I'd hold off on painting it...you can buy special, scrubbable, cleaners for the soot. Get a good scrub brush. The one I used is shaped loke a toothbrush! The bristles stick out from the side...

Lots of absorbant old towels below & get the brick soaked...spray on cleaner & start scrubbing.

What about the living room side? Do a mantle? Something with that nook? Try to hang something on it? I'm just stumped...

The nook is meant to hold wood. If you don't want to burn anything, you can then get some nice white logs, like birch and stack them in there nicely. Once you have your stuff/furniture in, then you can find a nice painting to put up there.

The only thing I would do right away is spray paint the brass part black. The colour of the brick is quite nice actually and I would probably live with it.

Yeah, we know the nook is for wood, but it's a gas fireplace. I like the brick as well, just having a hard time with the asymmetry, I guess.

(And yes, just in case anyone is wondering, we will be changing out the 'fruit' light fixture right away!) :)

Don't spray paint that brass on the fireplace until you make sure it can be painted as ours has real gold in it and can't be--I wanted my husband to, and that's what he told me.

The piece of wood used as a mantle needs to be moved down a good 6 inches--it needs to relate to the firebox, not just hang in space like that thing does.

Go to youtube and search 'cleaning brick.' I think you can clean it with vinegar, but double check.

If you want to tone down the orange in the oak cabinets, put oil rubbed bronze hardware on the them, and they should take on a very pleasant deep amber color. We did that to ours, and it was like night and day. Here's a link to what we went with that looks wonderful:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004AXOOBO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004MKCIH2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Anyone else? I've searched all over for idea pictures, but can't really find anything similar out there... I wonder why! ;)

My suggestions would be the same, clean the brick and paint the brass black.
Take down the flimsy mantel and put in a black heavier mantle, a little lower than where it is now. Can those 2 see thru boxes be removed from the top of island cabinets?'
Looks like they could.

You could maybe see why the black is happening on the fireplace. Maybe it's not seal quite right.

I have looked for pictures, too, and can't find any... I mean any that are nice :) Well, I did find one that was in a mid-century house that is groovy and maybe this was what the builders were going for, but then they wouldn't have put in that kitchen:

That said, I like the colour of the brick and it is the kitchen cabinet colour that makes them look like they don't go. I agree with Angel's (and others) suggestions and, if you don't like it after you have cleaned it up, paint it white (you would have to clean it up before painting anyway, so no time lost).

I would paint the brass with a high heat flat black paint, and I would definately paint the brick too. I think it takes too much focus in the room as it is, being so large. We did ours in BM edgecombe grey all over including the mortar, then for a little contrast, I painted the fronts of the bricks with a brush, with a light coat of BM cloud white. Love it!

Angel18432, I hope to take those boxes off the island cabinets! That was one of the first things I noticed...they're too small to put anything in...just major dust collectors!

FABULOUS double sided fireplace.
Horrible light fixture.
Ditch the open shelves; either put doors on them or racks for glassware.
NOW: Clean the fireplace as best as can be done professionally. Brass too.
Hire a pro to paint your cabinets white and get a larger mantle.
This mantle could wrap around to the other side but since we can't see it, that's a dilemma for another day.
Regards,
Karen & Joseph
for Decorative Philosophy

Decorative Philosophy, you can look at the other two pictures to see the other side of the fireplace. The living room side is actually where I need more help.

I would try to take down the upper wall of kitchen cabinets that are hanging in space.

TMI--
take that insignificant "shelf/mantle" down--fill the holes--clean the brick and paint the cabinet to match the brick. Taking down the uppers was another good idea unless you "must" have storage space....

You can extend the mantel across as they did in this photo:

If the fireplace is gas, why is there so much soot on it? Was it converted and they just never cleaned it? I agree it would look better without any mantle on the kitchen side, than the one that's there. I would remove it and live with it a while, while deciding what to do. I like the idea of eventually wrapping it around to the living room, but it has to be chunky and a lot lower, to stand up to the big fireplace. I would put birch logs in the niche, regardless if its gas. I have a basket of birch logs next to a gas fireplace just so it doesn't look so fake.

If its too much brick for you, you could eventually have a wrap around overmantle constructed, in whatever style suits your tastes.
http://houzz.com/photos/2292914