My husband and I agreed a few years ago that we need to do something to make our kitchen more user-friendly. The "how" has been the problem for us, mostly because the kitchen is narrow and sandwiched in the "inside" of the house: between the eating nook and dining room. Removing walls creates a looong (37ft) and narrow (12ft) space. I am open to any and all ideas and comments. I've put together the basics below:

FAMILY: We are a family of 5. Kids are 8-14 years old. We USE our kitchen-we rarely eat out. I cook meals daily, and I love to bake. During the week, it's mainly me in the kitchen, the kids hang out while I prep meals and do homework at the table or peninsula. On the weekends, my husband helps cook/clean up (kids too!) We are casual entertainers of friends, and larger family gatherings a few times a year. I shop frequently, a few times a week for fresh produce and dairy items.

TRAFFIC: Most of our traffic comes in from the garage to the mud room, then left into the kitchen. (this is also where groceries come in and trash goes out!) Between the kitchen and nook is the main 'road' through to the great room, basement, and upstairs. To the right of the mudroom is a walk in pantry and a laundry room. I am not lacking in storage space, as the pantry is large enough to hold our recycling bins, pantry items and small appliances. The pantry is a little out of the way, but I'm used to it.

PROBLEMS: Bottleneck where the current sink is in the peninsula, with the dishwasher and refrigerator. For one person, it's doable, but multiple people in the kitchen tend to get lost in the ''Bermuda Triangle'' where the sink and refrigerator are located, and bump into each other (or get in my way while I'm cooking!).
We have a dining room that is used once a year, and is taking up valuable real estate in our home. I would love to knock out some walls and open the current dining room to the kitchen and nook, and create one large space. There is one wall that is load bearing, and needs to have support where two ceiling beams come together. (Indicated on the plan: a column approximately 4'' x 16''). As much as I don't like it, this column is not optional: it must be there if we want to keep the second story of our home up where it belongs!

NEEDS: Better traffic flow, get refrigerator out of the main prep area of the kitchen. Would love an island with seating for 5.

WANTS: Want main sink on island, so I'm looking ''out'', would like a prep sink in addition, or just a really big sink! We have the unused dining room that we would love to put to work for our family. We have considered having only one eating area, or keeping two with a banquette around the window in the current dining room.

Appliances:
French door refrigerator--as big as I can get!, dishwasher,
trash compactor, stove/oven combo OR cooktop with one wall oven (whichever fits into space best), microwave.

OTHER: We have a plan we have been working on. It includes removing all dining room and hallway walls, (adding two columns) and having a one-wall kitchen with fridge, cooktop/range/oven/micro, and a large island (12' x 5' 6''). The dining room space is mostly open, we could have an eating area there, or built-in window seat and shelving for a sitting area. We like it, but are looking for some "outside the box" ideas, mostly because this is the best idea we can come up with after 2+ years of trying--we aren't getting anywhere! I will attach it, but from what I've read, I'm not supposed to repost after my first post so that I will stay on top and hopefully get lots of lookers and advice. So, I'll post it later!!

Thanks so much for reading my lengthy post and I hope to hear your brilliant ideas and suggestions so we can get this project movin'!!

don't know where the original layout went...trying again!

When guests are coming into your home from the front door do they have to walk through the DR to get into the kitchen? Besides your great room do you have an adult living room/sitting room/getting away from the kids as they become teenagers room?

Perhaps the DR could become that space? If so, that may give you a better idea on how you want the kitchen to function. Your kids are on the verge of becoming teenagers so look at your family at that age and how do you want their social life (and yours) to function during that stage over the next 10 years.

You could have the great room function as their hang-out while you and your spouse have a sitting area right by the front door. It means their friends have to stop and say hi and be introduced. With them in the great room and in the kitchen eavesdropping is really easy. (not that your kids don't need privacy but I'm just saying...) With a sitting area by the foyer near the kitchen it also gives your guests a place to hang out while you are cooking.

Anyway you need to figure out what spaces you need and where you want them before designing your kitchen.

