The details on the drawing are a little unclear:

- It says "existing beam above" (where Dining once was open to Living?), then "remove portion of existing wall' (where Kitchen once was?). So will there be a new huge, long, continuous beam there or a column? Large beams can be problematic when they disect an island, hover above people's heads, delineate separate spaces below them, or block HVAC/plumbing on the upper floor. Do the floor joists above cantilever over this beam?

- The 10-riser stair flight to upper floor is open on back, or has walls?

Design comments:

- The Pantry1 would be better served as a cabinet to the right of refrigerator. It visually blocks opening up the Kitchen to Dining/Family, which is what the main purpose of the project seems to be.

- The Dining is way too small, even if it was just a Breakfast Area. To gain width:

• Eliminate the Pantry2/Closet, leave just a long wall, optionally put 12" deep cabinets along it.
• Eliminate the whole Pantry2/Closet block if not bearing (would need at least a column for the new beam), and rework the Bath/Bedroom door to share a vestibule entrance exactly as the Linen Closet is shown. Coat Closet goes to under stair.

You can put a pantry to the right of the ref. Just put a wide filler in that space under the beam and then the pantry. Or if you don't need the pantry, just do base cabinets and some nice floating shelves and make it a beverage station.

Honestly, not a fan of the dishwasher between the sink and stove. That is your most highly used piece of countertop and it is the smallest in your space.

Have you thought about taking out the pantry and modify the closet opposite the bathroom, moving the ref there and then moving the stove or the sink onto the wall the ref was on. Then move the table into the family room . Change the island size wrap the seating. Leave 4 ft walk way in front of the ref. If you want more then push the ref back further into the closet space 6" or so .

Downside to this - the ref is pretty far from the stove .

The other option could be to do the sink under one window and the stove in front of the other ( if that is allowed in your area - if it is a gas range, then probably not )

Just some thoughts

Hi, the windows are 69 inches

Adding, we aren't sure where we will be able to put the beam but there is a current beam where is is shown on the drawing and we are assuming that is where it will need to go. Someone else in our neighborhood opened it up and they left it in that same area. We will ask the contractor though. For the windows, currently the two windows on the right and left are very long, only 2.5 feet from the floor. The window in the middle is already counter level. I was wondering what the squiggly line on your plan is. I like how you opened up the entry to the bedroom and bathroom. I hadn't thought of that before.

Debbi, we had a plan super similar to your before. We didn't want to make the downstairs all kitchen since our home is on the smaller size- just under 1900 sq feet. We also had the fridge in the same stand alone spot. We like the idea of eventually making the extra family room to a dining area. Here is our orignal plan. We decided to see what it would look like to expand into our dining room since we never use it.

Have you googled "low beam kitchen"? I saw several great examples of how people handle their uppers with an intruding beam in a quick search - and I think you could do a pantry next to the fridge that is under/shorter than the beam, especially if you make it look more like a piece of furniture (different color and perhaps style) than the rest of the uppers.

Since at least one window has to change, I would suggest making a Kitchen layout that works around new sizes of windows. Still not enough info though, like say your house is MCM style and has open broad spaces with large uninterrupted windows, that should remain. Or say cheap "punched look" sliders, then you can remove one or make each skinnier in width.

The structure and MEP really needs to be confirmed, not guessed at, as it will make or break your design, as will your budget. No reason to keep refining layouts until those are stated.

The stair squiggly is a notation that visually splits the stair in half - the back half is not shown as it is above a closet. But if your stair has MCM open risers, that changes opportunities.

MCM = Mid Century Modern style

MEP = Mechanical Electrical Plumbing