the second one.. but without this table!

I'd rather be cooking at the stove on the top.

Cart before the horse on this problem. Follow what Jan tells you to do.

Also don't look to such overdone kitchen examples for inspiration.

Here is a design we did for a client. Note how we separated the two spaces.

Upscale Family Home: Kitchen · More Info

Upscale Family Home: Dining Room · More Info

Is it a load bearing wall?? If it is and you can't flush up the header then you would do an opening. W\hat style is the home? sometimes completely opening everything is not the right answer either... A beautiful trimmed opening can allow you to have crown molding in the dining room and none in the kitchen - it can allow you to have 2 different paint colors in the space - it can keep the dining room as a defined space. A completely removed wall can make a space feel very open - you can have a large room with ample traffic flow moving through - you will have an uninterrupted ceiling for visual impact...

Your inspiration photos are beautiful but what is your space like? How high are your ceilings?

Courtney Thomas Design, your design is gorgeous. Debbi Washburn, no, not load bearing. My space is still being dtermined as I am adding an addition. I may consider leaving out the header, but like the first photo making the addition in the dining area a bit shorter than the kitchen area thereby tucking the sink wall cabinets in, like the photo. I also m feel that the space is going to be really big 25' across by 20' long so making the dining area 18' rather than 20 may have a cozier feel. Here's a preliminary desiign with the space completely open.

With that layout doing a cased opening is not possible... There's nothing wrong with being that open if you like it... Maybe do an interesting double tray ceiling to define the spaces??