Are we to assume you are willing to take down the wall between the kitchen and play room, even if it's load bearing and/or brick? Are you willing to cut through the slab to put plumbing on the window wall?

I wouldn't put a cooktop on an island, especially with three small children running around.

Yes and yes- and Thank you! There’s currently a door in that wall between the play room and the kitchen as well as a “pass-thru” window. But we know it would be expensive to take down the wall but we bought the house expecting to do some major work. It’s possible there is some space under the play room slab for plumbing- there was under the laundry room when we moved it upstairs- but we don’t know. Either way- we’re expecting to have to pay to move that plumbing.

@live wire oak- upstairs there are two bedrooms- one that is roughly the same size as the living room downstairs and another that is a normal size. We’re planning on splitting it in to two bedrooms so that our total bedroom/bathroom count stays the same.

Here's a quick layout--provided the wall can come down and you can install a beam in the ceiling. I enclosed the perimeter support posts in cabinetry, but I don't know if you'd want an exposed beam bisecting the island.

Thanks mama goose- one thing I realized I neglected to put in my floor plan was the current window between the kitchen and living room. It is currently exactly where you put the fridge in your new floor plan (Over the existing kitchen sink- so good for plumbing if the fridge moved there!) would that affect any of your thoughts? I currently like it because I can see the backyard and the living room a little (which is where we all spend most of our time). But I’m hoping that if the kitchen gets a lot bigger more time would be spent in there by the kids/family so it wouldn’t be such a big deal to be not able to see into the living room?

If it wouldn't crown the entry, the fridge could be mover to where I put the pantry, so a pass-through could be retained. You could use a drawer MW, if the pass-through is wider than 36". Down side is that the fridge would be seen from the front door.

I was going to add a few remarks to my previous post, but I'll add them here. The dish hutch I drew could also double as a coffee station, but if the fridge is moved into the pantry space I'm not sure where you could house appliances. I'd recommend using drawer bases wherever possible, so appliances could be kept in deep drawers. The shallow storage on the top wall could consist of stacked upper cabinets--12"-15" deep, so could house smaller appliances.

Thanks- it feels to me like putting the fridge where the “pantry” is could be a major pinch point since that is such a used walkway thru the house (only Path to the living room/laundry/bathroom/backyard) so I’d probably lose the pass- thru than cause a regular traffic jam.

Another question on the layout? Is that a second sink in the island? And four bar stools? (Just trying to make sure I know what all the shapes are). I always thought it was most efficient for a trash pullout and dishwasher to be on opposite sides of the sink- do you think having the trash in the island would work better?

I put the clean-up sink under the window, and put a prep sink on the island. This gives you separate work zones, so helpers can be loading or unloading the Dw, or gathering dishes to set the table, without interfering with prep and cooking tasks. Your children will soon be old enough to help in the kitchen, so prepare now. :)

The trash pull-out is on the corner of the island near the clean-up zone, so it's shared by both zones. You could have a trash pull-out beside each sink, but the two zones are close enough to share the trash.

There are five stools on the 8' x 42" island--one on the short side, and four on the back (one for each member of the family, for quick meals).

I made some changes before I read your last post, so this has the pass-through, with a counter-depth fridge. Ignore that part. I relocated dish storage, and made the dish hutch a coffee station and/or appliance garage.

Thanks! I have a question about appliance garages and the shallow storage area- An appliance garage seems like a wonderful compromise between me and my husband- I don’t want appliances all over the counters and he doesn’t want to have to pull them out and plug them in all the time- I’m thinking things like the toaster or various ninja appliances. In the shallow storage is it possible to do something like 15” deep cabinets on the bottom and then put a counter top with a 12” cabinet stacked directly on top of it? And that would have the appliance garage? I’ll try to find a picture of what I’m thinking. Then the dishes could be back where you had them before which seems like a wonderful location in proximity to the dining room.

I think that would work, but would 12" be deep enough for your appliances like a toaster? Maybe use the shallow storage for pantry items, and the 18" deep pantry for appliances.

Another thought (and I probably wouldn't suggest this if you didn't already have water under the pass-through) but if you cut back the wall by the DR entry, the fridge could go there. Then the prep sink would be where your existing sink is now and you could prep with an eye on the activity in the LR.

I don't like this plan as much as the first one I posted, for a number of reasons (to follow), but it might suit you better.

First, although the fridge is closer to the DR, it's not as accessible to the LR. Second, the clean-up zone is in the middle of the main prep path. You could keep your main prep on the island, or use the area to the right of the range as main prep, at least while the kids are young, but that means more steps to the fridge.

Thank you! I’ll have to do some measuring regarding appliances but you make a great point about the space in the “pantry” as opposed to the shallow storage. I think I’m loving the first layout you did as well. I had been having trouble conceptualizing the space with the wall down and had been picturing the fridge in the corner by the dining room (like in the last layout)), but I think having it down by the living room and the dish storage in that top corner makes a ton more sense.

