Hello! I am in the early planning stages of a remodel that would remove a wall between my kitchen and dining room and would appreciate any feedback on my ideas.

Background: Custom designed 2k square foot, 3/2 60s ranch house with large living areas built around a very large patio. Kitchen is currently open to family room. Dining room is rarely used and feels like wasted space. In the 8 years I’ve lived here I’ve come to appreciate how thoughtful the architect was as the home feels very harmonious.

My primary goal is to integrate the dining room space so that it can serve more as a “hub” of activity. The peninsula between the kitchen and family room currently serves this purpose. This room doubles as my office and I want it to feel a bit more separate from the kitchen, and even more critically I would LOVE to have a better seating layout around the fireplace, which I think can be achieved in the absence of the existing peninsula. But I’m not certain about that :)

So! Pics are below. My vision is to leave the sink and stove in their current locations. The wall with the fridge would be taken down. Cabinets would be added to the dining room wall that currently has a buffet on it. There is a wet bar separating the dining room and living room that I would like to gracefully integrate into this remodel.

The fridge wall would be replaced by an 84 x 39 inch peninsula. I would like to extend the kitchen into the dining room by either 1 foot or 2 to achieve this. This would put the peninsula and stools close to the bay window and this is one of the things I would like advice about - how close is too close?!

My math is that current cabinet is 25.5 with counter. Remove 4 inch wall and add roughly 1 foot and I get to 39-40 inches for peninsula depth. Add 2 feet and I get a little more counter space and an extra cabinet in kitchen. Not sure that’s worth it. The bigger advantage to the two feet plan is that I would only have to extend the wall with the pantry cabinet on it by 24-26 inches to accommodate the refrigerator. With one foot I would have to extend by 38-40 inches. Obviously I am dropping the existing peninsula in this plan.

I should add that this is an extremely functional kitchen. If we used the dining room and didn’t have the layout challenges in the family room I would keep the layout and simply replace cabinets, lighting etc. like I said, the architect did a great job 60 years ago.

The backsplash choice was a very poor decision made by me several years ago and a daily reminder that I am not in fact a designer :)

Whew! If you read this far, thank you!

Dimensions:
Sink wall: 117 inches
Stove wall: 147 inches
Fridge wall: 87 inches
Peninsula wall to door trim: 99
Pantry cabinet to trim: 34

Dining room - 31.5 inches from kitchen wall to bay window trim. Total: 144 inches window wall
Buffet wall: 94 inches
Wet bar: 62 inches