Perhaps off topic. Ours is a two-person kitchen most days and is still under construction; most finishing is not done so no other people would want to eat there, except during entertaining. We've found that the table nook in kitchen near dining room is not being used as anticipated--it's not being used for meals, but then, we're still getting used to the nook on path to dining room--a real change from past habit. DH eats breakfast at peninsula (functions like an island) most of the time and I breakfast in dining room. Suppers are at dining table; lunches move many places but not the nook. We've put a rectangular antique drop-leaf table into nook, which we can open up on each side when necessary, but the folded-down surface is like a sofa table. One thing I've noticed is that I use that surface to off-load accumulate stuff from peninsula, a good thing for life on the peninsula where I'm cooking regularly. I also lift one of the sides of the table surface when I do recipe reading, since my shelves with cookbook collection are right there. And houseplants! and flower arrangements! They are on nook table but seen from adjacent lobby. Right now there are 6 amaryllis pots in various stages of growth on nook table. Glad to have them away from the cooking area where they would otherwise be in the way of kitchen activities. Tomorrow will be the maiden voyage of the new kitchen with a potentially large crowd. We expect historic reenactors to take over the kitchen to make historic punches and flips. I plan to serve the beverages from the nook table in crock pots, bowls, and pitchers; the nook has relatively washable surfaces (including non-carpeted floor), and, better still, it clears the peninsula for pot luck supper items so different cooks can be working on stocking the peninsula of food for buffet supper while others imbibe at table. Nook area is adjacent to dining room and on the route to deeper rooms of the house, so the beverage people won't hang out in the kitchen, a real change from past kitchen, if things work as hoped. Beverage cooks will be able to put out their beverages without disturbance and supper cooks will work separately within the kitchen, I think. Cross my fingers. fyi: Yes, you're probably thinking that I don't cook quite the same things as the typical GW'er and I suppose I don't serve typically either. Tomorrow I'm serving "Yard of Flannel" (something like hot eggnog) from Napoleonic Era which requires hot ale, whipped eggs, spices and brandy, more. I hope to be able to monitor this offering without being in the way, because of this nook setup. More items that will be served: syllabub, another flip, homemade hard cyder, buttterbeere (will it be like the Leaky Cauldron fave?), and a concoction with booze and fruit. Entrees typically include wild game, historic cheeses and breads, puddings, wild rice, Boston baked beans. And of course desserts and more historic booze. Hope the weather cooperates or I will have a lot of stuff for the freezer. Next month we will have a somewhat less eccentric crowd for a pot luck meal and the nook table will probably be used for hors d'ouvers, again keeping the frequenters of the nook table out of the working kitchen. We will serve their buffet meal on the peninsula much as we will tomorrow. Have already tried this serving option a couple times and it seems to work well. I don't regret the nook table setup, but as I said, I may not be using the space as others might.

I really like your home so far. Your hall and view down the house are wonderful and will do great things for it. I have something similar, with windows and single French door at the ends, but less "clean" and lined up. I want yours (!) and agree with recessing the bar slightly so there aren't always messy snags to the view you've created. Ours not only makes our home feel much larger than it is and connects us to the outside, but its simplicity makes our home seem more orderly even when it's not. That rear cabinetry could be much, much shallower and still provide excellent bar storage. Although if it doesn't fit your lifestyle, it just won't do, the three rooms carefully opened to each other could be fantastic, with an open staircase too. A neglected or unappealing dining room is definitely something to worry about, though. If you were to leave the dining room where it is, could you work on its function a bit, "break" the usual dining room box? How about putting a TV in there too for when a game's on? The table could have the kind of comfy armchairs people end up spending whole evenings in. Even a couch, or a very cushy wall-to-wall banquette, where the china cabinet is. What's out those side windows in the dining room? Do you have 8 (even 5?) feet to...perhaps a creeping fig or ivy-covered wall with a quiet water source dribbling down into a little deep green pond running along the wall, even a few ferns poking out of the corners, resident frogs, mossy brick if you wanted? If so, how about "breaking" the otherwise front-rear orientation a bit with windows across most of that wall to your secret garden? If so, would you need a window in the kitchen?

Well, you're missing two chairs in your TV room area to finish that seating arrangement. And then I would probably use that space as a bar area. I would get a sideboard type piece of furniture and decorate the top of it like a bar.

If you don't want hardwood in the kitchen there is no reason that you need to do hardwood in the kitchen. The current trend is to have one flooring throughout your home. Prior to the last 10 years it was much more common to have different flooring in different rooms. Usually a tile or laminate in kitchen and baths, hardwood or carpet in other living spaces. Trends come and go. Pick the flooring that will best fit your lifestyle and make your home work for you. There are many ways to transition from one flooring to another. The transition is easy when there is an architectural break between two room (doorways are most common). Sometimes we can use flooring to define an area and create two spaces where there is no architectural break. My last home didn't have an architectural break between the living room and the entry, but the transition from carpet to tile defined the areas. Here are a few other transitions that are obviously a design choice where two floorings were intentionally selected.