take out the wall between dining and kitchen.When you close up the door and get a window in,create a run along front wall that jogs around the support beam by brick zone, but does not make a 90 degree turn.Instead you'll pass thru to hearth room where the turn of counters was. Create a small L consisting of fridge/cooktop wall and perpindicular out from current fridge location.The fridge gets shifted over and recessed to where cooktop is- back into some sq footage of washer area[get a stackable setup for W/D in space remaining.] The other arm of the L could house a sink or possibly below counter oven-can you get the sink and cooktop along front wall? I see kids-the hearth room side of L can have stools/overhang. The house needs some flow-with the tight dining room and now removal of wall it will be more inviting and yet the living room still has that dividing wall for some separation. You'll get a visual"through" effect so the marginal view out the kitchen window will be minimized. When coming thru to hearth room,instead of the island in the middle of it all, you can do comfy chairs around brick/and the peninsula part of the L will have stools: you keep different uses for the hearth room - instead of all kitchen and all island taking over. Your linear feet available for these runs isn't really clear from your sketch-have to figure that out, of course. If you don't want complete elimination of wall between kitchen/dining-at least cut it back significantly...pretty much similar effect.You can keep the nifty original hallway storage setup behind the kitchen-don't you think that means less worry about storage in the kitchen and you can streamline the kitchen with a compact L and a long run at the front? Unless you gut your house,the kitchen is basically a pass through area-but by opening to dining and on through to hearth area and actually placing furniture at that end of the room,you connect the spaces in an inviting way....this would not be super expensive....I think you'd have budget money left for an outdoor kitchen.

Thanks again. Yes, I admit I plant somewhat closely for impact. Even when you think you've given things enough room, you sometimes need to reconsider! I found this pic from 2012 of the rear bed (against the woods) and you can see my original arborescens planting locations with the daylilies behind. I cannot believe how much everything has grown since! But each year I'm always moving things, sometimes once or more monthly throughout each growing season (the neighborhood probably thinks I'm nuts!). Even things that need moved only a foot or two I don't mind doing, because that's another hunk of solid clay I'm loosening up and allowing for root expansion! Other things have naturally spread voraciously as well, like the daylilies, irises and fuzzy-leaved rudbeckia (these are no joke!). Hostas are even getting huge now. I'm at the point where I'm composting overexpansion; wish I had time to give divisions away or sell them! With the most recent transfer of non-bloomers to containers, I find there is a reasonable amount of room for everything with the inventory as-is. I will be cutting in Invincibelle Ruby and Incrediball Blush soon, but those are the only immediate plans. I also prune various items throughout the growing season, as new branches always seem to be growing where they shouldn't. Guess only by chance really, but I subconsciously seem to like the way the Japanese hydrangea gardens are laid out, like a sea of flowers. Without an overabundance of rain (fungal issues) the hydrangeas are very happy planted closely around one another. I will be using large stakes and fencing for Annabelles next year though, as they still manage to spill over onto neighboring macrophyllas. For me, some things seem to bloom more profusely in shade, while others don't. There's really no rhyme or reason to it I've found yet. *shrug* At the current time, I would tell anyone to go ahead and try planting at the woods' edge and see what happens. If adding a completely new bed you'll probably need to chop through some tree roots unless the bed is partially raised by fill or new soil.

I don't have a video but here are some pictures. Snow in summer around the fountain. Doggy exiting Ajuga. Very please with how the Ajuga has spread along the front of this bed. Phlox is fading while the ice plants and helianthemum (orange rock rose) are coming into bloom. I am loving the orange granita and raspberry granita (far right) ice plants. I put those in last year and both have done well. In the center is white nugget ice plant (first to bloom so on it's way out) and on the left if fire spinner (just starting to bloom). The purple broom always attracts loads of bumble bees and honey bees. It is also starting to decline but the ice plants around it are starting to bloom. So much is on the way. Our yard used to not have color all season long but I think we have remedied that. I feel like we have a riot of color early spring through late fall.

Thank you for mentioning this video, Dianela. Lots of interesting roses that one doesn't see too often. One of my favorites is 'City of York' (12:29) which to me is one of the more spectacular white climbers with those egg yolk yellow middles and pure white petals, although I think it only blooms once. My only very personal caveat is the mucking up of the harmonious white, pale pink, deeper pink and occasional yellow color scheme with stridently orange-red roses, although I suppose they needed to be included for the sake of those who like that sort of thing. I sighed over the lush greenness of it all where you wouldn't think they'd ever had to ponder the word drought.