Has anyone mentioned a hidden safe? Additionally, built-in drawers in closets or vanities can be made less obvious and include discrete locks. Great for small valuables or grandchild-proofing medications, as well as papers, etc.
Some sort of entryway or mudroom, with a bench for boots and a coat closet. We updated our Cape Cod style house a few years ago and added an 8x10 front entryway. It has made a huge difference!!!
I was just going to say mudroom but you beat me to it @bjkmom! Our house in Maine does not have a good spot for mudroom, and I wish we had worked that into our design (owner builder).
@Silpat We have a Miele induction cooktop and like it a lot. It can boil water very fast. It is easy to clean because nothing ever cooks on to it. It is about 5 years old. I do wish the controls didn’t require as many button pushes and the timer alarm was louder. Different pans get hot at slightly different settings, so you need to mentally adjust for that sometimes.
Cabinet drawers that fully extend. I have them in my kitchen but should have done it everywhere.
If I ever get to have the kitchen I desire, I want an island with a couple of those under counter cabinets that have a drawer-like thing that comes out and up to counter level for my cuisinart(s) and my KitchenAid stand mixer. I don’t want an island to eat at. I want a big, stone (granite or soapstone) work surface that I could also serve from if doing a buffet. I also want a walk-in pantry. And heck, if I’m fantasizing, I’d love to have a butler’s pantry between the kitchen and the dining room for all of my china and stuff. It would have a (second) dishwasher, a warming oven, possibly some kind of small oven for prepping hors d’oeuvres, and a sink. :x
ETA: swinging doors between kitchen and butler’s pantry and dining room essential.
@Consolation - better yet, motion-activated sliding frosted glass door if you have to have one.
@Consolation My dream butler’s pantry would have a baking station with marble counter, space for the mixer, etc. so I wouldn’t need those drawer-like pop up things. They’d have their own home. 
I like that butler’s pantry idea. Right now we have a rolling cart we roll into the pantry that has the mixer, the food processor, a pizza cooker thing. Electronic plug in things we use but not daily. It’s an okay solution but I’d love to be able to just have them out. Plus if I had a butler’s pantry I wouldn’t need a dining room cabinet for china. I also want quiet closing cabinets now that I think of it.
This house is going to have to be 10,000 sq ft to fit all this stuff! lol Both architects reviewed our list and sent pictures of their portfolio. They both seem very nice and competent. Next we need their prices to compare.
@LBowie , thanks. I appreciate reading your experience.
I worked on sketches of a new kitchen floorplan last night and think it might work. We’ll consult a kitchen designer, but dh wants me to provide a lot of detail about my vision to whoever we hire. I’d like a 36" induction cooktop on our longest wall. That would allow 3 - 3.5 ft. on either side flanked by a freezer column at one end and a refrigerator column at the other end. Dh thinks we can relocate an exhaust vent to that wall and run the duct outside through an unused closet upstairs. The current range and vent hood are in a traffic pattern, which was such a dumb design.
@Consolation - we put in geothermal in our last house. It was absolutely fabulous. HVAC guys say the new units are as efficient, but I still think the geothermal really cooled down and heated so much better. I was in the hot flash season of my life and we could keep our bedroom like a meat locker, it was wonderful. It made the house overall more comfortable and our bills were lower.
@Silpat , why not just run it horizontally out through the ceilling of the kitchen? The shorter and more direct the run to the outside, the better the draw of the fan. Of course, you could put one of those units on the outside of the house.
I want to bake in the kitchen, on the island.
My sister had a fabulous old kitchen with a walk in pantry and huge vintage gas range in a great historic house they used to own. It also had a perfect butler’s pantry, amongst other amenities. (Forget a wine fridge, it had a wine cellar.
) Of course, the house was actually known as “The X Mansion” and was about 12,000 sq ft. But amazingly, it was a lovely and gracious place to live, not a pretentious barn
@Consolation, i have 80% of the kitchen you want. the island. tons of cabinets, but not the lift from the drawer or 2nd dishwasher. Butler’s pantry and walk in pantry. the Butler’s pantry and walk in pantry are separated by a second set of stairs to the Master bedroom. Don’t forget a coffee bar in the main bedroom, a sink and counterspace for a coffee maker.
Our island is pretty big, it has space for both sink and cooktop and plenty of surface for prep and eating. As one of our visitors said, “It is not an island, it is an entire continent!”
@Consolation, I agree with you about the shortest and most direct run being best. Unfortunately, if we tried horizontal ducting it would run smack into the patio roof. I wouldn’t want to try venting out right below or above that. Our current exhaust fan, on another wall, runs up through a small void next to a closet on the second floor, and through the attic out the roof. We hope to do the same thing with the new one, but on a nearby wall. Ideally, it will have a remote blower motor in the attic, too.
Our current island is about 100" X 62". I cannot reach the middle to clean the granite and hate having to remind dh to do it. He’s oblivious to dust, spills and splatters. I play Randy Newman’s “Short People” at least once a month.
I went through both portfolios and saw my dream island. The end of it was oval so 3 chairs could sit around the end. My current island is like sitting at a diner counter. The oval makes it so much more conversational and cozy.
I took notes on what I particularly loved that each architect had done. I get some of it is just personal preference. I ended up seeing who I preferred by my notes.
I’m also going to hire an interior designer to help during this process. I don’t want to end up spending a fortune and not doing a good job choosing counterstops, finishes, etc.
@eyemamom, I think that’s a smart idea. We did that when we built our house, and she thought of things I never would have thought of, such as putting electric sockets in our mantle (so we could hang garland with lights in it) and lighting so you could aim lights at artwork, etc.
Someone brought up downsizing…
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/older-homeowners-resist-downsizing/
" I went through both portfolios and saw my dream island. The end of it was oval so 3 chairs could sit around the end. My current island is like sitting at a diner counter. The oval makes it so much more conversational and cozy."
Our island has an oval end, and we love it. We eat more breakfasts there than at the kitchen table.
" I went through both portfolios and saw my dream island."
My dream island has a bridge to the mainland in case I can’t use my boat…