" is the breakfast room REALLY too small to eat in? " On the eating area ... check out the picture and the description for Rule #8 ... http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/kitchen.design.rules.htm Basically, Here are dining table clearance rules ... Allow 24" for a seated diner with no obstruction (wall, furniture, counter, etc) behind. Allow 32" from table edge to wall or obstruction for a seated diner with NO TRAFFIC passing behind diner. Allow minimum 36" to allow someone to slide behind / edge past a seated diner when traffic passes behind a seated diner between the table and an obstruction, Or, a minimum 42-44" to allow traffic to walk behind a seated diner. Allow 60" from table edge for a wheelchair to pass behind. To allow for a dining table right next to an island or peninsula with barstools, add approx 18", assuming a fairly modest sized barstool. So ... you would need minimum 42 + 18 = 60" between the edge of the dining table and the counter edge of the island or peninsula to allow traffic to walk in between (not "slide past"). Understand, these are minimums and depend on the size of the furniture, a couple more inches could feel more spacious. We have about 36" (maybe an inch or so more than that, no more than 38" for sure) between the table edge and the wall for a 13 foot long dining table that seats 14 (6 on each side and 1 on each end) and it is fairly comfortable even sliding past to get to the seats in the middle. Our chairs are normal size, not overly large and you don't have to "hug the wall" to get by. Also, be sure to use the measurements from the counter overhang edge (the cabinets may be 24", but have a 1-2" overhang) and know your table measurements. Our table is 40" wide, but tables can vary GREATLY from about 32" wide to about 48" wide. If you are unsure, try to plan for a wider width. These dimensions above are for regular chairs. Banquet seat dimensions would be a little different. On a round table, you can fudge the above numbers a little because the table curves away from you almost immediately. Not so much on an oval table. The curve on an oval is only on the corners, where there will already be plenty of space anyway. One thing that does help you is the doorway opening on 2 sides of the table which makes the traffic passing area feel more generous. There is no wall or obstruction behind the table there. WIDTH NEEDED for dining ... Ideally, you need 24-28" of width for each seated person at a dinner table or for bar seating. 30" would be Very graciously spacious. At a bare minimum, you need about 21" width for bar seating. KNEE SPACE: If putting stools or chairs on perpendicular sides of a table/island/peninsula, be sure the knee space is not shared by 2 seats. For 30" high tables (table height) you need 18" table overhang / knee space For 36" high counters (counter height) you need 15" counter overhang / knee space For 42" high counters (bar height) you need 12" counter overhang / knee space Some people do get by with less overhang at their bar or island. I actually have 18.5" wide for each of my 4 barstools, which are just round so not very large stools (Acme Furniture 07258). I would not do a dining table with personal space this narrow at 18-21", but you can get away with it a little more easily at a bar. We have 15" overhang on the long side of our counter height (36" tall) peninsula. When we are sitting at our peninsula, we normally pull one of the stools around to the end which has an 8" overhang. The 8" counter overhang is not ideal by any means, but it is workable for occasional use. This gives each of the 3 stools on the long side 24.5" wide per person . When it's kids sitting there, the decreased space works ok for them and they all 4 stay side by side with 18.5" each

This is simply one of the gazillion examples we see here, almost daily, of a CAD operator designing sequentially, one floor at a time, for the owners approval, before moving on to the next floor, designing it sequentially, one floor at a time, for the owners approval. When all the floor plans are "approved", then, and only then, does the CAD operator throw a roof on it, getting owner's approval. Final stage is to design elevations, get the owner's approval, and quit. Said differently, designing sequentially, one architectural element at a time, simply results in terrible (and expensive) designs. It makes it easy for the CAD designer, but the owner gets the very worst sort of design possible. Of course, this approach to design disaster is made worse because the CAD designer simply drafts whatever the owners say they want. And very few owners know anything about design or how it takes place. So...the owners walk into the CAD designer studio with a mish-mash of ideas about their "forever house" And the CAD designer bangs them all together inside some walls. See...you asked for X and Y...and here they are...! Be careful what you ask for...

What shows you are going about this all wrong is you're honing in on the details (like where to put the dishwasher and fridge), yet you don't even have the big picture yet. I'm an artist. When I start to draw, I don't start with the eyes on the face. I first get the general placement of the figure, then rough in the lights and darks and the general overall feel. I then slowly start to refine everything and the more I refine, the more detailed I can get until finally I can start to detail the eyes, nose and mouth. A good architect will work the same way, only they'll consider the interior, the exterior and how the house sits on the land all at the same time. Not until they and their client have honed in on the overall look and feel, will they start to refine to first room sizes, then things like closets, then get into the details.

For the intended use in the foreseeable future, I would not spend that amount of money - plus deal with the aggravation - in order to open up the kitchen. At a certain point - especially if you have been renting it, there would probably need to be major remodeling of the kitchen anyway just from use. Since it is a townhome presumably there are equivalent homes with the same layout which would provide insight into whether it is something that other people have done in the development. Obviously people are different but I personally wouldn't care whether there was an open kitchen plan in a BnB type of short rental. I would be more concerned with location and cleanliness and comfort of beds and also whether there was a great shower. Interesting about how property is assessed. I am also in an area in which taxes are based on initial purchase price with very modest increases permitted. Theoretically remodeling triggers an assessment when permits are pulled. However, when I read the regulations, it appears that most home "improvements" aren't cause for an increased assessment since "replacements" don't cause an increase. If you "add" something like an additional bathroom or square footage it would theoretically cause an increase. There is a gray area in which *theoretically* the quality of the replacements is considered but that is really unworkable in practice since anytime someone replaces the kitchen cabinets (for example), the *quality* is going to be better presumably especially in an older residence.