The rendering of the kitchen looks a bit odd. To clarify the empty space, above the stove is a microwave/range hood combination. And next to that is a set of 3 open shelves with everyday dishes (plates, glasses, mugs). I had removed a cabinet to open up the space visually.

Please also post a floor plan of the whole space including rooms leading to and from the kitchen so we can see how the kitchen relates to the rest of the house.

Also the 2d version you posted is too small to see dimensions.

A couple of shots of the current space

Some additional information will be helpful.

Can the windows that go to the floor be changed if it means an optimal layout; what is on the exterior of the home?

What is under the kitchen and how assessable is plumbing/electrical?

Does the kitchen have to accomadate table seating or can the doorway between the dinging room and kitchen be enlarged and the dining room be used for formal/informal dining?

if you are willing to designate the dining room as the table eating space, would you prefer an island to a peninsula?

FYI: Be carful of possible asbestos backing on that 70s sheet vinyl.

Here's the layout again (unfortunately, it doesn't look much better than the first time):

How do you use the space between the sink and the outside door? You're kind of squashed in the kitchen U at the moment. I can see expanding into that (seemingly) unused space for a much better layout.

I would strongly look at changing the windows, if possible. We ended up doing that in our remodel, and it really opened up a lot more options. The cost was not a huge part of our budget, either.

A bit more info. The windows that go to the floor will eventually be changed out. They're old double-paned wood windows but I don't anticipate changing them before the kitchen remodelling unfortunately. At that time, I was thinking either a picture window (above cabinet height) or siding doors to access the deck. I always thought it was a bit odd that the kitchen had no egress to the backyard. Under the kitchen is our basement which has a drywalled ceiling, so the pipes/electrical are not easily accessible, unless we tear into the drywall. In terms of kitchen seating, right now I have some industrial bar stool on the other side of the pennisula. If I kept the existing layout, I was debating doing an over-hang on the pennisula to allow for a little breakfast nook. Since we have the dining room next door, the kitchen doesn't need to accommodate seating. The doorway between the dining room and kitchen can be enlarged. It would certainly result in more light in the dining room that way, plus the dining room is rather small so it would open things up a bit. The negative I see is loss of some storage space if I remove the wall.

@suzanne_sl, in terms of the kitchen sink and outside door access, it's only an issue in summer. We don't tend to use the bbq in winter all that much. So it is a bit awkward but I'd be carrying food through the living room (hardwood floors) to the outside deck.

I'm including a picture of the adjacent dining room so you can get an idea of size. As you can see it is a pretty small space:

Note, that low window faces the neighbors dining room window unfortunately.

If you keep the windows as they are, you are really limiting your options for the kitchen. Optimally, the windows would be above counter height.Even just eliminating the one in the corner opens up a lot of possibilities.

Would you like to see what the layout possibilities are with windows above counter height on that wall?

Cutting into ceiling drywall is a messy pain, but not a huge job or expense to replace and repair. Alternately, subflooring can be removed to expose the floor cavity. I have done both in my year-long remodel...subfloor access was the least messy and seemed to take less time from start to finish.

Seeing possibilities with the windows above counter height would be great. It sounds like I may have to do the window work before the kitchen to get a workable layout.

Is there an outside door in the kitchen...thought the brown double doors between the windows were a recessed cab???

There's no outside door in the kitchen. The cabinet between the two windows is a shallow pantry 9 inches deep. There is an outside door in the neighboring livingroom. The living room doors lead to the deck.

If you can modify the windows to be above counter height, you could expand your U-shaped kitchen a LOT. We just finished a similar change in our kitchen, from a small U, cut off by a peninsula, to a U that spans the entire room with separate prep/cleanup sinks, and a small table in the middle. I can't believe how much more spacious it feels. It went from a one-butt kitchen to at least two.

Wow! @damiarain that mockup looks amazing. I hadn't considered the range along the backwall. Moving those windows definitely opens things up, and there's a lot more storage than I have currently.

I was also wondering if it would be possible to do a linear kitchen in this layout? I was thinking pantry, cabinet with drawers, range, another cabinet with drawers and the fridge, going across the back wall (that currently has the range). And then an island across from it with the sink and dishwasher and waste pullout. Doing some reading online, it seems that islands are only recommended with a minimum of 12 foot wide room. In my case, I wouldn't be able to have an overhang on the island, but I think I should be able to support a narrow island with almost 3 feet on each side.

