I don't want to start changing walls for a number of reasons including cost. We need to do this work whether selling or not. We may choose to sell after getting the work done but we'd need to do these enhancements regardless. The market where I live is requiring a finished look as opposed to people looking to buy in and do a bunch of renovations.

You will gain so much storage against that range wall, this will be worth it! The island is too big, needs to be smaller, maybe even rolling. The DW will be fine as long as it opens, even if all the way to the oven door. I am not a fan of micro hoods, but they are great for teens. If you can afford to, replace all the cabinets, even on the left. They are shallow, which is fine, but those giant face frames waste a lot of space and unless you have the same type built, the exposed hinges will look dated. Good luck and keep us posted!

I think your general layout is great, I absolutely would not put a microwave above the stove for practical and aesthetic reasons. I associate it with cheap apartments.

Your kitchen actually looks very nice to me.

1) Put the microwave in one of the cabinets or undermount above the newly created countertop in the corner that is currently blocked by the fridge.

2) Pull the fridge and extend the countertop on the left side of the stove

3) make sure you have a vent hood

4) change the counter tops

5) you can change doors if you want, it is about 120-150/door, but maybe just hardware. Handles instead of tiny knobs.

6) refinish floor

7) put the refrigerator where one of the cabinet stacks goes.

8) move the island a bit further away from the range.

9) match the drawer front of the top right drawer/cutting board to the one in front of the sink

Yes, all cabinets will be redone to be consistent and updated. I wish I could put anything on the left side (where the cabinets mostly exist today), but it's really shallow. So no way to put a fridge and doubt even a microwave there.

Sounds like the microwave above the range isn't popular (this is why i love houzz!). I could put it to the right of the stove replacing the bottom of the cabinet OR below the counter to the right of the sink. This gives me about 115" of counter space. Sufficient?

Interesting thoughts on the island. We'd definitely match the style or we could get rid of it. Today we use it for most of our meal/lunch prep.

I'm going to throw out some weird suggestions.

I would move your refrigerator to the diagonal corner assuming you get a 36" counter depth refrigerator. Place a 21" cabinet ther and leave your 24" dishwasher where it is. Have one of those long pull out corner cabinets 30" add your 27" sink have a 21" cabinet and move your range to the end with a 1" filler. open the shallow shelf to your right and make it my new shallow shelf spice cabinet.

DW's are usually easy to relocate--I'd put the DW on the right side of the sink so that it's not in your prep space between the sink and range. Put a 24" drawer base where the DW is currently located.

What's in the thick wall on the right of the pic?

@mama i like the idea of the dishwasher to the right of the sink. it will be more visible to the rest of the house but that may be ok.

good question on the wall on right. actually, we plan to get rid of the entire area above the countertop (and just be countertop all the way to the end). right now, it is just an open area at bottom and a cabinet for liquor on top (which is not needed).