Hi qlder, how funny that we had the same dilemma a few months ago... when I said to interior designer that butler's sink was too small (and it was miniature :/ ) she too suggested we swapped sinks by putting the double in the butler's pantry and the butler's sink in the kitchen... initially I thought great idea, but then I realised the whole point of designing an open plan kitchen was so I could be part of the action while in the kitchen, most of which time I spend at the sink... another point to consider is that if you have kids/teenagers, they're not going to bother going around to the butler's pantry and will just dump their dirty dishes at the nearest available sink, then you end up taking them to the bigger sink... I have seen display homes with double sinks in butler's pantry but then so was the dishwasher, and I note from your post that your dishwasher's in the kitchen so it would make more sense to me to have the double sink there as well... in the end we kept the double sink in the kitchen (personal pref & for reasons stated above) but as the butler's sink was way too small, we upgraded to a bigger 'laundry trough size' sink for washing pots and pans etc in the butler's pantry

Where is your line of sight? Is the dining and living looking in there? If the nib wall there isn't enough to visually hide the mess I'd be surprised. I personally think open to the butler pantry is better because you'll be carrying all manner of things back and forth and wrangling a door all the time would give me the poos. If the dishwasher is in there, given there's walls with insulation between it and your great room would dampen the sound. I vote for no door!

Hi siriuskey, it's actually quite a big house, just awkwardly laid out. There are two other bathrooms - a main bathroom and an ensuite - and the laundry will just be a stacked washer and dryer, so not much space required. Yes, I think one door is a better option for the layout too. The house is on a very good sized corner block. The dining room side is open to a car parking deck, no roof. There is a flowering hedge between the dining room window and the car park area so visually it's private and allows good sunlight. Off the family room is a large covered patio plus lawn and trees, and a large shed that will be turned into a home office. Adjacent to the dining room is a bedroom and past that (so the opposite side of the house to the dining room and car park area), is the neighbouring fence. So there is only a narrow walkway between the house and the fence.

Thanks @dreamer. I took your advice because it makes sense (I'll post a photo of our new plan) I think it's lovely that you and your husband still do dishes together, I quite enjoy doing the dishes actually, but not when my toddler is stuck on my leg. Dishwasher will probably used when we have guests over. It's actually my husband who was sold on the idea of butler's pantry but I couldn't justify it and see the point that's why I posted on here to hopefully see from other's perspective so thank you. We are a young family so always taking the kids into consideration when planning the house. We also entertain a lot, Filipino buffet style, so an island will be perfect! I sew a lot and need a big space for cutting fabric as well that's also why we wanted to keep the island without the sink. We plan to put a barn door as pantry door but we might do that later on after we have moved in and see how it goes or we might even leave it without a door but we will make sure they put in extra support in those walls for possible barn door. We abandoned the idea of window inside the pantry because I figured it will let a lot of sunlight especially it's facing north east and not good for food storage obviously. The only dilemma I have now is whereto place our microwave and deep shelving solutions for the pantry but we're pretty happy with this now. Thank you all