Here's a photo of the original floorplan

And the original conceived remodel:

And the revised remodel using only half the space:

I am not crazy about your remodel idea. You will hate your peninsula (even with a pass through). Have you thought about turning your kitchen so it is half in new and half in old space... dining similar?

I don't think what you are thinking of doing makes sense. Plus, any reason why the patio size? Is it under roof? If not, you might be surprised with the cost. You will likely need foundation (you can't assume your patio will act like "slab"), roof modifications, etc.

kirkhall - thanks for the response.

We're okay with having a peninsula. We've been in houses with peninsulas (including my parents' new home) and like their functionality. I think it's a matter of preference - some people like them, some don't. You clearly don't. ;)

As for the reason for doing the patio size, it's because of our backyard. Our backyard is basically unusable because of a relatively steep slope. The only flat areas are where the patio resides, behind the dining room and a bit by the family room.

The patio is just that - poured concrete behind our house. We are aware that we'll need excavation, foundation, roof modifications, etc. and to treat it like a true construction addition rather than an easy add-on.

We're loathe to mess with the main part of the kitchen - we just recently got brand new granite countertops with an eye on selling the house this summer, and I would be loathe to toss that money down the drain by ripping it all out to move the kitchen.

The more I've thought about it since posting, I like the third graphic I posted - a 10x14 breakfast room with sliding doors to the small patio and usable portion of the backyard, and expanding the kitchen by adding a peninsula.

I may cross-post in the kitchens forum as well and see what the kitchen folks have to say.

Thanks again for your feedback!

Actually, I have a peninsula, and I don't mind it, in my house with my layout. But, I wouldn't like have to walk clear around almost 2 peninsulas to get to the table (in essence, you have the proper peninsula/kitchen one, PLUS you have the physical wall that acts like another peninsula.)

For this reason, I also like your 3rd layout--it puts your table closer to the kitchen and you only walk around 1 peninsula.

But for the record, I have nothing against peninsula's per se.

The chances of getting your money back on that addition are zero.

If you are planning on staying in the house for many more years there may be another option. The rear wall that would open into the addition should be completely removed. This could be done with a flush beam or a dropped girder. By doing this it would provide the kitchen with an open look and lots of light from the windows in the addition. Open floor plans will make your addition part of the kitchen and not a room added to the back of the house. A small pass-thru to me would not achieve the dramatic look of complete view of new room or backyard. Just my opinion and it may not work for your lifestyle.

Marcolo, you are right about that. However, if we do this addition of the breakfast and kitchen, as well as an en suite to our guest bedroom, then we'll stay in this house for at least another 10 years and would hope the house will go up in value during that tine. Of course one can't rely on that anymore. But the house would fit our needs during that time, which is why we're contemplating doing this!

If it were me, I wouldn't do the addition. Instead, I would plan on building the new house, in the next two or three years. By then, the kids will be getting old enough to adjust to living further out...and changing schools.

If you have decided that staying is the better choice...then I would rethink the addition. The space is great, but why is the kitchen in the same place? It makes a lot more sense (especially if your DH is a foodie) to move the kitchen into the addition (at least the left side) and make that entire left area (current and addition) the new kitchen. Open it up to the new dining space (current dinette and right side of addition) and bring all those windows and light...into both areas.

Just my two cents :)

I can totally understand not wanting to rip out the work you just did! In the third picture, would there be a full wall between kitchen and breakfast room, or could whoever's in the kitchen still see whoever's at the table?
Here's a thought: what if, instead of trying to incorporate the patio, you just kept all the existing walls, moved the door to the patio, and had counters that curved around into a bench separating the family room from what is now the dinette? So, where the two windows are now, put a door; have a corner unit where the door is now, either with more kitchen stuff if your husband wants, or a desk/mail/phone area, then that transitions into a bench. You could have storage on the other side of the bench for family room stuff, if you wanted, and it would create a visual division between the two spaces.
I hope this helps; I am absolutely no expert, but we're contemplating doing something similar! I may be posting a similar question soon, and I'm interested to see what other responses you get.

There would not be a full wall. I just forgot to erase those lines. The wall would end at the the point where the addition begins. So that rectangle of upper cabinets shouldnt be there.

Here's an updated picture. In talking about it we realized that we want the patio on the side closest to the entry in to the breakfast room, so we don't have to walk around the table to let the dog out.

It also shows where the wall actually ends, which the original version didn't properly show. So you can see that the breakfast room would be very open to the rest of the house, and the kitchen would benefit by getting all that light.

This graphic also shows what the family room would look like if we DID bump it out by 3' to make the room go from 14x19 to 17x19.

