@jpp221 the two half height walls on the left help define the original living room space; the half-height wall on the right defines the space for the stairway. The previous owners added on by taking out part of the exterior wall, creating an adjacent living room space to the original living room space. I like the idea of expanding the kitchen into the dining room space; I'm wondering how to define the dining room space if we move that area by the bay window to be the dining room, and also to ensure that there is a sensible traffic flow passing that area as a possible dining room and moving to the living room. Ideas? :)

Here’s my shot at it. Of course, it depends on your budget.

Moving or reducing the length of the half-height walls is definitely possible. The exterior door from the kitchen can't be moved as suggested - I didn't mark it but the rest of that side of the exterior wall is a chimney for the fireplace in the basement below. Plus the exterior walls are all brick. I'd almost sooner see the window in the kitchen become a door, wrap the patio around the corner of the house to that area, and close off the existing door, if I were spending the money in that area.

I'm wondering about the possibility of basically shifting the existing wall that separates the kitchen from the living room space over a bit, so that there's an entrance closer to the living room, as well as the entrance across from the top of the stairs, and then using that wall for additional cabinetry on the kitchen side, and as you suggested, the china cabinet on the dining room side. I'm also not averse to ditching the china closet entirely if I can create suitable storage in the kitchen itself. Right now, the wall cabinets I have do not go all the way to the ceiling, and the space between the ceiling and the top of the cabinets is enclosed (and wasted, as far as I know). If I could use that space to store less-frequently-used things like china, I wouldn't mind having to pull out a tall step-stool a few times a year to get it.

If I could have an eat-in area or an island in the kitchen, that would be a bonus.

What you’re now into is an exercise of scale, which is always tricky for me. The good news is that a designer, for a nominal fee, can sketch this stuff out in a heartbeat; they know how wide an aisle needs to be, how far apart two counters need to be to not drive you batty, etc. My suspicion is that the new kitchen we imagine can easily accommodate all you seek as it would be a good-sized room.

If you’re willing to expand your patio as you suggest, then moving that patio entrance to somewhere along what is now the dining room would be great as it would line up rather directly with the stair and thus provide a clear traffic path well away from the bulk of the kitchen’s activity. And I wouldn’t worry about sealing up the old kitchen door and brick not matching—they can take the brick from the hole they are creating for the new door.

I do like your idea of two interior doorways into the kitchen. It will provide a nice bit of symmetry for whatever is placed in between, on either side. And it will help traffic flow a lot.

A drop ceiling (that’s the thing above your kitchen cupboards) is always a bit of a mystery. Often they are just empty drywall boxes. Other times, they hide cables and pipes (particularly in older homes that were renovated and people didn’t want to tear up too many walls or floors so they resorted to this).

I doubt there's much if any pipework going on in the drop ceiling box above the cabinets, but anything is possible. This gives me a lot to think about. And yes, I now designers can tell us how much space is required and/or advised, etc. But I like to have some ideas already of what might or might not work for me as an individual, along with my family. I don't have a defined budget as of yet. I tend to think and consider options/possibilities first for a good bit of time, and then develop the financial plan to enact it. We redesigned two bathrooms last year the same way, where I thought long and hard about it. I even laid out the entire floor plan for the two bathrooms in fullscale, using chalk on the patio to help better envision space between items, at least on the floor layout. Unfortunately, my patio isn't big enough to layout the entire future kitchen... but you know, I think my driveway IS big enough to do that.... I may be doing a lot chalking on my driveway this weekend if the weather is good :)

Can someone do this better to scale? I'm inspired but unsure about actual space.

What does your local move up real estate market look like?

If you combine the kitchen and dining areas, would the china closet fit between the two windows at the top of your diagram? If so...

If not...