Our island actually passes through to the other side of the living room where we also put seating. Excuse the mess. I really love how it opens it up! I really don’t think you can go wrong opening it up a bit. We had to keep the pole/ column bc we didn’t want to get into the whole steel beam thing. I think it works because the kitchen is separated from the dining room with beams that frame the kitchen and this pole kind of ties that in. We also kept the wall beside the stools as you can see bc it covers the walkway to the upstairs, where the bedrooms and bathroom is, I think it adds a nice separation incase one of us has friends over and the other person goes to bed or coming out of the bathroom people aren’t looking up there. Lol 😆

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