You are right. The island can be shorter to have a pass through. Could you give some suggestions? Thank you

Are you sure the door between the kitchen and family room can't be moved a couple of feet? I used your layout A to draw a kitchen that's split into a cooking section, and a baking area, with the fridge m/l in the middle. In the plan on the left the door is moved toward the bottom, and there's an island that incorporates the post. In the plan on the right, the door stays the same, but there's a peninsula between the kitchen and the dining area. The peninsula could be a little shorter--I brought it even with the post.

If you don't bake enough to have a dedicated baking section, the bottom part (in red) could be a reach-in pantry, for the storage you mentioned.

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Good kitchen planning info: New to Kitchens? Read me first.

In a couple, you have a couch in the dining area, in others you have totally eliminated the front dining room to make a bigger kitchen. I guess I'm not sure what you really want so it's hard to recommend.

1. Do you want to maintain dining seating in both dining rooms?
2. Or would you rather have a sitting room in that back dining area and keep the front dining for meals.
3. Or are you really fine with eliminating all the front dining room to use the back area for dining?

A clearer goal of how you want to use your home might result in more responses.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I like the peninsula seating from Mama Goose. Btw, I don't bake and we don't use the oven very often. We cook mostly Asian food. So yes, the smell goes everywhere. I'm not a very good chef so I'm not comfortable having people seeing me cooking .

My goals are:

1. Semi open kitchen. I want to able to hide some mess from the public and front door.

2. Keep back dining room. The small couch is just extra seating when I need to laid down after a heavy meal, lol... The couch doesn't have to be there.

3. Prefer a peninsula or island, without sink or cooktop, for buffet when we have gatherings. We always have casual dining, never formal...

4. Extra seatings closer or more connected to back dining room which has better view and more natural light.

5. Sink location looking out to backyard view. We do a lot of handwash dishes. I'm ok to have cooktop in front of window. I did do a lot of reading about this set up.

6. Extra storage/tall cabinets for mops, vacuum, broom, etc...

I know I ask for too much. Pls help! Here are some pics of back dining and kitchen

I changed the plan with the peninsula, to put the cooktop in the front of the house, since you do not like anyone watching you cook, but that puts the clean-up sink in the back. Which do you prefer in the open part of the kitchen?

Another version: