Wanted to add that all plumbing and electrical is easily accessed via basement. There is a second floor.

Primary traffic route is through the garage/ family room and kitchen doorway into foyer. Currently, the doorway into the dining room from the kitchen is only used occasionally , as they have a table and chairs in the kitchen. but, as mentioned above it is tight. With the reno, casual breakfast and lunch could be at a new island, sit down meals would be in the dining room

So…more counter space, some casual seating space, more storage space and open wider access into dining room from kitchen would be desirable.

are they DIY types...what is the budget... is there venting at all to the exterior? are you all aware of price hikes and delays esp w components altho their existing appliances will help. the rehab done by the neighbor if done a number of yrs ago would be at much greater cost right now. Is the existing kitchen functioning so this is a WANT more than a NEED? I can see a nice project unfolding esp w teen kids to make a more open engaging spot in the home but better be aware of cost issues and delays still occurring.

Herbflavor, to some extent they are DIY capable. A huge part of this job will be removal of the current tile, which which, for some unknown reason, the previous owner had put down with a solid 2” with mud base, so there is a tripping hazard where the tiles meet wood floors. That will definitely be hired out, as well as the replacement floor. My son and husband are capable of the electrical and plumbing changes, but cabinet install will also be hired out. We are very aware of delayed time frames for ordering and deliveries which is why they are eager to get a layout in progress.

Mama goose, that is sort of one of the early layouts we considered, but we didn't go as far as making it a ”u”. They do plan on changing the windows, and one thought was using the window area for a coffee bar with the windows raised to counter height. Interesting. Do you think there might be too much distance between sink area and fridge?

My son and DIL went to see their friend's kitchen with the wall removed. I told them to take the tape measure and to, as best as they could without being intrusive, to get a feel for the dynamics of working in that kitchen. Posted below is a mockup of that kitchen with the info i had.

Several negatives: difficult to vent range, puts one walking path to/from dining room in front of range. There is another entrance to dining room from the living room, so any visitors would most likely enter dining room through that archway, not the kitchen route. It would also not allow for many upper cabs in the work area.

A positive is that it expands the kitchen visually and does provide more counter space than they currently have. the fridge/pantry wall in friend's house has more storage than i thought it would.

Comments welcome.

Why don’t you post the whole floor plan of this level?

Here's a quick and dirty sketch of the rest of that floor. As you can see, there's not much more here.

Why is swapping the current dining room and kitchen a no go? What’s the plan for flooring in any scenario?

The swap between the kitchen and dining room was discarded because my son and DIL felt it would put traffic from the garage/family room through the new dining room. Bringing in groceries from the garage would be just that much further., and as my DIL has some mobility issues, it would be harder on her. They also have traditional dining room furniture which includes a large breakfront; there would be no large wall space for one in what is now the kitchen. There would be space for it if they didn't remove the shared wall between kitchen and dining room, but since the goal was to open the kitchen/dining room as much as possible, that wall wouldn't exist.

Flooring is a tough issue. Currently, the foyer and kitchen, including the hallway to garage/family room is tiled. the dining and living rooms have a pickled wood floor. However, whoever installed the tile put it down with literally a 2+ inch mud base, Where the tile meets the wood floor at the entrances to living and dining room there is a nice toe-stubber. The tile floor will need to be jackhammered and repaired. I believe son and DIL would prefer tile in foyer and kitchen again, new wood in dining/living again. With DIL's style of cooking, tile is the wisest choice in the working area.

They seem to be enamored of the island layout I posted yesterday, the same layout their friends have. I'm not so sure. The friend has a 2 level island, which sort of defeats the extra working space it could provide if it were a single surface. However, in their current kitchen the sink area is usually wet, and a single surface island might be disastrous. The 2 level does have an advantage with electric outlets, though. I suggested they pretend to prepare meals in there.

I also encouraged them to give mama goose's layout some consideration. DIL would still like to see some sort of island in there; maybe to fit in a small stool or 2? If fridge were moved to the area designated as ”hutch”?