Do you still intend to keep all three kitchen, dining area and family room areas?

Is it an option to move kitchen to another location on this plan, or does it have to/need to stay in it's current (center) location?

I second allison's question. Which of those yellow walls surrounding the kitchen are load-bearing, and how much refiguring (moving plumbing, gas, wiring and redoing flooring) are you prepared to do?

I would open up the entire space and move the kitchen to the family room space (does it not have windows? if not, add one and you might also need to add a doorway if you don't want the only access to be through the DR). Then have a dining area next to the kitchen and family room area beyond that. That way there is a bit of distance between the TV watching area and the noisy kitchen, but you have full views from the kitchen to both areas.

Thanks for the responses. The family room area is the lowest on the priority to keep. We do want to have the dining room, with room for at least 8.
So far, we're just considering remove/move the 2 walls on either side of the kitchen (both are not load bearing). It's slab foundation so moving gas and drain pipes will get expensive, but we are keeping that option open.
Here's another option we came up with (with windows this time), which ends up giving us less cabinet space.

The areas to the right of the front door is the living room.

I have a strong opinion about open concept houses. It works well only if you can contain the sound "away" from the open room or if there is an equally thought out nice space in the house for a person to go escape the noise. When the sounds of TV/games/media fills the room when you don't want it to, then you have trouble. I personally would not open the kitchen to the family room where the media (games, tv etc) is expected to be used. This is why we had basement rec rooms in the olden days.

When I visit friends that have their only room with TV and games attached to the kitchen, I find these spaces rather unleasant because the kids noises are smack in the adults' space (most often adults visit in the kitchen) without any separation. When they become school aged children (5 or 6), they no longer need constant supervision. So planning for 12 plus years of how to give enough space to kids so you don't have to hear them is a must, if this is a family household.

If one of the adult member (or visitors) of the household does not want to have to hear the loud media noise, then that adult should have a nice room to go to. If that adult can only go to the bedroom to escape the noise, then the house feels too small and not a pleasant place for the non-media involved person. This often leads to "we need a bigger house" discussion. I only hear this from friends that have their media family room attached to the kitchen!

BTW, in open kitchens, you often lose counter space and cabinet space because you do not have walls to hang cabinets. You get alot more usable cabinets and counter in a kitchen that has 3 walls versus 2 or 1.

Sort through how you would contain sounds in your house and if that fits into the open concept living for your house. For example, if you don't have a basement, you make at least one room with closed doors and that will become the "kids" media room.

PS, our TV and media are in the basement. Our sitting space/DR/kitchen are all open. When we have families over, the adults are upstairs and the kids are in the basement.

I don't see how you lose cabinet space in that last plan, as it seems you are just trading the peninsula for the island? Maybe more cabinet space if you can have some storage on the back side of the island. What you do gain is better access to the cabinets you have and better flow around and through the kitchen. With the layout you had, I don't think you will have any more noise transmission than before either. I would change the lazy susan cab into a 90-degree door instead of the diagonal...You'll gain more floor space around the stove and island, and better access to the corner counter and uppers. You'll also get more counter frontage in each direction.

How about moving the sink to the island and the window down by the couch? I think that would give you a lot more room for cabinets.

I second kaismom on the separation of FR from kitchen/DR with a wall because of the noise issue. We had a couple over on Wednesday whom we didn't know very well. DH has a loud voice, and once he starts talking I can't hear myself think! The woman and I were trying to carry on a separate conversation and get to know each other, and we had to move from the living room to the kitchen/eating area to continue talking. I'm sure at some point you would also have loud guests!

When designing our new home, I put doors between every room so I could close them off when DH is on the phone with his getting-hard-of-hearing friends or on the computer yelling at it when he gets frustrated, and when the young (sometimes whiny) grandkids are here. I LOVE my doors! ;o)

Anne