We are in the middle of updating our house and are planning a major kitchen renovation.

Although current kitchen is good size and open to rest of living space the uppers, refrigerator, and oven stack block our view of the water. We would like to rearrange the space and will remove uppers shown and replace them with windows to take advantage of the view and play up the architecture of the ceiling. Our style is a relaxed vacation home feel that welcomes people in but is respectful of the architecture we have.

We will be removing the sliders on the side wall and pushing that space out. We are considering installing a pantry along part of that wall to maximize our storage We will be removing the support post in the kitchen to create a large open space. The doorway at the rear of the kitchen space leads to a hallway.

We will also be pushing the slider on the water side of the house out so that wall is one continuous space. That will give us a large space between the kitchen and the living room and we're trying to figure out how to use it.

The house is currently lived in by two people, and we love to entertain. Entertaining for us is generally small plates and wine as we favor a casual lifestyle. There is seating on the porch for dining/snacks already to allow us to take advantage of the warm weather.

We will also be hosting family, and need to comfortably seat 8 or more, although we do not want any type of formal dining room. We would prefer some type of built in eating area as part of the counter.

We currently have a counter height table between the kitchen and living space. We want to get rid of that table and use the space for something else that is more in line with small relaxed entertaining with a couple of friends.

I've attached one of the options we were looking at early on (before we decided on the pantry) to give you and idea of the space. the 144 long wall in that drawing is where the new pantry will be. There is room on that wall to relocate the refrigerator, and we are considering moving it to the space currently marked oven cabinet, and then extending the pantry down from that location. That makes sense, although it then leaves us wondering if we do separate cooktop/oven or a drop in stove.

I would appreciate your ideas on:

1. How to configure the kitchen to maximize usability while leaving sink, cooktop (or drop in stove) where they currently are.

2. What type of options could work to provide us seating

3. What would you do with the space between the living area and kitchen (about 12 feet wide)

We have a couple of different proposals.