Did you consider actually moving the powder room to the area next to the dining room, and relocating the main side entrance to close to where the existing range is (a hard left from the entrance at the mudroom)? Then, you could expand the actual kitchen into the bay window and over into the powder room and pantry areas. The island could be parallel to the bank of windows.

Blfenton: We also have a finished basement, so we have plenty of 'living' space. The dining room is not used at all--that�s why our main goal was to add that unused space to our kitchen--it is the space that everyone gathers in.
From the front door, you can enter the kitchen through the dining room, or go straight through a hallway to enter the great room on the left, kitchen/nook area on the right. Our house is also 10 years old, and the appliances are showing signs of not lasting much longer. A leak in the kitchen faucet last spring stained a cabinet that needs sanded down/replaced...The kitchen has always been cramped, but now we've decided to try to use the space we already have to improve!

Gooster: At this point, I'm open to anything! I have considered combining the laundry room and mud room, and moving around the pantry, 12 feet just isn't enough space in width! Our main entrance for a family is the garage. The mudroom is where all shoes, coats, backpacks, etc live, so it must be located directly from the garage entrance. We live in a wooded area and frequently bring in mud, leaves, dirt, snow, etc. Love the pic you posted with the windows�lovely!

Dilly_NY: Moving the kitchen to the front of the house has been tossed around. If it's a nice enough looking kitchen, seeing it from the front door wouldn't be a problem. Then, the dining space would be in the middle and sitting area at the back?

Here's a photo of the kitchen, looking toward the door.

If you're gonna spend that kind of money, move the kitchen to the breakfast nook area and create a single eating area by enlarging the dining room in to part of the old kitchen. Then have a peninsula to separate the two spaces that can house bar stools for the casual eating. That way, your dining room becomes actually used, and the kitchen has a better connection with the family room.

We are planning a kitchen remodel and while my DH would just as soon forego having a dining space (because we'd rarely use one RIGHT NOW), I'm thinking ahead 20 years when DS is 29 (probably married with kids) and DDs are 25ish (and maybe married). I'd need a dining space then to accommodate holidays, family gatherings etc.

That being said, maybe you can find use of the dining space for this stage in life that protects it so that it could be converted later on.

As for the kitchen, my MIL's kitchen is very similar to yours with the angled peninsula. That is most likely where your problem lies.

If I were you, I'd:
1) Straighten out the peninsula and add a prep sink to it
2) Move the fridge to the end next to the mudroom doorway
3) Move the cleanup sink where the range is currently located or slightly to the right of it depending on your refrigerator width
4) Move the range across the aisle to the wall adjacent to the foyer/support beam

Just my two cents....

stacylh: Thanks for your "vision". I'm going to work your ideas out on paper tonight. I'm certain this isn't our "forever" house, it's a walk-out basement with steps going up into the house, and all the bedrooms are upstairs. It's more than we will need when the kids are gone, but the youngest is 8, so it will still be a while!

hollysprings: Our kitchen table expands nicely to seat 10, so we would definitely have space to spread out with the table in the middle (where the current kitchen is now.) To put the kitchen in the back, we will have to shorten windows and take away from our view. Not a deal-breaker, but a bigger project than removing walls for sure! Hmmm...

Have you looked into what it would cost to replace the windows?

You may find that replacing windows is actually cheaper than removing walls, moving whatever is in them (HVAC, water, waste pipes, etc.), and constructing beams and headers (b/c the wall is load bearing).

In our case, replacing a 7' wide x 1.5' deep bay window that was 22" off the floor to one that was 36" off the floor (same width & depth) was around $1,000. Taking down a non-loading-bearing wall and moving the HVAC cost around $2,700. Windows were cheaper and our wall was not load-bearing.

While your bay area is bigger, you also have to factor in the load-bearing wall's extra expenses.

What I'm saying is...don't write something off as too expensive if you don't know that for certain!

The doorway on the right is moved "down" so (1) there's more room on the "top" end of the wall and (2) so someone coming into the home through that doorway can go left and not get in the cook's way.

I'm sure we can improve on it, but it's something to consider....

Also, ignore that stray '18" Pantry' label behind the cooktop - I didn't see it to delete it!

Good luck!