We need a 2d drawing with the dimensions of your kitchen/dining plan.

I would probably plan on having a couple of seats on the island just to keep some of the young kid mess in the kitchen. you definitely don’t need seating for everyone there. hard to say without a layout - i agree it doesn’t look great if there’s 5 stools pushed right up next to a table.

We are a family of five and our kids use the island all the time. It’s super handy for kids. How big is your space? Islands in kitchen and tables too is normal but size of space matters

Would you consider getting new dining room chairs? Your current chairs have a lot of visual volume to them. When you glance at your dining room they are all you see, they consume the space and swallow the table. I think if you get some more streamlined dining room chairs and have a few simple island stools it will look great.

Definitely have island seating, you’ll enjoy the company while preparing meals, and as for me, I need a place to sit when I’m doing a party.

I can't comment on the spacing considerations, but if you get stools without backs on them they will be less visually cluttered looking. Also, many people think you need backs on the stools for kids, but my kids used to push back/tilt the stools with the backs and they fell all the time. With our current stools, with no backs, they don't do that bc there's nothing to push against.

Exactly, where is the "island". going? On the kitchen floor, correct?

What about all the other supports? What is going on where the wall plug is?

Here is a 2D of the layout. We are tearing up the kitchen floor and putting hardwood to match the rest of the house as well to give a better idea of continuity. Thank you for the feedback received already!

I think island seating won’t make it look too busy. We love our island (has three backless stools) and is perfect for the kids. It also gives an extra place for crafts or puzzles or legos to be set up and they don’t have to immediately be cleaned up if the table is needed for a meal.

You don't have room for an island unless you're willing to move the entire kitchen to the 13' wide room at the top. As planned, an island will be a huge obstacle in what appears to be the middle of your house. Where does the entrance next to the proposed range location go?

The entrance next to the range goes into the living room.

Disagree on room for an island. I think there's room, but you need to make the island narrower and/or shorter. Look carefully at the "NW" corner. Not enough clearance from that stub wall. Personally, I would go for no island seating, or 1-2 island seats. "Legos/homework on the table" seems way better to me than "legos/homework on my kitchen countertop." But that's a personal tradeoff for each cook or family to make.

How much more storage do you need? A 36" high work table with open shelves underneath would be a lovely, lighter look for your space.

without seating, you have room for a 4'x4' island. Keep in mind the amount of traffic you get through your kitchen right now and if an island will just be a hip-clipper to get from the room above (garage?family room?) to the living room side of things.

is there room in the budget to swap the range and the fridge? You really should have more landing space next to the cooktop.

That NW stub wall is being removed but your'e right I should make the island more narrow/shorter to maintain enough clearance at that corner. I do want a bit more storage but maybe keep island light and add a cabinet/countertop/coffee bar area to the left of the "stub wall" - basically in the dining room area - sort of like a built in hutch? That northern empty room is our side entrance/mudroom/exit to back deck with a huge fireplace that takes up most of that northern wall, so I am unable to move our kitchen into that area too much. I currently have a small countertop area on the right side of the stove, not sure if that would be in the budget to swap the two appliances.

The other issue I see is you have no room on the left side of stove. 15" should be the minimum.

Thank you for the input @cpartist, there is exactly 15" from edge of stove to doorway on that side. We are removing all cabinets/countertops so I will make sure to have enough countertop on that side when we replace.

A dining room hutch could be a great solution. I'm curious--what do you use the closet for on the south wall of the dining room? Wondering if that could be converted for storage or serving as well.

Currently we use it for our vacuum/ broom and coats/hats/gloves all in one. We don’t have any other closets downstairs at the moment. We were thinking of adding a closet in the northern room where our side entrance is for coats etc.

Personally I think it looks a silly to have a huge island AND a huge table right next to it. Many people disagree.

I love how mcarroll16 put it: Especially when a good table is close by and in the sightlines of the cook. Without seating, you can put drawers on each side of the island and have amazing storage and work space.