Do you need the opening between the dining and the LR? I think I would make that be a wall and put it there...

You have an intriguing house (love the outside), but I am not sure about the reasoning behind some of the interior wall placements in the public spaces... (and, if it were me, I'd either make sure my fridge had water in the door, or I'd get a sink nearer the fridge. I would not want my kids in my work space to get a drink, drop off glasses etc...) (Note: this is a gentle call to have your kitchen layout analyzed by the kitchen forum unless you have very specific reasons for setting it up the way you have...)

You have a dilemma: a living room with many openings and circulation paths, which dictate an "island" arrangement for furniture, i.e., floating the furniture in the center of the room.

If you place the TV on the wall opposite the fireplace, you are left with two choices: 1) have your back to one or the other of the TV or fireplace, or 2) locate the couches as you describe and have to turn your head 90-degrees from the direction you are sitting to see either the fireplace or the TV. Hardly ideal.

TVs tend to like dark walls without windows for best contrast and visibility. Will you have a home theater setup with 5.1-7.1 speaker arrangement? The audio aspect of the TV needs as much consideration as the video aspect. And you will need to locate the various supporting equipment (amps, blue-ray/DVD player, cable, etc.) with control devices.

With this in mind, about your only viable living room option is the wall suggested by kirkhall. Other than that, it looks like the TV may be best in another room.

If it was my house, I'd consider putting the dining room adjacent to the kitchen (I can't tell what that space with the island is) and turning the existing dining room into a study/library with the TV on one wall.

Good luck on your project.

VC-- I think the "island room" is a built in banquette room. It seems to have an odd separation from the kitchen to be "eat in" while not being big enough to be a separate dining room... At least, I *think* that is what that little room off kitchen is.

I would want my dining room closer to my kitchen too. I think if you consider moving the dining room, rework the shape of the living room than placement of the TV and fireplace will work out easier.

Perhaps you could do the fireplace or TV on the corner? Is it going to be a large TV? The bigger then TV the more it overwhelms the fireplace.

Hang in there. Getting the TV and fireplace placements worked out in my great room took tons of time.

Carol

yes that little room is a breakfast room with a banquette. I do think that space needs to be open to the kitchen a little more. The architect liked it this way, but we will work on that a little bit more.

The TV has to go in the living room and I hate surround sound, so I'm not worried about the sound. The builder does some in the wall stereo system throughout the house, but I'm not sure if it's hooked up to the TV or not. Sound is my husband's department. ;)

We had thought about putting the TV on the wall with the dining room entrance, but I don't like the idea of putting my back to the back yard. I LOVE to look out my windows and Iike being able to see the children.

I don't have a problem with floating my furniture. I actually like my furniture pulled away from the wall. So if you HAD to choose between beside the fireplace or on the wall opposite the fireplace, which would you choose?

kirkhall, thanks for the compliment on the exterior. as for wall placement, I'm not big on the "entirely open" concept. I like my kitchen to be separate from the den, but I also like for the spaces to feel sort of open to one another. I'm assuming this is what you are referring to? For entertaining, I like the den to be open to the dining room because that is where I put the food. This way, people can mingle in the den, dining and back porch. The kitchen can be kept as a "prep room"

I'm ok with the fridge where it is. It's out of the way from the work space, right?? If I'm cooking at the range, kids or guests getting drinks aren't in my way. Ohhhh, you are assuming that I'd use the peninsula to prep? I didn't think about that. I was picturing the kids doing homework at the peninsula and me prepping on either side of the range. That's what I do now. I tend to stay close to the stove.

How often do you watch TV as a family? Our family is more likely to watch programs on our individual electronic devices (laptops, tablets, ipods...) than gather in the family room to watch a show together-- if the same is true for you, it might make sense to put the TV in the study or the basement, rather than letting the decision of where to put it dominate the design of the living room.

With regard to the fridge placement...
I am saying IT is in the right spot. But, your stove isn't.

Most people prep between sink and stove.

But, where you'll run into problems is the kids having to come all the way into the back of the kitchen (past the stove) to get to the sink--to put away a dirty dish/cup/plate; to get a drink of water; etc.

In a lot of kitchens these days (not mine, it isn't big enough), you will find a prep sink. The purpose of the prep sink is either:
1) to use for prep--ie, this becomes the sink that you work next to when prepping in the space between sink and stove.
-or-
2) to use as an accessory sink. For quick drink refills for the kids; for quick hand-washings by the kids; etc, etc...