This is not the greatest mock up but I was thinking something like this:

This leaves the possibility of changing the windows and taking down the wall between the dining room and kitchen. I was trying to avoid a claustrophobic feeling with the room being so narrow.

An L-design would feel less crowded than a U shape and be safer than the galley design you proposed since you will not have to carry hot things to-from the sink; but an L requires work on those windows. I think with an almost 10 feet wide kitchen, there is too much space between your cab runs for an efficient galley kitchen design.

You would have room for an island with an L-shape but adding overhang for seating might make it tight.

it would be better to open the wall between the dining Room and kitchen when you deal with the kitchen remodel...alll the mess at once and flooring issues can be resolved for a cohesive, complimentary look. Why wait to deal with the floor gap that taking the wall out will cause after you put in new kitchen flooring?

I agree. I think I will need to raise those windows to make this work. I also had concerns about the galley with 6 feet between cabinets. I think I would need to have some sort of rolling kitchen island in between to make it work.

I'll take a look at the l-shaped idea. For the dining room and kitchen, I wasn't sure if I wanted to have cohesive flooring. The rest of the house has hardwood and I know a lot of people have hardwood in their kitchen, but I don't see it as very practical. The hardwood in my living room adjacent to the sliding doors has certainly taken some wear and tear from the elements, due to people/pets going in and out. I can see the same thing happening in the kitchen over time, especially with 2 adults plus 2 teens using the kitchen.

What I mean by cohesive is the gap that you would have to deal with if you take the wall out later....you do not want those 6 inches to be noticily patched which they would be unless you tear back into the already existing flooring.

I totally see what you're saying. I was thinking about laying hardwood floor perpendicular to the hardwood floor in the dining room as a transition between flooring to cover the gap between flooring types.

I actually think you're on to something with the galley idea. The best approach with a wide galley is to have your sink and range on the same side with your fridge and microwave on the opposite wall. I'd try to lay it out so your fridge is close to directly across from the sink and less than 9 feet from center of fridge to center of range if possible.

A great example of a wide galley is carrie B's. You'd have approximately 5.5' counter-edge to counter-edge, so maybe enough room for a nice big door like hers.

Also, this might be the time to make your dining room a bit bigger.

Here's a pic Carrie B's kitchen. and some of her posts:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4176277/philadelphia-galley-door-one-year-later

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/the-galley-kitchen-a-defence-and-an-homage-dsvw-vd~3520389

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3514091/reveal-the-door-south-philly-row

Here's a quick ikea plan. I gave two feet over to your dining room. and didn't take the time to add uppers.

Hey, it’s carrieb’s layout! I love it! Please don’t think yours is to wide of a galley. I have 54” between my sink and dw to my dish drawers opposite to the island that I prep on. If I had a few more inches I’d be even happier. It works great for me.

I think the galley idea is very practical. Oddly enough in my area, if you mention a house has a galley kitchen, everyone seems to think of it as a negative.

There's an I-have-to-have-an-island attitude still going on with kitchens. Some folks even consider peninsulas a negative or "dated." Foolishness.

Unless you're planning to sell soon and your realtor advises against it, I say do what will serve you best.

That's really good advice benjesbride.

I happened to have the electrician drop by today (for some other work around the house) and he seems to think I should take out the load bearing wall between the kitchen and living room to make one large room with an island. Really tempting but unfortunately I have no idea what something like that would cost at the moment.

Unless your house is worth spending big bucks, I'd forget about opening up to the living room. Also do you really want your kitchen completely open to the living room?

Well, I wouldn't necessarily take design advice from an electrician :-)

When we renovated our house I intentionally designed the kitchen so it is not totally open to the living space. So I'm biased. But honestly, it would drive me bananas to try to hang out with guests in the living room after a meal while staring at a sink full of dishes. And I would hate it if my exhaust hood noise competed with my kids/husband's TV watching, making everyone fussy at each other. Just a few things to consider before investing in a wall removal.

Range hood noise/talking while cooking/tv watching/dirty dishes/guests...

I really love the open concept that I have for other reasons, but I must admit the above senerio is a definite irritation while it is happening.

I'm a bit torn about the kitchen open to living room idea. One, I do really like a lot of the open concept designs I see, but at the same time, I feel like my tiny house seems bigger in a way with individual rooms. And I have to admit, with teens in the house, it is nice to have a spot to get away. My kids could be watching tv with their friends in the neighboring room and I don't need to be there.