Hi. I’m not keen on either of those options. That front living/hall area seems underutilized. Option 3 doesn’t allow for enough clearance around your island (showing 36” and you need at least 42” ideally 48” In your existing plan, can you shift the kitchen into the dining area & eliminate the wall between kitchen and hall and put your table there? How many people do you need to accommodate for dining? I understand what you are saying about sightlines into your primary, but I don’t think you will really be able to see all the way across IRL. What do you do for privacy now?

The addition is the better way, but is it cost effective?

the addition does not seem that large but widens the house nicely at a pinch point, did they talk about the complexity of the addition? - I am mainly think of roof lines

If you don’t want to expand, see if you can swap the bedroom spaces to the same area and common spaces to separate area. Bottom is a quick markup idea…

On man all that traffic through the kitchen. I feel your pain. I also wouldn't want to see the kitchen from the front door.

Do you want to keep the family room and living room? Could put the kitchen in the living room. That'd make the dining room bigger and then take down the L wall in the family room. With the family room being so much bigger I'd carve out a space by the front door to make it a proper entry at the front door.

I think there's a moment when a house screams at you......

"Please move. You've outgrown me"

Or....."smash my bones to the ground and grass....

reinvent me anew"

Thank you all for the help and advice, I’m loving some of the creativity and ideas this is helping to spark.. I am new to the discussion feature of houzz and am so grateful to get so much feedback! I don’t see a way to respond to individual comments. So I’ll do my best to respond here. We worked with the designer and unfortunately there is no way to put the kitchen closer to the back of the house without doing the addition so we are lending towards the addition but a slightly different layout. We also talked through some of the ideas presented here but unfortunately with the dimensions, the space would just be too awkward. We love where we live and the neighborhood and feel strongly about making something work. We feel okay about investing in an addition… my husband mocked this up and our designer is going to put it into his software with the correct dimensions to see if could work (probably a different island layout)z He said his engineer feels okay about the roof lines for the addition. We’re still figuring it out but thank you all!

exciting! our house had a kitchen pinch point and we did an addition/moved our kitchen bc we love our neighborhood also - so happy we did..that was 10+yrs ago and we’ve never regretted it

I will let the pros chime in but I personally wouldn’t have a diagonal island, does the design/build firm have a kitchen designer?

Anyone who would come up with that diagonal island is a BAD designer. Really bad. That is a Before that someone is ready to rip out.

Keep the lot, keep the neighborhood, keep ONE wall. Get a great architect....find a place to go for 24 months.

Knock it down to a single wall and start over.

You are jamming a new home, into the seventy year old home.

It will take forever, cost a lot, and still will not be what you really want.

Jan so often people like to hire unqualified "designers: usually found lurking in the Home depot cabinet dept and assume they are competent to mess with their must valuable asset - SAD - when they should hire a design professional (who is formally educated/ certified by testing/ and has the experience to understand all the implications of their layout recommendations - like bringing your Mercedes to a tractor mechanic - and it gets worst ever year - I'm glad to be exiting my +40 yrs of (ASID /NCQID practice since the public is totally confused on who to ask for help - I'm thankfully out of here

Does no one read the words that are typed in? The OP said clearly that the last design was mocked up by her husband and not a designer.

Yeah, of course every designer think that they alone are the best and most qualified designer! lol

I've met plenty of ASID certified interior designers that aren't that talented!

Well i’d certainly nix the diagonal island (yikes!) and corner pantry, but it does seem like there is plenty of space for kitchen and dining there if you don’t need a gargantuan island. I’d be looking at other houses as well - i know many people that have moved 3 blocks over to a bigger house.

My thought is similar to rebunky - move the dining room to the front room . I would also move over the bedroom doors ( if possible to give more room to cabinets - maybe not quite as far as I did ) No addition

Or flip the kitchen and have just one living room instead of 2

ITs a big project. You need to weigh your pros and cons to male the best decision for you and your family.

Good luck!

my husband mocked this up and our designer is going to put it into his software with the correct dimensions to see if could work (probably a different island layout)

It is perfectly fine for you and your husband to throw out ideas. It is exciting and fun to plan your dream kitchen and play with different ideas.

However, your kitchen designers’ job is to kindly reel you in and not be afraid to tell you,

”No. There is no need to draw that idea up and here is why. It is totally dysfunctional because of…. x, y, z.”

Any experienced kitchen designer would have immediately seen the problems in your husband’s idea. Sorry to be blunt. 😬 But the fact that your ”designer” said, ”Ok, let me draw it up for you in my design program to see if it will work.”, tells me…. RUN!

Did you happen to get a chance to read through the ”New to Kitchens” thread that I posted a link to above? Here is an important excerpt from that thread to be mindful of when asking for layout help.

“One very important note before we begin…

When asking questions (e.g., asking for layout help), please keep in mind that everyone here is trying to help, not criticize maliciously. Some of us can be blunt, but no one is out to deliberately insult or hurt anyone. When your kitchen is done, we want you to have a kitchen that functions wonderfully well and looks nice overall -- but the process will take time and may entail comments that many times you won't want to hear (e.g., when a layout is dysfunctional). We strongly recommend you "keep listening" to what others have to say but, in the end, you don't have to take any advice given here. It's your kitchen and you are the one who will make the final decisions!”

If you add a 2D drawing with all the dimensions labeled (see example diagram) there are some very talanted folks here who I know will come up with some great ideas for you and possibly without needing the costly addition.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5500789/faq-how-do-i-ask-for-layout-help-what-information-should-i-include

Also photos of the existing kitchen and the rooms surrounding it like the living,,dining, family, and entry from different angles really help too. 💕

It's not just about the kitchen. That's the real problem

I like that Debbi asked about the two living rooms. Giving up one allows you to build a better layout. I’m concerned your designer didn’t offer a layout that does what Debbie’s does - expand the kitchen. You will “live” in a bigger, better kitchen and it can become as important and functional as a family room.

What people walk in to when they come through your front door is important. A kitchen at the front of the house in an open space doesn’t make sense.

Why not go to another architect? Maybe some walls should be changed. You want to stay in this house and make it work for your family. You are willing to make the investment. Spend the money on a better design by getting another professional’s opinion.

Agree that not all architects are equal - our first one we paid & thanked and then went and found someone else.

FWIW I happily live in a less than perfect house for the neighborhood - my kids walked to school and my neighbors are the best. you can’t change your location but you can change a lot about a house (budget, time and access to the best pros can be limitors tho)