Do you want to put a table in the kitchen? If not, I would remove the island from the current location and add an island that is turned 90-degrees from the current orientation and lives in the area where a table would go - in the pathway to the French doors.

I'm slightly confused though, have you already begun construction? How big of a renovation are you doing to the kitchen? Are you putting down new flooring, because if you remove or relocate the island, you may have the footprint of the island on the floor and need new flooring.

Thank you for your advice , this is from the builder , we will redo all the kitchen cabinets after closing, so will either extend the island length (right now is only 5ft long) or as you suggest turn the island 90 degree , if I put the island in front of the French door, would it be too far from the kitchen triangle ?

This is the kitchen from builder, the house is still being built right now. The last pic is the dining room adjacent the kitchen, I thought of knock down the wall between them to make a big open space , but I couldn’t figure out where to put the fridge and my contractor said it looks like a load bearing wall and having the return air intake there he said would cost a lot to knock it down .
Would changing the current not so u shaped kitchen into other layout help? I really wish my island is like you mentioned position 90 degree flipped as of now, but I guess due to being 14ft is hard to do so . I do like your idea of relocating the island (flooring shouldn’t be a problem as the builder told us the island sit on top of the tiles and we do have extra tiles or able to order more . But would the island be too far from the stove ?

Get rid of the island and do a peninsula like the architect t of the home originally intended.

@ Lomo, this current design with island is from the architect , do you mean to do something like this ?

The island doesn’t work - you don’t want people sitting at the breakfast bar in the middle of your work area. The peninsula is better; you could maybe add some bar seating there, but it would be tight with the doors.

Also move the fridge to the right - gets it more into your work zone and open doors won’t crowd the peninsula. The range looks a little far away from the work area - maybe move it to the left a bit. You have lots of upper cabinets, which is monotonous. If you don’t need that many, consider some open shelves or just nothing.

The island is functioning as the dreaded “ barrier island in this layout. Without it there is some good prep counter run fron sink to stove. So either something like a peninsula— maybe not even very long— or the island farther out and perpendicular. You do need to decide what your dining -serving style/ needs will be and what views to take advantage of, whether to have breakfast table, dining table, both, whether a type of peninsula or better situated island would be used for things buffet serving, or to be an extra prep area for cook to face “ out” rather than face wall ( a peninsula would keep you on the “ sink run” for wiping down the countertop), or to lay out bigger projects.

So these are things to ponder about how family will use the rooms, the flow into rooms & to outside.

Move the island closer to the living room and turn it 90 degrees. Widen the door between the dining room and kitchen and get rid of the pantry. Switch to a counter-top depth refrigerator.

What if you make the island a bit longer and put it on wheels? Then you can move it closer when you need extra prep space or park it like the peninsula idea when you want it out of the way.

Do you need 2 openings to the dining room from the kitchen?

One appears to be smaller than the other. I'd consider closing up the smaller one and if at all possible move the heating vent a bit over to the right so that you can enlarge the larger one.

This might give you more of an open feel between the 2 spaces and make the kitchen seem larger.

Why did the kitchen not get built as the architect drew in the picture you posted with the peninsula coming of of the wall by the French doors? That makes so much more sense.

Kendrah, I think OP drew the peninsula , and erased the island that was the architect’s proposal, to respond to suggestions for peninsula.

This looks like it should be U shaped as you drew it. the stools right in front of fridge are way too close. kitchen is open too breakfast area so i would want dining room separated personally personally. it looks like it was just built though so i’m not sure what you are planning on doing? other option is L shape with fridge on range wall and longer island across from range.

Move fridge to left of sink/dishwasher and turn island 90 degrees

Honestly, I'd probably live with it for a couple of years before gutting it, given that it's new. It's a considerable cost to replace the cabinets, and you want to be sure you have the layout right before you do that--part of that will be about how you use the breakfast room, family room, and dining room as you settle into the house. (Mud room and pantry too given how they interplay with the kitchen space.) The only thing I'd do short term is to have the island top cut down so that there's no overhang--there isn't room for seating there (and also, you have the breakfast room right there). Alternatively, if the island is truly on top of the tile, just remove the whole thing and put something freestanding there that you can play around with as you feel out the space. You may find you want to expand the kitchen footprint into the breakfast room, for instance, or otherwise reenvision the space on a larger scale. And I'd definitely be looking to close the second doorway into the dining room--that seems unnecessary and is going to constrain what furniture you can use in that room, too.

I'm so confused. Your builder 'thinks' its a load bearing wall? There is an architect involved? 36" clearance on the stool side of the island against a fridge? One light? Pantry is as far from the kitchen as possible?

I guess I'm curious how you got here just out of morbid curiosity, but more importantly now what do you want to have and how much are you willing to change to get there?

"This is the kitchen from builder, the house is still being built right now."

I don't get it. You're paying for a house to be built, they're not putting in the kitchen you want, and you're going to (wastefully) rip out a brand-spankin' new kitchen in order to get what you want. This makes zero sense to me -- what am I missing here? {head scratch}

I assume this is a builder tract home that OP doesn't have options to change. I read that as the contractor and architect were hers, and completely separate from the builder. But yes, it is frustrating that you can't just buy a home with no kitchen versus having to rip out a brand-new one. That is nuts--but maybe about getting certificates of occupancy so the home can close?

If the contractor and architect were hers, then it's not a builder tract home, right?

They aren't coming in to make these changes until post-closing from what OP wrote, though. So not too different from buying an older home and having a contractor and architect jump in as soon as it closes--but then at least it's not all brand new...

"So not too different from buying an older home and having a contractor and architect jump in as soon as it closes--but then at least it's not all brand new..."

Buying an older home and changing things I understand. What I don't understand is she's HAVING A HOME BUILT that isn't what she wants. I would think it would be less expensive in the long run to have something built right out of the gate that you like or buy an existing home and remodel that they buy a brand-new home and immediately change the kitchen and layout -- $$$$ (not to mention very wasteful in the material sense, not just the monetary sense). So I still just don't get the rationale here.

OP -- if you're going to proceed with buying THIS house, at least wait a few years before you rip it all apart, you may find you can live with it.

Thank you for all your input , this is a brand new house we purchased from a builder , unfortunately we are not allowed to change any of floor plan until we take procession, and since we didn’t opt for any upgrade through the builder due to their $$$$ price , so we will be hiring outside contractor to redo the kitchen afterwards so that’s why I want to see what we can do to change up this not so open layout .

I agree with @artemis78 and would live in it a bit and decide how you will use the space - there is no downside to being patient and there’s lots of potential upside

@porkchop_mxk3 z5b_MI I think the easiest way to think about it is that she isn't having a house built--she's buying a house that someone else built. Sort of like buying a fixer upper vs. buying a flip--you can buy a flip that someone just completely remodeled, and still hate the quality or choices of the renovation so you rip it out to start over again. It's just frustrating, and would be better all around if you could buy it without all the poor choices on the front end. (We ripped out three-year-old granite counters and travertine backsplash when we remodeled our kitchen, for instance, and a new sink and faucet too. Donated them and I hope they found new lives, but it was still incredibly irritating...I would have paid more for the house without them since I'm sure they replaced some vintage linoleum counters and subway tile, but that wasn't what was for sale!)

so we will be hiring outside contractor to redo the kitchen afterwards so that’s why I want to see what we can do to change up this not so open layout .

Do yourself a favor and hire a kitchen designer. I still think closing up that smaller opening to the dining room is your best bet! That stove area appears to be a bit small as well.