Here are pics from the house we sold this summer, these are the pics our agent used on the listing. We removed the wall that was between the kitchen and dining room. The house is a typical raised ranch. The cabinets look a lot more orange than they were in person (irrelevant to your post but I just had to put that disclaimer in LOL). We redid this whole kitchen except for that hideous chandelier that we never got around to changing.

We did what you're doing...took out the wall between the kitchen and dining room. I also had visions of making the dining area a bit more upscale than the typical eat-in part of the kitchen. Haven't gotten there yet! I do have upholstered parsons chairs and different armchairs. Not sure where I'm going to take it from here, though. Can't spend any more $$ right now anyway! Here are some photos, but they don't really show the "dining room:"

ptyles and janefan - very nice - it just makes you feel like you can breath in a more open space, doesn't it?

Here is my open kitchen / dining area.

view from dining area

view of dining room from foyer

Catsam - your kitchen is beautiful and I love how much space you have in your dining room.

This kitchen was our old house and we learned a lot from that remodel. We hope to be redoing our kitchen in this new house and are seriously considering taking the wall down between the kitchen and dining room again. I just love the great spacious feel it gives.

~Pam

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catsam,
I emailed you... your kitchen is gorgeous. my kitchen is open to our eating area (not really a dining room, we don't have a formal dining room at this point, but plans in the future to add one if we can move our laundry room upstairs (which would go where my 3 year old currently has his bedroom)).

Anyway, it is the kitchen and the family room, with the eating area sandwiched between... will try to post an updated picture.

catsam,
here are some updated pics. I am throwing a big surprise 40th bday party for dh tomorrow night so have been on a push for a while to get things looking pulled together (nothing like a party to get one motivated). am having 60 people... have been cooking for days, storing things at the neighbors house, washing windows, decorating the outside of the house with swags, wreaths, etc. -- he must know! note: that I put that star wallpaper from my bar area on the fireplace wall as well. felt that it seemed bland and unbalanced as compared to the fridge/range wall that opposes it.

anyway, am hoping you are enjoying the gorgeous kitchen.

mamadadpaige - I received your email and sent you an email back. Great pictures. Your house is so charming and warm and it looks more than ready for a party. It gives me inspiration for my bare dining area. My husband just turned 41 this week - boy does time fly by so quickly. Hope you have a great time tomorrow night celebrating your DH's 40th.

mamadadpaige - your space is lovely! I have a magazine clip showing something very similar to your bookshelf and columns dividing the two spaces - we really wanted to do this in our remodel but couldn't figure out how. But yours is really amazing. And I love the star wallpaper!

My dining room is very formal and I wanted to keep it that way. Also I did not want to get rid of my cherry mahogony set which is 55 years old and beautiful. Instead of opening the wall all the way, we opened it half, it did not make my kitchen bigger, but it certainly opened up the space to look much larger. I then just bought a nice kitchen set, white with cherry wood top, this way it blends with my white cabinets and the dining room furniture. We did not put in an island because it would not allowed me enough eating space when others are here, I would have to always set up the dining room even for casual dining. We are just about finished. I will try to post pictures soon.