As long as you make some type of removable panel on one side that turns the normal square opening in to the arch you might get away with it. 'Hiding' the panel is going to take some real work though. pocket doors come out by unlocking the door from one of the rollers it is hanging on, then pivoting the door on the second hanger till it cealrs the jamb on the non-pocket side. The trim on one side concealing the hangers must be removed. i have used al sorts of tricks to conceal how that trim piece is held up. The one I prefer now is to make 'keyhole' opening in the top trim piece on the upper surface, then sink screws into the track support to catch in the keyholes. You position the screws and keyholes so the piece slide the last half inch into position to be flush with the jamb on each side. Cut the paint joint to the side jambs with a knife, pull the piece away from the wall a half inch, and it drops down.

I'd also agree with square openings with or without transoms. Which openings do you mean, though? Some of those openings are pretty large, and a transom may not work well. If you have a 9' ceiling and need a large header across the opening, you'll be below 7' for your opening. Make sure where you want it and what matches the other doors/windows in the house. If they're not load bearing walls, you should have more flexibility. We did one opening with a transom, which the trim carpenter made with 5/4 poplar, a piece of 1/4" glass, and glass bead moulding. Material cost was $27 and he charged $100 for making it. It only took him about 2 hours. We did some recessed panels on a few other openings in the house, but they have a very formal look. I've been meaning to get some pics posted, but still quite busy (we moved in 3 weeks ago).

It would help you to get structural estimates to help form your direction. You have two pinch points created by the load bearing post and the load bearing pantry which limit what you can do with the vast open space in the kitchen. If you eliminate that post you could do two arches like the second pic you just posted. Or you could square it off and finish like Debbi’s suggestion. Eliminating all would likely be costly so it would be good to talk with a contractor. What you do in the kitchen is integral with that post. Wall removed. Pinch point at post. The island could extend to the edge of the 2” drop if post is removed. You could have 3 openings. Smaller island. Wall and narrow DR cabs left intact Small square island. Move sink to the left of current DW location, square up old sink corner, add prep sink to island. I didn’t have time to mock-up this last one . I’m concerned about the 2” drop in floor level if the wall is taken down.

'm doing something similar to my 1920s house. Right now the kitchen is way too small and by opening up to the dining room we can add an island and entertain like we want to, plus I'm planning to keep the period details in tact like our stained glass window, part of the chair rail, our beautiful crown molding etc. I like the idea proposed of basically having a beam in between so that you can keep some of the detail but not having the 2 openings which I feel like would seem a bit strange. I'm planning to do something similar. Dont listen to everyone who says you own the wrong home, its going to be lovely and will function in a better way for your family. I looked for over 2 years for a 1920's house in my area of FL. Every single home had been remuddled by people like yourself who thought they were making it better. Except what happens is those houses remuddled in the 1970's look like they were remuddled in the 70's and look nothing like the charming houses of the 1920's. Those remuddled in the 80's look like the 80's, those in the 90's look like the 90's...You get the picture. Those of us who love old houses do not want a remuddled house. We want something where ALL the original character of the main rooms (excluding kitchens of course) are intact and rooms haven't been added onto or opened up in such a way that they change the character of the house. It ranks up there with painting beautiful old fir, mahogany, oak woodwork to make it more updated and brighter and it devalues the house because the house no longer fits with what it is. The problem is everyone now wants HGTV but the problem is HGTV is selling product and once the next product is hot, then today's product will look like yesterday's has been.