As it is now, anyone else "using" your kitchen will likely have to be in your space. Because outside of getting a glass of water or milk from the fridge *if they already had a cup*, they will have to come deep into the kitchen to get whatever they need.

A potentially better layout would be to swap the stove and the sink. Or, put the stove on the opposite wall from where it is now. I realize you have windows there...but from a utilitarian point of view, those would be better places for the stove than where it is now--in the path between fridge and sink.

Thanks Kirkhall. I will toss your ideas around.

Zone4newby, my husband and I tend to watch TV together from 10 to 11 before retiring to our bedroom. The 4 children watch TV together on the weekends. The 2 that are still at home with me watch a good bit of Disney junior throughout the day. We also have a few friends over to watch LSU games throughout football season. I definitely want to keep it in the den. I'm just not sure which wall to put it on.

I'd rather have the TV next to FP rather than opposite.

Definitely take the kitchen layout to the Kitchen Forum. It appears dated on paper.

Why not open up the kitchen to the breakfast room (no door size opening), then the kids can do homework at the breakfast room table instead. I wouldn't do a peninsula.

Is your house under construction? Before you buy more furniture, you can use blue painters tape to lay things out - easier to see size of not only furniture but pathways. We have an open floor flan with floating arrangement so I understand the issues it can present. Better, imo, to finalize purchases toward the end of construction or after you move in.

it's not under construction yet. the kitchen is more of a "dated" layout because it's a galley kitchen - very narrow, only 12 feet wide. the space isn't big enough for a chunky island that is so "in" right now. i'm not a huge island fan anyhow. i always feel like they get in my way.

but, I do wan't to open the breakfast room up to the kitchen. I am going to brainstorm some solutions for that.

we will definitely make some furniture purchases after construction, but I have to decide the TV location before construction because it will determine whether or not we have windows or builtins beside the fireplace.

it's been so hard not to make purchases on great items at great prices on onekingslane.com and jossandmain.com
right now on onekingslane, they have so many sofas, chairs, end tables, and pieces of art on there that I love. it's killing me to restrain myself from buying

I would put the tv next to the fireplace.

They will have more bargains. Always do! I bought very little before we moved, but we kept a lot of pieces I've bought over the years. The great room pretty much is all new though. Better to wait then make a mistake.

No, didn't mean an island. Not enough room. Peninsulas are just not my thing, I guess. To me, that's what is dated.

I see a window over the sink, but what does the window on wall to left of sink (peninsula wall) look out to? Would you miss it? If you did away with it and the peninsula, that wall of cabinets would be about the same storage and the breakfast room could open up more into the kitchen... as much as to the built-in bench. The table could be a tad long also, for more seating.

This kitchen is a lot like our last house, but we had some wall to work with where your opening to family room is located and breakfast room was located where your MBR/B are. With family/kids, see about getting a pantry cabinet with roll out shelves, or look at English style larder cabinets. They hold as much as a walk-in pantry. You could shift that opening over some and have a larder style cabinet in that corner where pantry is located.

Have you thought about moving the fireplace to the wall where the patio door is and flanking it with patio doors. That would give you a couple of options for TV placement and give you a fireplace view from the dining room also.

If you keep the rooms "as is", then the TV should definitely go next to the fireplace. The back wall would feel unnatural. However, I think MikeDelta1 has the best answer: Relocate the fireplace to the window wall, flank it with huge lovely windows . . . and place the TV where the fireplace is now.

I agree that the dining room is too far from the kitchen. I'd consider opening up the breakfast room farther and making it the dining room.

I think you can put the tv next to the fireplace by making that wall more like a craftsman style with built ins on either side of the fp with the TV in one and then smaller windows above. You have issues with this room with competing focal points (tv, view, fireplace) plus you have lots of traffic flows with 4 doorways into the room, so regardless, you have to have a floating furniture arrangement to accommodate them all.

[Traditional Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2107) by Seattle Kitchen & Bath Designers Kayron Brewer, CKD, CBD / Studio K B

We are having the same problem/discussion with our plan. For us fireplace is something we never use. If it were up to me I would not have one but that might hurt us later (When we decide to sell).

So I am seriously considering a corner fireplace. Is this something that would work for you?
If not the suggestion to have a TV next to the fireplace seems to be a good one.

Mike delta. We thought about it and decided we don't want to lose the light that will come in throughout those windows and doors.

