ro man we have very similar homes. Last summer we resided our colonial so this can give you an idea of how brown would look with black shutters. Ours is considerably darker than what you are considering, though. Our roof is a mid tone gray but you can't tell because the sun totally blew the color out in this photo. You said the sun damaged your current siding but it looks as if you'd have a lot of shade like we do with all your trees. I hesitate to suggest a color from your link because the computer makes color look much different than real life - in fact my house looks far more red (on my computer) than it does in real life - it's actually a dark greyed brown! Landscaping will make a HUGE difference and really bring your home to life. What planting zone are you in? I'm only familiar with plants that do well for me (z 5ish - 6, Chicago area) but would be happy to make suggestions if yours is similar.

I usually like banquettes when they are tucked into a corner, not free-floating. I think in this case I would flip the kitchen layout significantly. Here's one idea: I tried to draw squares of roughly 24"/side for each seat at the banquette & put a good size table in the open space. The door(s) into your office/ex-DR could be a pair of french doors, maybe 4' wide in total, set on a diagonal to clip the corner between the end of the long banquette seating & the wall between the DR & LR. I think this would give you good counter space & plenty of lower cabinets in the kitchen, but you would be short on upper cabinet space b/c you'd only have from the door to the laundry to the window (over the sink, which doesn't have to move). The stove would need to move, as would the fridge. For the peninsula between the kitchen & den, you may want to have it extra wide (I tried to draw it wider than the other base cabinets). If you used a 24" base & backed it with 12" or 18" cabinets that faced the den, you'd have storage for video games, books, board games, etc. This is just one idea, hopefully it sparks other (better) ones.

Keep in mind that almost nothing in your kitchen is "historically accurate" to the original period, except perhaps any original window sashes and possibly the ceiling if it's the underside of the floors above. This absolves you from any requirement to attempt a restoration or recreation. And also absolves you from any pseudo-preservationist need to have a "colonial" style kitchen, unless that's entirely to your taste. The "colonial" style dates to the very late 1800s through the 1950's. It can look odd in truly old houses, IMO. True 18th c kitchens wouldn't be considered workable by most, if not all, modern users. I live in a period early (almost completely intact) 19th c farmhouse and while I am deeply preservationist about the "bones" of my buildings, the interior fittings not so much. And anyway the "fittings" of 18th and early 19th c. kitchens would have been next to nothing anyway as those kitchens are the definition of the currently-popular "unfitted" look. The most useful advice I can give new owners of older buildings is to delay doing anything more serious than painting until you have been in your building for many months, preferably a year. Most early ideas are products of what you bring to the design, not what the house will teach you about what it needs. And old houses are very vulnerable to exogenous notions that end up being mistakes. If your kitchen seems too dark, then experiment with a lighter color(s) of paint on the cabs. This is the time to take risks with paint alone. It will alow you to feel that you are putting your stamp on the house without putting you (and your building) at risk for irrversible mistakes. And keep in mind that old houses were dark by intention. That lack of external light was inherent in the design, technology, sociology and style of these houses. Many old houses are severely damaged when new 21st c owners move in and start messing around with the fenestration to make modern "light-filled" rooms. If you must have such a space for a kitchen, or principal rooms, then consider building an addition to accomodate it. You can rarely go wrong by going very slow when renovating old buildings. You will save money, time and avoid the dismay that comes from later realizing your earliest plans (and hopefully, not alterations) were mistakes in the understanding and care of your house. I've lived in my 75-year younger house for decades and I am still discovering new facets of its long history. Yours has even more to teach you, if you take the time to listen. HTH, L.

My concern is aisle widths. The width between the island and the right hand side is 3'1" (37"). If this doesn't take into account counter you will be down to perhaps 34" aisle width when subtracting potential counter overhang from both sides. I'm assuming you have kids given the homework room and I can envision (may not happen - you know your routines better than me that's for sure) a traffic spot that may require traffic lights and that is the area that comes out of the homework room (and whatever other rooms are down the hall) and into the kitchen or through to the dining room, coming down the stairs and into the kitchen and also standing at the beverage center. The other area of concern is the seating at the top of the table. The aisle width is 4'5" but if someone is trying to sit down and then sitting down they need about 2-3' to do that. It will be tough to walk behind them and you won't beable to open the DW. There's just no breathing room or air in this space. The room can't take a deep breath. But not my space.