Seems to make sense to have a range instead of separate cooktop and ovens. In that third option, could you put the fridge where the 36 base and wall cab are by themselves and turn it so the door(s) open towards the range wall? Looks like you even have enough floor space to have a pull out pantry between the fridge and the wall ( have to have something there for door swing clearance anyway). That way if someone wants something from the fridge, they won't be opening it into where you are working. And if you went with a counter depth french door, the doors shouldn't encroach on the doorway much if at all. Then you could slide the range down to the right, get rid of the 12" base and wall cabs and have a nicer sized one to the right of the stove. If you wanted, you might be able to have a very shallow platter display cabinet on the side of the fridge that faces the DW, too. I guess that would depend on the width of the fridge.

Dear Kiwi13, You have an architectural floor plan. Contact the architect or builder (if this was a spec home) and ask them which direction the ceiling framing runs in the Family Room and Living Room. In most cases the first floor ceiling framing will be run in the direction of the shortest span. In English your first floor ceiling framing probably runs from front to the back of your home.Meaning you should be able to remove either wall once you confirm the ceiling framing direction. If you are like the majority of home owners and not going to keep a formal living room, because you just never use it. You may want to consider reconfiguring that whole area of your new home. So you can get the family room and kitchen you truly want and expect, and that new, different, easier, better life you hope this new home will deliver for you. Tons of possibilities if you reconfigure the family room, kitchen/breakfast room, and living room area, you may not want to take out a wall as much as move one. Keep a family room and kitchen which you want. And add an informal dining room (breakfast area is a little tight), office, study, library whatever you need? The kitchen you have now I believe is just too small for the size of this home and awkward. Like it doesn't belong to this home. I can’t imagine that the realtors wouldn’t help you answer this simple question, especially if this is all it will take to sell this home. Hope this has been helpful. Joe Brandao Kitchen Design Company

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful suggestions! I also love how distinct SF design is. It's funny because most people think of candy-colored Victorians when they think of SF, but we have a long history of Mediterranean style homes as well. I didn't even realize how many there were in SF, because in our neighborhood on the East side of the city, there are a few, but they're scattered around. Whereas on the west side of the city there are blocks and blocks of gorgeous Spanish-style homes. It's such a trip driving through those neighborhoods. I spoke with a kitchen designer from Reform (our top choice for cabinets) yesterday who got some wheels spinning on the design angle. Aside from your suggestions to remove the wall between the kitchen and hallway, we are now also exploring removing the wall between the stairs and the kitchen and converting it to a pony wall/divider, then opening up the area with the pantry now. This would solve two of our problems of figuring out how to get more light to the stairwell and also adding headspace for the stairs. We would then extend the wall by the bathroom/bedroom doors slightly for privacy, and maybe adding a pocket door. We also are playing with where to add arches and curves to reflect some of the lovely details elsewhere in the house. The kitchen now has two options, one where we keep the seating area and one without. In the first option, the lower cabinets are along the pony wall and the tall cabinets run until the patio. The seating area is really lovely, giving us a view of the courtyard (we have it now and love sitting there), but it also somewhat restricts the island size as the island can't be more than 4' deep w/ chairs, and about 6' long. We also run into questions of if and how to have a backsplash and exhaust vent if there's no wall. Rough Floorplanner shots (placement of appliances is not accurate) In 3D (pretend cabinets are light wood): Using IKEA builder w/ appliances/sinks. In the second option, the cabinets run the length of the right wall, from kitchen to dining room. In the "kitchen" they're bottom cabinets only, and opposite the patio they're full-length cabinets. We get a nice chunky island with this layout because there are no cabinets, so it can be 6' long and almost 7' deep w/ chairs. In 3D and playing with adding a curved wall: IKEA version w/ appliance location. Island is not to scale, not sure how to make it bigger, but pretend it's deeper w/ chairs. Thoughts?

Unfortunately your original layout is more functional than the proposed. How about putting the table in the former kitchen space? Then I’d make a built in hutch in that area bumped into the powder room. Can you move the door to the sunroom to the mudroom? Then you can get some decent wall space in the former dining room for a new kitchen.