It depends though: if it will stay Open most of the time and dropped when you want to use the extra space it could work. Also the ledge could be wide enough that some things could be kept on the fixed part at all times. However, we put away the salt and pepper, butter and such after every meal and we have a regular table, Not everyone leaves those things out.

Thanks for your feedback! Of note: our contractor did not think he would be able to relocate the heat vent without major expense and also going into the floor upstairs. The drain pipe is going to be looked at by a plumber tomorrow. We don’t want to sink a ton of money into the project so options are somewhat limited. With a support beam being added where the wall is being opened, it doesn’t leave room to the route the plumbing or vent. We aren’t doing the work ourselves, the contractor just opened up the drywall today to find the surprise vent. :)

Omg. This is the exact layout of our house and we had a similar wall with two openings Just like you, albeit a shorter span. Ours was load bearing and we ran a 12 ft LVL beam up in the attic to carry the load. I want to say we paid about 3k total. It was a piece of cake. Opening it up transformed the house! We actually renovated our kitchen soon after so we replaced the flooring in there, so matching wasn't a concern.

I looked into Sketchup, unless I got it wrong those are models, its a fake house, it has nothing to do with my real house. I wanna have something like Google streets, you can move around and see my real house and change things using REAL furniture not fake rendering. Lets say I wanna replace my couch with a specific West-Elm couch. Can you do it in Sketchup?