Can you post a floor plan? Maybe the experts here can help you find more storage options. I think you'd miss your table since you use it so often and it sounds like a family tradition. (A very good one!)

Do you have room for a banquet with storage benches?

I contemplated using a large eat-in island but this is what stopped me. At some time, we will sell our house. It is quite possible that a family with young children would be interested in buying it. An island with counter size chairs is not a good fit for young children. I've also seen comments by older people that they prefer regular seating to island seating. Since I'm not getting any younger, I might be one of those people before we sell. So, I am forgoing an eat-in island to keep a table (with a banquette that will provide some storage).

I would not give up a table because it's really the only time I get to sit down with my family and I really cherish that time. I would probably consider a banquette to save the table.

We've been sitting on a long window seat with our 8' formal dining table in front of it (and folding chairs!) while we have been in our temporary apartment and I have to say, I really like sitting on the bench! When we linger at the table to chat, my husband and I can sit closer and focus on our daughter. It's nice.

You will get two very different opinions to this question but it all comes down to your lifestyle. Corginimum brought up a great point about young children and island seating but you also have to think about some people just don't like island seating...me being one of them. We are a family of three and we also sit down to dinner every night. I have some mobility issues and would never want to sit at an island for more than a bowl of cereal...but that's just me. I have a small kitchen also and would have love to fit in more storage but I just could not give up sitting at a table. If you use your table the way you say you do I'm afraid you would miss it but that's JMHO.

We are dealing with the same issue. Our solution is to add the table to the island. Instead of having the table be raised above the prep area on the island, we will drop the table to the 30" table height. We need to accomodate a wheelchair. I'm not sure if I'll have the prep area on the island be the 36" height as the counter around the kitchen or drop it a little to bakers height (34"). I am not putting the cooktop on the island ... only a sink.

Your thoughts?

Do you have a dining room, and would you be willing to use it for everyday meals?

My kitchen is not big enough for a table we can all sit at (family of 5). In the summer we eat in our sunroom off the kitchen, and the rest of the year we have been eating in the dining room.

I grew up in a house where the dining room was always for special occasions, so it was an adjustment having the kids eat their morning Cheerios in there, but we have all gotten used to it, and frankly, it makes use of what has historically been a rather wasted space for us.

If this is not an option for you, I vote for keeping the table, perhaps building some of those cool banquettes with long drawers that slide out so you get the storage you are looking for.

Island eating is a very different experience from table eating, IMO. Not as leisurely, more of a rushed feeling at the island. We eat all family meals at the dining room table (no island, no table in kitchen). Breakfast and snacks at the peninsula...there are only two seats so someone always ends up standing. I think you'll miss your table, A LOT.

Ditto honeychurch.

We use our dining room for all our meals now and it just makes more sense for our family (and alleviates the unused except for 3 times/year dining room!).

If that's not an option, stick with keeping the table. It's certainly a very different feel than eating at an island and one I wouldn't be willing to completely sacrifice.

Mtv20...I so understand the need for more storage! We had the same goal (plus more counterspace and decent prep space).

Do you have a DR close by that you would be willing to use nightly rather than a kitchen table?

We took down the wall b/w our Kitchen & DR, eliminated the Kitchen Table (it was too cramped anyway), and now eat all our meals in the DR (dinner 6 or 7 nights a week and sometimes Saturday morning breakfast). We do have a short peninsula w/two seats for snacks or laptop use, but no in-kitchen seating. We hardly ever used our DR before, so this also resulted in not having "wasted rooms" or floorspace...we now use every room in the house frequently.

Could you do something like that? You don't have to take a wall down if you don't want to, but if you would consider using your DR for meals, it might allow you to expand your kitchen.

A pic of your floor plan would be good. Without seeing that, it' hard to come up with ideas, but is there any way you could do a built in banquette, with storage in the seats and possibly a drop leaf table if you need more space? This is a common theme in old house kitchens, mine included, and a big seller with families. Also gives you a space to feed the family without losing storage. Good luck with your dilemma, I vote for somehow keeping the table in the kitchen.

If the dining room is not an option, I think it sounds like you really need to keep the kitchen table. With that being said, can you add storage somewhere else? Are your new cabinets going all the way up to the ceiling? Is there room in in laundry room to add any storage--shelving way up high for stuff you don't need on a daily basis.

I agree-post your plans, and let the magic begin!

I just finished a kitchen design where I couldn't give up my table for 4 either! It was a little difficult because it is a galley style kitchen, but I am very happy with the design we ended up with using a window seat/storage below on the wall side of the table - can't wait to use it!

We're putting a wall of cabinets as the back of a banquette. they will have minimal handles and slab fronts( easy on the back). They will hold not-so-often used appliances, etc. Could you do something like that? Don't give up the table- or use the dining room.

We moved from a 100 year old farmhouse, and one rule was never to miss dinner at the table. With four kids it was the best time of the day.

Then we moved in to a more modern house, with a 12 foot penninsula, which seated all six of us, but we lost our intimate dining experience. There are small dining areas, but nothing which would allow us all to fit at a reasonably sized table.

It's why I'm remodeling.....But, it's just a personal thing, it's just one of my pet peeves.

If you use a bench seating with storage underneath and push the table up near it, you could gain about half the storage space you would lose.

Also, I have seen a number of layouts where the table is coming directly out of the island, making a "T". They looked surprisingly good.

Post a layout...let's see what can be done!

I agree w/others. If you cannot or do not want to use the DR, then keep the kitchen table...it's much better seating for meals than an island. And, have you seen those ads lately about the positive effects on children when families eat together at the table? Less drug & alcohol use, etc. (I don't normally watch "live-TV" so I can skip the ads, but with the Olympics going on, I've had been watching "live"...so I get to see the ads!)

A good friend of ours has only island seating in her family. They have three boys and entertaining is strained in her home, even her own family around the "table" doesn't fit very well as the boys get older. She seems happy with it, but it's something I would never suggest.

In my old house, which had a small but very well laid out kitchen, the open wall had cabinets with a table level counter coming out of it like a T. It wasn't big, but it was big enough for our family of 5 to eat there, the kids sat there for their snacks and it was even really nice for rolling out dough. Maybe something like that could work?

Have to laugh at the Olympics mention buehl, I don't usually watch much TV, but I've been glued and seen the very same ad. I've also seen pet food ads with nice kitchens- that bacon strips dog may be pretty uncouth, but he has a stylin' kitchen!