I think the flow through the three rooms at the back would be perfect if you like to entertain. I hadn’t noticed the existing utility, referring to my comment about squaring off the dining room, could a small utility be popped into that corridor area? I can’t get an idea of the size or whether it would be possible but would mean you’ve got a utility off the kitchen. I wouldn’t remove the wall between existing kitchen and dining room if you’re removing the other one. You could have it as a formal sitting room, a kids playroom, a cinema room, an additional guest bedroom? Options are endless but I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it more useable than a dining room! If you do decide to do double doors into the existing family room I’d do glazed so you can see straight through into the garden when you enter the house.

I would suggest handing the FF the other way - aesthetically looks better paired with the pantry that way - and allows you to open both to see what needs to be restocked or to decide what to cook etc. Also for aesthetics, have the drawers either side of cooker both three drawers and the odd one other side of pillar as a two.

What you might find is that if you take this info to a kitchen designer that the layout provided will be completely different to what your architect has (surprisingly) come up with. Personally as a designer, I’d have a completely different take on this room area - but then I Design Kitchens and space concepts for a living - (but ask me to design a building with roof angles and all that that entails etc and I’d be out of my depth a little ! ) So it’s just a case of choosing someone who specialises in this particular area really - we are independent so we don’t sell products that would include a profit - so we charge for our services and work with you over a week to thrash it out - but then you can shop around easily by dropping in a copy of the plans and asking for their best price and haggle for discounts that are often far greater than our design fee. Alternatively you can book loads of studios to each send over their sales people to each come over and measure and each then design a scheme and each then try to win the sale by inviting you to go through their ideas in their studio. Although this is ‘free’ it’s maybe a tad more time consuming, repetitive and you don’t usually have much input. If you click on my name or icon you can read some comments from past clients who’ve tried this way !

I’m just having a new extension built but unsure which end of the room to locate the kitchen for the most useful / practical layout to also make use of the natural light from velux windows and bifolds - original plan was that the kitchen would be at the back of the room in an L shape with breakfast bar but I’m now rethinking that. I’m not really fussed about separate dining table if seating is incorporated into the design of the kitchen? I have a dog and spend a lot of time outside in the garden.