LOL @ the kitty on the laptop!
We don't need TSA, get a chilly cat to root out any hidden tech people might have!

The two rooms are not at all related. To be honest, when I saw the kitchen and dining room, I wasn't sure that I was in the same house. To tear down that wall to make a more cohesive space, you do need to make some updates to the dining room (I like suggestions 3,4, 5, 6). However you would also lose a lot of storage by tearing down that wall and where would you put the fridge? Good luck to you!

Whatever you decide to do with your kitchen, it will be wonderful because you will still have that glorious cat relaxing on your laptop!

But in all seriousness, the main issue would be where to put your refrigerator and sink now that that wonderful wall of storage is gone? It's a great idea, but you certainly would lose a lot of space in your kitchen.

You could add some surface molding and new (older style) hardware to traditional up the kitchen cabinets.

We've thought about doing the same thing in our house, but I can't get around the amount of storage space I would lose.

While I really like some of your inspiration photos, my biggest concern would be the potential loss of resale value if you merge the rooms. Isn't it considered a downgrade to go from a formal dining room, kitchen, and breakfast nook to a (potentially fabulous) eat-in kitchen?

If you for it, I agree a really sleek modern chandelier would tie the dining area into the kitchen and an island is the way to go to reclaim some lost storage space.

Suggestion to tie the more antique elements into the kitchen - modern shadow boxes holding old silver flatware hanging in the backsplash area.

We are currently knee deep in our kitchen renovation and decided that we wanted to preserve the character of our formal diningroom while opening up the space for better entertaining. We decided on an oversized passthrough window over the sink. This way we can open up the diningroom a bit while maintaining the character and still have some storage in the kitchen.

This would be a huge project. You would have to not only take out the wall, but design a new configuration for the half of your kitchen you are losing. This could mean a complete overhaul for your dining room as well. (Think flooring to remain continuous with the kitchen, cabinetry, window coverings, etc. And I'm sure I'm leaving major stuff out.) It could be great, but don't underestimate the amount of time, work and money involved in something like this. Good luck deciding and let us know what the outcome is!

I truly like your dining room as it is now. Were you to knock down the wall you'd lose a lot of the warmth that you've successfully managed to cultivate. Integrating the spaces would mean compromise in each space - the kitchen would have to be less sleek and the dining room would have to be less warm. So.....I dunno. It's not my space, but I wouldn't do a thing. Maybe you could make a conscious decision to start using the dining room? That wouldn't cost a thing and you wouldn't have to compromise.

Why not knock down just part of the wall and that window to merge the two rooms. You can create a large countertop for the sink and a new bar and leave a little bit of wall for your fridge on one side and artwork on the other so it's still two separate spaces.

All I have to say is: KITTY!!!!!

Ooo, to add to my last comment... don't forget lighting or water lines for the sink, dishwasher and fridge. You also need to consider wall texture in the two rooms. Make sure it's the same or you will not only be doing a patch job where you cut the wall out, but also retexturing the walls and potentially ceiling so the two rooms match as one.

Catrin here. These comments are SO helpful.. Apartment Therapy at it's best. Getting your perspectives has helped so much.

@birdablaze: What a great idea.

Still not sure we will go through with it. As many of you point out, it is a big overhaul and we would lose the DR. Hmmmm. Maybe we can knock the wall down between our house and our neighbor's dining room instead. They won't mind, right? Keep the ideas coming!

Oh, and it is our happy and ultra-chubby cat Fred who is lying on our old laptop. He is even bigger since the pic was taken. The low-card gourmet BS diet he is on ain't working. The laptop was such a disaster. Spilled tea into it and bought a 1980s style keyboard to use. It looked pretty rad.

Know this isn't what you want to hear....but LOVE the kitty in pic #1!!!

I often think about expanding into the next house. Sure, it would be awkward at first, but then everyone would get used to it.

Cat on kitchen counter!!! <3 <3 <3 MEOW!! I'd let my kitties up on the counters if they wouldn't be CONSTANTLY up there all the time begging for food and stealing food.

I love the idea of opening up the space, contrary to lots of readers here. ;) Here's some ideas..

