Clarification - Open Kitchen Layout

My response to Joel's concerns about my kitchen redesign idea:

"When someone enters the condo, the very first thing they’ll notice is the kitchen/dining area... at least two-thirds of the common area of the condo. In the virtual pictures, it doesn’t seem bad but when you’re sitting in the condo and imagining it, it’s too much."

For the longest time, we had this layout (click to enlarge):



If you can imagine the kitchen area on the left with a subdued color scheme so that the focus is on the table - like this, this, or this - that entire side will look more clean and streamlined than ever before.

As for how much space it occupies, in today's open floor plans, the kitchen and dining table almost always take up 1/2 to 2/3 of the space - including the home at 44 Chester Way (view) and in San Rafael (view).

This article and this article explain why.

Although measurements may say that the appliances will fit ... in the same room, imagine opening up the oven door and coming so close to the table and chairs. Do you really want family and/or guests being that close to the oven when seated for dinner?

This is a legitimate concern. But the problem has more to do with the size of the table, relative to the space that it occupies.

Take a look at these 15+ eat-in kitchen layouts.

Our dining table is way too big where it was. It is overwhelming where it is now. And at 42x80, it exceeds industry standards as explained here, here, and here. The example below is much more appropriate and in a space almost identical to ours, i.e. this could easily be our kitchen:



I think the argument of where we eat now compared to where we could eat in the renovated condo is moot. We eat in the kitchen area now because we don’t want the little one to spill on the carpets. It's not because we can’t eat out in the dining area ... Once he’s a little older, or even if we put an area rug under the dining table, we can eat in the “bright, open space.”

This has little to do with the reasons why I want an open kitchen.

I apologize if I somehow got us off topic.

I've seen many open kitchen designs and none have a formal dining area right next to the kitchen appliances.

I address this on a separate webpage --> click here.