ideally, replace the entire floor, but until then,

fill in the space with a similar depth flooring, close matching if possible

I do think you need to replace your flooring if you are going to be ripping out the island.

Can you show a drawing of your remodel plans? I don't see how you will have enough room for an island in the kitchen unless you are doing a rectangular one that sticks out into the dining area. Your kitchen actually looks really nice to me. I can imagine a few cosmetic changes. What are your goals / motivation for a full reno?

Can you get more of that wood-look tile and run that into the living & kitchen spaces?

If the tile is still available, you would need to get a box in the current dye lot to make sure the color hasn't changed.

i can locate the grey tile but not in the same dye lot. The tile people tell me that it can be up to 2 shade differences and would look patched. i would run the island the long way into the kitchen. it would not go further into the diningroom than the current peninsula does. i want to take cabinets to the ceiling. an island is better for buffet dinners than the peninsula. no drawings yet as we are in beginning stages, but the floor issue is a head scratcher. The grey tile runs all through the main living area as well as 3 bedrooms.

I hear you on cabinets up to the ceiling for sure. Have you measured out an island and are you sure that you have enough clearance on all three sides that are facing kitchen cabinets and walls?

It looks like you have a two tiered counter on the peninsula. I wonder about knocking down the upper tier so it is all one level countertop. It would make it much easier to access as a buffet and leaving it in place will solve your flooring dilemma.

You will lose storage, and counter space both, to move to an island. Learn when to leave well enough alone. Just make the peninsula single level.

Here are kitchen measurements. i believe 13’ wide gives enough room to put in 3’ wide island.

while i love the tiles layed on the diagonal, it creates the need for more tile to fill area where peninsula would be removed. The door in the right wall would be removed and perhaps a 1’ deep pantry cabinet would fit?

I think you are correct with about 3 ft wide and starting 42" away from your kitchen sink. (The rule of thumb seems to be 42" minimum between the edge of your island and the edge of your other counters/appliances/walls. Others can chime in if I'm off on that number. Do you plan on reusing your fridge or will you get a counter depth fridge? Will you use the same depth base cabinets and countertop overhang?)

Get some tape and mark out on your floor the footprint of the proposed island. Get some big boxes to put in that space, or a folding table and live with it for a few days. See how it feels. Think about traffic flow when your dishwasher, oven, fridge is open. I had a kitchen your size and decided against an island in the middle. The benefits didn't out weight the cons of a chopped up kitchen flow. In your case, especially given the flooring issue, I would not want it.

I do like your diamond shaped floor and think the color will be easy to work with.

I plan to upgrade all appliances and do builtin refrigerator and a larger stove. i really dont want to mess this up. i thought removing the peninsula and replacing with an island would improve the flow for buffet dinners and open the kitchenup more to the diningroom. To get 42" from the stove/refrigerator to the island would need to make the island 30" wide. would that be too narrow for an island? i may haveto rethink removing the peninsula and just take the top tier off. i appreciate all the help

If you do a built in ref you will have room - 156" - 27 ( to door of ref ) - 38" ( countertop on island )= 91" left for walkways. In the same manner - 174" -26 (sink run ) - 42" walkway = 103" to the end of your pantry. That is a nice sized island.

I am assuming you are doing all new cabinets?

The floor will definitely be a challenge.

In some ways I think that putting in an island will draw people into the working areas of your kitchen, not necessarily desireable for buffet dinners.

So smart coming here for input in your planning stage. Do a 1/4” grid scale drawing of your total space. Then you can cut out scale pieces representing appliances and cabinets etc. I think if you remove the peninsula, you will need to replace all kitchen flooring. If you post all measurements around the whole room including exact locations of sink and windows, I can do sone scale drawings for you. Best time and method to get this right now.

I took down a 2 tiered part of my countertop and expanded it out. When we have parties, that is my buffet area and it keeps people OUT of the kitchen. Give this another thought. My photos aren’t great but I hope you can see how much better it is to have the extension instead of squeezing an island into the middle.

Before:

Here is the After:

Yes to the buffet jamming people up in the kitchen. If everyone starts down the buffet and you need to grab something else from the fridge it is a traffic jam.

Am I correct that you are not working with a designer? If so, I'd make a more detailed drawing of your space including every inch, windows, doorways, and measurements of adjacent areas. Include a bullet pointed list of what you are considering and why, such as floor issues, island, buffet needs, how many are in your household, who cooks and when. Include pictures from every angle of the current space. Start a new post with all of this detailed information called something like "Help me redesign my kitchen." (Everyone is going to throw tomatoes at you and me for saying to start a new post. Just do it. You will get more good feedback on your whole kitchen design than by hoping that great pros will stop by this thread.)

I agree with Kendrah. You need the Kitchen Pros to weigh in.

You need a better design. A 36” island will be too tight for your aisles, for the way you want to use this.

Replacing all the floors is a given at this level of change project. Along with everything else. You are talking a 150K+ renovation here. You need actual professional kitchen designer help.

If the tile does not run under the peninsula and leaves a flooring hole when you change your cabinets, then it would be best to replace all of the flooring. What type of flooring you choose will depend on your cabinet selection and what you like. If you do real wood you'll need to worry about how that will look next to faux wood tile.