I know you said no vent good but if there's any way you can make it work I would go for it. Esecpially if you plan on cooking any amount of seafood inside.

Counter depth fridge-French Door.

Think about moving range to far wall and build cabinets all around to ceiling and eliminate soffit. Consider exterior vent.

Built-in under counter/drawer microwave.

Use some glass fronts in upper cabinets, with glass shelving and lighting to create depth. Also use under cabinet lighting.

Think about open upper shelving.

I think the layout is good. You might consider a taller, narrow fridge like a Liebherr to increase the counter space next to the range and keep your aisle as wide as possible. If you think you'll need to open the range and the dishwasher at the same time, the doors will conflict so you might choose to move the dishwasher to the right of the sink--but I wouldn't. Definitely remove the soffits and since the range is right up against the wall, you might tile that whole back wall for interest and to place non-combustible material around the range.

I would reconsider putting a dark floor in a small beach house. Not only does it emphasize how small the kitchen footprint is, you could expect to see very clearly all the sand tracked in.

Before you demolish the soffits, cut a small exporatory hole in each one to see if there is plumbing and/or wiring. If you don't see anything, hacking it all out gives you space for more storage. If there is stuff in there, you can decide whether you want to take it out-- that can be a hassle, and it's obviously another expense.

Personally, I like having a lot of space around the range, so I would move the refrigerator to the sink wall, and move the range to the middle of its cabinet run. This gets the range oven door away from the dishwasher door, so they aren't in each other's way. As well, the refrigerator on the opposite wall will help hide the dirty dishes while you are eating.

Consider a French door refrigerator, and possibly a double oven range, to keep the door width down.

I like open shelves but a second home is not where I would use them. I'd be concerned that everything on them would be dusty every time I showed up.

I endorse the induction range! Love ours

How about Fireclay tile for your backsplash?

Lots of shapes, including wave.

Lots of colors, including beach-y blues.

I like that flooring finish! It's "beachy".

Have you considered wood-look tile instead? We have friends who totally remodeled their Florida beach home. The cool, easy care tile was replaced with engineered hardwood. She hates the floor change. I don't now exactly why. I suspect it's because you have to worry about water and scratches on engineered hardwood and when she's at the beach she just wants to relax. We had had engineered hardwood in our last house and I'll never have it again.

Thanks Benjesbride! I have considered wood look tile but I want one flooring for the entire home. It's small and I think keeping one floor in the entire home will make it look bigger and more consistent. I love tile and it would be easy to clean at the beach. (And we dock our boat at the marina in this town as well, lots of days of having all kinds of stuff trekked in!). I was worried that tile may be too cold for the bedrooms and living rooms? Thoughts?

I live in Oregon, so tile floors would be much too cold for us here. When we stayed at the beach in Florida a few times before the renovation I LOVED the tile in that climate. I think it depends where your condo is.

I lived in FL for over 30 years in several homes near beaches. Not only was sand "A Thing", but dark floors were never done because they would make rooms (especially small rooms) feel hotter. If your beach home is in a warm climate, I would urge you to try to get your husband to see how uncomfortable dark floors may be. Including how they may increase your cooling costs if that is something that matters to him.

If your beach home is in a location where seasons including summer are not so hot, then maybe floor selection 2 would be fine. I wouldn't do it in south FL, but I can see doing it on Lake Michigan. :)

I live in a beach community and have dark floors now. Never again. I think your second choice would be a better choice. Also your home inspector is correct. You want engineered wood. Engineered wood will not cup or separate like hardwood will. I don't know why benjesbride doesn't like it, but I love it. (Except the color.) It's held up really well over the past five years.

As for wood tile, that is a choice too. Personally I would never do all tile throughout my house because I don't want to be standing on it for long stretches of time. My back and knees would not take it. We have the engineered hardwood everywhere except our bathrooms and that's what I'll be doing in the house we're building.

You want to make sure you find one with a good wear layer. A good site to learn about engineered hardwood is Hosking Hardwoods.

