What kind of foundation are you on? Do you know which walls are loadbearing and are you willing to remove any non-load bearing walls? To me the location of that bathroom off the dining room is horribly embarrassing and I would never ever want to use it. Do people really use it? Where is your laundry room?

I was thinking the same thing about the bathroom. I would consider getting rid of that bathroom in favor of a standard rectangular dining room. Then use the remainder of the space as walk in pantry. Then you could move the fridge down next to the chimney so it's closer to the prep area. Does the brick get warm to the touch or is it well insulated?

I would assume the laundry is in the basement since it isn't adjacent to the kitchen or bath on the main floor?

It is a poured concrete foundation, though the previous owners' additions (left side of the dining room with the unopenable window, the bathroom next to it and mudroom) are on a concrete slab. We believe the walls in the center of the house are load bearing.

I like the idea of removing the 2nd bathroom, though the house does not have a master bathroom. Yes, laundry is in the basement.

also, how do you use your dining room and where is the table currently situated?

Is the door from the room marked "mudroom" the front entry? Or is it only the family that uses it? How many people live here?

Don't know your budget, but I'd see about rearranging the location of things. The bathroom as others mentioned isn't very private and also ends up chopping up the room. This is just a potential option, but you could also do a kitchen in the other area. Seems less than ideal to have the kitchen still where it currently is due to it also seeming like a kitchen and hallway to get to other areas of the house.

I love the colors and style of your current kitchen, but I don't have to cook in it. ;)

A couple of small changes in layout might help the flow, but not necessitate changes in plumbing or electrical. I put a shallow pantry against the chimney, then moved fridge over, pulled it forward, and put a counter next to the DR door, for landing space or coffee service. The back of the pantry/fridge nook could be storage or display for the LR.

A MW could be kept on a shelf to the right of the fridge, above the coffee area, and if you want to keep the dog bowls beside the range, that could be open under a counter with a clipped corner.

Can the inside walls of the dining area bathroom and adjoining short walls of the kitchen be removed? Where is your master bedroom? Would you want your laundry room on the main level?

What is the room that adjoins the dining area, kitchen and livingroom?

townlakecakes - Currently the dining table is near the unopenable window for us, though we move it near the garden window when we have company.

bpathome - The mudroom is technically the side door. Entry points are the back porch, garage, and driveway, so we use it a lot ourselves. The main front door is on the other side of the living room which I did not draw on the map. It is just my husband and I (and our dog).

lyfia - Thanks for the layout idea! For now, we are just interested in seeing what options are possible. I do like the more square layout of the kitchen, though the garden window goes below countertop height.

mama goose - Thank you! It needed a quick fix when we first moved in so everything got painted. I love the idea of the shallow pantry cabinets! Do you think it would be ok to remove the radiator there? It is the only heat source for the kitchen. Moving the coffee area would open up food prep closer to the stove.

rantontoo - I'm not sure if the short wall in the kitchen can be removed. That area is an addition so that is where the house originally ended. The master bedroom is on the other side of the house. I'm not too concerned with a laundry room right now. I consider the whole area below the kitchen and living room to be the dining room. The previous owners used it as a family room - hence the rug - though I want to replace it all with hardwood.

Could you do something like this?
- Move the range to the left so you could have a landing spot for spoons and spices to the right.

- Add the shallow pantry cabinets as uppers only, but use it for small appliances or china because of the heat sources. Below a countertop, add vented sliding doors or leave it open to allow the heat out. Perfect spot for the dog!

- Extend the bathroom wall about 18" to block it a bit, and put upper and lower cabinets there. It can be your pantry and coffee bar/bar area.

- Add a shallow storage unit under the window for more storage. Your dining table can float as it does now, depending on if it's just you or company.

Can the bathroom door be hinged on the right side instead of the left to block the view? It depends on how the fixtures are arranged in there.

Would you please post a to-scale floor plan of the entire floor this is on?

The bathroom door can't be re-hinged, as it would block the sink. Should we leave the kitchen/dining as is and focus elsewhere? Updated map below.

Very helpful! Thank you! It all make a lot more sense now. I can't read some of the captions, though. What does it say under "mudroom"?

And to clarify, you don't really use this red area here currently? It was a family room for the previous people, and now it's nothing?

Sorry, I didn't realize it would resize my layout. Click here for the full size, updated layout.

The previous family room is the other side of the dining room (it has the blue rug). As of right now, we tend to use the left side as the breakfast nook, and on the right side, we move the dining table there when company is over so it is not right next to the bathroom.

Do you have a back yard or side yard that you would like better access or view from the house? Where is it, and how do you get there?

How do you use the bedroom 3 to the right of the front door? What about bedroom 2$

Since you have that other bathroom right next to the stairway, I would definitely get rid of the one off of the dining room. It would make a fabulous Butler's pantry.

I wouldn't remove the bathroom--I've lived in too many houses with only one bathroom. I like that it's near the mudroom, so no has to traipse through the middle of the kitchen to get to the bathroom near the stairs.

I missed the radiator in the kitchen--it is the whole width of the dark line behind the mobile cart? What kind of radiator?

But that would become the ONLY bathroom. I think I'd leave this one at least as a powder room.

It seems to me that if you're moving your table every time you have company, the bathroom is a problem. Maybe getting rid of it isn't the answer, but it does need to be addressed in some way.

The two dining rooms are separated by 2 things. The ceiling header and partial walls (I can never remember what those are called.) But they're also separated by the path from the mud room to the kitchen. It seems to me that if you moved the entry door from the mud room over toward the back wall (to the left from the perspective of the floor plan) you would open up the perceived area of the smaller dining room to include what is currently the walkway. The end of the dining room with the bathroom could be used either as an entry hall with a table in the middle or as a sort of sunroom, with a couple of chairs and a small table, suitable for coffee and toast type breakfasts.

You could disguise the separation between the rooms on the exterior wall

with a gas fireplace something like this centered on the table.

Here's a crazy idea: Make the current dining room with its bathroom into the master suite. Lots of directions you could go after that. Is the current living room big enough for seating and dining area? How many bedrooms do you need since one of them is labeled as an office?

As much as I'd love to remove the bathroom and add on a master bathroom instead, we do not want to do any major renovations to the house. It seems that with the entryway dividing the two areas, it is best to keep the right side as the dining room with the garden window (we will leave the table there once we redo the floor) and the left area with the hutch or buffet table, and perhaps a sliding door (though there is baseboard heat there) out to the deck instead of the unopenable window. I plan on adding some trim to the dining area to fancy it up a bit.

For the kitchen, I'm thinking we will add a small countertop next to the stove, take out the pantry next to the fridge to open up the area, change out the radiator, and add in an in wall pantry into the chimney wall. The radiator is about 2' high and 4' 10" wide.

Here's another idea, if you can remove/add some walls.