It isn't intended as an eating pass thru, right? Just a way to get light and conversation to flow between the kitchen and the LR?

I would go with counter height because I could see this turning into a place for someone to be a little sous chef (chopping or grating stuff without being in the way of the person(s) in the kitchen. It also means you don't have to have a big depth of counter sticking into the LR if you don't want to. As a continuous surface, you could borrow space from the kitchen side (trim green beans at the counter and dump into a bowl that is technically in the kitchen).

Last thought ... when you say laminate, do you mean laminate or Luxury Vinyl Plank? I have had both in different homes (as well as loads of hardwood floor) and LVP is more durable than laminate when it comes to scratches and water. If you haven't checked it out, please consider it. It is pretty inexpensive and you might be able to run the same flooring into the LR and just use an accent rug to define the seating area.

Thank you Pam! Yes, basically just for light/open concept feel. I’ve gone back & forth about having stools on the living room side, but I don’t necessarily want to encourage eating there.

For the flooring, my husband REALLY wants carpeting throughout the living room, I’ve tried convincing him otherwise with no luck. It’s almost like we’d be paying for flooring twice because he’d want a room size area rug with thick padding. We have little kids & he’s a jungle gym, lol.

Planning on laminate, but I’ve seen some LVP flooring that I like, but I thought you didn’t use a pad to install, and then the warmth factor comes up. We’re in Ohio, so need to keep floors warm in the winter, another argument for carpet, lol. And we have two big dogs.

If it is just for light and an open feel I would go with bar or "window" height, since that is basically what it is. Lower makes one wonder why it isn't a "breakfast bar" area with a counter jutting out so I can stand and set my drink and snacks down why I stand or sit near by. IMHO. Window height invokes a few options. Maybe a glass pain for architectural detail, perhaps swinging windows for options. Stain glass might be incredible!

Jk910, I thought of that, but it wouldn’t open up the view/light from the living room and we’d have to move a bunch of electrical. But thank you for the idea!

arcy, i Just don’t want to invite eating there now with little kids, down the road I’m sure that’d Be totally fine! Lol.

I like the idea. I like being able to see the tv from the kitchen for sports and for mindless entertainment while prepping.

That is true, you don't use a pad under the LVP. You can get some that are 8mm or even 12mm thick if you wanted something with more separation between the subfloor (is it a slab?) and the room.

If you have dogs ... man, that is a hard one. My LVP has not scratched yet. My laminate did, but that was when I moved something across it. I think that LVP might scratch a little more easily but the scratches won't mess with the structural integrity of the material - it's just cosmetic. On laminate any scratch is an opening for water, and water causes the substrate to swell (unless you are getting a waterproof substrate - ask about that if you can). In my kitchen, where I had laminate floor, water would get between the seams and the planks would swell and then you had a lump or split in the floor there. Mine was WilsonArt, and old, and maybe they have improved it. But it didn't take much water. Just normal drips around the dishwasher and kitchen sink. If I was a better housekeeper I would have dried the floor from every drip and drop - but I'm not.

So, the reason I say that is tough is ... "likely more scratches, but purely cosmetic, and may not happen" vs "scratches lead to swelling of the substrate and buckles the floor at that spot".

I can say that neither option is great for dog feet having good traction - so we have waterhog mats strategically placed where our dogs are most likely to wipe out. HTH but I doubt it did ;)

IMO dogs and carpet are never a good idea I hve both laminate that looks like slate and LVP in my walk out basement with big dogs who have free access to a dog run with a doggie door. MY LVP has held up very well for 12 yrs BTW our dogs are big one is 125 lbs. MY laminate is in all the main floor living space not one scratch in 12 yrs .IMO you need to but good quality for either choice maybe hubby could be convinced to have area rugs instead of wall to wall. As for the pass through that is in a strange spot I would be looking at opening the kitchen to the dining area instead for a much better layout and probably a better kitchen layout too.

IMO it's a strange spot for a pass through. I don't think it will be nearly as useable as you think. While I get wanting the light from the living room, if lighting is a concern in the kitchen you need to address that in the space by adding more light.

Get the LVP throughout and a large area rug. Carpet is a germ factory and gets rather disgusting.

Plus, it sounds like you're planning carpet in the living room, LVP in the dining and then whatever is in the kitchen - three different floors within view of each other is visual clutter you don't need in this space. Can you do LVP across all three (and then a nice rug in the living room - get a plush one with a good pad under it) or at least LVP in the dining and living (if you're not into changing the kitchen)

If you watch any kind of reno show or if you look through the pages of Houzz, people are demolishing pass-throughs and opening up kitchens to neighbouring living spaces. Forget the pass-through, save your money, and open up your kitchen to the dining room. If you are considering making changes to your home, always, always, always consider how your change will affect resale. A pass-through will do nothing for resale, might even hinder it. Opening up your kitchen to your dining room will add to your resale asking price.

Are you redoing your kitchen and taking down the entire wall between the kitchen and dining room? If you don’t take down that small wall next to your proposed pass through, it does look like you’ll get a 60” pass through.

I’ll attach a pic of the kitchen too, not sure why it didn’t post the first time. My issue with the dining room idea- we’d have to move electrical for the oven & my husband doesn’t want to, lol. I also NEED to add cabinets and counter space.