Love how accessible everything is! Thank you!

I love mama’s layout, but my concern is, will you still have a playroom somewhere?

So we wouldn’t have an actual play room anywhere. BUT we do have a large basement- not that the kids will go to any floor we aren’t on by themselves anyway- even the ones that are old enough :). But we do have a fair amount of room that we can use to store toys in the living room, plus they have some space in their bedrooms. My thoughts are that a play room is good for RIGHT now when the kids are this little... but they are growing. And ultimately I think we’d get more use out of a larger kitchen.

Honestly this shouldn't be design sourced here on GW. For this you need a talented architect.

Additionally what is the age of the house? And what has been done to it in the past? Was for example the playroom added?

I mostly concentrate on kitchens, but I'll try the master bathroom/closet. I'd keep bedroom #1, since there are two windows. If you leave most of the existing bathroom structure intact, and put individual sinks in the area between the bathroom and closet, back-to-back with existing plumbing, you can save on plumbing costs. Closet framing shouldn't be too expensive (relative to cost of whole remodel), and would be relatively easy to remove to reconvert to a bedroom. Plan is reoriented to better fit the page:

If you don't want the second entry to the bathroom (current door for BR#2), the vanity on the right could be extended (for her ;). The existing closet for BR#1 could be opened to entry, for more coat storage.

@cpartist - we will be getting an architect involved- I’ve just been reading Houzz for so long I wanted to post and see what anyone’s thoughts were as well. I know you all have great ideas :).

We believe that what I called the dining room, beds 1 & 2, bath 1, and kitchen were the original house built around 1940. Exactly when/how what is the “play room” was added we do not know- it was suggested to is that it may have been an exterior porch that was enclosed at some point in time. It was the dining room when we bought the house and the front was a “formal living room”. The back of the house (living room, bath 2, laundry/sewing room, back porch) part of a three story (basement, main floor, 2nd floor) addition that was put on the house in 1990. We spend most of our time in the back of the house and the upstairs is a very large bedroom that two of the kids currently share (was previously used as the master bedroom but we Preferred the kids to be upstairs instead of by the front door).

I’d love to hear any thoughts you had about the house!

@mama goose_gw zn6OH- thanks for taking a look at the bathroom. We currently use bedroom 1 as our bedroom which agrees with what you said, and I was planning on flipping the door to that closet to the entry for storage for items like the vacuum, broom, wrapping paper, etc so that was in line with your thoughts as well!

We don’t need that second entry to the bathroom area since there is another full bath on the first floor so i’d Like to close it up.

That certainly would be a Huge master closet! I know my husband would prefer to have a larger shower...

My husband came up with the attached layout for the master suite by moving all of the interior walls(that he thinks are non-load bearing). Any thoughts?

We're slowly moving toward a remodel/addition so I completely sympathize with the excitement around trying to think through how to reconfigure your space! One point on your husband's suggested layout - it seems like the bed is squished in a smallish area and there's a lot of wasted space. Also do you really want your headboard up against a 59" window, esp if this is a first-floor master! One last point -- as you think about the possibilities, give some thought to the exterior perspective. (Even if you don't, your architect surely will!)

@smalloldhouse_gw thank you for taking the time to look/read! We’re looking to remodel an existing area of the house into the master suite so we Have fixed dimensions to work with. The other option is how the bed currently is which is against the left wall on the picture. This does provide a little more walking space around the bed and we may well keep it there in the future. The window on that wall partially overlaps the bed frame which isn’t the best look. Also- if we switched to a queen size bed instead of a king that would obviously allow more space but we like the king size bed. Another thing is that the window the bed is against is really the second floor at that point in the house- the way dips down to go into the garage underneath. So it’s not like anyone could walk by outside our window or anything. Currently all exterior items are remaining the same - no changes to exterior doors/windows at this time.

If you are willing to move that wall that is hopefully non load bearing, I’d make the bedroom a little bigger.

Bigger than the 14’ shown in the most recently posted layout?

Yes. Closet and bathroom is bigger than bedroom.

@emilyam819 can you think of a better layout?

Are you wanting to maintain the windows and not add any more? And is a toilet room a must?

I can be flexible on the windows- toilet room is a must (though I’ve played with some layouts with the toilet and shower in one room- just so one Person could be at the mirror and the other person could use the toilet without seeing each other).

We’re having more concept thoughts- what if we moved the kitchen into the play room? That would give the kitchen good natural light and proximity to the dining room. Then the question is what to do with the current kitchen? Put the piano in there and a high top table/chairs? Drawbacks to this idea would be relatively expensive to move all the plumbing (no basement under play room), bottle neck in kitchen/completely isolated from living area; benefit is not tearing down load bearing wall so much may be cheaper.