Can you include a sketch of the layout of the house. Basically, how does the kitchen area relate to the rest of the house? That will really help with figuring out all your possible options.

Dimensions and a few photos would be useful too!

OK, I will start working on that right away. I'm grateful for your interest!

This may sound a little crazy, but how about floor to ceiling cabinets along the wall where you have the fridge now, including a built-in fridge and wall ovens, and then a giant island in the rest of the space, with the sink and cooktop in the island. It would give you maximum counter space, plenty of room for all 3 of you to work simultaneously, and at least as much cabinet space as you have in the plan above.

We really need dimensions! Include overall dimensions as well as wall widths, door/doorway/opening widths, window widths, window distance from floor, and distances b/w walls/windows/doorways.

Where do all the various doors/doorways lead? You have quite a few!!

Can any of the doors/doorways be closed off or moved?

A floorplan of the entire first floor will really help!

Do you have a pantry elsewhere or is the kitchen the only place for food storage?

Do you bake often?

Have you read the "Read Me" thread? It talks about what information is useful for helping w/layouts...some of the information you've already provided...

Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

Thank you everyone for your interest so far--I really feel hope is on the way! I hope the attached images will answer your questions. It was quite a process gathering them, scanning them, uploading them to Photo Bucket, and them inserting them into the message!

Essentially, what I need help with at this point is deciding whether to stick to the original footprint of the kitchen--Plan A--or expand into the adjacent dining room--Plan B--which will provide more room, let in lots more light, and offer a view out to the front lawn and street. However, with Plan B the problem is that the former eat-in area in the original kitchen layout will be empty, thereby creating an akward space. The floorplan is the problem at this point--I can worry about where all the cabinets will go later.
Buehl - Thanks for your detailed questions! Answers follow:
"Have you read the "Read Me" thread? It talks about what information is useful for helping w/layouts...some of the information you've already provided..."
I did read it. In my initial post I didn't provide a lot of detailed background info because I'm still trying to work out the general layout and whether to stay in the original footprint or expand into the dining room--all the other details will depend on that. Frankly, the space is so quirky that I think my options are limited so everything will have to follow from the overall layout.
""We really need dimensions! Include overall dimensions as well as wall widths, door/doorway/opening widths, window widths, window distance from floor, and distances b/w walls/windows/doorways."
These are included in the scanned drawings. Hopefully you can read them.
"Where do all the various doors/doorways lead? You have quite a few!! "

Yes! This is the problem! Too many doorways/openings, too little wall space. The eat-in area has a wide sliding door leading to the deck, an opening leading to the family room/living room (it's "sunken" and you have to go down two steps), and another opening leading into the main entryway. The kitchen area within the U has a door leading to the garage (two steps down) and a narrow wall opening leading into the dining room.
"Can any of the doors/doorways be closed off or moved?"
The only thing we can think of is if we expand into the dining roomn, we can move the door leading to the garage a few feet over into the existing dining room thereby freeing up space for a 36" wide fridge. In fact, that change is depicted in the Plan B layout. We don't want to get rid of the sliding door leading to the deck because it lets in much-needed light and has a nice view. I've though of replacing the sliding door--currently about 6'4" wide from trim to trim--with a smaller door to regain some wall space but my husband is resistant. I think he thinks it's better to access a deck through a sliding door rather than one that swings out.
"A floorplan of the entire first floor will really help!"
I scanned a copy of the 30-year-old brochure of the house, which includes floorplans.
"Do you have a pantry elsewhere or is the kitchen the only place for food storage? "
We have a narrow pantry closet which is inadequate. We will replace it with several IKEA pull-out pantry tall cabinets whether we stick to the original footprint or expand into the dining room.
"Do you bake often?"
We don't so we definitely don't need double ovens.

Original Floorplans of Whole House

Sketch of Kitchen Layout done by my husband

Sketch of Dining Room done by me

View looking into kitchen area from eat-in area (sorry I didn't clean up!)

View from eat-in area into family room (2 steps down)

Proposed Layout A - Original Footprint

Proposed Layout B - Extend into Dining Room

Phew! I think I have it all for now. I look forward to your comments.

You've really piqued my interest... so forgive me if I have one more big question....

Does your house follow the same orientation as the 30-year old layout or was it flipped? I ask b/c it seems you and your DH's drawings do not follow the posted layout. If it did, are your layouts...?

OR....is your layout really:

I'm just making sure I have the correct orientation/layout b/f I work on a layout...I don't want to spend time on something completely wrong!

