You don't have a render?

Assuming your designer knew your needs for the covered porch, what was their design intent for it when the dining area bumped out?

Random thoughts:

- In general, I like the concept of a bump. It's placed near the kitchen, and it allows for good flow between the three main rooms. Do note that the people seated at the back will be somewhat "boxed in". Perhaps consider a banquette seat across the back?

- I strongly suggest you move the door from inside the "dining bump" and into maybe the living room (?). As presented, the table is blocking this door, which is your only access to the large porch.

- I dislike the huge covered patio covering your main rooms /taking away natural light from these spaces. I'd choose one portion of this patio to be covered /leave the others open.

Other thoughts about this snippet of a plan:

- I'd like to see a pass-through between the garage and the large pantry. And another pass-through between the pantry and the kitchen.

- Too many chairs at the kitchen island. An island is a place for 1-2 people to sit while cooking or talking to the cook. You don't want to recreate Waffle House seating inside your house. And you'll have the table right there.

- Do you plan a TV in your living room? Where?

Dividing the patio (if it is screen-enclosed, is it a porch? lanai?) isn’t a bad thing. Looks like you could put the hot tub over by the kitchen, near the powder room. But, I wonder about the powder room, with door to the outside and to the theater. Is that secure? We go around and check the doors at bedtime, but that door is kind of an out-of-the-way place.

The theater room has three outside walls, and no windows. From the outside, it will look like a block. On the inside, three outside walls of potential light lost, while the living spaces inside look out onto enclosed and covered space.

A banquette in the dining nook will box people in even more!

It looks like you plan a lot of outdoor entertaining. Would a nano wall, or at least big sliders, in the dining nook work for you?

You have laid out possible furniture inside, do the same on the patio, including hot tub, dining, lounging, cooking, to see how that might work. That will help you visualize the effect the bumpout has on the patio.

Looks like your dining bump out isn't big enough for the table you show. The reason you have issues at other people's homes when the kitchen/dining/living are all in a row is because there's not enough space allotted to each of them to allow for circulation. You can design it to have enough space. But a bump out is also fine, just make sure it's designed appropriately.

Outdoor kitchens should be close to the actual kitchen. Otherwise you are carrying food through the entire house to get to the outdoor kitchen. Maybe shift the dining down 3' so you can put an exterior door from the kitchen outside, and move the outdoor kitchen with access up by the actual kitchen. And remove the bump-out door and put it in the living room.

Consider how much porch you want covered. That's a lot of roof. I have been on porches taht are hemmed in with walls on 3 sides and I don't love it. What direction does it face? Do you need full coverage 100% of the time, or would it be nice to see the sky from the patio sometimes? Especially consider it for an outdoor kitchen if you are planning a grill - those require clearances from walls & ceilings.

Also you didn't ask but put a prep sink on your island. I also agree with @bpath about the theater space. Can't see your whole floorplan but I would try to get that space to share a garage wall (maybe swap spots with the mudroom?).

What part of the country are you in? I’m asking because the only views out the living spaces are of the covered patio. In my part of the country, for a good part of the year the patio isn’t the most attractive view, with covered furniture, maybe pots pulled closer to the house to overwinter, leaves. Sometimes the better view is of the yard, seeing the falling leaves on the lawn, snow, squirrels romping and deer passing through (suburban neighborhood). My neighbors’ hot tub wasn’t a nice view for several months of the year, as it was usually covered.

What is your view beyond the patio? How often will you enjoy that (it if’s a nice view)?

Why is the patio ceiling lower than the interior ceiling?

An island is a place for as many people to sit as the cook/owner deems necessary.

@Paul F. No we do not have a rendering at the moment we have to pay extra for that and not sure if we’re going to

@Mark Bischak we did not work with a “designer” only the architect and the contractor. They basically leave it up to us whatever we want to do with the space. I guess it’s a double edged sword

@Theresa Peterson Thank you so much for for your thoughts. We have discussed and went back and forth on where the door will go and I agree. The table will actually be smaller that’s in there than pictured. And yes I haven’t thought about only covering part of the porch. Like I said originally the plans just covered the whole back space in between but never thought of that. As far as the chairs at the island we have that many because we are a family of 6. My 4 kids are constantly sitting at the bar when I’m cooking or doing dishes. They also sit there to do their homework a lot of the time. Also this home will be located on my parents land and next to my sisters land. We will possibly have atleast 2-4 extra people at our house probably once a week. Yes we will have a TV placed over the fireplace.

@bpath yes the powder room will be a secure door however we aren’t to worried about that we actually will be located down a small road through some woods coming out into a clearing. It is located at the back of my parents land and the only visitors we plan are seeing will be family or animals ha ha. We designed the theater room with no windows to help maximize the darkness as well as to reinforce it to serve as a sort of “tornado shelter” (we live in Oklahoma). I really like that idea of placing furniture there to see spacing!

You can use some free software to create your own renders. They were essential for us to be able to walk through the 3D spaces and visualize the house. We could also use the software to show the sun and light at various times of days throughout the year.

The designer should have had some idea of a potential furniture arrangement based upon your needs. If you think they are an architect, verify their license with your state.