We had a pipe leak in the kitchen so our remodeling plan has fast forwarded from "in a couple years" to now! Insurance is going to help replacing cabinets and counters. We figure we better do as much as we can afford because we won't want to destroy new cabinets in a few years.

Background- new house (first house) for me and my husband. We live in SE Florida with a year old baby and plan to have more. I love to cook, mostly on the cooktop. Some baking especially around the holidays.
We have a very long kitchen with large sliding windows and doors that open to the pool/patio. I love the windows and how they pass thru to the patio. I like to host causal dinner parties and get togethers. We have a kitchen table in the kitchen and want to keep it there. The kitchen already opens into a dining room but we don't have any furniture yet.

Objective
Looking at cream cabinets. Thought about chocolate colored but don't want to darken the sunny kitchen too much.
We want to open the kitchen into the living room and dining room.
We have double wall ovens in the corner of the two walls we want removed, so new appliances are needed, specifically an oven (maybe double) and microwave. Considering a new cooktop. I'd love gas but have to find out if it's available on our street. Calling tomorrow. Also installation costs. Otherwise, I'm looking into induction. Is it worth the hype? We would need new pans or the adapter disc.
I'm wondering how to arrange the cabinets once we knock out a couple walls and how to maintain or gain storage.
Considering extending the counters around our cooktop into the living room and placing barstools.
I've included an album of kitchen photos including the current layout, and ideas for walls I want eliminated.
I'm open to suggestions on layout, color, appliance types, etc. I feel this is my chance to get a great kitchen.

Thank you!
Natalie

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen photos