Talk to a banker and buy a different house. You don't really want this one if you need to spend 500K right up front.

That's basically what we did (architect, designer, GC). However, we did a lot of the cabinet layout and design ourselves simply because most of the designers in our area seemed to focus way more on aesthetics and less on function (that's where GW was invaluable!). We found a designer who was willing to look everything over and consult on finishes, and we hired her.

That's exactly what we did, except we already knew the designer from an earlier project on our last house so she helped recommend good architects and contractors with whom she regularly works.

FWIW, my parents think we're a bit ridiculous to invest this much into a renovation, so I know where the first poster is coming from when s/he says to buy a different house. The cost to renovate our home is going to be in the mid 6 figures (swapping kitchen and family room locations, adding a bedroom and 1/2 bath, relocating one of the existing bathrooms and the laundry room, and building a new walk-in closet by pushing the walls out by the master bedroom) but this lot is very unique and we want to age in place. We also live in CA and in a very high cost-of-living area so you can't buy a move-in ready house in our area at even 4 times the cost of renovation. Plus we'd also have to settle for a less than ideal lot compared to what we have now (surrounded on 3 sides by a state park system!). So to us, it's worth investing the funds to make the house right.

We did a similar gut renovation on a house several years ago. We added 2000 SF of living area which helped offset the large dollar investment. We were also in a high cost of living area and pretty much every house we looked at needed major renovations AND was high priced. We took the same approach as Salex, hired an architect to do plans and fine tuned the kitchen and baths with a designer. As we already had an excellent relationship with a GC who did work for us on 2 previous houses, he worked closely with the architect and designer to keep the plans in the realm of realistic as far as local code, pricing, etc.

In certain areas it makes more sense to renovate than sell and buy another house.

I am a fabricator. I recently had an addition done and hired a local general contractor to manage all the trades. Much of his value added was due to his knowledge of what sub-contractors to employ. We also needed design work due to a structural change and, again, he knew where to get that expertise. If you are capable of defining your design objectives (which seems to be the case) and comfortable with color and material selections you can avoid a lot of cost. My GC commented that remodels are usually more work than new construction requiring just as many trades but additional complexity due to accommodating the existing structure. Good luck. The right GC will make this a fun project.

Start with an architect. You are talking about something very major and very expensive, so you absolutely must get this right.

I've remodeled two house, the 2nd, 4 different times (something different each time). On the first remodel, it was actually an addition and I hired a carpenter who did everything himself, bringing in 1 or 2 of his carpenter brothers when they were needed and a brick layer for the front. The other two big models of my present house involved general contractors; one was excellent, one a total disaster. I was my own contractor for the remodeling of the bathrooms, and I used a kitchen company for that room, but I did some sub-contracting as well as I didn't want to be without a kitchen for a long spell of time, and wanted to do it in a gradual fashion; they were happy to accommodate me.

I have never used an architect but should have on the addition - we often "don't know what we don't know". I was in my early 30's and there was a LOT I didn't know!

The other major remodeling was pretty straight forward and did not require an architect, and with the baths and kitchen no fixtures were moved, nor any walls.