Put a kitchen island in the place of the wall that incorporates elements from both rooms, like the third inspiration pic. Maybe countertop the same color as the dining room furnitue and white cabinets for storage underneath (or vice versa?). I think you could fit more storage underneath the counter than you'd lose knocking down the wall!

Move some of your decorations from the dining room to the kitchen, or add some eye catching antique decorations and/or fixtures in your kitchen. If you had a similar concentration & style of decorations in both rooms it would do much to tie them together. (I love that your kitchen has such a neutral palette!)

Lighting - I think the chandelier in the dining room looks fine. I'd replace the table lamps with something more modern or get rid of it entirely and use recessed lighting on a dimmer switch for the whole area, which gives it a clean, more modern feel.

P.S. My overweight cat was diagnosed with diabetes last year. I stopped free feeding dry food, put her on a diet of good quality canned food, and now she's not diabetic or overweight anymore. Yay!

I think it would look fantastic! You would have the benefit of one large room with all of those lovely windows.

You could keep the sink in the same place and have that area be an island with the same orientation it has now.

Move the fridge to the side wall that doesn't have windows and add cabinetry to blend it in.

As for the merging of modern and classic, they've been doing this in Europe forevah, so European design mags would be a great place to look for inspiration.

You could keep the cabinets on the stove wall and just add crown molding that matches what's in the dining room, and find more elegant cabinet hardware.

You could also keep some of the base cabs from the sink wall and incorporate them into a new island. Maybe paint the island to unify the old and new cabinetry/woodwork.

I don't think you need to match the flooring exactly. It could be nice to use a slightly different material in the kitchen that has the same tones as the dining room flooring. That would subtly suggest a separation of space.

I love all of your inspirational photos and I think your current ideas are also a great place to start.
Some of my ideas would be to replace your DR curtains with something more graphic and modern. They can still be the same style of drapes, long and flowing, but with an updated pattern to flow with the kitchen.
Painting both rooms would also help and new lighting. I like the modern chandelier idea. What about using those 2 lamps off the DR buffet in the kitchen somewhere?
And if you do tear down the wall, where would the fridge go?
And yes to the rugs.

Sooo I agree with those who say that this would be an enormous project, BUT it could be fabulous. The key things I would think of would be whether or not the rest of the house is super traditional or if it would accommodate a more open layout.

You would also definitely need an island, so

You could easily move the fridge along the opposite wall and build some cabinetry along the empty wall in what is now the breakfast nook.

But you'd have to add cabinetry, replace or fix floors, make sure the wall itself isn't load-bearing (this can easily add thousands to a bill), do some plumbing work. Be prepared to spend $30,000 (depending on where you live) to do all the work and buy new furniture (assuming you're not doing the work yourselves).

If you're willing to spend the money and it wouldn't go against the character of the rest of the house it might be worth it. It's hard to say here without seeing the layout of the living room, etc.

I don't know much about whether or not a formal dining room brings down resale. I do know that we just bought a house (that we're completely overhauling - thank you 1980s) and when we were looking we couldn't care less if there was a DR or not (we're turning ours into a study/office). But we were also specifically looking at open plan houses, and would probably have skipped over a more traditional home. For what it's worth...

@NoPotCooking, ditto. There'd also be less acoustic insulation of the various noisy appliances.

From the pictures, I have no sense of where you could move your fridge to if you took out that wall. Depending on the structure of the house, I like the idea of leaving a portion of the wall only at the fridge, leaving the sink in place, and making it an island with a large counter top. I think that if you mix modern and traditional elements throughout the space, it can be very effective, like this: http://luisadesignblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/living-room-finally.html

Amping up the interplay between the two creates nice dynamic. In fact, I would change the handles on the cabinets to make them even more graphic and modern, to increase the contrast. Also, if you change out some of your dining set and the rug, you will give that area more presence. The room seems to overwhelm your current set-up. Get a new fixture over the dining table. I think an ornate chandelier painted in a bright glossy color would give a good feel to the space that evokes both traditional and modern.

You could potentially use the different floorings to create zones within the space and avoid having to redo the entire floor. I also think that the current breakfast nook area could be a good sitting area and a home for your upholstered chairs.

My biggest concern would be that this wall appears to have originally been constructed as an exterior wall. See the window placement. In this case, it is definitely a load bearing wall. This will not be an easy or cheap wall to demolish. Frankly, it would be much easier and cheaper to simply make your dining room more inviting and remove the table and chairs from your nook, replacing them with something else that would make you more inclined to use the dining room.

I love your idea! Minimizing the amount of wall that you tear down (keeping the sink where it is, creating a passthrough or other similar solution) and doing the small bits yourself (like new kitchen hardware) should help keep costs down!

I think one thing that is working in those sample photos is the distribution of modern, clean whiteness and warm wood with curvy lines. If your kitchen is 2/3 modern and 1/3 traditional, and your DR is 2/3 traditional and 1/3 modern, it will feel like two separate rooms that are balanced off of one another.

Your list of ideas already accomplishes some of this -- move the white Eames chairs to the DR, crisper drapes and paint, and some white accent pieces like candles and ceramics would update the DR, while an oriental rug in the kitchen, moving a sideboard in to make up for lost kitchen storage (and matching the hardware on the existing cabinets to that piece) and a few of your smaller accents from the DR would bring that traditional warmth into the kitchen.

I think taking down the wall sounds awesome if you can stomach the cost/hassle. A couple more ideas, I definitely agree that a new light fixture in the DR, new DR chairs, unifying paint, new hardware on the cabinets, an island that is a nice transition, new table lamps on the buffet and new drapes would help with the merger of the spaces. Some other ideas: a backsplash on the wall that is staying in the kitchen that bridges the modern with traditional (I recently did marble subway tile and loooove it); slipcovers in a funky fabric for those 2 armless chairs near the windows in the DR that would go with the drapery (I know new drapery might be too expensive if you are taking the wall down, so maybe choose between drapery and slipcovers?)

my husband and i are on the verge of starting a similar project - basically renovating the back half of our house to have a bigger, updated kitchen. i too love a bright, clean, modern kitchen, but want to be sure that it fits in with our 1900ish house and that it preserves its resale value. please post pictures after your project! we'll need some inspiration for our own!

Look at, I love the kittehs. Really I do. But they do not belong on the kitchen countertops!

I guess I am just lucky to have a good kitteh.

There is nothing that makes a place feel like home like a cat does.

So cute!!

(And no, I guess it doesnt belong on the counter, but my cats doesnt listen to me, and I dont care... I keep them down if we are having guests, but for us it's alright.)

Cat feces contain toxoplasmosis. It's a parasite that can cause schitzophrenia in humans and, if cat owners flush litter down the toilet, kills the California sea otter. Since cats do not wash their paws after using the litter box, I would not eat in a home where the owners allowed animals on their kitchen counters or dining room table! I am grossed out by pets on couches and beds too. I think you should get them a comfortable bed in a spot that they like. I love my cat, but he is only allowed on his bed and in the back of my closet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis

I really think that your home looks lovely as it is.

I hate open kitchens into dining rooms.

I love that you have two spaces now.

Please, leave as is...

Ditto to the Kitty comments. What a love.

For the kitchen - I'd say leave it as is. I think it would be crazy.

Gretchen - Lighten up.

Wow, gretchenE you are a bundle of joy! Speaking as a biologist I can let you know that you have several facts wrong and should refrain from making such disturbing statements in a completely unrelated discussion if you don't have all of your science lined up. Please note that wikipedia is not a particularly accurate database and therefore a poor choice to make your point. The most common way to get infected is from food grown in infected soils and there is no evidence that schizophrenia is a result of infection. It's also quite treatable and very easily avoided with basic sanitation. It's generally only dangerous to small children, the very old and pregnant women...along with a zillion other illnesses.

I feel bad for your cat.

Hi,

I think you'd be well advised to consult with an interior designer instead of an architect. Unless there are major structural issues to be address (and even then you could use a structural engineer), an interior designer would be able to assist you in coming up with a floor plan that works for you and your family, and they will be able help you bridge the style gap you currently face. There is most definitely a way to make it all work together and a designer can help make that happen.

