Hi, Post a few pictures.

yes, 51 feet is too long.

Photos and floor plans would help. Also I assume you are sure that there are no structural issues in removing the wall.

photo 1 is the living room. here is the large wall we are thinking of removing. It is not load baring and can be removed. photo 2 you can see the kitchen is off to the left of the wood walkway. photo 3 is the family room. with the wall being removed on the right. this will end up being a great room with the kitchen island being moved out a little toward this original walkway and a long rustic table being parallel to the original walkway. the entire space will be wood floor. any comments or ideas. it is a large space but we are hoping to end up with a great room concept and to have a dining/kitchen space that is user friendly. thank you so much.

What do you feel the advantage would be in removing the wall? I'm hearing more concern than intent, here.

Hmmm, let me rephrase. Maybe I should be asking what about your current dining area is not user friendly? It is very close to your kitchen?

Movable wall partitions provide the best from 'both worlds', usually they are expensive about 700-1000 per wall panel, doors come in different sizes. You can get these from any millworker, or builder. A couple resources for there are:

1. Cherry Tree Design: www.cherrytreedesign.com
2. Sliding Door Company: www.slidingdoorco.com

If you have 17 feet you may want to get 4 doors plus a wall slot made to slide them in. 51' long is ok, you can break up the space with seating arrangements and rugs which define each space.

My living/dining room is about 40 x 17 ft. I wouldn't mind if it was 51 ft long. We do have a freestanding fireplace that divides the room up, which gives you sort of an anchor point for your eyes. I'll include a pic of a similar one, only ours is not in an outside wall, but standing in the room at about 2/3 of the length.
If you have a very long room, you need a point where your eye can rest and gives you time to breathe. It sounds silly, but really... if you can only see furniture, furniture, furniture and another bit of furniture it will drive you mad.

So, just carefully think about how you use your rooms. You now have a separate TV room. You won't have that anymore. Something to think about perhaps? (If you've not already taken that into consideration, which you probably have ;-)).

If you're sure about removing the wall, think about leaving a part of it. You can perhaps for instance remove a bit on the left side and a bit on the right side and see how keeping a floor to ceiling division works. It will give you the view, but will break up the length of the room.