If that drawing is to scale, you do not have room fort an island. if the first pic is current, leave it at that. Just use mostly all drawers on the lowers.

Don't mess around. Where do you enter from the outside? Where is the garage or mud entrance?

Which opening are you keeping or eliminating? Show the EXISTING space and you haven't enough clearance, are forcing yourself to trip over a dishwasher door with placement between a range and a sink........

Add jpegs of the existing space all angles and include the adjacent areas. Add below in comments

This is the current existing space. We plan on getting rid of the soffits and going to the ceiling with cabinets. Adding a hood over the range. Built in appliances. Overall we will make better use of the space and have it be more up to date. Is a peninsula current?

The current arrangement is very efficient, but because you have a table right there I would eliminate the peninsula so you have more breathing (and walking) space. No need to move any of the appliances.

I think your current layout is better than the alternative layouts. I think peninsulas are a great in the right space. I think you need the peninsula there for a fridge landing and for serving. It's good the stools tuck under the countertop.

I think I would change the cabinet above the peninsula by replacing it with two cabinets that open towards the sink and the dining room (like a butterfly) or I would eliminate that cabinet altogether (maybe replace it with open shelving or make it an infrequently-used display cabinet with glass doors.

You could also add a cabinet access door to the backside of the peninsula.

Working with the full floorplan to modernize your layout I'd delete the closet, the eat-in table and the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. 'L' shaped kitchen with the frig next to the patio door. With the closet gone you have space for an island

I would stay with the current layout and spend my money on the upgrade. No need to go know king down walls just to end up with something weird, like an island in front of sliders.

*knocking not “know king”

The current layout seems really efficient and a joy to cook and bake in. There is also great hang out space either where the stools are or at the round table. I don't see any advantage to an island here. Your floors are beautiful, I hope they are staying.

There's nothing wrong with the layout you have and it HAS a peninsula!. If the masking tape on the floor is an "extension of the peninsula size you now have? Forget it. Too tight a clearance.

Square feet mean nothing as on the rest you posted. Feet and inches do.

It's still not clear where you enter the house, where is the garage, is the closet a coat closet , or do you use it as a pantry? More homework and more dimensions and more pictures of the adjacent spaces: ) and do you know for FACT that soffits are carrying plumbing to a second floor?

Thank you all for your feedback!

Questions:

1. Do you need two places for seating in the Kitchen - peninsula (or island) + Nook?
2. Do you need seating in the Nook if you have the Dining room for meals?
3. Can you take down the wall b/w the Dining Room and Kitchen to open it up and make it easier for daily meals in the Dining Room?
4. Would you consider replacing the Pantry Closet with shallow pantry cabinets (12" to 15"D)?
5. Where is your family entrance? I.e., where do you bring groceries into the house?
6. Where is the Front Door?
7. What's in the blank space to the left of the Dining Room & Living Room?

What are the dimensions of:

• Space b/w the sliding door & window in the Kitchen?
• Pantry Closet - exterior dimensions
• Nook -- or Nook + Kitchen measurements all in one
• Dining Room

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5972404/new-to-kitchens-read-me-first-2020-interim

ETA: Asked question about replacing pantry closet with shallow pantry cabinets

Hi CMc, with enough money, a good architect/engineer/designer, and a great contractor you can turn that space into the most open, well flowing, gorgeous kitchen on the planet. Ask yourself what you need that you do not have, and what you think is beautiful that you lack.

Do you need more peninsula seating? Would you prefer an island? You can have those things if you spend enough. Whether it is worth it to you depends on how much it will cost, how long you are planning to stay in the house, what the relative home price is in your neighborhood and the current value of your home. It won’t be quick and easy, but good changes rarely are.

To get an island like the one i sketched below you’d have to remove a wall ($) and possibly install a beam and even new footings to carry the load ($$$). The only way to know for sure is to discuss it with a contractor. BTW you can turn the island 90 degrees, seat more people and leave the wall alone.

With only 12' (144") of Kitchen depth to work with, you cannot reasonably fit seating with the island facing the top wall.

Using the bare minimum recommended measurements:

25.5"D sink wall with NO refrigerator

+ 42"W aisle (minimum for a one-person Kitchen, i.e., only one person working in the Kitchen)

+ 41.5"D island

=============

109"

144" - 109" = 35" for aisle behind the seats. It should be 44", which means the Kitchen is 9" too shallow.

[Island depth = 1.5" overhang in front + 24"D cabs + 1" decorative door/end panel on back of cabs + 15" clear leg/knee overhang, which is minimum for counter-height seating = 41.5"]

If the refrigerator is on the sink wall and the island overlaps the refrigerator in any way, it's even worse. (Note that counter-depth refrigerators are usually 31" to 33" deep when counting the doors and handles. "Counter-depth" only refers to the refrigerator box.)

31"D counter-depth refrigerator

+ 42"W aisle

+ 41.5"D island

=============

114.5"

144" - 114.5" = 29.5". Now, the Kitchen is 14.5" too shallow

In the other direction - the island facing the range/right wall - it's the island's width/length that's limited:

25.5"D sink wall with NO refrigerator

+ 42"W aisle (minimum for a one-person Kitchen, i.e., only one person working in the Kitchen)

+ 36" walkway b/w the island and wall

==============

103.5"

144" - 103.5" = 40.5" left for the width/length of the island. That's a very short island.