Oh and BTW we are in SW FL.

BTW what is on the other side of the wall in the kitchen?

If you live in a colder climate, you could look in to wood look vinyl plank. When I was floor shopping it seemed like every design center was promoting this product and I've noticed it's used a lot in commercial applications because it looks nice, it's easy care, it doesn't have the clickety clack of laminate and if a piece gets damaged you can just replace that one plank.

Condo is in NJ. So definitely NOT a hot humid climate. We also plan to use the house all year round as a getaway. That is my concern with tile - too cold!

Have you considered tile planks that look like hardwood?

Other side of the wall is a small closet / pantry. And another closet with the hot water heater and electrical panel. That is why that wall cannot come down. It would have been nice to open it up to a great room with Catherdral ceilings.

CP-- Our engineered hardwood was installed in 2007, so products may have improved. It was also installed floating, so that may have contributed to problems.

After 7 years with it, there was raised wood grain around the dog's water dish, the fridge water dispenser and the dishwasher/sink even though I learned to just keep a cloth handy to quickly wipe up drips. Even though we're shoe-free we still ended up with scratches because of our dog, kids playing and probably my husband and I dropping stuff. I also think it would be nice to just steam mop tile floors since you can't steam mop engineered.

That house went into contract in a few hours and closed in three weeks, so the floor probably wasn't an obvious problem to the woman who bought it. Thank goodness:-) I might be picky.

If joint fatigue and pain is a possibility at all, I would avoid tile. That's a good tip.

When we've rented beach houses, there was almost always a tiled area immediately inside the home entrance you'd use for going in and out to the beach. In the best of those houses, there was also a full bathroom/laundry area immediately off that entrance (with the same tiled floor) so you could walk in all wet and sandy and immediately drop your sandy stuff in the bathroom/laundry and wash your sandy feet (or whole body, as needed) before walking around the rest of the house. Very convenient, and then it didn't matter so much what flooring the rest of the beach house had.

Does this home have a logical area where such a containment/cleaning zone could be set up?

I have a dark scraped hardwood in a (separate) living room put in by the previous owner. I hate it. It shows every bit of dust, and I can imagine going batty over grains of sand. Definitely go with a lighter option!

This is duplex. Although there is an outdoor shower, there is no logical cleanup area inside. This is the top floor of one home. The unit has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. Identical to the downstairs unit. When you first walk in there is a landing area, then stairs to the upstairs that open to the great room. There is a washer and dryer in the unit but it is located in the bathroom closet.

Ugh! This floor decision is going to drive me more batty than the kitchen and needs to be made first!

At the Jersey shore, I would still do tile for ease of cleaning. I'd also worry that over time, sand would "scrape" the finish on a hardwood floor. I would look into radiant floor heat if your condo will allow it to combat cold feet.

Why is your husband so against lighter floors?

We live at the beach (So Cal, so not humid) and have had dark solid wood floors since 1986. Raised two boys, both avid surfers and I've only re-finished the floors once in 30 years.

I'd also go along with the suggestion for the Liebherr fridge, they are 24" deep so it will give you much more breathing room in your small kitchen. We've had our Liebherr for three years now, and love it!

Ditra Heat solves the cold issue of wood-look tile floors...love it! I love the look of these floors and they look "beachy."

https://www.refin-ceramic-tiles.com/download/barrique.pdf

https://www.google.com/search?q=woodlook+tile+blue+grey&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS602US602&hl=en-US&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjx7byfwqrKAhVBC2MKHWqHCxEQ_AUICCgC#imgrc=ventCBxmFH5Z-M%3A

https://www.refin-ceramic-tiles.com/download/barrique.pdf

I live at the beach in So Cal. We have dark distressed engineered hardwood floors by Khar. We love them and even with sand, etc. it is not a problem at all! I love your second choice of wood (with grey tones). That looks like it will be a great compromise. You won't see sand/dust as much and it looks very beachy.