Is that an actual working wood burning FP? Why did you plan on removing the drywall? I think now if you want the brick it will need to stripped down to the brick everywhere so I need to have more info and I guess a look at the kitchen layout too. I have a huge stone FP it backs into my kitchen I love it with all the modern stuff we own it adds a old Europen feel to the kitchen. More info is what we need , like waht are the floors going to be