I'm looking for some thoughts on what to do with an awkward space. A few years ago we enclosed our breezeway and made it part of the kitchen. It's nice in theory but there are two doors into the space so there isn't really much usable space. I've attached several photos. I realized I didn't really get a photo of the overall space, so I will add that later. The blue wall is approximately 10' long and the wall with all windows is 9'. There's about 21" from the blue wall to the door going outside (depth where the book case is) and 30" from the wall with all the windows to the steps.
The two walls with the windows face each other, creating a walkway between the kitchen and the garage (door in the blue wall). The door on the other wall goes outside to the driveway. The dining room is on the other side of the kitchen (doorway that you see next to the fridge).
I use the counter facing into the space very frequently for cooking, so I see it all the time. It bothers me that I can't find a practical use for this room. My latest thought was to make the area on the blue wall into a bar, which is what you see in the photos. I just messed around with it for 15 minutes or so, so I would still make some changes. We don't have a great place to store that stuff right now so that would help. And when we have parties this area is one of the main gathering places. Normally we put the bar on the kitchen counter where the barstools are.
This area gets great light, and I love all of my plants, so those will stay. I'm not planning on changing paint and didn't want to spend a lot on furniture. Mostly looking for suggestions on what to do with this area that makes sense and looks nice.
I was thinking about adding casters to the bookshelf to raise it up a bit, adding doors, and perhaps adding a marble/tile top to refurbish it as a bar. And perhaps another shelf above it for plants and glassware. If I stick with that idea. And then swapping out the bench for either a different bench with a back that people could actually sit on or a small cafe type table with two chairs. The bench would be more practical because I could slide the baskets under it which have gloves, hats, etc. I would love to get new barstools at some point as well, something lighter in color. They have to be the extra tall height, so they can be difficult to find.
I should also mention it's just my husband and I, so we don't need a ton of space for coats, backpacks, etc. We store most of our coats in a closet but the shoes usually end up in this area. Looking forward to hearing some ideas!