I'm not particularly advocating that you get rid of the cabinets... but

Refrigerators are generally bigger than they were in the 1960's. You might want to see what will fit in that space that is actually still made.

Ovens are also generally (but not always) bigger. Again, I'd check around to see if you can get a replacement oven that fits into that cabinet. If you are doing a peninsula, where will the oven go?

An entire drawer is missing?

Dishwasher?

Your cabinets are never going to look like your inpiration pic - you have flat, slab doors.

The orange and white ?chandelier? must die as well as that thing in the middle of the ceiling. What is that? 4 raw bulbs with a chickenwire shield?

You can have cabinets on the other side - but maybe only 5 or 6 feet long. You need to avoid the ref and 3 more feet in front of the ref space for traffic clearance. Another way to use that type of area is with 12" deep cabinets flanking a deeper center area.

In todays terms, your new kitchen have very few drawers and some waste in the cabinets...

Good luck with your remodel, whatever you choose. I am not much of a decorator and don't have any opinions on your colors or materials.

If you decide to do a pass-through to the hall and living room beyond it, you can have a very usable "bar" that is hinged so that it is only up when you need it. This photo shows my pass-through on the left. (Please excuse the zebra-striped sheets on the furniture in my living room; they protect the upholstery from the dog!):

The pale line between the shelf and the pass-through sill is the sun shining on the full-lenth hinge. The shelf is held upright when needed by lifting a piece of wood that is separately hinged underneath the shelf so that it is held in place by a molding strip on the underside of the shelf. It's hard to describe, but I can try to photograph it if you're interested.

Hi, CTBB. Congratulations on your new home. I remember what fun that is. Your finishes ideas sound very nice. I'm wondering, just for instance, though, why closing off traffic flow through your kitchen would be a bad thing, except the cook's for your own convenience. Can't tell for sure, but it looks as if whatever's behind that door to the left at the end of the kitchen could flow right out into the hall to the right if desired--? Do you need two parallel halls for traffic?

In any case, I'd recommend an ultimate goal of redesigning, and reshaping as necessary, the space you have to put it to much better use for you. Presuming money'd be an issue for a new homebuyer, herhaps a two-stage plan of having fun freshening up what you have already but not adding anything. Then later adjusting your layout, adjusting walls and moving doorsways as needed, then adjusting the cabinetry as desired.

BTW, have you checked out Ikea cabinets yet? The cheapest line of doors is literally $2, $3, and $4 each. Once you've decided on a layout, after adjusting walls and doorways as needed, cabinets with lots of full-extension drawers to replace yours would cost under $1000 with those doors. Frankly, they do look as inexpensive as they are, but they're very functional, and many people install the cabinet boxes and drawer units (themselves) and use them temporarily, then later replace with better. Their top lines are more like $50, $60, $70 each and include some dark solid wood that would fit into your scheme nicely. Have fun!

With as dysfunctional a layout as you have, and the issues with appliances that you have, you're really not going to be able to save much of the cabinetry by the time you modify everything to modern appliance specs and "repair" the rest. THose don't have modern drawers or drawer slides, or adjustible shelves, or pretty much any storage or organization helpers.

If money is tight, I'd definately rip out the wallpaper, get better lighting, and paint, and then get a second hand fridge from Craig's list and then stop right there and live with the rest until you are able to rip it out entirely. YOu'll be so much more ahead with putting your money into a functional modern kitchen that actually fits your appliances and fits your way of living. Right now, you have about 12" of useful countertop space between the sink and the cooktop, and that's pretty much where the whole action in the kitchen takes place. Putting pretty paint and pulls on it won't change that dysfunction. It's still lipstick on a pig.

If you have a bit more budget, then I'd rip everything out now and do Ikea cabinets. Put the money into changing the layout and new appliances. You can choose an inexpensive doorstyle and upgrade later to a nicer one, or you can have custom doors made for the top quality Ikea boxes. But, you can do a LOT with Ikea, and it's good quality and inexpensive.

I don't usually offer much advice on layout, but this really piqued my imagination. Your kitchen reminds me so much of the house I lived in when I was young! It would help to see the floor plan first. Is the kitchen photograph taken from the dining area? Are the bedrooms also down the hall?

The open door behind the refrigerator space-what is that? Ours was a door to a landing from which one could go downstairs or outside. We had a really cool milk-box in the outside wall that was for milk delivery; we used it as a pass-thru for hot chocolate and lemonade when mom didn't want all my friends in the house.

