You had some decent funds in your budget if memory serves....I'd get a quote for relocating basement door and stair around to foyer wall,close up the existing basement door and skooch foyer access to back to the right a bit.That will give you a new wall run for a banquette or small table or fridge/freezer-then do a shallower/tighter U or an L shape kitchen. Why don't you go ahead and remove the half wall between kitch and family room...moving your furniture around a bit then will help with your ideas. You're going to get there! The drawing you show looks a little cramped-I think you can do a bit more with your budget.

Thank you herbflavor for responding and remembering my old post.

Yeah we had a decent budget, but we were getting discouraged that even with that budget, we couldn't seem to get a perfect layout. We decided to try to do the best we can in the existing kitchen/fam rm area and hopefully cut the budget down significantly, leaving us some money to do a few other home improvements.

That's an interesting idea about the basement door. And do you mean move the foyer entrance over closer to the coat closet? Hmm, I have a hard time envisioning what that will do? I feel like anything along a new wall run there will get in the way of traffic?

Yes, knocking this 1/2 wall down ourselves might happen soon, Im dying to! We're leary to do that bc of exposing nails etc to where the kids are running around all the time...

Im attaching a picture of the area we currently have our table...(ignore the mess!)

I've knocked down quite a few walls with kids at home. This is how I do it. Have a plan for how you are taking it down, get the tools all together. For your wall, I would just use a sledge hammer &/or reciprocating saw. I love our sawzall, greatest tool invention ever. A crow bar is handy to have to pry up the wood from the bottom of the floor- at the base of your 1/2 wall. If you think there could be electric or plumbing (shouldn't be from your picture but I don't see the backside) then use a hammer to break the drywall and then rip it off.

It is a much more time consuming way to do it but if there are any utilities in the wall then you won't do harm.

Clear stuff off counters, cover up furniture in FR and get the kids playing in a bedroom or outside while you and hubby demolish the wall. There should be no nails sticking up when you are done, once you start, don't stop until the wall is down and the area cleaned up.

I can't see the FR flooring but just to warn you, the kitchen wood floor probably does not go under that wall so once you remove the wall, there will be a gap between kitchen and FR flooring where it is subfloor.

If you want to save trim then carefully pull it off before beginning.

You'd get about a 6 foot wall to helpin your kitchen....also when coming thru foyer the light and sight of patio door is almost straight on....a nice perk...and it appears about 13 feet between wall where basement door was,and back kitchen wall. Remove all soffits and sink/cabinets on back wall. Use wall that backs up to powder room for range,as it is, but eliminate the turn in counter and everything that runs across the back[or turn but only for a couple feet of cabs] Now ,place an island running left to right down middle of kitchen with sink on it-passageway on either side can be 4 feet easily-and what you will have is island about 4-5 feet deep and about 6-7 feet wide. Seats on 2 sides-family room side and foyer side-remember basement door is gone,replaced by a new little wall and walk thru to foyer is pushed over so you easily have room for seat clearance. Should be easy within your budget..you can skooch fridge over as you will have that 4 foot end of island with counter for immediate landing...the landing on the kitchen side of fridge isn't so critical. You can wiggle and do this and that-could do a banquette off the 6 foot new wall and eliminate peninsula entirely. I think the larger island is what I'd do,or at least mock it up and price it out-spend on details and good materials for it. Your space is very left to right oriented unless you bump out kitchen wall-the peninsula jutting in like that,while doable, doesn't really play up what you have.

We have that same half wall and will have banquette seating there. We have 4 little ones and added extra counter overhang to a section of our peninsula. This way they can scoot up to the counter to help make pancakes with daddy and homework can be done while I am making supper. Do you have a step down into the FR?

herbflavor, lots to think about thank you! I might try to draw that up, I cannot even imagine!

hi bcafe, no we don't have a step down. do you have pictures of your layout? Id love to see it!

Round and round on what to do...very familiar ground for most of us here!

About your layout above...

• I get that you want:

  • More counterspace (and, I assume, placed where it will actually be useful for prepping)

  • Keep some form of FR in the existing space - is that b/c of the fireplace?

  • Keep the formal DR as-is b/c you don't want to knock down the load-bearing wall b/w the kitchen & DR

  • Keep the formal LR as-is since you don't want to knock down the load-bearing wall b/w the kitchen/FR & LR

  • Have table seating in the kitchen itself
    -- or --

  • Have peninsula seating

But...

• You have very limited space to fit all that in - that's why you currently don't have a lot of counterspace. So, if you aren't willing to add more space (by adding onto the house or by merging existing spaces), it's going to be difficult to "have it all"

• The peninsula, as drawn, will not comfortably seat 5 people and seating inside the "U" puts people in the middle of the work space. That seat on the end is also in the aisle of what you have said is a busy path.

