IMO, your kitchen is plenty open enough already. I wouldn’t open a wall to a formal dining room. And that can cabinet is the strangest thing I have ever seen. Engage the services of a kitchen designer and make an enclosed pantry closet/cabinet a priority.

I agree that you certainly need updates. The lighting looks 50 years old and the cabinets do too.

Thank you for your comments. And yes, the rack is strange. It is very handy for rotating items, but it was never meant to be in my kitchen. In past houses I've had a space for it inside a closet. And it looked better, because there were no plywood shelves housing a microwave, just black and cans all the way down.

And I am very nervous about removing walls without a specific reason and plan. The advice to get a CKD is good. Thank you for that!

The "formal dining room" will probably not ever be used by us as a formal dining room. I'm just not sure how to use the space. The picture makes it look larger than it actually is. My husband needs a place for a desk, other than our kitchen table or the temporary plastic table he set up in our room. But he tends to keep his desk messy...so not thrilled about putting that in an open space either.

"Make Enclosed Pantry a priority"

Another idea for the wall between the kitchen table and front room is something like this, but our area is deep and has a doorway into the front room on the left. If I removed the door, then the space is too long for something like this. I guess one option is to remove the short wall to the right of the oven and extend the cabinets down further to take up the extra space.

These barn doors are cool, but dark and heavy looking. Perhaps doors with frosted glass to reflect light instead. Plus, I keep reading that barn doors are on their way out. But, I still like them, so...

I don't think you need to do much in opening things up. The half wall for sure and the upper cabinets that blocks the view from the kitchen to the rest of the house seems the only opening up that is needed. That is good news as that is not structural or expensive to do besides fixing the floors by the halfwall. What is the door there that goes straight into the kitchen? Is it from the garage?

The layout of the kitchen I think needs more work, but I think you can get what you need there storage wise without needing to change too much in the rest of the house. I would want the stove top closer to the sink and not on the other side of the kitchen as it currently is. If the cook top was off that side then almost that whole area could become refrigerator and pantry space. Not sure on the dimensions of the kitchen if you have space for an island or not.

Putting a larger window that goes down to the counter might help if you could find it in the budget and also make it look more up to date. Enlarging an existing window is generally not too hard even if it is brick outside.

Thank you Lyfia! That door leads to the laundry room, and then to the garage. The dimensions of the kitchen are 14' x 11'. So 14' from window to opposite wall.

I like your idea of moving the cooktop to the fridge wall. If we stick with an electric range, we could easily do that. If we go with gas, there are currently gas lines directly behind it's current position. The wall behind the fridge is *technically an outside "brick" wall, so I think bringing gas lines through there would break the budget.

*The previous owner added a workshop there that has access from a door just to the left of the laundry room door. There is no heat or air in that room and it steps down. I would love to make it one large laundry room, but that would require removing a structural outside wall. So...probably not worth the cost or effort. My son uses that space as computer room, with a portable heater/ac unit. When he moves out, it will probably become our storage room for seasonal items/indoor shed. Or maybe my husband's "office", so I don't have to see his mess! :)

I love the idea of putting a larger window in! I can barely reach it to open it now. More light plus easier access! Cool!

@Susan Iwertz - If you do electric I would do induction. I love my induction cooktop. I boil water and heat up soups etc. from the freezer much faster than in the microwave. Also so easy to clean. If you absolutely want gas it is possible they could run it through the attic depends on your local codes. If laundry is on the other side is there gas there for the dryer?

Those dimensions make it a little tough with getting a decent island size in, but you could have a 2ft deep one and 5ft long and good aisle space still (slightly less than 4ft around it). All depends on how many people you generally have in the kitchen at once as to how much aisle space your family requires. I prefer 4ft and feel anything else is cramped especially in a walk way such as you have with the laundry/garage there.

If your husband uses the front room for his office you could add doors on all the entry points and frost the glass using cling film if you use French doors. This would keep you from seeing the mess, but wouldn't be permanent. Or fabric to cover the glass, but frosted at least allows some light through. It also doesn't change the function of the room if you ever want to go back to it being a dining room.

Yes, there is a gas dryer in the laundry room. So that is an option. I had not though about an induction cooktop, that does sound like a great option. Cleaning the gas stove top has been a deterrent for me. I also love the idea of putting the stove on that wall with a large hood and no cabinets above.

I have thought about putting doors on the front room. But I will have to post some pics of the entryway, as it would creat e a hallway.

Hire a kitchen designer for a couple of in depth consults. You need a workflow and functional assessment of most of the home. If you cant find local, I have a list of those who do online.

The window over the sink should be casement (crank out) for ease in opening & closing

@Susan Iwertz go look at this post - ignore the text and topic and just scroll down until you see kitchen pictures. There is a kitchen full view picture that has a similar layout to what we were talking about. Just focus on the layout to see if it is something that might work for you. I think you might have a little more width (window to interior wall) and maybe a little less length (laundry wall to eating area), but very similar.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6215980/help-sleuth-these-out#n=43

The layout is very similar. I wish there was a dead on photo of the fridge. Theirs does not seem to just out past the cabinets as much as ours currently does.

