It looks like the island is giving you the best option for flow and floorspace for your home, while still giving the best layout and workability for your kitchen from what I can see. Hoping my thoughts help and this works out well. Keep us updated.

I would do the peninsula and not take the wall down. I really dislike looking into someones kitchen, when I visit and they have it all open.

The last layout is the current. It’s very difficult to function in. You can’t have two people cleaning up because the DW is in the corner and when it’s open it’s in front of the sink blocking access to the sink. You also have to place all the dishes on the counter before putting them away, because you can’t reach the cabinets when the DW is open. The peninsula creates a bottleneck and if someone is looking in the fridge (like my children constantly are) you can’t enter or leave the kitchen. It makes me hate being in the kitchen. Doing dishes is so unpleasant that I constantly have a pile in my sink. In my old house I never let dishes pile up. Every dish went straight into the dishwasher. It’s crazy how big of a difference layout makes.

Cat_ky I hear what you are saying. I’m not a huge fan of completely open floor plans either. I was thinking retaining some of the wall would help a bit, you wouldn’t see the kitchen sink on entry. And maybe it would help with the noise a bit too. you would still see most of the kitchen from the living room, but it would also give the living room some extra space. We were planning on doing open shelving to the left of the sink, so maybe that would help aesthetically with the kitchen view from the living room. I think either way we will need to make some trade offs.

Another plus about the peninsula. It allows for a tall cabinet next to the fridge, for pantry items. With the island there would be no place for it.

100% do island plan. once you decide this part bring forth the dimensions again . maybe the island could be aligned up and down or even squared out. I'm not as keen on peoples backs to the living room.

In this case of a 70s house, I would absolutely choose island and I do not understand why you are saying that you cannot have a 36” stove - it looks like it would fit fine. I suggest taking this opportunity to add a larger or mire windows for more natural light.

Thst is a really long span for the home’s opening for the island. You will need a steel beam and new footings for posts at the end, and many tens of thousands, before you’ve spent $1 on the kitchen itself.

If you don't mind the open concept, I like the island layout better, but be aware that the fridge door won't open fully if you put it in that corner. You'll need a narrow cabinet or filler (check fridge specs for the necessary width) between the fridge and perpendicular wall.

Andrea, thank you for your reply! if we put that fridge in that corner we will need every inch we can get, the fridge needs clearance to open. Even with a 30 in range, we’d only have 15 inches of counter between the range and the fridge. I guess we could move the range over a bit but then it’s kinda crowding the sink.

Verbo, I don’t think that’s the case. It’s only knocking 3ft off that wall. And the wall doesn’t seem to be load bearing. There are no posts or beam below it or a attic or second level above it. If we knock down that wall it’s a little less than 15ft from the end of the wall to the exterior wall. So not a huge span of space. I definitely plan on confirming this isn’t load bearing, I have an architect and contractor coming by next week.

This is what the other side of the room looks like

Verbo, you might be right, I honestly don’t know. but if that’s the case, I would just opt for the peninsula.

Assuming the wall can be altered, have you considered putting a range on the back wall? The hood would make a nice focal point from the LR, and venting would be simple on the exterior wall. You could have a larger range (and a killer hood), but the following plan has a couple of trade-offs; the fridge and range are a step or so farther apart than the NKBA recommended max of 9', and the clean-up zone is between them. Since the DW would be so close to the corner, dishes would need to be stored beyond the open DW door, for ease of loading.

With the addition of the island sink, you'd have two prep spaces, but the plan would work with only the perimeter sink.

The MW is in an upper to the left of the fridge, but it could go on the corner of the island, and trash pull-out could move to the other side of the prep sink. If using the single sink version, trash could go to the left of the perimeter sink. To the right of the fridge is a pantry--reach-in or ROTS.

This is a quick version, eyeballing the plan with the templates provided; all measurements need to be confirmed.

NKBA guidelines

New to Kitchens? Read me first.

Discussions--all drawer bases

Definitely the island, always go with the island if you have the space. It makes the flow a lot better