We have officially decided to put the tv in an 8' tall built in to the left of the fireplace. Now our dilemma is what should be done with the area to the right of fireplace? I worry a short and high window above a built in would look weird since there's no short window on the other side. Should we keep the tall window and put a little chair and table there ( a little vignette) or should we lose the window and put a large piece of furniture there? Or should we put a tall builtin to match the built in on the other side? The wall is approx 8', so that's a lot of built-ins, which i don't had a problem with -- just something to consider

Tom had a good suggestion- get a projector/screen combo that drops down from the ceiling. You could do a 125" motorized screen and 3D projector for under 3K, and that was with the most expensive stuff on the first pages of Best Buy's site.

Forgot to reply to Allison. My husband really likes the peninsula. It's the same as an island except anchored on one side, right? I guess it will be ok. I want to keep the window for the extra light. I think i will do a pantry that has sliding shelves for a few of the shelves or maybe drawers. I grew up with a larder pantry, and stuff on the doors bothered me for some reason

Is the peninsula that "fonkey" ? Lol. It won't be multi level. I feel like that's really really dated

Peninsula's aren't out, per se. Where they function well, they should be used. I'm just not sure how well yours will function. Their main issue is they only allow one inlet. For you, that is really only a problem for getting water (and taking dishes to the sink)... And, maybe for setting the table (where will your dishes be stored? Since the sink is on the far wall, your DW is too, and probably your dish storage).

So, consider how many times you want to walk the long way around that thing... (and you get back to my point about maybe posting in the kitchen forum for advice. You don't necessarily have to get rid of the peninsula, but I think if you get the sink closer to the fridge, or have a slightly different arrangement, you'll like it much better in the long run).

Ok. Ill post over on the kitchen forum. The kitchen is pretty small, so I don't think anything will be a hassle to get to. It's barely 12 feet wide. But there's always room for improvement

I agree with Kirkhall. Just think the peninsula narrows down the walkway and will become a bother in no time. 6 family members, so even more than one using will have to wait to use path. ? In think it also makes the space more claustrophobic.

Understand keeping the window. Natural light and views are great. Just thought I would ask.

We had double pantry w pull out drawers in last house. Lots of storage.

I would be tempted to keep window on one side of FP. But what direction does that face? Is view worth keeping? Bookshelves are great but then you have to fill and clean them. Lol.

The view from the den window on the side of the fireplace won't be anything but the brick side of my next door neighbor's house. It MAY look out to their back porch, but I'm not sure. I would most likely have white linen drapes there. Depending on the view, I may not open them much, but some natural light would still filter through a little....I suppose. I guess I could plant a Pretty tree of some sort to "accent" the brick wall??

If you'll just be looking at the neighbor's house/deck, I'd put the windows up high (like what is pictured above). No sense in having big windows if you won't be looking out them anyway. Most of the light of a window is let into the room, and into the MIDDLE of the room, by the upper portion of the window. So just keeping a squarish sized window up high would probably be enough on that wall, and you could have your TV beside the FP under the window.

Everyone seems to be commenting on the kitchen /breakfast room. How about this sketch as an improvement? It flip-flops the kitchen and breakfast room, which seems like a radical idea, but I think it works.

Benefits:
- You still have space for a window over the sink and could even have another kitchen window on the short side of the "L".
- The stove could sit on the short leg of the "L" and could vent directly to the outside.
- The wall dividing the kitchen /family room is gone, but the island still provides a visual barrier. The rooms are much more open to one another.
- The breakfast room is spacious and could have multiple windows (sunroom-ish), and although I didn't draw it that way, it could still be a banquette.
- The pathway that's liable to be a bottleneck is now to the breakfast room instead of the kitchen, and that's likely to be less of a problem than a bottleneck into the kitchen. People go into the breakfast room and sit down -- they don't pass through multiple times like they do in a kitchen.
- Your husband can still have the penninsula. It's just relocated to the back wall of the kitchen, overlooking the breakfast room instead of a walkway.
- You still have roughly the same amount of base cabinets, though the configuration is different. You will, however, lose some upper cabinets because this kitchen is much more open than the G-shaped kitchen you have in your plan.

I will start a new thread for discussing the kitchen and breakfast room dilemma. I think I've solved a couple of the issues. Ill post the revisions in a new thread

Thanks Mrs. Pete. That could work but i am dead set in having my kitchen a separate room from den. I have never liked the open kitchen concept. Im probably the only person that feels this way, but i just dont like a kitchen open to the den.