If I understand correctly, the banquette will be L shaped and one side of the L will be against a wall and another will be open to the family room. I'm not certain what options you have for the banquette, but you might consider upholstering the whole thing so that the open back to the family room looks like an upholstered piece of furniture. You could then put a console table or shelving behind if you like, but either way you'd have a nice finished back to look at.

Funny this thread popped back up! Ever since I commented on it I had been debating on ordering those bins from land of nod. I looked in to the ones from the company store, and they are cheaper. The company store also has sales. The difference though is that the ones from land of nod come with hardware to mount them to the wall. I was just about ready to order them. I had sample chips of the colors and had navy blue picked out. Then I came across this ridiculously long farm work table thing on ebay.... It was close to my house and the price was right. I also like that it can stay when he grows up and I can put other things on it someday. I just have to find some bins now and get my son to start cleaning up with me. He has just started doing that. I like the canvas box type things shown above, but it seems like kids can't see in them too well. That isn't a problem? I thought I would need either plastic bins or bins that have a lower front so it is more obvious what is inside. For now I have been just stacking his toys on the shelves and on the floor underneath.

We did go with Ikea, the expedit. I LOVE them! I keep bugging DH to go back and get a couple more for our basement. I think they are great storage. I did think about using some of my DR furniture for storage and keeping it, but I just didn't think it would work for me. There are doors they make for the Expedits and some people paint them. There are amazing pics all over pinterest. I saved some to my playroom board and have it linked below, but there are so many good ideas. Here is a link that might be useful: Playroom pics

Love it! From your drawings, I'd say the returns on that small amount of extra square footage placed just where it's needed are fantastic. What a wonderful illustration of the value of quality over quantity. Before, all the rooms were nicely sized for their functions (and there was good circulation among them)--except for the cramped actual kitchen work area. Making such a critically important and busy space in the middle of the house as spacious and functional as the rest would impact the feeling of all rooms. I suspect the whole house would feel serenely spacious as a result. And, of course, not least, the kitchen is now a great place for all the functions you imagine for it. Except for considering the sort of more wide-ranging changes touched on, I definitely think you're on the right track here, even if budget required sacrifice elsewhere. Have to say, though, I already really like your fireplace room as it is, with the change of mood it offers, and the dining room for the same reason. All of these spaces look like very nice places to be for different moods, functions, sunshine at various times of day, views, etc. So many tract homes only have bedrooms and the big open room with windows on one wall to allow A view out and sunshine in part of the day (when a porch or something doesn't preclude even that). BTW, I notice that, although your main floor isn't large, you have relatively spacious open areas to move through and toward, particularly the entry hall and space ahead between the kitchen and FRM areas. Since a few extra square feet invested in open areas pay off so well (more high-quality small-space investment), you might want to guard that idea and make sure the main views as you move from area to area aren't inadvertently cluttered or crammed up with something. An example you see a lot is table and chairs not only crammed into too little space for physical and emotional comfort but also placed in the middle of the house where you're frequently walking toward, and even through, it as you move around.