Anyone want to guess where Gretchen's cat goes when Gretchen is not home? lol

As for this kitchen/dining room, I love them as is and if I lived there I would make it a point to use that lovely dining room more often.

Did this in a 1906 San Francisco apt, and it turned out great, no regrets! But it did involve some structural reinforcement in the form of a header to re-distribute the load. Photos here: http://www.twitpic.com/3yf4n3
http://www.twitpic.com/3yf4gf
http://www.twitpic.com/3yf3ut

I did something similar. You won't regret it. The light and space will dissolve all fears.

I would make a conscious effort to eat in the dining room for a while before you decide. It's not really any further than your nook. If you can get into the habit, you may find that you don't want to knock through afterall. It's a beautiful room. But if you do decide to convert I'd second birdablaze's suggestion. Good luck! And ohhhhhhh Gretchen - I'm sorry if this offends but you have to relax your rules my lovey and let go of some of your fear. It will make your life a lot easier. I lived with lovely, cuddly, messy cats all over my less than pristine house (incl kitchen) for years and no one ever got toxoplasmosis or anything else. Not even granny ;) You're probably more likely to get run over by a bus.

Great idea to merge the two rooms - you'll find that entertaining takes on a new level of fun when you're not disappearing into the kitchen away from your guests. A couple of your photos were from my "white kitchen dream list" before we committed to what is now a great kitchen/bar/dining room. We (I) had the same dilemma - an open, airy, all-white kitchen with stainless steel, white ironstone and warm cutting boards needed to blend with a dining room that had a bit more gravity with large mirrors and an entire wall of books - with an odd bit of space in between. The key was marrying the three with color (easy to do with white) and creating a sort of "graduation" of style that moved through the house by repeating an element from the room before. I don't know what your living room is like, but I'm assuming it's close. Consider it in your design plan. Your dining room is lovely, but I'm seeing a complete overhaul in terms of furniture and color. A bit of advice - don't move forward until you're absolutely clear on what you want - because it will change the next time you see a fabulous kitchen. For us it helped that we had a budget of zero -being broke gives you the time to be thoughtful. Can't tell you how many clients I've had who bang out a room in two weeks, step back and say, "oops." And - let me say that the feature that friends are most enamored of when they're hanging out in our kitchen is the dog. Good luck!

I like the idea of opening it up, though that kind of reno can cost the earth. Here's a budget reno by Peter Fallico with a similar layout where he kept the wall. Just goes to show what some cosmetic updates can do to blend modern and traditional.
http://www.styleathome.com/homes/interiors/our-25-favourite-interiors-of-2010/a/33630/11#
and
http://www.styleathome.com/homes/interiors/before-and-after-peter-fallico-s-style-for-less/a/33230

I know the homeowner may want to kill me for this... and she wouldn't be entirely wrong, because those drapes probably cost the earth... but as beautiful as that diningroom truly is, to make it work with that modern kitchen I would be very tempted to swap out the drapes for straight white panels of canvas. Put the same crisp simple drape in the kitchen. White won't kill the antiques but it will create a contrast.

Put a modern chandelier in the dining room. Take the crystal and traditional lamps off the buffet. Consider a modern mirror.

I would also be very tempted to leaven the antique elements of the dining room with white.

NO NO not going to hurt the antiques! Not talking about slathering paint on anything.

Just thinking that white drapery panels, simple white ceramic lamps, and perhaps a single white buffet instead of the shelf unit would relate back to the kitchen and still look good with the - lovely - antique pieces. You already have white chairs by the window and it would help tie back to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, I would incorporate at least a couple framed art pieces with traditional frames. Perhaps some antique element, a teacup etc. shadowboxed. But I would not replace the cabinetry.

i love it as is- there is such a quaint loveliness in older homes- it reminds me of my grandparent's house... that said, i think birdablaze has a fantastic idea. if u didnt wanna go quite that far, what about just removing the window (save for future owners) & continuing the existing framing to make it an open doorway instead? that way u dont lose the soul of the dr by removing the triple window vibe- u could still hang curtains like u have them now. u could also replace the upper cabinets next to the fridge w ones that match above the fridge & make as big a passthru as possible above the sink. that would open up a sightline on the majority of that wall & give u a much more open feeling than u have now. it would not only b a huge bang for ur buck, but if the next owner wants to convert it back it would b a pretty easy fix for them. just cross-pollinate ur styles & it will look fabulous- i can already tell its gonna b beautiful! good luck & please post when its finished :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8230585@N06/3291791972/ here's a buffet I would love to see in the diningroom. I don't love everything else in this pic but I could just see pulling a soft white look into the diningroom as an accent piece without eviscerating the traditional look.

