We bought an old ranch without much light in the kitchen and dining room areas. We’ve decided to open the wall separating the kitchen and the living space. The issue is how big to make the opening. A designer, who drew our original plans, left an extra 24” on the wall separating the dining from the living space.

I had wanted a dining room on one side of the far wall and a small study area on the opposite. Currently, our contractor cut out the existing wall more than we had wanted, so both wall lengths are even. To me, it’s bad there is not the extra 24” dividing dining and “study” areas. Our contractor is convinced the symmetry looks better for our open concept plan. I’ve attached some pictures for visualizing my dilemma. The pillar of wood represents the extra 24” of extra to add back.

We’re able to put dry wall back at this stage. Please let me know what you think is the best solution.