That wall needs to be covered with something (unless its in your budget to move it). How about a galley style design?

I pretty much agree with LWO except that I'd go ahead & rip down the soffit & go with the contemporary look.

And I'd entertain the idea of getting a used freestanding range (at the end of the run where the oven is now) & shuffling cabinets between the range & sink with whatever will fill the space. And new laminate countertops (prefabbed ones from Home Depot are very affordable.) Scuff sand the laminate backsplash & paint it.

Adding a dishwasher is going to rob storage space but worth it, IMO. On the long, empty wall, look around for used/ antique/ vintage pieces that can be used for storage.

Either scrub up the floor (it's not offensive colorwise) & use an acrylic floor finish or very inexpensive vinyl. With the tile, you could peel up some tiles & use a contrasting color tile to make a design or border & turn the floor into a feature for just a few dollars.

I'd not mess with the cabinets other than to clean them up & add some inexpensive pulls.

Don't know what your budget is but I could do all of the above for

Actually, I think your cabinets are fantastic.

That honey slab is actually very retro cool. The only thing you'd need to do to update them is carefully take down the scallop. Then gently refresh the surface. If they're the kind I'm familiar with, they don't need hardware, you bang them to open.

If you hate them though, put them on Craigslist. There's definitely a market for them. If nothing else, the doors.

You could definitely get a refrigerator that fit, even if you had to move the small cabinet up.

Take down the wallpaper and try a bold paint, a tile or marmoleum floor, a space age pendant -- it would be like the 70s again, but better.

Try looking at magazines like Atomic Ranch, Dwell, or the more modern spreads in Cottage Living.

Seriously, anybody can have Pottery Barn. You have the makings of something special. Without going broke.

Probably a little more major than you want to think about, but we had a very similar kitchen/hallway layout in our last house. Because of some more 'out of the box' thinking by a builder friend, we ended up taking out the wall between the kitchen and hallway and placing an island there. We also added a peninsula on the more open end.

There is plenty of room for a island in that kitchen .It would have to be a narrow one mayby only as wide as a dishwasher that would give you a place to put a dishwasher as well as much needed storage and extra counter space. I would think about removing the wall on the right or putting in a bar there that would only take up about a foot of room from the room on the kitchen and a foot of room from the other side. Or you could put in tall narrow (12inch) do it your self cabinets on that wall using a basic bookcase and bifold doors . Unless that back door is the main door coming into the house I wouldn,t worry to much about traffic flow threw there. All real work on the kichen is being done on the other side. You could do what we did and what it sounds like you are thinking about which is to buy the appl. (if they fit)and make the other simple changes like removing the wallpaper and paint then in a year or two when you are ready do a total remodle. I found going and gettin boxs to mock up my island was the best way to get a workable size that worked my kitchen but didn,t get in the way. I think you will be suprised at what you can actually fit in there and still have plenty of working room while adding more usability to the space.

I saw the photos last night but now both the pix of your kitchen and the Thomasville inspiration have disappeared. I'm thus going by memory alone.

The T'ville pic had a vent hood surrounded by open shelves as its focal point. I don't know how you can achieve that without removing a lot of cabinets around the (replacement) hood. However, if you like the open shelf look (I don't, and if you're in earthquake country I'll tell you to avoid them, but otherwise I'll respect different tastes), you've got plenty of room on the opposite (wallpaper) wall for open shelves.

You would have to reface the cabinets with entirely new fronts to get the detailed look of the T'ville cabinets.

IIRC, I think the backsplash is basic tumbled marble with long skinny subway tiles?

If you want to paint the cabinets, I believe Benjamin Moore has a decent paint where you don't have to strip-off the old paint. I'd check the website and locate a local store and give them a call. I've always found them to be very knowledgeable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Benjamin Moore Website

I can't believe you want to get rid of that fabulous wallpaper !!! (just kidding ;) )

If you have a lot of time you can refinish the cabinets. If you have any budget at all though - I'd really suggest you check out Ikea. You'd be amazed at how affordable cabinets can be. They have a door style called Lijestadt that is close to the colour in your inspiration pic.

If your dividing wall is not a bearing partition, you can pull some or all of it out (I would vote for all of it) and you could put in a narrow island there. 12 inch deep cabinets with fold-down wings maybe ...

My suggestion would be to measure your two adjoining rooms and post a diagram here so that people can help you determine what can and can't be done. Also, try logging on to a website called Ikeafans.com and look around there.