We are house-hunting right now, and are trying to find a house in an older neighbourhood. The vast majority of houses that I find for sale have been renovated and turned into open-space environments. I haven't seen a single one outside of high-end design magazines that looks any good. Every day I came across beautiful houses that have been literally eviscerated, and I am brought almost to tears.

Look at your inspiration pictures -- look at the oversized Wolf and Viking ranges, the yards and yards of marble, the Boffi and custom cabinetry and see how even with all the high-end fixtures, even with talented architects and designers, the rooms all look slightly awkward; all of them look unnatural and uncomfortable. Look at the 4th picture, and see how your eye immediately notices the wall that has been sliced out, and how the furniture doesn't quite look right in the space...

When traditional houses are "opened up", the space actually becomes more limited with respect to arranging furniture (you will find that you have to leave more room around furniture to establish visual bondaries than you did when there were walls), and you will have lost a lot of hanging space, along with the original balance and symmetry.

Please, please do not butcher your beautiful dining room! It has gorgeous bones! Why not invest in making the dining room more welcoming as an eating space instead? A stunning antique crystal chandelier, a larger rug and table. Perhaps wing chair for dining... A large buffet displaying some condiments, and a drinks... Or why not expand the kitchen for a few feet out the back door?

You have a rare, intact, and very beautiful dining room; please, please, please don't open it up.

p.s., If you are going to go ahead anyways... the key to successfully merging a functional space such as a kitchen with a more formal space like a dining or living area is to upgrade the kitchen space into more of an elegant space -- e.g., use rugs, fine cabinetry, chandeliers, and appliances that function as individual pieces of furniture in their own right -- i.e., a Wolf range or the Traulsen glass-fronted fridges.

As for cabinetry, consider Hansen

http://www.hansenkitchen.com/inspiration/kitchen_american_walnut.html

or maybe Boffi combined with actual pieces of furniture -- for example, a painted French armoire repurposed to serve as a pantry. Built-ins should be limited though, as you are trying to create the impression of a furnished room, and not that of a kitchen plunked into a dining room.

Besides destroying historic fabric, wall space and symmetry, the reason that most such open-space projects don't look good is that the approach is usually to just insert a regular kitchen into an open plan. That is too informal, and has the effect of making the rest of the living space too informal.

It's usually very expensive to pull off something like this. And I'll say it again -- the only sort of kitchen & dining room merge that would make sense in your space is if the kitchen were behind your dining room instead of to the side; if you remove that side wall, your eye will always be aware of it, as the formal symmetry of the dining room will be thrown off.

these ideas are so amazing. I just created a Word doc and am copying them ALL and printing out. Will sit down with my husband and review in full. Valentines Day activity. So romantic. PS Fred the cat is actually sitting on the keyboard as I type. Freddy.

I LOVE 8th picture. I'd die for that space..Oh my god...

I agree with the eat in the dining room comments and also update the dr with a modern chandelier like a le klint pendant and just add a few more modern objects. I would do that regardless. I personally hate it when you can see a kitchen from a living space. I want to not see ot think about it when I'm not in it. But, you seem to want to do this so do it right if you are going to. Good luck.

@ellenx: great idea re: the third window. love. it.

Brilliant idea to have a cushion in the laptop to protect it so the cat won't sleep on your keyboard (as mine always try to do), but can lean against the back of the laptop. I'm going to copy this.

I loved reading this thread too. Even though I have no such dilemma of my own!

I do hope you keep us updated on your thinking and your decision making.

It is such fun when AT shows at its best, as it does here. Members coming together with help and suggestions, and a warm & friendly tone.

PS I consider mschatelaine's comments on *any* thread invaluable -- pretty much like a free consult with an expert on all matters restoration and style :-)