often and another door we have to check is locked before leaving.

- Kitchen island is preferred since the kids trap us now. Its nice to have two exits

- We considered 4 bed upstairs but decided it would be better to have a playroom with kids at their current ages. They prefer to sleep in the same room now anyway. When the kids are teens and their toys take up less room we have the option to fix up the basement bedroom/bath for the oldest girl or convert the playroom to another bedroom.