post the entire floor..even sketched on paper..all the rooms around your kitchen space. You would be well served by a large pantry it appears. Lets see if that could happen when you show what the space is like.

OMG! You need a dumpster before you ask for decorating advice!

Erika, just so you understand, the replies are accurate in their request for clean and organized before decorating because we have to see the space to make any kind of helpful suggestion. I agree that the delivery of the reply could have been more gentle, but the point remains that we can't really help if we can't see the room and the openings (windows, doors etc) in the room for spacial relationships. It is helpful to also have a sketch of the rooms with dimensions. Scale of furniture is important. The furniture you are keeping is important. This is not to pick on you, but to help you the best we can given the puzzle you propose.

BTW, it actually will help you too. You will be able to see it better and think better (believe me, this is true) without the items on the floor and counters etc. Somehow our brains transfer clutter on the outside to foggy thinking and it adds a tremendous amount of stress.

Consider going to the organizing sub-forum here on houzz for tips on your delimma first. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/home-organization-discussions-dsbr0-bd~t_29775

Once you are able to clear out the excess, then re-post here and we will be happy to help.

Have hubby help too. If he won't see if friends and family can come over for a weekend to help.

PS: I'm a big believer in making the stuff go into tubs and only have a very few items out of the tub at a time. Thinking of toys here. The organizing sub-forum will have tips that work.

Good luck. Don't lose sight of your goal.

BTW, it actually will help you too. You will be able to see it better and think better (believe me, this is true) without the items on the floor and counters etc. Somehow our brains transfer clutter on the outside to foggy thinking and it adds a tremendous amount of stress.

^^^^ That 1000 percent + it will make looking after the little ones so much easier once you can establish a routine where they learn to put away their toys in the right bins. You will be creating more physical and mental space all at the same time.

It would help to know specifically what you are looking for help with. Are you looking for organization help? That's my jam, not so much with design. It's a LOT of work to settle and do such things with little ones. Sounds like you recently moved in?

It can help to see things on paper. Draw a sketch of your kitchen layout with all possible storage options. That helps for design help AND if you are looking for help settling in to your new kitchen.

OP - as they say, you need to "clear the decks" so we (and you) can see what you have to work with. The photos you've posted show the problem but not potential solutions. More pictures of the kitchen and living areas would be helpful: the pix don't show any place you could put an island, for example, but a floor plan might do so.

While you (or your hubby) are stowing away all the stuff that can be stowed (ie there's a place for it) you might consider getting rid of the things that aren't critical to your life. If you're downsizing you home while upsizing your family, keeping the things that you absolutely need is more important than keeping things you might need sometime. You'll need to be ruthless. If that means eliminating a few pots and pans, so be it.

So, get the rooms down to the basics, work out what additional space you really require, and then folks will help you with ideas about finding more storage, restructuring closets, whatever it takes. Get that sorted first. Then we can move on to getting those rooms to flow.

It's hard to give advice when the space cannot be seen. That's not people tearing you down, that's just the reality of your situation. It's also hard to tell from your pictures where exactly your kitchen sits. Is it behind the wall with the tv? Right now we cannot understand the flow of your new home.

And we get it - most of us here have or had little ones. Mine are both in high school now but they are 13 months apart so I understand the chaos when they were little. But part of me staying sane was having an uncluttered house. I had bins for everything. It wasn't pretty; we still do not have a formal dining room because that became the kids' playroom, but as they got older we were able to pare down and now that space has 2 desks for them to study. Is there some room or place where you can have the kids' toys so they have their own space? In my case, it would drive me crazy to have their things all over the house.

As far as what we can see, off the top of my head it looks like your table is too big for your kitchen. Do you have a dining room or can you get a smaller table? It also looks like you don't have a lot of room for an island, maybe possibly a movable one that can be stored under the pot rack (which I'm not crazy about) when not in use. But that means getting rid of the table. Can you put a tall cabinet to the left of the refrigerator? (again, can't see how much room is there) Or, maybe put a cabinet on top of the refrigerator?

To be honest, I would hold off on white cabinets until your kids are a bit older. You'll drive yourself crazy with messy kid hands all over them.

I'm sorry you found my post offensive. I specifically waited for a while to see if anyone else would tackle it, and ended up just going for it when it became apparent no one else was. I didn't want it to go unanswered.

As chocolatebunny123 said, many of us are parents. I have four kids myself, plus a 150lb dog. My oldest was only seven when my baby was born, so I certainly know what it's like to juggle kids and their messes. The problem is that, while we want to help you, we can't.

We still don't know where you plan to put an island. We don't know if these rooms are adjoining or on opposite sides of the house. We don't know whether you plan to paint the existing cabinets or install new ones. We don't know if you're open to rearranging the layout or if you are constrained to the current one. We don't know if you're DIY savvy or planning to hire it all out. We don't know what look you want for your hood. We don't know what your budget is.

Help us so we can help you.

(And, as a mom of 4, I promise you that this stage will pass, but the more organized you are, the easier it will be to get through.)