Kitchen Between Dining Room And Living Room

Hi again everyone! Since I posted my original post (link below), our soft draft changed so that the "L" option isn't available anymore. We have decided the breakfast/dining area in that plan is the perfect spot for DH's "man cave" that will open to the back porch and living and our wet bar that's adjacent to the living room.

So now I'm kind of back to square one with "what do I do?". We have a long rectangular space. At the back end will be the living room. We can either sandwich the table between it and the kitchen or put the kitchen in the middle and kind of halfway wall off the dining area. That kind of takes away my plans for a true breakfast area and eat in kitchen. But DH is concerned that if we eat at the island the tv and family room will be too far from the kitchen. It's only a ten foot wide spaces though. This is all so hard!!

The first time we were looking at the table between the kitchen & living, I wasn't sure about it. But that option gives us the most cabinet space and counter space and a truly open, casual layout.

But I'm also not sure about separating the dining area either. It's our ONLY breakfast/dining area. If we have more people over than are in our current family of four, we move to that room and if anyone is in the other room, there's an automatic separation. That dotted line between the kitchen/dining is a load bearing wall so we have to have at least a beam or a wall or columns there. Also, putting the kitchen in the middle concerns me re: cabinet space. I could do a pass through but it seems like that's the best place for the range. I don't want a hood that hangs down in the middle of a room. It seems like aesthetically, this could be great but I'm not sure since it's the only other eating area other than the island.

The placement of things in the kitchen is just for an idea. I have not gone to a designer yet.

Pics of the rough designs:

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2(

Original thread w/ more background (I had tried to reply to it with all of this but it was too old to bump):

Original Thread

So I guess I'm wondering which you would prefer for a casual, functional layout: more open with the table between the rooms or a slight separation between the breakfast/dining and main areas with the kitchen and island closer to the living room (but no other seating). Thanks again so very much!

Kitchen Between Dining Room And Living Room

Source: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2559372/dining-table-between-kitchen-and-living-or-separate-dining-area