If you are happy with this design, there is little hope for the living area. Good luck!

are you suggesting you would change the entire layout?

The small closet next to the powder room ( near the steps going down ) is going to crowd that space, perhaps impede "traffic" -- someone trying to carry something such as a laundry basket between those two points would have a narrow space in which to do so.

Not a fan of a powder room or bath without a window. Would find a way to rethink kitchen layout to put the powder room beside the master bath (between master bath and kitchen)-- a backward "L" shaped powder room if necessary.

Living room is very small for a plan that appears to be trying to seat over a dozen people for daily meals ... plus in-kitchen eating.

If the wall between the kitchen and dining area is not a weight bearing wall, remove it and rethink your open concept "great room" -- living/dining/kitchen space to focus on one large dining area rather than adding the in-kitchen dining so you can increase the size of your living room seating area.

Good luck and do keep us updated.

Too bad you're happy with your kitchen because it's a disaster waiting to happen if you do that plan.

Please do yourself a HUGE favor and vet your kitchen in the kitchen forum.

Right now your island is a barrier between zones. For example you have to walk completely around the island to take food from the fridge to bring it to one of the two sinks to wash and prep.

You have seating for guests opposite your stove????

And you have a dining table for 14 people but seating in the living room only for 5? Your spaces do not relate to one another in terms of size. Your living/dining room width is 24'. For a table that big, you need a width for the table of a minimum of 4'. Add to that 3' on either side for seating and you now have a living room that is only 14' wide.

You can't put 10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag and that's what you're trying to do.

As for the exterior? Windows on the second floor should never be taller than windows on the first floor. It makes it look top heavy and that's what your windows above the door are doing. It doesn't look grand and elegant. It looks like it's trying to play dress up.

Please consider the process you would go through for preparing a meal in this kitchen. Frustrating. Not good.

Also--one of my pet peeves--standard counter depth for those perimeter cabinets is 26" (sometimes 25.5"), not 24"! This matters a lot when you consider this misrepresentation costs you 4" of aisle width.

Are you DIYing these plans or are you working with a pro?

Thank you all for the comments. let me make some clarifications. we are a family of 5 however we invite friends over a lot for dinner on weekends and holidays. The dining table will be normally folded down to sit 6-10 and when fully opened will accommodate 14(as shown) . We made some modifications in the kitchen and the island seating was not moved to the opposite side of the stove.(cpartist thanks for noticing that. Also your comment on removing window above door is something I have already decided to do but didn't have an updated model. ) In general, the kitchen appliance placements are far from being final. we are currently focusing on the structure layout. A 23'2" x 14' 5' kitchen is more than enough in my opinion although my wife would want it larger:) . suezbell I agree with you on having a window to the powder room but couldn't find a way to make that happen.

I have came up with an idea for the living room and attaching a quick rendering I did myself (its missing a lot of things like windows in all rooms besides living room and much more....

Oh! Wait a minute. Is this a Kosher kitchen by any chance?

Glat. No just kidding... what made you think that?

Two equal-size sinks and two fridges :-)

Wife insisting on 2 sinks and big fridge

Looking at the drawings and the layout, I can say you can do better. (of course you know "you can do better" is code for "you design stinks"). Perhaps if you engage a local architect you will be happier years down the road.

the layout is the work of an architect Mark Bischak, Architect the rendered drawings are mine. keep in mind stairs cannot be moved as they sit on top of basement stairs which I will not touch (basement has been fully renovated) we want master to be on first floor. and require powder room.

Can you post the existing floor plan?

IMO a galley kitchen would have been a better choice that would have allowed the dining room to move down and make the LR a larger space so if you like it as is for the kitchen IMO the LR is what it is. That kitchen is non functional IMO and architects are not kitchen designers in my experience.

I guess I should have included the adjective "better" before the word "local" in my previous comment.

As far as the kitchen, look up "kitchen work triangle"; have your "architect" look it up too. According to guidelines of a kitchen work triangle, which aid in designing an efficient kitchen, your kitchen fails. Granted using the kitchen work triangle is a starting point in designing a kitchen, and every kitchen should be designed for the cook(s) that will be using the kitchen, and therefore vary from the strict application of a work triangle.

Engage the services of a Kitchen Designer or get an architect that is good at designing kitchens.

Have you selected a dining table already? Considering table width and walk around space, it would drive me bananas in this layout to not have the dining table and light fixture line up with the center of the bay window.

Given your wife’s kitchen requirements, I’m assuming she cooks a lot? Ask her to mentally walk through preparing a few full meals in this space, as I think it might help her see that while she has the individual pieces she wants, they will not work together to function well.

Then I would seriously consided a full rework of the space, as others have suggested.

Finally, I would think about whether you really need a full island of seating directly adjacent to the dining room. Do you really need to be able to seat the whole family at the island when the dining room is just steps away? You’d give yourself a lot more options if you thought hard about how much seating you really need.

