maybe the plan would help......

I suggest moving the dishwasher to the other side of the sink so that it doesn't interfere with primary prep.

Change the swing of the bathroom door so you can't see the toilet if the door is partially open.

The cooktop seems too close to the corner, maybe you can move it a little to the left and have smaller cab next to it.

The door at the bottom, can you close it or just have a passthrough if you're bringing the groceries from that direction?
Then you can enlarge the bar to that area and have one opening to the DR. If not a raised bar, 12" overhang may be too tight.

is the 9 ft opening necessary? what about a 6 ft opening? it might not 'match' the one like you want but it would gain you more kitchen wall.

Here is an inspiration photo I always post that is a d-like option:

Agree with sena: Is that bottom door in the kitchen necessary for flow? It would create a really nice range wall without it.

Have you measured to see if your island seating leaves enough clearance for your dining seating with your dining table in an optimal place? I am cutting it close in my 12 foot wide dining room with peninsula seating backing on to my table....but old house - unlimited budget = compromise.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Tue, Nov 5, 13 at 22:08

What if you opened the wall all the way to the bottom, leaving 2'6" like at the top, so the opening is more like 10' or 11'? Or maybe 3' top and bottom, to match the basement door width. You might even be able to remove the wall behind the counter, right next to the basement door, so that you have a sight line to the front door from the kitchen, but from the front door you can't really see the work area.

Can that wall (or whatever it is) b/w the refrigerator and the sink counter be removed? Your refrigerator is pretty far away. Even moving it a couple of feet closer to the rest of the kitchen would be helpful.

Can the door on the bottom of the kitchen be closed up? There's another doorway just around the corner from the DR that's just a few short steps away.

Do you have a measured layout of the kitchen? The widths of each window/doorway/wall and the distances b/w each window/doorway/wall would be very useful as would the overall dimensions of the space.

Is the window location flexible? Window size?

Here are three ideas. The fourth isn't done yet - your options C/D.

For now:

Layout #1:

Layout #2:

Layout #3:

Wow, you guys are seriously awesome! I am still digesting a lot of the information. I also posted the original layout of our crappy kitchen, with the frig sticking out, the mudroom, the pantry, etc, in case you guys have any more ideas. I should put dims on it, but the kitchen is just about 13 feet long and 10 feet wide, the door openings that exist are 30".

To answer a few questions, yes, I already have planned to move the range a bit farther from the corner, with a shorter cabinet for more space on either side of it.

We are hoping that we can remove that bit of wall that separates the refrigerator, since it makes it far away. We dont know (its supporting, part of original house and we may need a post to support the beam we are putting in).

A lot of you have mentioned closing the bottom door to the kitchen.I def. think that is worth exploring. I was worried you'd come in the house and see a wall, but in fact straight ahead are stairs and to the left is a wide open view of the LR. On the other hand. we can't open up that wall where the range is, as bpathome suggested, because it supports stairs above. It has to stay where it is, but we can close it off.

A 6 ft opening would certainly give us more kitchen wall, but we wouldn't have much in the way of seating in something in the opening (unless you mean like a 6 ft passthrough window with a bar, which is a possibilitiy). We could just do an opening, though without a counter or island.

The real problems with our space are that due to the counter next to the range, you can't have a counter too far down, since it will be cramped to walk around that and the counter next to the range. On the other hand you cant move it too far up, because it will block the doorway that leads to the back and the bathroom.

Robotropolis--we actually have a very big dining room, with lots of room to move a large table around. The real issue with the island seating not our dining room, is the issues mentioned above with the tight spaces.

Buehl, you're awesme for these designs. The window size is flexible, the location is flexible only in that we might close it to have cabinets running across (tthe view is of the house across the way, we will get light in from our very luminous dining room if we open it up, and the extremely sunny, southern exposure french doors, plus another window near the frig).
I like your layouts, esp C, but I think we would move an island or counter furhter into the opening/bridging the large dining room with what is already a rather cramped kitchen.....