try hard, you didn't post a photo of the doorway showing it's proximity to the island. I see the top of the doorway.

I feel your anxiety 100%. Our kitchen also backs up into the family room. We don't have a wall, it's just one big room. I learned that you can't look at plans and get it right, at least I didn't. Anyway, after we measured out the island and put the blue tape on the floor to get a real clear picture of where it will sit, it hit me that with the 12" counter overhand, it would be too much in the family room. LOL That meant we had to move it back a foot and believe me, we didn't have a foot as the kitchen is a match box now. I'm waiting to hear back from my latest cabinet estimate just how much less cabinets I'll have with this one less foot. I'm not concerned about losing cabinets as I have a nice big pantry. My concern is how much counter I'll have around the stove that is in the L of the island.

My mess up on the entire thing. I'm the one who had to have a kitchen window which then changed the entire floor plan and the stove ended up on the island instead of the sink. I should also blame the architect because his orginal drawing of the kitchen was completely crazy!!

Your 3" creep might not matter if the doorway is big enough to allow easy passage around the stools and island. Try to take a photo of the doorway straight on showing the island and also one from the side. Hope this makes sense.

Hi Brutuses.

The second picture is the only one I have that shows the island and you can just see the doorway on the left edge of the picture. I wish I had a better picture.

Hindsight being 20/20, if I had known this would happen I would have made my island smaller. I wanted to have some storage space on the back of the island so I made it 36" deep. I think I should have made it 30" deep so that I didn't have this problem. But I can't change that right now, so hopefully I can just reach a decision that I'm comfortable with.

Try_hard

I don't believe in trying to do it just a little...(ie just 12") if that means that "just a little" of the bar will extend to the family room. Logically, the stools (when you're on them) will be much further out, so really..won't you always be pushing into the family room?

So mke it look like you tried to tie the two rooms together instead and put in a 15" overhang and the stools you like. You're not impeeding a walkway, and if they're swivel, and you're having a party, you'll find that they'll be dual purpose if guests are in both areas.

Igloochic - If I do that, would I need to use the same paint color in the kitchen and living room to tie the rooms together and make them seem like one large space?

Try_hard

Well, here's another wrench in the works (tho' you didn't ask about it). I personally wouldn't put yellow and beige adjoining each other - they don't contrast enough, yet are just different enough to not (to me) look good. I'd change one of the colors to either a more definitive contrast, or else make them the same color. When it comes to the overhang and/or chairs, I'd still keep them whatever the kitchen/island color is - it won't impact the family room, and in fact if you can pick up that color somewhere else in the family room (in a small way nearby) I don't think that would look bad at all.

We have a nearly identical situation -- island backing up to family room with a change in ceiling heights, and of course, being the TKOs we are, we angsted-through the exact same issue.

As it happens, it's a total non-issue. Our kitchen has been completed for almost two years now, and the bar counter is *not* in any sort of logical alignment with the change in ceiling height and you know what? Who cares?! After all the angst, I can't even see it. Especially when you factor in bar stools.

I'm with Igloo about expanding the overhang to 15" though. That way, it's not a 'near miss' in case you're much pickier about those things than I am, and it will be a much more comfortable seating area.

I totally agree about the 15" overhang, and I think you can put yellow and beige together as long as the beige isn't too gray (getting into the taupe area). What colors are you thinking of doing?

Your rooms are so open to one another the barstools being in the family room is totally a non-issue and you aren't even going to notice. And you can be sure guests will not notice either. I wouldn't do 9 inches. The 12" is fine and if you can change to 15" even better.

From the photos and what you've described I don't think the overhang should be a big issue.

It would be extending out three inches into the family room, about the size of the palm of your hand (w/o fingers even). You would probably want a foot or two of clearance for chairs/stools or 2.5-3 feet for walking between the bar and any furniture anyway, you could probably eat into that for laying out furniture without too much difficulty.

As far as the look of it goes, it is a very slight difference well away from your doorway so it should be difficult for someone to notice. You might want to go over with some cardboard and position a fake bar along the edge so you can see how it would look.

If you decide to go with the overhang and then don't like the intrusion you could probably obscure the protrusion further by putting tall potted plants (or something else tall) near the door edges to make their position fuzzier and have them look even with the bar.

I'm sorry I didn't realize that was the doorway, I thought it was a wall. I think you have plenty room in the opening so it should be a problem. I think it would look just fine and look like it was designed that way.

My problem is if my barstools come out too much they would interfere the traffic flow. The great room is large, but not huge and I need to put a small setee or chairs directly in front of the island after allowing room for traffic flow. If mine comes out too much people will be walking down the middle of the great room. LOL Don't forget to post photo's when you're all finished.

I really appreciate everyone's comments. I feel much calmer now than when I composed my email. Big exhale... And I do think we'll be okay with the island creeping into the family room, especially since the doorway is so wide open and the island will be stained whereas the kitchen wall cabinets will be painted.

Chicoryflower: My kitchen will be Sherwin-Williams August Moon. The family room will be Sherwin-Williams Nomadic Desert. The color samples I see on the internet aren't very close to the in-person color, of course.

try_hard

We have a similar situation. The bar extends into the family room, past the wall/opening and it's not a problem at all. Also, the kitchen is painted SW Blonde (a yellow/gold color) and the family room is SW Harmonic Tan. The colors look great next to each other.

A big Thank You to everyone who took the time to respond to my post. I am going to stick with my original plan and not fret about the overhang being in the doorway.

It's funny - it seemed like such a big deal to me yesterday, but after sleeping on it and reading the feedback I got here, it's no longer feels like a major problem. Thank goodness I can relax about this and wait for the next crisis to come along...

try_hard

melsy4 I would love to see a picture of your family room room. I am looking at Harmonic Tan for my kitchen, does it look more green or taupe?