To me, your table area is calling for a nook or banquette. You can use ikea cabinets to inexpensively and not permanently create a banqutte. I used 12" ikea upper cabinets to create a bench and it served my kids well for a long time. After a while, we had a 15" upholstered top made for the bench (which cost significantly more than the bench cabinets). Here is a picture that is similiar to your space: And here is one with a single bench: And lastly, here is my cheapo ikea bench: If I was to do the ikea bench again, I would use 2x4 pcs. of wood to create a base for the cabinets or leave the doors off the cabinets and use baskets for storage. The way I had it, the cabinet doors scraped on the floor. Good luck! Its a nice table and I think you will use the table alot once your little ones enter the homework years.

@donka wow, thanks for thinking outside the box. I was trying to make the island big enough to be functional and seat two BUT small enough to also have a dining table. What an ingenious idea to just make the island the table!!! By the way, is my math correct? Is your kitchen approximately 19ft x 12ft? Id love to see pictures of it once your camera is fixed. My house is small too, about 1200sq ft, and the current dining room is, in my opinion, over-sized & under-used. It was built in 1920 and Ive been told that dining rooms were a big deal back then. Oh well, "one mans treasure" I guess. @lisa_a I agree, the two foot skinny table does seem makeshift (good word). I definitely like donkas suggestion and am going to play around with it on paper. What Im really trying to go for is the "feeling" that there is still a dining room in the house, not just a living room & a kitchen (know what I mean)? Thanks a million for all the inspiration pics!!! Some of them are darn near spot on (youre good). That last one really caught my eye with those doors in the upper cornertheyre orientation is identical to my layout. Thanks again. By the way, what is a boxerpup? @cheri127 After looking at the inspiration pics from lisa_a, I really like the "attached" lowered table idea. Ive always preferred counter height seating but Im about 6ft tall. However, I recently had a baby so now I have to re-think everything (like maybe its not a good idea to feed the baby at counter height, LOL). Funny how that happens. For instance, "only" two bedrooms were fine with me when I bought the house but whod a thunk Id be a mother at nearly 40. Shes only 5months old right now but in about 13yrs or so, I predict I will really need that third bedroom. @lisa_a I may have misrepresented my motivation. I want a new kitchen and a third bedroom, but Ive wanted the kitchen first. When I purchased this house, I did so with plans to renovate the horribly outdated, under-functional, cluster-fudge of a kitchen (see pics below). While interviewing construction contractors for the project, I was constantly reminded that "a third bedroom would increase resale value". This sales pitch was lost on me because I didnt need a third bedroom (I was planning to transition from young-single to empty-nester in this home) and was not thinking of selling, ever! But, flash forward five years to present day and my demographic has changed from young-single to single-mother. Still dont have that new kitchen and that third bedroom just got bumped up the priority list (not right now, but in 10-15 yrs maybe). I have no desire to sell my house but one should never say never, right? Besides, renovating the kitchen in its current location is really expensive because its soooo outdated, has galvenized pipes & knob-tube wiring. Plus, moving it only raises the cost by 3-5% so I figure might as well kill two birds with one stone (just in case I have to sell or miracle baby #2 shows up). The family room is just a "while m dreaming" wish. As for the dishwasher, I wont be putting one in my kitchen because Im not reselling but if in 10yrs the need arises, is it really that difficult to replace a base cabinet with a dishwasher? THE OUTDATED KITCHEN (these understate the issue, will upload more pics soon)

Just thought I would update that the countdown is on, six weeks left, and all is well as far as I know. I'm getting pretty huge and I don't know how I'm going to keep growing for six more weeks! Still have my ankles though! I have been very thirsty lately and I'm thinking that is because apparently your level of amniotic fluid grows a lot at this time. I'm slowing down a bit and I had to stop driving because of road rage – – – turns out pregnancy rage is real! Not usually a very angry person so I don't have a lot of coping mechanisms. My new job is quite demanding and I have been trying to do a really good job filling in as they are just about to post the position for a two-year term. So I find I have been going to bed earlier and earlier in the evenings! I met with a postpartum Doula and I have decided to engage her services for afterwards. I have heard that the nurses at my hospital are amazing and supportive so I thought I would rather spend the money to have support when we are home alone and everyone is crying at 4 AM. I also didn't have much luck engaging my husband with online prenatal classes so we are doing a series of in person classes at the very last minute!

Sounds like Beagles made the same decision as me for my granddaughter with the Antilop. It comes highly recommended in our family and on Wirecutter. For others contemplating this purchase, I do have to put in a plug for the Tripp Trapp which is designed by Danes, to have the baby be part of family dining throughout their lives, which is important to us too. She has this chair at home and started with the attached baby bed and shared so many nice dinners with us, acclimating & snoozing while we chatted away. She just moved into the seat attachment at 6 months as she sits up now, and I did buy the tray but also a silicone pad to use directly on the table if they prefer. Nice to read how Lyban's granddaughter still uses the chair at 9 years, and it can hold adults too. So yes, it's pricey but with its length of use, seems quite worth it. But I also wanted to share another cool thing I didn't have as a new mom years ago - the Boon Pulp spoon. Last visit I had such fun watching my grandgirl immediately figuring out how to use this spoon - biting the end to get some applesauce with some funny faces! Nice innovation & intuitive design.