What are the demensions of your kitchen? What is on the wall I cannot see? Can you draw a floor plan of current kitchen & post? I also live in a small condo. Look for my IKEA kitchen post in "before & after".

Is it possible to remove the upper & lower cabinets that divide kitchen/dinning room? Can you put in a small island instead? Maybe with pot rack or open shelving above it? Take the remaining cabinets nearly up to the ceiling. Leave a small space for some nice molding.

Another possibility is to run the new cabinets along the sink wall as far as you are able to without losing the dinning room. Perhaps a pull out pantry there? Microwave above the stove.

I'm with kmkane. Get rid of those uppers over the peninsula, patch, and paint the wall and ceiling, and TADA! you have a new, open kitchen! It would take you 3-4 hours, over a couple days (the sheetrock mud needs to dry for 24 hrs) at most.

A picture of your entire space would help. Do you require a dining table.......or would a decent island be better.? Where does the tile flooring end? And while ripping upper cabinets over peninsula will open it visually, where will the "stuff" go? A much lighter paint color would help asap.

Thank you all for the great feedback. The paint colour is from the previous owner but I did not see the point of painting before renovating. I would looooove to gut the whole kitchen and start from scratch, as there simply is not enough storage and the existing cupboards are too small.

Cherribob: The tiles cover the entire kitchen and dinning room (the flooring stops at the beginning of the living room).

i will try to draw a floor plan and post.

It does seem like those uppers should go, but it also looks like you have some serious storage challenges, based on the amount of stuff on your counters and floors. Removing the cabinets may give you a nice open area but it won't do any good if you now have nowhere to put your groceries and dishes. I don't have any great solutions, someone more talented than I can lay out alternate plans, but be wary that no kitchen will look lovely if there is not appropriate storage for keeping things organized and counters clear.

And another bit of advice, if you like entertaining, don't stop just because you don't have a magazine-perfect space. Your guests won't mind! Time with friends and family is worth more than the best kitchen in the world.

Do you have a budget? If not yes, the biggest bang would be to remove the cabinets above the bar and change out the kitchen light. A few more dollars and paint the entire living and kitchen a brighter color so it doesn't look like a dark cave. Find a smaller dining table with a leaf and add stools to the bar so your friends can chat with you while you are cooking. It's a great place to set appetizers.

I would also install a new dining room light.

Take away the cave effect. Anything but the dark vertical blinds!

Anything but the dreary wall color

PAINT all the choppy oak trim at cabinets. All of it. Match the color of the laminate by taking a drawer to the paint store and custom mixing in a satin finish. Prime all the wood, and have at all the choppy oak trim on surrounds and cabinet edges. You'll be amazed at the difference. Paint walls in a tone lighter and softer contrast to cabinetry.....cant see the rest of condo, so hard to advise on that.

Prune the kitchen of every non essential item. Every single one. The ones that show, and the ones that don't.

You may have to live with it for now.......but it will be prettier living in the wait

You are in the same situation I had with my kitchen- no counter space except for the dreaded peninsula! Here is my before & after IKEA!