Which option would you choose?

So we had a pipe burst in the kitchen in Jan. which did damage to our floor and sink cabinet. Well this week we received the settlement amount from the insurance company and it is a sizable amount.

We were thinking of extending the kitchen into the laundry room. The laundry room is really just wasted space and is a big size room. By going into the laundry room I think we gain 70 sq. ft. We would still have good size laundry room/pantry.
By moving the wall where the stove is (that glass door is the entrance to the laundry room) besides gaining the extra cabinets we would gain about 10 feet in counter tops which I think is huge. It would still be a "U" shaped kitchen just the back wall would be longer and we would move the range to the sink side.

My only issues with my exciting kitchen is that you can't have more than 2 people in the work-in part. For family gather's it get's tight because there are usually 3-4 people wanting/trying to do something in the area where the sink and range are. Otherwise we don't have an issue with it.

Now, DH also ripped up our patio in the fall and he was going to relay the brick we had but they turned out to be brittle and we can't use them. So, we were planning on doing something with the patio too. After fixing the kitchen we would have money left over to fix the patio. The only difference is that depending on the option we choose, it will dictate how much we have left for the patio and we have a large patio. We would also love to not have to lay out extra cash for anything

So, now which option would you choose:

a.) go into the laundry room and make it bigger and then scale back on the patio

b.) keep the exciting kitchen layout, get a new washer/dryer, have DH make the laundry room more functional. Then spend the rest on the patio.

Here is our kitchen as it is now



Here is half of our laundry room to give you an idea of that. Just double what you see and that is the size.

Re: Which option would you choose?

I would go with A/#1. I would want the bigger kitchen and then the extra money that is left over use for the patio. If you can budget wisely and really shop around and even do a lot of the labor yourselves, you could really safe more in the kitchen remodel and then have the money you need for you large gorgeous looking patio. That is what I would do. Your laundry room/area is huge and it looks like wasted space. And you would still have a laundry room. For me it would be no brainer to go with A/#1. But that is just me. I would budget well enough so that I had enough money left over for the patio. GL with your decision.