So, are you willing to consider doing a few things such as:
Move/change windows?
Open a doorway in the LR wall to lead into the LR - not so wide that you have to do expensive load-bearing posts, etc., but wide enough for a doorway?
Move the Powder Room to add that space to the kitchen?
Move the closet?
Eliminate the FR as a "FR" and merge it into the kitchen to add yet more space?

Here's a layout that might work if you're willing to make the changes I asked about above. (Note: Your floor plan is missing key elements like the windows on the top wall in the kitchen and the measurements in the other rooms since they are not all the same size...I think I've got them.)

General...

• The Powder Room and Closet have been relocated to off the Foyer. They do take about 6" off the FR/LR, but I don't think it's an issue(YMMV)

• The former PR + Kitchen have been merged into a larger kitchen

• The FR has been converted into a dining area that's completely open to the kitchen - much more comfortable seating for everyone for meals, visiting, etc. With it open to the kitchen, guests can easily sit there and enjoy your company + fireplace + comfortable seating.

• A 5' wide doorway has been opened b/w the former FR/now table space and the formal LR

• The formal LR has been converted into a Family/Living Room. You might consider a future fireplace (gas or wood-burning) in that room as well...if you're into fireplaces (I am, so if you are, I can relate!)

• The formal DR can remain as-is or it could be converted to a Library/Computer Room with a comfy chair or two that would be a quiet respite from the hectic day-to-day activities! Put a door at both entrances (Kitchen & Foyer) to close it off when needed - for either quiet or to keep casual traffic out of it to help keep it tidy.
  ...

Here's a Zone Map for the layout posted above:

+++++ Blank Slates, both with PR & Closet moved +++++

Blank Slate - with current windows:

Blank slate with the proposed windows & door to LR:

Buehl,

Thank you SO much for this. Wow Im new here & just cant get over that people do this for free, are you a KD? Right when I thought we were throwing in the towel and thinking of just stopping all this imagining & what ifs & just redo-ing what we've got, you show us this and we're rethinking it all over! This kitchen as shown has absolutely every element I could ask for...the cubbys & message center, Im in love with! An island? With seating? A prep sink?? wow!!!
The one thing that really makes this work for us, which we hadn't thought of, was to make the doorway opening into the LR smaller, and pushed to the one side across from sliders). We couldn't find a wall for our TV when we were thinking of opening up the whole wall, and therefore the LR didn't feel comfortable as a FR for us, and that's a total deal breaker. But with this layout, we assume we'd put a TV on the right half of the wall that's still there, and be able to put large sofa maybe with chaise lounge on right side across from it, in front of window, with sofa table behind it. We just sat out there & it felt really good, like we could definitely be happy with that as our Family Room.

Questions for you I hope you see and don't mind answering.

Any guess what moving the powder room could cost, ballpark...moving the PR to the middle of the house really concerns me. I've always wondered if we could do that, but I feel like that must be major major $$$. Our other 2 bathrooms are located roughly right above the powder room, so I know all the major plumbing is over there.

Do you think the same idea is reasonable, without moving the Powder room? What would you do in there if we still did the other changes, but left the Powder room where it is? (hint hint...got time for another layout?!)

As for the LR becoming a FR, we think it would be way better if we could close up the existing wide entranceway
into that room. Before considering moving the powder room out there, we were thinking we could move the coat closet down, and having an entranceway into that room through the existing coat closet. Do you agree that would make that room more functional and comfortable as a Family room?

And finally...I am so impressed with what you showed...I am wondering what you, or anyone, would do with our space as is. If we didn't merge existing spaces and only knocked down minor walls, like the 1/2 wall between kit & FR? Can I gain ANY more functional counter space and retain an eat in kitchen? Would a banquette work? (um, hint hint again...?!)

Thanks a million again for everyone on here taking the time to do this...

Buehl did an excellent job of what I was thinking before I got down to her post. Though I hadn't even gone as far as moving the Powder room!

Personally, I would not make the peninsula into a dining room table, you are not really gaining anything functional, and are losing the portability of a table. Having tried to look for support for a peninsula while renovating our kitchen, I can also add that very few people seem to know how or what to do to support a peninsula that is not with your typical base cabinets. To get a feel for how awkward having a peninsula table would be, move your present table right up to that bank of cabinets beside your DW.

I think you would be so much happier with a nice big kitchen and converting your FR to a DR/eat-in part of kitchen. If moving the PR is too daunting, either your LR could become the new FR, and the DR a family room, or the other way around.