Hi Buehl. Yes, you are totally right. It IS flipped. So everything you mocked up (how did you do that BTW?!) is correct, except in the reverse. So, as you look at the house from the street, the garage is all the way to the right. The front rooms are the dining room (separated by a wall from the garage), then the foyer (which leads into the eat-in area of the kitchen), and then the living room all the way to the left. The back rooms are: the kitchen (located off the dining room), the eat-in area (located off the foyer) and the family room (two steps down from the eat-in area and separated by a wall from the living room. I'm hopeless at this stuff (I can't even read maps--thank God for GPS!) so I hope you can make sense of what I'm saying.

Bump :) My original message got lost in the ensuing crush of new messages. Hoping that Buehl or someone else can help out now that I have included more info and images.

Has the garage door been moved in your layout (1st pic)? Your DH's drawing has it in the kitchen but your layout has it in the DR...

Can the wall b/w the Foyer and the table space be moved? Maybe 2' into the Foyer??

Would you consider switching the Kitchen & DR? Maybe make the table area the DR and then have a big kitchen?

I don't know if it would work...I'm just throwing ideas out there! (I suspect those tall windows will be a problem, so probably not...but you never know!)

BTW...the reason I asked in my previous post about expanding into the Foyer is that your first "IKEA" layout says the table area is 11'0" yet your 2nd layout & your DH's show 8'6"...so it looked like you expanded into the Foyer.

Hi Buehl,

Here are the answers to your questions:

"Has the garage door been moved in your layout (1st pic)? Your DH's drawing has it in the kitchen but your layout has it in the DR..."

Yes, in Plan B - expanding into the dining room -- one of the proposed changes we depicted is moving the door to the garage a few feet over into what is now the dining room. That would free up space for a 36" fridge. Currently the door is still in the kitchen.

"Can the wall b/w the Foyer and the table space be moved? Maybe 2' into the Foyer??"

No because that wall extends well into the family room. There is also a hallway closet in the foyer that is right off the kitchen and behind our current pantry closet.

"Would you consider switching the Kitchen & DR? Maybe make the table area the DR and then have a big kitchen?
I don't know if it would work...I'm just throwing ideas out there! (I suspect those tall windows will be a problem, so probably not...but you never know!)

BTW...the reason I asked in my previous post about expanding into the Foyer is that your first "IKEA" layout says the table area is 11'0" yet your 2nd layout & your DH's show 8'6"...so it looked like you expanded into the Foyer."

Hm...switching the DR and kitchen..I don't think it would work since the eat-in area is right in the middle of the house and open on all sides. However, (now you've got me thinking!) I guess you could leave the table where it is right now in the eat-in area and then focus on expanding the kitchen area into the current DR by taking down part of the wall that separates them, maybe filling up the space in the DR with a butler's pantry along the one solid wall (as I have depicted in the Plan B layout), a larger island than I have depicted with some bar stools, and maybe some armchairs on either side of the tall windows and a small desk in the corner (depicted in black in Plan B). But would that look natural or totally contrived to fit the space? That's my worry...that if we make these changes it will look like some amateurish DIY job rather than something that fits the house organically.

I just remeasured the table area and it is indeed 8'6" not 11'. Sorry for the discrepancies...the numbers may have changed a few times since I started this process!

I hope I haven't confused you even further.

It's frustrating that we live in a home that is plenty big for our little family (just the 3 of us) but that is so oddly configured that the space doesn't work for us.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me so far.

Concept sketch - not a plan. Might not be your style. It would need a small basement adventure to find where the drain line for the mstr bath is actually located.
{{gwi:1729767}}

I really like bmorepanic's concept! In addition to everything else (a very open feel), I like that it keeps your doors onto your deck/patio much more accessible by not having any table in front of it.
We have a lovely three panel glass door to our deck, but its always "blocked" by the table in front of it...very annoying.
You would get the benefit of the two current dining room window into your kitchen. That counter seating area looks like a very nice place to hang out with the window behind it.

Bmorepanic has a good idea (as usual!)

I got the idea from your good questions, buehl :)

I think you're on to something Bmorepanic! I will have to show it to my DH later tonight and have him help me understand it since our actual floorplan is the reverse of the above (I didn't notice that at the time I posted it) and I have a hard time reading graphic plans but it looks like it makes sense. What did you mean about the drain line for the master bath? How does that come into it? (The master bath is over the garage; the master bedroom is over the kitchen). Sorry if I'm slow on the uptake--I am totally not technical at all. The good news is, if we need to do something with plumbing, it won't be a problem since the basement is unfinished and EVERYTHING is exposed and accesible (beams, pipes, etc.). Thanks so much for this. I will discuss with DH and post questions later.