Also considering a slide in range with double ovens as my current wall ovens are narrower than standard cabinet sizes. So they would have to be replaced anyway unless we do a custom built cabinet.

Mixed feelings about that...but more cost effective than both. But without deep drawers under a cook top, wondering about a pull out for spices, oils and hanging pans on the bottom...

@Susan Iwertz for the fridge that is either because they have a counter depth fridge or they built a little niche in the wall to scoot the fridge in further.

ETA: Actually it looks like they built the cabinets around the fridge so they may be a little deeper than standard, but could also be one of the above.

Hmmm...well, my fridge is only 2 years old, so I would like to keep it. There is a deep cupboard in the garage along that wall...the only hard part will be convincing my husband to cut into it. Guess I will have to use "office" space as a bargaining chip! Lol. I really do like the counter depth look of their fridge.

On another note, I'm not crazy about the island seeming to go past the other counters. What do you think about an island with locking wheels that I could maneuver out of the center of the kitchen when there are 3 or more people cooking. (That happens around every holiday at my house, and more frequently with 2 people cooking while a third does dishes.)

Before doing anything to the popcorn ceiing, have it tested for asbestos as it was fairly standard in popcorn ceilings of that genre.

I had mine removed but they were tested and were positive for asbestos. It required it to be done by a certified asbestos hazardous material company that took all necessary precautions and disposed of it in a hazmat site. When it was done I received a certified from the goverment.

Thank you Helen. I will definitely have it tested first.

@Susan Iwertz - you could just get deeper than standard cabinets to surround the fridge and then it wouldn't stand out if you don't want to recess the fridge.

The only problem with deeper cabinets is that it runs along the walkway to the laundry room. (If we were to move the fridge to the wall that currently houses the cooktop and double ovens.) There is enough depth to put the fridge where the current doorway to the dining room is, if we were to close that off. But, then the fridge width would extend about halfway past the current peninsula. Which might be okay, except is is about 13 feet from where the stove top would go. I'm not sure if that is a deal breaker for me as we currently walk very far to do a variety of things. If we were to sell the home, I just don't want it to be/look awkward to potential buyers.

Paint can go a very long way. The layout of your home reminded me a lot of the renovations for this home. Maybe some ideas for you.

https://www.flythroughourwindow.com/renovations/

No don't put the fridge all the way over there. You don't want to spend all that money and get a worse layout than you already have.

Here's some info on recessing the fridge. It is really not that hard to do for someone handy and you're lucky as yours is an interior wall.

http://stonehavenlife.com/recess-your-french-door-fridge-into-the-wall/

So, I made some measurements, and unfortunately the furnace and water heater are directly behind the double ovens and the counter to the left of them. If we were to recess the fridge on that wall it would have to be centered so close to the laundry room door that the the walk way would be blocked when opening the fridge. I will attach a terrible image with the fridge "photo shopped" where it would have to go. I am quite disappointed, as I loved the idea of moving the cooktop closer to the sink.

I think that is a perfect spot and how often and how long do you stand in front of the fridge with it open? I mean you stand longer in front of the stove and block the same path with hot stuff on the cooktop and a hot pot to turn and drain pasta so more of a danger than the fridge. The blocking of the path with the fridge open would be a very short amount of time. Probably the only time it might become inconvenient is when you've come home from the grocery store and is putting a bunch of stuff away,. I would say that is probably the longest time the fridge is open a lot. So how many people would be walking back and forth during that time?

Nivah, Thank you your the images! I have been quite torn between painting and replacing all the cabinets. That kitchen does look so much better! I have the same cabinet doors throughout my house...the built-ins in the Liv. Rm. & Dn. Rm., and both Bathrooms. Lately, I have been thinking that I should paint the cabinets in my bathroom, as there are only 4 doors, and 2 drawers. That way I can see exactly what my kitchen doors would look like if I painted them. If I do that, I will definitely post some before and after photos.

Other than my layout questions, my main concern has been that the cabinets were built as one large box along each leg of cabinets. So things get lost. I have clear bins in some of them to keep storage containers organized, but some doors were too narrow.

A couple of solutions for that is to add base runners and build some custom pull-out shelving. And if I just remove the uppers on the peninsula, I could use the doors from the dining room built-in to add doors to the back of the peninsula cabinet for easier access.

Thoughts? Thanks!

Lyfia, well you do have a point! I guess I feel like the entire family (7 people) open the fridge throughout the day, and all 7 people do their own laundry, and at least four people enter and exit the house from the garage side.

But, you are right, we do stand in front of the stove longer than the fridge. So, I probably am over thinking the problem.