This is why I'm asking if you can take the wall down.

Minimum recommendations:

Seating Overhangs:

* 15" of clear leg/knee space for counter-height seating

* 12" for bar-height seating

* 18" for table-height seating

Seat Spacing:

* 24" of linear space per seat for counter-height and bar-height seating

* 24" to 30" for table-height seating

A note about aisles: Aisles are measured to/from the items that stick out the farthest - counter overhangs, appliance handles, etc. They are NOT measured to/from cabinets b/c cabinet measurements only include the cabinet box; they do not include doors/drawer fronts, hardware, or counter overhangs.

Work Aisles:

* 42" for a one-person work aisle (i.e., one person, and always only one person working in the aisle)

* 48" for a multi-person work aisle (prepping, cooking, baking, cleaning up, unloading the DW, etc.)

* Functionally, 48" should be planned whenever possible, but no less than 42"

Walkways with no cabinets, appliances, work space behind the seats:

* 44" to walk past, if traffic passes behind the seats

* 36" to edge past, if traffic passes behind the seats

* 32" to edge past, if no traffic passes behind the seat (e.g., peninsula against a wall with another wall directly behind the seat as well)

Walkways with no cabinets, appliances, work space behind the seats:

* Add another 10" to 12" to the measurements above

Walkway with no seating on the aisle and no cabinets, appliances, work space:

* 36" (you could probably go down to 33" or so since that's the width of a standard doorway, but not any narrower)

Visuals:

Note the seating clearance images are against a wall with no cabinets, appliances, or workspaces behind the seats.

I know this is probably late, but I decided to post it anyway.

===================================

If you don't change any doors, windows, or walls, other than what you show in your layouts, here is an example of what you could do. It's a "G" shape, similar to what you did, but, IMHO, more functional.

Note that it does eliminate using the Nook for meals. You might be able to put a small table & chair in it or expand the Family Room into the original Nook. We haven't seen any rooms other than the Kitchen, so I don't know if that would work (flooring, ceiling, etc.) However, it does increase the size of the Family Room a bit by incorporating part of the old Nook into the Family Room.

Caveat: This is based on the measurements you posted in the first layout (it has more info than the others). It's also based on a guess on my part as to the distance b/w the Kitchen window and the sliding door in the Nook based on what I saw in an earlier thread by you.

Notice the switch of the DW. It's now outside of the Primary Prep Zone (the counterspace b/w the sink and range). If you reduce the sink to a single-bowl 30" sink base, you gain 3" on either side of the sink...the 12" cabinet on the left becomes 15" and the you could put in a 21" drawer base instead of the trash pullout and either put your trash under the sink or move it to the island or move it to the space b/w the corner susan and the Range, which is what I would probably do.

WORK ZONES

Following

A peninsula is usually more efficient than an island. Since you have a dining table right next to the peninsula, you can skip peninsula seating and make it wider and possibly have cabinets on both sides.

Not sure if OP is still monitoring this but, I wonder if they prep at the peninsula or the 'correct' primary prep space between sink and range? In that case doesn't the peninsula layout become less efficient since prep space is so far from the range and causes zone crossing? I think it is pretty common these days that prep happens facing the family room if the TV is visible from the peninsula. That might make an island that is closer to the range but still in sight lines of the family room more efficient.

Another option is a sink in the peninsula along with prep space there and to the right around the corner.. I actually started working one up like that, but until we hear from the OP again, I don't want to spend time working on it.

Thank you all for your comments and layouts!

We do plan on getting rid of the closet and putting built in cabinets there to act as a pantry.

In regard to prep, I typically prep right next to the range as the peninsula is too far away when I’m cooking. Sometimes, I’ll prep at the peninsula if I’m just doing a lot of chopping.

We are considering knocking down a wall in order to expand the kitchen if we can’t make our 12x12 kitchen work in the way we want it to, but that has other challenges and costs.

Thanks for your help, Buehl. To answer your questions:

1. Do you need two places for seating in the Kitchen - peninsula (or island) + Nook? I’d like to have one large table and some counter seating. But we don’t need 2 dining tables. 2. Do you need seating in the Nook if you have the Dining room for meals? No, we can have one table. I’d prefer it to be a larger table in the nook (if we get rid of the closet), because it faces a big open space in our backyard. 3. Can you take down the wall b/w the Dining Room and Kitchen to open it up and make it easier for daily meals in the Dining Room? Yes it can come down. 4. Would you consider replacing the Pantry Closet with shallow pantry cabinets (12" to 15"D)? Yes, I was thinking 18” 5. Where is your family entrance? I.e., where do you bring groceries into the house? Enterance is next to the living room and the garage of nearby. So we bring in groceries through the nook area. 7. What's in the blank space to the left of the Dining Room & Living Room? Next to the dining room is the stairwell. Next to the living room is the front door

Don’t do a bi-level peninsula. Your most useful space will be a big wide countertop on the peninsula and if you let it creep a bit towards the slider it will be even better. You will never get anything done with an island in the middle of the kitchen and people sitting there. The peninsula will keep people out of your prep space but still close enough to chat and you can get things done without dodging around them.

I don't think CMc is planning a bi-level peninsula nor is anyone here suggesting that. Are you just making a general statement, or did I miss something above?