Do you own your home? I think, after seeing a picture of your kitchen, I would take out the wall from the corner of your living room to around the corner to the wall in the dining room where you have the electrical (hour husband didn't want to remove that wall). That way you would get more light in your living room, and it would give your house more of an open feel. You can still keep the carpeting in the living room and have the dining room and kitchen the same flooring. May have to find out if that is a load bearing wall before taking anything out.

I would use that wall to add cabinetry, a nice pantry perhaps. I think a pass-thru really dates a place. I'd also rip out the carpet and get an area rug.

Can you removed that entire wall and the door wall up until the cabinetry? Hard to tell without dimensions but maybe you'd have room for small island there with stools (for baking/projects etc).

Good ideas, thank you! We have to open up that wall for sight lines to kids. Maybe an island, but would need to keep the posts on either side for support as budget won’t allow for a steel beam. And if that’s the case, wouldn’t it look the same as a counter height pass thru with the counter extended & cabinets on the kitchen side? I suppose the post would be more “wall like” than an island would have.

I’m not a pro...

I hear you saying that you only want to make a small (inexpensive) change by making a pass-through, and you will be doing the work yourselves?

My advice as a mom who liked to keep an eye on her kids (and now grandkids): make the pass through so you can watch them, watch TV, be more involved with the living room happenings. I would not make this an eating area, however, because it’s too small (?)

If your budget allows, by all means open that all up as much as you can with wall removal, etc, but it’s all budget dependent.

Flooring: Remove your entryway flooring and all carpet, opting for one cohesive flooring going all the way into the kitchen, and a nice area rug in the living room. My suggestion here would be 1st choice of hardwood, but I don’t even have hardwood in our home due to a messy (sloppy) hubby and dog, and wet weather a lot of the year. My second choice, which is what I have, is a nice vinyl plank. Our vinyl plank is thick with an attached pad and it has a wood-like feel and appearance. I love it! Third choice (way down the list) is laminate because we got a lot of damage on ours from very little water, but it got into the cracks. Number 4: carpet...after I saw what was under our carpet I vowed to never again have carpet in a public space.

We removed the carpet from our family room and have a 9x12 rug with a pad, and we all love it.

Good luck with your choices!

Oh wait you have five feet for an opening...

That is enough room for bar stools if you wanted them. It would be nice to be able to put snacks and party foods there...or if you made the counter extend a bit into the living room, that’s a perfect spot for a beverage refrigerator and some extra cabinets for games or whatever that extends out to the wall on the right.

Thanks Cindy! Yes, you’re right on all assumptions, lol. Trying to convince hubby that an area rug with a thick pad will be just as comfy as carpet is difficult! I’d prefer the laminate I think, so we can have a thicker pad since it’d go on a slab. But you mentioned your vinyl has attached pad? Hmmm... I also LOVE the idea about adding cabinets on the living room side! Almost like a buffet on the wall adjacent to where the pass thru/bar would go.

Electrical is SO easy to move!!! Don’t let that stop you. Open up that wall and move the stove and oven to the pass thru wall. You already have wires in there.

Firsthome:

I’m not a flooring expert, I don’t live in an extreme climate such as you (Pacific NW) and we have a crawl space, not a slab.

I have no idea about the insulation factor, as we have plywood subfloor and additional half to 3/4 inch (not sure - hubby did it) subfloor on top of that to bring the entire floor up to one level. I know we have more insulation-factor now than we did before!

My husband can be a “stinker” sometimes with change, or with admitting or realizing that just because he thinks something is one way because of what he had when he was growing up, doesn’t mean things have to stay the same.

We ended up going with pass through window & it made such a big difference in regards to light in the kitchen & a more open feel! Couldn’t take the wall down, would be WAY to expensive to dig up the slab & add footers. The window isn’t as big as I had hoped due to the other walls, but I’m so happy with the outcome.

So how did you support that wall properly without opening up the whole thing and adding headers? You removed support. Support has to be added back. Cutting a big hole in a wall still has 90% of the same structural issues as removing that wall. You don’t “just” cut a hole. Houses sag and fall down from that too. Unless properly supported.

Thank you for your comment, but we did not just “cut a hole.” My contractor put in a massive header to support the load.

That made a big difference! I look forward to seeing it when you are done.

Hey now, grumpy... I was there and watched the whole thing. This is my home and I wouldn’t have someone complete bad work to ruin something we’ve worked hard to get. There’s a 2x12 (yes, doubled with 1/2” plywood between) header up there supported by jack studs to the slab, along with new electrical. Please don’t comment anymore if you can’t be positive and offer true advice vs questioning my statement. And FYI- we were going to trim it out ourselves, but my mother is gifting us his finished work for Christmas. I was simply excited to share a progress pic, this is obviously not finished, lol.

Not everyone has the budget to hire a contractor from start to finish, and young families with small children likely fall into that category.

Maybe some people like the satisfaction of doing projects themselves and only hiring when absolutely necessary?

I have a pass thru between my living room and kitchen - my house is very small and I couldn't imagine not having it, it lets in the light and gives it an open feel.

Support beams on either side, so, no.

Can’t wait to see it finished. More pictures!

So excited for you and it does sound like it was a job well done!! We have been DIYs for soo long I always find it hilarious when people hire out what is so not THAT difficult. It isn't an impossible job if one does their homework and follows the directions!! GREAT JOB!