What are you envisioning "opening up"? Do you want the kitchen open to the dining room or to the living room? Or to both?

Definitely open to the living room. the dining room is optional for me. Thanks!

It looks like your sink is on the outside wall.

Where are your stove and refrigerator? I assume at least one of them is against the wall with the living room. If the wall with the living room comes down, where would you move the stove/refrigerator to?

What kind of funds do you have available? What is the cost of living in your area?

The refrigerator is the hard part, i thought of continuing on the wall with the stove to make an ”L” but it would have to be separated by a 12” cabinet which seems pretty tight. We are in SC so COL is reasonable.

If you close in the wall between the foyer and the kitchen, you could put the refrigerator there. Of course, you would reduce access to the kitchen from the front door (which may or may not be a problem).

Are you thinking of an island in between the kitchen and living room? What would be the purpose of the island (you already have a large dining room).

The more I think about this, the more I think you already have a good arrangment. So that gets to a more fundamental question: How will your life be enhanced by opening the kitchen to the living room?

I’m sure there’s always a way to do something, but what sorts of changes will actually be better?

You could have the ubiquitous island, which does allow storage below, but you’d have to think about cooktop or sink there, maybe can only be cooktop if otherwise major plumbing & gas of electrical relocation, what about venting, etc.

If you lose wall(s), will you lose too much upper storage and also, furniture/TV placement in living room? Especially if doors and windows are limited options already. Many people who buy or create “ open plans” struggle with how to arrange that and also lighting.

You should post more of the floor plan with full LR and maybe include where furniture would go. Also the entrance pattern used by family, how groceries are brought in.

Have you checked with a builder or structurual engineer to determine whether the wall between the kitchen and living room is load bearing? It looks likely that it is, although I'm no pro. If that wall is structural and is removed, it would create a very long span from the exterior DR wall to the BR wall; you may need columns or some kind of big beam installed. (Although DR wall to foyer wall might be OK.) Best to have that checked out before making too many plans.

Also, if you need to move plumbing (e.g. for a refrigerator ice-maker or water dispenser) that's easier if you have a basement or crawl vs a slab foundation.

Here is the current wall between the living room. The racks will be moved into a pantry so otherwise the wall isnt too functional.

And here are some drawings I’ve been playing with. grid=6 inches. A builder has told us with our trusses we can lose the walls. we are on crawl space so moving a fridge line is nbd.

Last, a squarish kitchen i saw on this sight that I love. Thanks for everyones input!

I like your second idea, with the square island. The island is well-positioned to pivot to from both the sink and the range. But, you need wider aisles between the island and the perimeter cabinets, and you should not have seating backing up to the range.

There are squares marked at the current ends of the kitchen/living room wall. Is that because you need support posts? If so, I would have a post run through the outer corner of the island. Having the post just a foot out from the island, like your double-L plan, will be a huge pain in the neck. Here's a tweak based on having support posts. The island is a little further from the sink wall, and a little deeper than standard, in order to make the post line up with the island corner. If you don't need support posts, you could adjust island position and shape.

Thank you I love it! I have been told we dont need supports but i wanted to mark them just in case a different builder told us otherwise- and also to have the old division in mind