I would recommend to create plan with furniture. And light 3d model.. It is not so expansive but you can imagine your home space. I can make it for you. Also select and place real size furniture in layout.

I like the integration of the kitchen and family room areas at the back of the house. I think you could remove the wall between the Entry and Dining room. That would open the space up considerably. I would also take a second look at the Powder Room. I'm all for efficient design of space but that bath seems really cramped.
Good luck!

Is the bar area essential? Seems a large area to be used occasionally? How often do you use the dining area? Do you eat together at a table every night? Would a breakfast bar/ table suit you better?
When our kids were young we always ate evening meal at the table together. Now we eat on the couch, we don't have to be role models anymore! But we act as grown ups when they come for a free meal, sorry visiting!

Thanks for comments all. We have been discussing and we are keen to change the lounge (which was a playroom) to where utility is and to move utility to front of house to double as a room to store coats. The thinking is its nice to have the kids playing off the kitchen which is a central point. Would this space work / any ideas to make it a little less awkward. The bar area is not essential and we will definitely eat most meals around the kitchen table and use the dining room infrequently. If we can we will knock out was between dining and entrance but have been told this will be expensive. The current powder room is there. We are keeping it to save cost but appreciate it is small

More feedback welcomed. Thank you

what are the thoughts around this updated layout. In this version we have made the kitchen slightly smaller by moving the fridge into the kitchen and we have placed the coat store room and utlity room for washing and drying at the front of the house in order to create a more decent size playroom which has direct access to the kitchen.

We are still grappling with the following
- will counter space and storage space in kitchen be too little
- we hardly use our dining room, only when people come over but how much of a problem is it having it so far from the kitchen. Should we switch dining room with bar area and then use the space where dining room for a lounge (which would never be used)
- we have considered having dining room off kitchen and placing TV room by fire place which is nice, but feel that due to width this could create a blockage at the front of the house .
the toilet is small, but this structure exists and we dont want to change it, not ideal but we are ok with this

thoughts?

Hi !
I looked at yours the other day - even scribbled some ideas on a copy of your plan - but I kept coming back to square one ! So I didn't add a post to the thread !!
I think it's the bar bit taking up so much space - if you turned it perpendicular - so it's behind one of the sofas - at least you could watch TV on sports night ( for example) with friends on the sofa and at the bar too ? Could eliminate the need for overhang on the kitchen island - so you could have more storage there instead.

I tried the table nearer the kitchen - tried taking the stools off the island ( as it a bit of a bottle neck there !)

I do like that you've moved the play room so it's visible from the kitchen - if the dining room stays at the front - perhaps a wok hob in there and cupboard space for a trolly to help clear and bring stuff to the table might be useful ( ok it's a bit 70's ! But would save your legs !)

Lastly - If you entered the toilet from the play room - could you use some space under the stairs too ?! Ie for a basin perhaps ? Might allow a slightly larger playroom ?!

agree on the bar taking up too much space. I am not that concerned re the toilet or increasing the size of the playroom as its sufficient so its more about solving the other problems in terms of maximising space. I guess i could even remove the bar storage all together and have the dining room there and move the playroom to where dining room is. So many options, hard to visualise. What i do know is
- we spend most of our lives in TV room and kitchen so those are important spaces
- we only use dining room when people are over
- its nice to have the kids playing in playroom off the kitchen
- bar will hardly be used, but i also felt even less value in having a formal lounge and while bar was "wasted space" it does allow for free flowing area in the middle. I do like your idea of placing the bar behind the couch

If you could have just one door to the living areas, just before your stair door - then open up all the rest - you could move the dining table up - allowing a couple of club chairs and a small table in the bay ( and another seating /reading / chess area ) would work if you turned the bar around behind sofa and the wet bar on the left could double up as serving space for big dinner events !

...