From your photo the beam looks like it is supported by the wall. If you remove the wall then you will need to replace the beam with another beam which is longer and deeper, or replace the wall with a column to support the beam. I always suggest to new home owners that they live in their new home for at least 12 months before undertaking expensive alterations. You need to understand how your home works (or doesn't work) through the seasons. Moving furniture around is much cheaper than demolishing load bearing walls in the short term. You should also research the pros and cons of single open plan living for your household type. There are plenty of families with teenagers who hate their open plan living. Don't rush and best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

it's a very strange plan for a new build but of course we're used to looking at Australian plans...who will use the downstairs bathroom and three living areas and how many will live in the house and do you expect to have long stay guests? is there an upstairs bathroom you'll be sorry if there isn't.....do you have no neighbours and great views in every direction?..what is the distance from the outside walls to the boundaries....i suggest that you need to spend more time thinking about how you'll live in the house before choosing windows..if you enlarge the plan and make some cut out scale sized furniture you can trial different ways that furniture and kitchen cabinets can be placed in the rooms and make sure that you allow at least 1m pathways around the furniture..even if you have to pay for local authorities to reconsider the plans it's very important to make sure that you have the best possible arrangements..it costs no different to build a better plan and you'll enjoy the benefits for the lifetime of the house...can you repost the plans with dimensions clearly shown and also add a copy of the upstairs and you should receive lots of great ideas and i'll also redraw some ideas to consider

Hi Bec, sorry for taking so long to respond, I have been trying to find a way that could work for you I finally decided to do what I would if it was my house. It may seem extreme but for me it simplifies the angles, giving you a kitchen/dining/family/living The new Kitchen retains part of the old wall between the kitchen and living if needed to perform as load bearing, the island butts up to this, The rear southern wall of kitchen cabinets extends across the dining for extra storage or pantry and takes advantage of the French doors to the Alfresco. Moving the kitchen plumbing to the external southern wall should be achievable, having two plumbers in the family is a big plus I came to this idea after checking out the link you provided which is posted below which shows the whole floorplan and how it would flow and work for you and family when they visit, you can add doors between the family and dining if wanted. Again looking at the link ,your Spanline alfresco appears it may have been done in two stages, the first part has a gable roof which I would keep along with the brick wall and add white shutters above that and full height bi fold shutters across from the brick shuttered wall to the wall of the house. By removing the flat roof section but retaining the slab will help lighten the South facing bedrooms and open up the house to the lovely rear garden you mentioned https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/5981026/inviting-suggestions-update-demolish-a-spanline-style-addition

Ps. My island in my current small kitchen is on lockable castors. It was made by the cabinet maker at the same time as the kitchen. On three sides the panels go to the floor and you can’t tell it moves. The front with drawers has no kick board so you have access to the castors. I don’t move it a lot but it was handy when the kids were little - I moved it totally out of the kitchen and put in a small table. Occasionally I move it over a bit if both kids are cooking at once.