Hi there,
My house is a 30-year-old flat and the original laundry area is at the back of a very long kitchen and just at the entrance of the toilet (i.e we have to walk through the kitchen, the laundry area before reaching the common toilet)
Since i don't cook very often, i separated the laundry area from the kitchen with a sliding door so that the cooking fume can't dirty my clean clothes. At the same time, i opened up the toilet to join with the laundry area to create more space for that area.
If you have enough budget and want to perserve the spaciousness of the kitchen, you can actually install a glass door as a divider between the laundry area and the kitchen
Hope my sharing helps!