The kitchen layout is far from final and the appliances WILL NOT be where they show right now. One sink will be on the island near the stove the chairs of the island will be on the opposite side or maybe even only on one side with an elevated bar hight (side closer to dining room) and fridge will need to move perhaps where the stove is now and stove will move to where sinks are now but what I am tryin to finalize is the structure and space I give each area.The dining table was not purchased now was anything else. Kristin S yes she cooks every day and bakes a lot :) I agree sitting is not needed in kitchen but she is insisting on an island so throwing in some chairs docent change much. thinkdesignlive I didn't like that when you enter the space you are somewhat between between the kitchen and dining. The main thing I didn't like is that you need to pass the kitchen to get to the living room space.

What do you guys think of the living room layout I proposed in the rendered version?

I think your living room/dining room is too small for what you want it to do and be.

It's hard to judge your rendering without dimensions; my first thought is that it looks like there isn't enough room between the table and the sofa, but I can't tell for sure. Then the two chairs seem strangely far from the sofas. I agree with cpartist (who is usually a pretty good judge of these things) that you don't have room in that room, given the size and shape, to accomplish both of your purposes well.

If you don't need the island seating, get rid of it. The barstools look like they impede the walkway even tucked in...and kids are never going to remember to tuck them in, so they'll be constantly in the way. I predict that even if you design for them, you'll ditch them eventually if your wife is a serious cook. You might as well ditch them now and get that space for extra function (more drawers!) in the kitchen.

Is the location of the wall between the dining room and the kitchen locked in, or could that be changed? How would you feel about flipping the kitchen orientation? I'm not as good at others at mocking it up (I just failed miserably at tweaking the image using preview), but my thought is that it might work better if you changed the kitchen and dining area to run in vertical parallel, with the living room staying at the top, particularly if you're open to eliminating the island seating.

here is a new look at it with dimensions. kitchen/dining was moved around living room did not move.

Is this existing as you mention basement reno? You keep moving interior walls at a moments notice, and the aqppliances and such as if you can move plumbing whenever and wherever, so I am a bit confused......................

I like nailians idea. The other sketch had a ton of wasted space with the walkway going to the deck.

This is another of those "trying to fit 15 pounds into a 8-pound bag" threads.

Start over. You'll be glad you did in the long run.

I like your last plan. Would shorten that wall with fridge so it is on same level as half bathroom wall. That will extend living area. Don't extend that wall pass fridge it will be hard to open left door. Please avoid 2 levels island, it will look terrible and inconvenient for kids and older people. Move cooktop to the right to allow more space with fridge and it is not the best to have it right across sink, little off center would be good for work triangle.

I like the I like the last layout best, but you’ll want to make sure there is adequate circulation space around the table - that dimension isn’t shown. The island looks like it’s 5’ wife right now, and I’d absolutely shrink that down to 4’ (and single height) for easier cleaning and better table circulation. Also, don’t put the prep sink directly across from the range - slide it to the left a bit so if someone is working at each they’re not bumping into one another.

i would again think about eliminating the island stools and making the back of the island storage, as you did loose some full height cabinets, and the table is right there. At the very least, what about taking out two or three of the stools in favor of storage?

Finally, look hard at your living room furniture grouping. You want sofas about 18” from the coffee table, and these look much farther. Also, at least the front feet of the furniture need to fit on the rug. Make sure the pieces are the size you’ll actually have and arrange them in a realistic way to make sure you won’t have odd spaces.

Where is the kitchen/dining in relation to the rest of the house in your last rendition?

Please show a 2d version of it with the rest of the house.

Unless you're getting an integrated fridge, you can't have a fridge so close to the wall.

It appears you do now have the needed space between island with stools and dining table.

I like the new suggestion. You just need to to remove the wall next to the fridge like others have said. I would also move the prep sink closer to the fridge, then you can easily take things to from the fridge to the prep sink to wash and have a long uninterrupted counter top across from the range to do your prep.

Also is that a fireplace with a TV above it? If this is your main TV area, you should get rid of the fireplace as looking up will be a pain in the neck (also where will you keep things like video game consoles)

Yes, I would work on an option where the t.v. (if there is one) isn't above the fireplace. Either a wider area with the t.v. next to the fireplace (you can find lots of pictures of that), or perhaps put the t.v. on the wall behind the chairs and have chairs that swivel to either face the fireplace or the t.v..

millworkman I am redoing the entire house besides the basement. that was renovated few years back. I pretty much knocking down everything on first and second floor and rebuilding.

thinkdesignlive the wall itself was not structural but there where post on the ends is a beam needs to pass somewhere in that area. I can now have a post on the wall that covers the side of the fridge and have a small wall stick out on the opposite site

I agree the the wall should only go until the edge if the fridge but thought to give a drop more privacy.

Kristin S I took the island as a ready made model from sketchup. I will not be doing a 2 tier island and will have storage on the seating side to accommodate the pantry I have removed from first model.

I do have another nice pantry we built in the basement under the stairs but of course I rather not have to go up and down all the time.

As for the living room, don't pay attention how exactly I poisoned the carpet and sofa... I just downloaded a few items from sketchup library and put it to give an idea.

As for tv fireplace. Im planing on a ventless fireplace that are relatively narrow in hight. and want tv on top on an accent wall. I like that look.

See attached image from Pinterest