Kitchen table: to move or not to?

Hello and happy Friday to you! Ya-yah.

I need your help today! I mentioned earlier this week that I was able to start rearranging the furniture since the TV was moved. We are now using our family room space how I’ve been hoping to use it for weeks! SO awesome.

Now that the wall is down we’ve moved the furniture down into the old office quite a bit – so much so that we have a bunch of space in the kitchen. Like, a ton. WHOOT!

One of the main reasons we considered adding on to the house was to give us some more space in the kitchen. Ours is tight and it’s bothered me for years. The rectangle table has helped a bit, but this shot shows you how much space we were working with:

We had about three feet between the table and the sofa table – maybe four? And no matter what table we’ve had in here the pantry area felt tight. 

Here’s another shot:

Our original plan was to bump out that bay window a bit to give us a little more room. Now…I don’t think we’ll do it. There’s just no need, which is great!

My plan is to add french doors in the family room so we won’t need the door in the bay window. If we keep the table there we can push it back into the bay area and put a window where the door is. I would love to build some kind of banquet but to do that would mean replacing the side windows.

Here’s that area as it looks today:

Just imagine it pushed into the bay window area some more (and the door gone/light moved).

That black dresser is way too deep and won’t stay on that wall to the left, but I will have something there. The patched floor to the right is where the island will be.

But here’s the thing – look at all this space!!:

Wow! What do I with all of that? It’s feels like too much to just leave as is. The sectional is staying where it is – it moved down into the old office quite a bit.

If you remember – the sofa and table used to sit back to the middle of the wall where that black dresser is now:

People. SPACE!!!! So much space I’m not sure what to do with it. Am I dreaming?

So. I moved the table over to see how it would work:

I think one or two of you actually suggested this – I always wondered but didn’t think we’d have enough space. We have plenty. :)

Sorry for the blurry pic – here’s a better shot:

The island will be put back but it will be so far off to the right – there will still be a ton of space. Of course I’d have the light fixture moved over the table. I think it could work really well, it’s just such a big change! I’m not used to having it there. 

We have so much space I’d probably get or build a bigger table eventually – you can’t even imagine how exciting that would be for this girl who has struggled to find small tables for our kitchen over ten years! (It’s why I DIY’d that farmhouse table.)

I love that table though and would keep it -- there’s a spot in the basement where I’ve been wanting to put a table and this one would be perfect.

The question is, if I move it, what to do with the space where the table was?: 

That left end of the patched wood is where the island ended – it will be placed about six inches closer to the door when we reinstall it. My dream for years has been to extend our island for more storage (a whole other post) so if the table is moved then there will be plenty of room for that to happen. But then we’ll still have quite a bit of open space. I feel like it would look odd to just leave it empty. Maybe not with a bigger island?

There are pros and cons to both options. If we leave the table in the area where it's been all along then we’ll be able to keep all that open space between the kitchen and the family room, but it feels a little too open. Not sure what I would do with it. The con is that we’d have that door taken out and replaced with a window and that’s an added cost for sure.

Moving the table to between the family room and kitchen feels like the right move, really. It will just take time to get used to it. And the thought of a bigger table someday makes me all kinds of giddy. I can’t think of any cons – other than the open space in the bay window that I’m not sure what to do with. This option would be lower cost – we actually would probably not even do the french doors if we keep the back door and that would save us money. It would be silly to have the two doors so close to each other.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I’m leaning toward moving the table – I’m plan to live with it there for a week or so to help me decide. :) Thanks in advance for your thoughts and have a great weekend!