We also took our kitchen table out when we remodeled and opened up the wall to the DR at the same time (still a 2' section of wall, though, that houses HVAC that goes to our MBR upstairs). In our case, we outgrew the table space in our kitchen. It was a little tight while our children were very young, but workable. However, once our children hit school-age, it really was too small. Add to that (1) our kitchen had virtually no usable counterspace (i.e., in the right places, but not much overall either), (2) very little usable/functional cabinet space, and (3) a DR that was only used for holidays...so we decided to eliminate the kitchen table, devote the entire kitchen to kitchen work & storage, and start using the DR on a daily basis (no more unused/wasted room!) At first we tried for an island, but at 11' wide, our kitchen was not wide enough for a truly functional kitchen & island (aisles too narrow w/an island). We ended up w/a small "U" + the wall across from the "U". We put a seating peninsula on the DR side (2 seats). We couldn't be happier with our decision! We now have a wonderfully functional kitchen with: Plenty of workspace in the right places, Lots of cabinet space, Spacious aisle widths (except one short "pinch point") A small pantry, A peninsula for snacks, homework, science fair projects, larger baking/decorating projects, etc., and A DR that's used every day! Our DR table only seats 8, but if we need more, we have a card table + small round kitchen table from my townhouse (oh so many years ago!) that can be put in the LR (adjacent to the DR) to "expand" our seating, plus, of course, the peninsula. So far, we haven't had any issues or lack of seating space w/this. So nope, no regrets!

Hi mary_a, You might want to look at silestone or ceasarstone. Both of these are man-made quartz substances used for countertops, which seem to be gaining in popularity. The nice thing is that you don't have to worry about them staining. As for the cabinets being a different color on the peninsula that's essentially what I am planning to do. I have a set of three bar height cabinets on the opposite side of my sink and dishwasher and I went with an heirloom black color on the peninsula side with creamy cabinets for the rest of the kitchen (inside of the U-shape). Is there a way for you to use some software to try it out, or can your designer do it with the 20/20 cabinet software? This will help you to visualize it before committing to buying the cabinets. I haven't done my kitchen yet, so I don't have a picture to show you.

the dining will be really close to the bathroom then. not ideal. I know many houses have this situation anyway, but if you have control on how to plan this thing.. if you put the bathroom somewhere else..you redo a lot of the plumbing. can be more easy or more difficult depending on all sorts of factors..a house or a condo? where it stands? etc. can be too expensive to do. you need to check into it. like, it requires more than just finding a space otherwise you can steal a space from the bedroom..depending on how much you need it

Are you planning on taking down the wall between the Dining Room and Kitchen? I assume so. What about the wall between the Kitchen and hallway on the right? I would probably leave it because of the bathroom door, but I thought I'd ask. (It's not pleasant having a bathroom open into the Kitchen, Dining Room, or even Living/Family/Great Room.) Have you considered moving the Dining Room to the TV/Family room and merging the current Dining Room into the Great Room? Or, move the Dining Room into the current Great Room, leaving the Kitchen where it is plus some room from the Nook, and merging the rest of the "Nook" into the TV/Family room. Just throwing some ideas out there to start thinking of other ideas. To really help you, though, we need more information. Please see the Featured Answer in the "New to Kitchens? Read Me First!" thread. It discusses the information we need such as a fully-measured layout of the spaces under consideration and information about your family and plans for the Kitchen, etc.