And while the addition appears to be more wide than deep, the measurement is actually 10wx14d, so it IS a longer room - thus the table being placed in there in that particular direction.

It does zero to add to your home's functionality or value unless you also rework the kitchen. You'll still have almost no spacing between the sink and the range and none of the new kitchen space has any function or reason and so it doesn't get used. All hat and no cattle.

If you are willing to rework the kitchen and move the cleanup sink down to the peninsula with seating on it, and add a prep sink to the island, and a few more kitchen tweaks like getting a larger pro style range for your hubby, then doing this project might be worth it. Yes, it will be cost 50K more, but unless you are willing to work on the root of the functionality issue, then you're better off leaving well enough alone and putting your money in a new build or a move in a couple or years.

hollysprings: I respectfully disagree that it's all hat and no cattle. =) This peninsula in the drawing is actually very similar to the one in my parents' house - no appliance is inset, it is just lower cabinets, counter and bar seating. And it is the hub of the house - nearly all conversation and activity hovers around that peninsula when people are there.

My husband and I are not willing to spend $50K on a kitchen that for the most part works fine for us - the main thing we need is more storage. That's the only functionality issue we have. Yes, we'll probably buy new double ovens and a new stovetop, but those will merely replace the 17-yr old appliances we currently have. We recently replaced the fridge, counters, sink and dishwasher. So money has already been invested to a certain degree. The only thing I can see putting into the peninsula area is the microwave, which currently sits on the counter. It's my biggest pet peeve having it take up valuable counter space, so I like the idea of installing a microwave below the counter so that even my kids can use it.

To that end, if we do this addition we'll be staying put in the house for another 10 years at least, and we're reasonably confident that it'll work for us.

After MANY conversations, debates and discussions - my husband and I are meeting an architect at our house to help us figure out the best (and most economical) way to add to our kitchen. The more my husband and I talked, the more "wish list" items because "must haves."

The architect will be coming over on Saturday morning so that we can tell him what we'd like, and then we'll go from there.

Things we know we want now:
- the laundry room moved into the addition, so that the current laundry room can be a mudroom entry from the garage (we NEVER use our front door and yet that's where all our shoes/coats are currently stored)
- convert the current pantry into a "beverage bar" area (we host a LOT of parties) and have a better/bigger pantry in the addition.
- bigger ovens - we have teeny tiny ovens (the cookie sheets we moved into the house with wouldn't fit!) and my husband wants brand new ones - this will require new placement as the current location won't allow for larger ovens.

As for the family room, we are definitely going to investigate going further back by 5 feet, so that we can go ahead and put a simple 5x8 private bath above it for the guest room on the second floor. The family room part of the addition is not definitely - it's still strictly on the "wish list" as opposed to the "must have" list. If we're able to do the kitchen remodel/addition with a reasonable budget then we'll see about also doing the family room/bath portion of the addition.

Either way, thanks for your responses - it definitely got me thinking and made me realize that we needed to bring a professional to help us create a vision that will not only add functionality, but be a good investment as well.

I'll let you know what he comes up with! With any luck we'll have plans in place by June and begin construction soon after that!

We have met twice with the architect and he is officially in the drawing stage.

He told us NOT to do the 5 foot extension of the TV room with the bath on the second floor as we would not recoup that investment. He recommended we give up one of the two closets in the guest room and convert that into a bathroom since it can be easily tied into the kids bath that is right there next to that guest room closet. The bath will be simple - single sink, shower-only, small linen closet, toilet. If our guests have kids that need a bath, they can use the kids' hall bath.

As for the addition and kitchen remodel, he agreed with everyone here that flipping the kitchen by 90 degrees was the best option. He is doing two sets of drawings and will be ready to meet with us this Friday (my husband is out of town until then) to review those plans. Based on our notes from that meeting he'll do a second round of plans to bring back to us for review.

I'm excited and nervous all at the same time! We have to get these plans approved by our HOA once they are finalized, and our HOA is notoriously hardnosed about EVERYTHING. But a friend who was on the board for a while said it shouldn't be a problem since the addition is on the back of the house.

how about a mud room?

I am not going to comment on your plans, but... we blew out the back of our house and pushed our kitchen out 10 additional feet. Everyone said "why don't you just move" -- you'll never get your money back...."

That was slightly over ten years ago and I can't tell you how much we have enjoyed our huge kitchen. We have had countless birthday parties and holidays in it with 20-some members of my family in attendance.

We didn't move for the same reasons you don't want to move and the only thing I disliked about our house was the small-ish u-shaped kitchen.

We will enjoy this kitchen addition for at least 20 years so I don't really care about the ROI.