Here is the actual kitchen. The ceiling height is 10 feet and the uppers are 30 inches with a pretty hefty crown.

I used Oxford Cabinetry to design and build our kitchen. they were very helpful
Are you in Pa area??

What an interesting floor plan with the 45' hall. Is one of these images flipped? It seems the photo is the mirror of the floor plan.

I'm curious what the experts suggest; will be following along as I'll probably learn a lot from what they say.

My first question is if/how you use all the rooms; four bedrooms plus a study, two dining areas plus a bar. My first thought was to push the kitchen proper to the back and combine the dining areas to limit traffic.

Before we get into redesigning your kitchen, we need to know a bit more. Have you read the "Layout Help" FAQ yet? I've linked it below.

We really need a measured layout of your space - the widths of each wall/doorway/door/window and the distances b/w each wall/doorway/door/window. It's rare that a room is exactly what's shown in a model layout like you posted. Even if it is, there are no true measurements on that layout.

In addition, it really helps if we know more about you and your family, how you use your kitchen and surrounding rooms, what your goals are (other than more counterspace - are there any other goals?), how flexible you are, etc. Please see the FAQ for more information.

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ: How do I ask for Layout Help and what information should I include?

Roy - I am in Oklahoma. We do have something similar here though so that is an idea.

Ben - You are correct, the posted plan is the reversed image of my actual house. Good eye!

LOTS of halls here. They go on and on and eventually get enormous right in front of bedroom 3. Very strange. We use the Study as my husband's private T.V. room (loves his own space) and the Great Room as more of a family room. We were going to use the Dining Room off the kitchen as a "keeping room" because our last house had a keeping room with the kitchen and breakfast rooms and since we don't need two dining rooms, but I think it's a little overkill in this house with the study and great room right there together so pushing the kitchen back is an option for sure and I think it might look very pretty but it will cost quite a bit more than I budgeted considering I would have to change out a ton of walls and windows. Not sure I'd want to invest that much considering this may not be our forever home. The plan is for this to be a 5 year type thing so resale is important and this floor plan is already pretty choppy and not today's style so I know I'll have to keep it under market value when it comes time to sale unless I just get everything exactly right when renovating (which is the plan!).

It doesn't look like kitchen image 2 ever uploaded so here it is...

Buehl - Very informative! I'll check out the link and get back with the other info. Thanks!

What's your budget? Foundation type? DIY ability?

Here is a link that might be useful: Cost vs. Value

Holly - Slab foundation, DIY ability moderate, budget would be ideal to stay under 15,000 and we planned on doing all the flooring work ourselves and originally having the cabinet and counter work done for us but now my husband is thinking he may want to order cabinets and handle installation himself. I have no doubt he can do it but the time it would take him compared to the pros is what worries me.

Beuhl - Still working on my homework :)

15K is painting the existing cabinets and new counters, and keeping the existing layout. Maybe some lighting, and new knobs. No new cabinets, or changing the layout. 15K-20K is the average cabinet expenditure in the average 55K kitchen redo. 15K would maybe cover the total for doing flooring for a whole house with you doing the labor. But not both projects. One or the other. To change the layout, get new cabinets, all new floors, and do any structural changes would be squeaking to do on the average 55K kitchen remodel budget, with you doing all of the labor.

What is your priority here? Changing the layout? Or doing your floors? Or keeping to your budget?

Here is a link that might be useful: Cost vs. Value

Holly - I don't need whole house flooring. As far as layout or keeping to a budget under 15,000, keeping to a budget under 15,000 would be my priority.

The cabinet maker that came out thought replacing the cooktop and separate wall oven with a slide-in range and regaining that extra 30 inches of counter space would make a big difference. Think that small of a change would really make that much of an impact?

BTW: The cabinet maker who came out quoted us 8,000 for 42" upper cabinets, a set of new lower cabinets along the back wall with the oven to incorporate the new slide-in range layout, a new fridge enclosure to include an extra cabinet for brooms on one side and center the fridge a bit more on that wall to make going by the opening into the dining room more roomy. We would keep the existing row of lower cabinets that goes with the sink area and he would put new doors on those to match the other new cabinets and would stain and/or paint all the cabinets whatever paint/stain/glaze combo we wanted. That's starting to sound like a really good deal.