so, others can see layout better ;)

notice that artistharonva has carefully put a SPACER between the fridge and side wall, something that non-kitchen-designers often forget, causing the door to not open quite right... (you could also embed the fridge in the pantry, but it might feel a bit tight that way)

the fridge shift to the garage side is good. I'd eliminate the pantry cabinetry as it won't match your perimeter which you are leaving intact. Instead, make a bigger island , that intentionally does not match perimeter, install drawers and rollouts, more seating. the 11 y old will come with friends....you will use the larger surface and find it becomes a better substitute for table.......if a selling time comes it will be a "feature" more than a small island. Maybe install a shallow counter over on pantry[dining room wall] for coffee/charging devices/landing/etc. When you change your perimeter, in the future, you can add shallow depth pantry cabinetry if you want it. My personal inclination would be a "leave alone" approach to the entire perimeter.. put in a stylish faucet, new hardware and focus on a bigger, better island, pendant lighting. You want new counters/backsplash on the older oak? that is a big debate that gives a lot of opinions. Your particular counters/backsplash can easily be left. Spend on an island: re-evaluate the entire perimeter down the road.

Artistsharonva....to confirm your illustration, are you suggesting we ditch the fridge for a counter depth and then make all the counters on that wall standard counter depth as well?

Regardless, this is an interesting consideration!

What if we did a narrow (12-15") cabinet by the garage door and then the fridge next to that with cabinets above it as well? This would just get it away from the swing of that garage door a bit more. Then i would also want to reduce those "pantry" cabinets to 15" deep vs. standard depth.

Here's another layout we did, this obviously requires all new cabinetry, appliances and countertops:

The last layout you posted is much better compared to the beginning. You're on the right track. ;)

As for the earlier question, counter depth fridge if on other wall near door or recessed deeper fridge into wall to keep out of doorway.

When ever putting a fridge against a deeper wall it will need a filler in corner to allow for door swing. How wide of a filler depends on type of fridge. The installation manual will have pictures similar to this example.

As i think i mentioned in the original post, i would love to somehow not replace all the cabinets. My wife is uneasy about sinking $30k into a kitchen and not knowing if we will get that back if/when we would decide to sell.

If the doors didn't have that goofy arc/curve to them, they wouldn't look so outdated in my opinion. But by the time i replace those i'm probably close to the cost of new cabinets. I do have the tools and knowledge to build them myself, so i guess that's always an option.

you can replace door fronts.Its probably standard honey oak. You'd have a few options with some glass doors on the wall cabinetry. I believe if you ship an existing drawer or door front to Scherrs or a place similar , they can match the stain. Or they supply the unstained new doors and have them finished locally. If it is just the style of the curve, you can leave the perimeter and go ahead with island ideas. I'd avoid the cooktop on the island. You are getting into a much different project.

Trying to find a list here on Houzz of replacement door companies that are good to work with....looking at Fast Cabinet Doors right now and i like the prices i'm seeing.

The reason that layout has the cooktop on the island is because in our current layout the fridge sticks way out. So the thought was to move the fridge where the current range is which resulted in splitting the range to a cooktop + a built in. But if we do the a new counter depth fridge and put it in the pantry, that saves us ALOT!

Here is a layout i did on IKEA's program: