Going into your courtyard will help.
Also, maybe shorten the wall between the foyer and kitchen table and make a wide archway. It would help make the space appear bigger.
Good Luck. I was where you are one year ago.

Sorry, I'm having trouble resizing it so that it fits ... then it got blurry.

what is beside the table? The area in the breakfast room on the wall opposite the foyer

I don't think we can structurally change the doorway from the foyer without a ton of work (there are basement stairs on the other side of that wall, stairs that I didn't draw).

Expanding into the courtyard wouldn't work unless we came out from the family room ... it would screw up the symmetry of the front of the house. (The small window is the one over the kitchen sink.)

However, I have wondered about bringing that big window (almost) all the way up into the courtyard and connecting the two rooms a little bit. It seems a little more involved than we were hoping. Gulp.

debbie_2008: that is the armoire we use as a pantry. (I guess it doesn't have a bowed front; I was thinking of a different piece of furniture.) Here is a photo of that part of the kitchen:

Would you consider swapping the kitchen and dining side? Maybe the upper left corner could have a built in banquette with the table there. The rest of the kitchen could be more like a galley kitchen with a slender island in the middle. You could run cabinets on the left and right walls all the way to the long window w/the seat. Or, you could put some sort of snack/breakfast cabinet under the smaller window(in current kitchen) and then maybe flop the "L" so the cabinets run to the south while putting another set of cabinets on the west side.

This would help improve the flow in that no one would be walking thru your cooking area, they would be walking thru the dining area which could have a nice wide walkway.

Can you switch the eating area w/the kitchen work area? That would keep the Foyer traffic out of the work area and would give you more room to work with. As to that seat...two things:

Some people have actually put counters in front of windows that are lower than the counters

I think it might be nice to have a comfy spot to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea in the morning or while you're waiting for something to cook. It would also give someone a comfy place to sit while visiting with you if you're also working the kitchen. We considered putting a seat in our bay similar to what you have, but our kitchen is smaller and we couldn't afford to lose the space.

segbrown...I see now.

Is there any way to put a pantry cabinet on the refrigerator wall? You could still keep the piece of furniture in the dining area for other storage.

Yes, I have thought about switching the eating and cooking areas ... about an island, wouldn't it be only 2 ft wide or something? That seems useless. Am I wrong?

Post some more limits, or you'll get stuff like this.
{{!gwi}}

Could you add another window? Looking at your picture I think another window on that wall would actually look nice and it would give you another view into the courtyard. Or, you could make the one window a long window, but I think I'd like two matching windows better. But you may not.

The problem I have w/the current window is that it puts the sink & associated dirty dishes as the first thing guests see when coming into the kitchen area on their way to the FR.

Have you read the "Read Me" thread? It talks about layouts and what to identify to help you, a KD, and, if asked, us come up with a design that you'll love!

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

What about something like this, with your kitchen and eating areas reversed?

Ha! It looks like bmorepanic and I had the exact same ideas, even down to the banquette in the corner. :)

Thanks all .. yes, I read the Read Me thread. I am still in the "don't want to bother anyone with too much information or too many requests" stage even though I realize it would be more helpful if I'm going to ask at all. Sorry. But even a little jogging of my brain is helpful, here! Thanks so much.

And yes, we are amenable to moving/enlarging/adding window(s) on the long wall.

Is the distance on each side b/w the wall and the window w/the seat only 21"?

I think I like holligator's sink position better. Twins!

Yes, the wall in the corner beside the window is 21" on one side and 22" on the other. I have that part covered with the curtains, so in the photo it looks like a continuous wall. But it isn't.

As for the sink position, I liked it, too, but the trouble with switching is the window size. The existing window is 58 or 60" wide; will that leave enough room for a refrigerator and range along there?

No offense to holligator, who, along with Bmorepanic, did a great job coming up with a new plan, but I like the sink better in Bmore's where dishes can be taken care of and stored closer to the dining room and dinette. Makes more sense with the prep sink, too, I think...and if it works with the current window...Bonus!

Alternate options w/o an island.

Neither plan has island/peninsula seating. However, w/the table right there plus a window seat, I'm not sure extra seating is necessary. However, if you anticipate big projects, etc., you might want to consider the island layouts previously shown.

Layout #1....requires moving and expanding the existing window (The window could stay same size, but I thought a bigger window might look better on that wall. It's not quite centered, but close.)

Layout #2...leaves the current window as is, but adds another window the same size.

I like the 2nd one, because having another sink--especially with it, the MW, and fridge all out of the prep area--would be a great setup in our house. It would be even better if the MW could be in the oven stack.

BTW, I love the exterior of your house!

Anne

I think the 21 & 22 inch measurements are from the corner to the window seat, not where the window begins. You could consider reframing the window seat (or filling in part of the bumpout) if you decide to run standard depth base cabinet to that front wall.

Instead of tall pantries that Buehl put by the window seat: the window seat should extend across that whole wall with open bookshelves that extend all the way down on either side. A reading/breakfast nook with a small table and chair pulled up to it.

I like the first layout that Buehl put together. You could put some nice glass cabinets on each side of sink window area so when you walk into kitchen your have something pretty to look at. I don't think a prep sink is needed in the space.

In the qcc gallery there is a kitchen with the window seat/open shelves idea. Just scroll through - it is a yellow kitchen with a farm/apron sink and a slate floor. I wish I figure out how to copy the exact picture.

Here is a link that might be useful: QCC gallery

Wow ... thanks for getting the gears turning.

With the early layouts (island including, storage along wall opposite sink/refrig/etc), would it be possible to stick a single oven/mw stack in at the end (toward the window)-- how close to the window could that go? (And yes, if we switch the eating and cooking sections, we would have to build out the wall to increase the 21" section, I agree.)

Another thought ... what about taking a table out of the kitchen entirely, enlarging the island to include seating, and leaving the wall for "tall storage" empty. Then putting storage (maybe a corner walk-in pantry) and other miscellaneous (coffee bar, wine cooler) down in the corner where the mocked-up banquette is?

I'll have to figure out how to draw all this on the computer now ... it's my understanding that there aren't a lot of kitchen design software choices for a Mac? I guess I'll try the Drawing component.

Is this it, lightlystarched?

Yes! Thank you. I hoped someone was smarter than me!

Um, that should read I *knew* someone was smarter....

In a perfect world, I would like to do this:

Is there any way to do that with the size window I have currently? Well, without it looking ridiculous. It sure would solve a lot of problems, and I would love to have that big window over the sink. .. I have no clue if this is a completely doable fix, or if it's a completely stupid idea.

You could put skylights in the front bay window, but not your current sink window - unless you want to kill off that bedroom up above it.

In a twelve foot wide space with cabinets on one side, you have 2 to 2.5 feet for a cabinet run on the wall, a 3 to 4 foot aisle between the cabinet run and the island, a 2 to 3.5 foot wide island and a "chair" aisle of 3.5 to 4 feet.

An aisle containing stools on one side and a blank wall on the other should be about 44" deep (minimum) when you lightly use it to walk behind seated people...

Example: My personal selection would be two 3.5 foot aisleways, 2 feet deep cabinets against the wall and 3 foot wide island. A person who likes narrower work aisles could reduce one aisle to 3 feet and deepen the wall cabinet run to 2.5 feet OR the set the width of the island to 3.5 feet, but not both.

More like this?
{{!gwi}}

I like that for storage, but I think I do want to keep a table in here after all.

Look what I found while going through all my papers: we started (then stopped) this process a few months ago (somehow Christmas got in the way), but my 9yo daughter drew this up:

{{!gwi}}

It's pretty close to these designs ... I can't forget to ask her for advice, I suppose. (She is the one who spent 4 hr in the Design Center with me looking at fabrics when she was 7 .. and had "the best day ever." I thought that was odd. But she really likes this stuff ... and actually has pretty good taste and interesting opinions for a kid. I had NO opinions on all this as a kid!)

Okay, back to the drawing board ...