I am not a pro, but do have a small kitchen 12.5 x 12.5. Based on my own kitchen, the present peninsula with chairs will be too close to the fridge. My own kitchen is an L shape with a 3 x 4' island. While I can pull 3 stools up to the island, it really could only comfortably seat 2 adults. Our dining room, which is not done in a formal style, is right off the kitchen and I tend to step in there for meals, though some of my kids will use the island. I prefer regular seating:) I do have some pics of my kitchen in my idea book, but it is an older kitchen.

I would like to see a picture of the fireplace to see if removing it would detract from the charm of your home or not. I've seen fireplaces in dining rooms so don't know if removal is necessary.

I'd try to get the sink and range on the same side. The seating nook could have a bench with storage, or skip the bench, which would give you the choice of turning the table 90°. For the small window in the new entry, I was imagining one of those cute little octagonal windows.

All base cabinets can be pulled out to provide deeper counters, therefore more counterspace, or you could have custom bases made with deeper drawers for more storage space. The MW is on a shelf beside the fridge, or in a drawer beside it. The narrow cabinet beside the DW could be for cutting boards and sheets pans, or a pull-out for flatware and utensils.

Click to enlarge:

ETA a second version, with the table turned 90°:Also, the side windows above the sink are narrower, which allows you to have a pull-out pantry to the right, and wider cabinets on each side of the range. The coffee station is also a little wider. If you wanted the look of a vintage dining nook, you could put a wall at the end of the coffee cabinet, with a second bench, with 'morgue drawer' storage.

GW discussions--deeper counters

GW discussions--morgue drawers

New to Kitchens? Read me first.

Can you absorb the entire porch instead of just part of it?

Thank you so much for the suggestions so far - very helpful.

I'm adding a drawing below with measurements; if there is a way to edit my initial post to add the drawing there, please let me know and I'll do that.

I'm not marking windows on this drawing, because the current windows aren't relevant and everything else is up for grabs. We are expecting to move/replace all the windows in the kitchen and the front living room window. We're willing to move the door that leads from the kitchen to the side yard. The current door opening from kitchen to living room is 30"; we simply unhung the door that was there to leave the walkway open. We like the designer's idea of widening that opening considerably, up to 60". Or we could leave the opening smaller and have more cupboard/drawer/counter space.

The sketches we have from the designer so far are meant to be concept drawings to give us an idea of possibilities; we are not far enough along to have actual plans. But I still find it helpful to think about what fits where with workspaces and flow in mind.

About the porch - I'm not sure if we could absorb all of it, but it's an interesting question; we would need to look at setbacks. What good things might we do if we could fold in the entire porch?

Thank you again.

Or, what if you flip the new entry to the right side and have the porch to the left. Then the closet door can move to directly in the new foyer.

I much prefer mama goose's layout, especially with moving the breakfast table to the other wall.

Note, about the new entry in the porch, honesty there is not much "benefit' in the first move you planned, only building an entrance but the "Chi"" was not there.... while growing that space for the kitchen really is a gain!

Thanks again to all. @mama goose_gw zn6OH - I like your suggestions, but I'm not sure I follow the part about pantry label that overlaps the new entry area. Could you clarify? Many thanks.

Small point: we don't need microwave space; we don't have one now and don't plan to get one. But putting the espresso machine near the seating area looks like a good idea.

The pantry in the new is entry is a tall shallow cabinet, 12"-18" deep upper cabinets configured into pantry space, or site-built shelves with a face frame and doors--you choose the depth.

If you don't want your overflow pantry in the vestibule, in the second plan with the narrow windows, I put a full-height pull-out pantry between the DW and the wall. The cabinets and range add up to exactly 13', so the pantry might need to be a couple of inches narrower, to account for DW return panel or ledger board to support the CT, and wiggle room for out-of-square walls.

Got it! Thanks for the clarification.

Is the area space a 13"x11"????

@Lily'smom, thank you - all of your feedback is very helpful.

I'll have to try moving around within the proposed entry space to see how it feels. When we remodeled our bathroom last fall, we used foam core to make a model of the (large) vanity we were considering, and it was very helpful. I think we will want to do the same here.

I'm now thinking that the best place for breakfast/sitting is in the corner that mama goose suggested, whether it's a bench/table or a peninsula of some kind. That location creates a nice open space for cooks to move around, which is what we are sorely missing now.

I hadn't been thinking about cupboard access with the rounded peninsula, so that's a helpful observation too. We do have cooking things we don't use often that I still want to keep, but the access needs to work somehow.

Everybody in the family is sure that we want some seating/eating space in the kitchen. It is making things difficult :-). But we know from the way we are using the very inconvenient seating spaces we have now that it's an important part of how we use the room.

I had a kitchen like your planned one, where the range was in the traffic path. That is absolutely the worst set up, and probably the most dangerous. This is why mama-goose moved it to the other side of the kitchen.

So, the one thing I dislike about Mamagoose's thoughts are that from the front door, you see---FRIDGE! The big ole fridge is staring at you as you come in the house as a guest. I'm not sure I have a solution, but something to minimize that would be preferable to me.

@powermuffin - could you say a little more about why the range in a more central location is not a good idea? Would it still be a problem to switch the sink/dishwasher and the range in Mama goose's plan?

There are more nuances than I had realized.

@kirkhall - good point about interior sightlines; thank you. Right now, my spouse is thinking about windows, which adds a whole other dimension.