Why not put in a 6 or 7 foot stretch of matching kitchen cabinets? You could create a coffee bar or a media center ( gotta have a laptop) or a few open shelves for cookbooks or small flatscreen tv, etc. Lots of possibilities. You don’t need to fill the space. Having the area open right in front of those windows would be awesome.

How much do you have to spend?

Does your dining furniture fit into the kitchen eat-in space? If so, I'd move the dining, and use the current dining space to expand and re-orientate the family room.

Thank you both! littlebug zone 5 Missouri, that is kinda what I was thinking too on adding cabinets on that far wall. Sammie J, we would do it ourselves and it is a new house so we don't want to spend a ton, but a wall of cabinets would be in the budget. Our dining room table would not fit into that area. It is a long square table and it is pretty bulky.

I always like the TV to be in a sapce separate from the LR but not sure about your family size and what you need. I like the idea of a bar area but aging what do you need for seating . It also would be a nice spot for jus acouple of nice chairs and a coffee table for a coffee or wine in the afternoon with a friend. I would be good to know the size too. BTW I would suggest a nice buffet for the DR instead of the book shelf type piece.

If your dining set won't fit, then I'd add cabinets on the wall...and incorporate the same cabinetry to make a window seat under the window.

I think that area has the potential to be so many things and a lot depends on you and your family's lifestyle. I could see it with bookcases as a reading area, or with a desk as a homework area if you want to keep an eye on a school-aged child. It could definitely be a dry bar. However, my reservation about that, looking at the layout, is that with the refrigerator and sink being between the seating area and the dry bar, is that people will just end up fixing their drinks on the island. A lot depends what you drink. I have a whiskey bar plus some port, brandies and other digestifs, none of which requires chilling or mixers. Everything I need is right there. All other drinks just get prepared in the kitchen.

Given that you've just moved in, I would experiment a bit and see how you get on. If you have a spare console or sideboard that could be used as a temporary dry bar, maybe try it and see if it actually gets used. If it does, then you could look for cabinets as a more permanent solution; if not, at least you've not wasted money on cabinets that you don't need. Similarly, you could put a desk there and see if it is useful. Once you've been in the place a few weeks you might decide, as mentioned above, that it would be better to have the dining table over there by the window and extend the lounge area.

love the idea that you want to extend cabinetry and have a bar area. i would add a couple chairs with a small table so it could be a conversation spot for coffee or socializing with a drink like Patricia Colwell suggests. could be such a cute and fun spot