I would be very careful about having an open entry into a space they are never nice you rarely have a place for coats boots etc. A foor plan id the only way to get help from this forum and the addition of pictures is even better

You should definitely post a sketch of the space with dimensions. Is the only backyard access through the family room? I’m wondering if it would help flow and furniture placement if there was a back door off the kitchen directly across from the front door.

Thanks all. Here are plans... one is the original floorplan from the builder (1975-ish). Since then the kitchen has been remodeled, a bay window put in by the breakfast nook and the pony wall placed between the Nook and the Family Room. There are now narrow single step stairs on each side of the pony wall. This is some of the awkwardness we are trying to change. Both original patio sliders are still there (1 in the dining room and 1 in family room). The other photo is of the kitchen remodel the prior owner did... it shows the pony wall and bay window modifications.

Patricia -- there is a coat closet in the entryway so the clutter factor is covered. The entryway pics are taken from past that door. But I appreciate your point and am concerned about opening the family room up visually to the front door too much (cold/exposed). But the entryway itself my be enough.

benjesbride - there is also a glass slider off the dining room which is past the kitchen... this and the family room slider are the only ways to the backyard. I agree it would have been better to have the door off the kitchen across from the front door! Unfortunately, someone remodeled this space to be a bay window which looks out onto a planted area cut out from the deck. A door here would also be awkward for the current kitchen peninsula since there is room for 3 barstools here and the 3rd one would then be in the doorway flow!

Thanks for posting the plans!

How do you currently use the nook (I don't see any furniture in your pictures in it)? There's peninsula seating on the kitchen side and the occasional seating on the FR side?

What, if any, changes you want to make to the kitchen layout?

You mention the bay windows that have been added - how high are they from the ground?

Could there be some option that has the FR and dining room switched for better integration of the FR with the kitchen? Maybe the FR could be extended to include (some of) the living room? (how do you use the LR currently?)

I have seen several people with your floor plan flip flop the rooms. The current dining room becomes the new kitchen area and the current living room becomes the new family room. Opening up the wall between the current kitchen and the current living room. The current kitchen nook area becomes the new dining area and the current family room is re-purposed into a new games/den/office/traffic flow area. I would also add french doors to the living room to give it some separation from the front entry.

Be careful of how wide you make the doorways where the steps go down. This can be a big falling hazard for older people, and very young kids, as well as others. We had this at our last house, until we closed up a big portion of the wall in the dining room, and only left entry to family room from the kitchen, with one set of steps. These sunken rooms are beautiful to look at, but, they were definitely a very bad design. For safety reasons, sometimes, you have to live with a different design, than you really want.

cat_ky: I totally agree and this is why we abandoned the idea of removing the pony wall entirely, completely opening up the space. It would be nice and pretty, but it seems too dangerous... people could be talking to someone in the kitchen, with their back to the steps, and just step back and fall down into the FR.

damiarain:

We use the nook just for group milling, and often flip the counter stools that live at the kitchen peninsula over to the counter on the pony wall... this works well for parties or TV viewing or casual just-us dinners... or laying out a buffet or appetizers. But I've always thought it was a waste of space... it's not a very big area though... not big enough for furniture other than stools. But the pony wall and the multiple entrances really break up the space.

We were not planning on changing kitchen layout. It works well, just needs a serious cosmetic facelift... too beige & faux-Tuscan. I prefer contemporary and clean lines. Also the travertine floor tiles are super cold in the winter. So we'll install hardwood floors that match the rest of the 1st floor. I'm trying to talk my husband into painting the cabinetry (which we'll keep) but so far he loves the wood look.

The bay windows are 22" from the ground on the inside.

We can't extend the FR to include some of living room. These rooms are on opposite sides of the kitchen so not contiguous at all. Did you mean the nook area? The FR is sunken because of the dropped ceiling. so it's hard to integrate with / extend into anything else. The LR is a wonderful room in the front of the house with great light... somewhat of a large formal LR which is less practical these days but it's a very sweet space that looks out onto the view. We always try to move guests into that room but everyone congregates in the kitchen/nook area!

Swapping the FR and DR is an interesting idea though I think the DR is too small for a FR... it's narrow, opens up to the LR and is dark. You couldn't watch TV in there, as no wall is far enough away for viewing... my husband LOVES his TV;) But it would likely make a really nice kitchen.

Rawket Grl:

Thanks, I love this idea and it could work really well in various (not inexpensive) iterations... with or without completely removing the wall between current kitchen & DR... we had thought about leaving the cooktop/oven where it is and having it open to the dining room by cutting open the wall between the Kitchen & DR... so the hood would float.

Opening the wall between the current kitchen & LR is dicier though because we'd lose our pantry & coat closet... both necessary storage. They are unfortunately in the middle of the 1st floor. But if we did do this, how would we deal with the sunken nature of the current FR? The same dilemma remains... if the current nook becomes the new dining area, how would you suggest we handle the elevation drop into that re-purposed games/den/office/traffic area?

Are you then suggesting we just have one room serving as both Living & Family rooms? In many ways this would be great because it's a big sunny room... but we'd still have an awkward connection to the backyard... I guess thru the traffic/game room.

We currently have glass french doors from the front entry to the living room. So at least there's something working at present!

I think Rawket Grl and I were suggesting something along the same lines (though I like her version better *grin*)

Moving the kitchen into the corner and opening up the wall to the LR creates a connected space between outside, kitchen, dining, LR and then the FR is still accessible via the stairs from the dining room - makes for two nice spaces to be available as needed. A very crude illustration is below:

Kitchen in the dining room, combining the breakfast nook and dining spaces into one would be a better use of space. Because I get weird about being able to see kitchen messes from the front door--and because I suspect the wall between dining and living might be load bearing--I'd put the L on the living room wall.