Hi Vanessa, The idea using the space for an outdoor seating is a greta one, but rather than plants in pots, which can be very high maintenance, why not build some raised beds, so that you can have planting around the seating area. This would make the area feel more cosy and defined within the overall garden. A fire pit in the middle would work really well, but this could simply be a square or circular area with some a trim of fire bricks and a base of sand or hardcore which you could light your fire on top of. Sometimes simple fire pits are the best! Good luck look forward to hearing what you do.

Thank you, this would have been perfect had the fire pit tables width been around 90cm. We are ok with the table block access to the left hand door of the french doors as in the future we will be having sliders or bi-folds. Thinking about it more, we could have it on the right hand side of the patio instead although it will some what restrict access to the single door into the garden...

We recently bought a small 1916 apartment in the Netherlands (67m2 + 10m2 basement) and are adding a 3.3x3.3m* extension at the garden end. Also, we are breaking down the load-bearing wall in the kitchen and making a few other changes in the floor plan to make space for a decent bathroom :) Since I’m very concerned about feeling cramped after a while, I was hoping to get some advice on where to put the kitchen and whether or not a kitchen island is a good idea (Although I really want a kitchen island!). I keep hearing that I should leave the kitchen where it is, but I still want to explore my options. Option #1: Open kitchen with kitchen island in main area + sunken living room in the extension as pictured in the new floor plan Option #2: Open kitchen with a long horizontally-placed dining table (no kitchen island) + sunken living room in the extension. Option #3: Spacious living room with narrow dining table on the right side + kitchen with kitchen island in the extension. Option #4: Spacious living room + kitchen with round or oval dining table in the extension (no kitchen island). Option #5: ? *Note that the length of the extensions can be max 4m, but we prefer not to as we do not want to block too much sunlight from our neighbors.

The thing with a curved path is, everyone will walk in a straight line, unless the path curves around things that you can't walk through ;-) I'm not quite sure why the angle of the garden bothers you so much. It is what it is and it makes the garden more interesting. I like all your designs, but the one with the path on the left side appeals to me the most. If the path isn't 'solid', it'll be part of the lawn, so I wouldn't be too worried that it reduces the size of that.