I'm interested in feedback on potential kitchen layouts in a relatively small kitchen/dining room renovation. WeâÂÂre torn between having an island, a peninsula, or a U-shaped kitchen ��" and if we do a U-shaped kitchen, whether the sink should be in the peninsula part or the bottom of the âÂÂUâ facing out the rear window. If we go with the island, we are torn between a better triangle with the sink in the island, or one line of appliances and cabinets with an open-countertop island. We definitely want room for stools as part of the island or peninsula as we want a very open, social kitchen/dining room.

Some of the layout problems stem from our plan to add a door to the back yard off either the kitchen or dining room. If the door is off the dining room and we have an island, thereâÂÂs good flow but less countertop/storage space. If thereâÂÂs a peninsula, it will be harder to get from the kitchen out to the back yard without going around the peninsula. But if we put the door off the kitchen, and have a peninsula, people will be coming in and out of the kitchen workspace and probably driving us crazy. So our options seem to be having an island (which means door location is less of an issue), a peninsula with door off the dining room, or U-shaped with door off the dining room. IâÂÂm concerned the U-shaped kitchen will feel claustrophobic in such a small space and possibly take up too much dining room space for the U, but it would create a nice kitchen work area if done well.

The house is a 100+ year old brownstone where kitchens were hidden in the back behind closed doors, so to realize any of this we need to pull down a wall and have a header/post situation around the island/peninsula. If done well it should look pretty nice, but the layout is really tough.

For now we are bidding out the peninsula/dining room door option since it seems like a good one. Our architect, who is awesome, suggested that we get to the demolition stage, with the contractor we end up picking, and then make quick decisions based on that and then order cabinets at that point. I'd love to know what other people do in this situation, and also would be interested in any layout suggestions.

IâÂÂd love any suggestions. IâÂÂll post floor plans with explanations.

{{!gwi}}