Also changing appliances to stainless.

What about getting a real hood, moving the microwave to that under-counter space and repurposing the cabinet doors above the stove to fill in below. If it’s not wide enough, do one of those criss-cross wine racks to fill in the width. You would probably need to repurpose the wide drawer by making the left bottom drawer smaller and putting four drawers on the left since you are raising the counter. Then the desk area would be a microwave with a cabinet below and wine rack shelves in between that and the desk drawers. Even better would be repurposing the over the stove cabinet doors into drawer fronts instead (more useable below).

Hmmm a custom cabinetry shop should have no problem creating/matching the profile of your doors and drawers. I would keep looking. This is a pretty easy ask for custom cabinetry shops.

You can order custom-sized baskets from AmishBaskets.com if you wanted to go the basket route.

my bet is you could find pull out baskets that could work - or perhaps pull out shelves and then attach baskets. there are so many pantry organzing components out there now, somethjng is sure to work -

you can also google ”update kitchen desk” for lots of ideas

random side note - your floor looks very warm on my screen so just make sure the marble like quartz is not too cool in tone

I agree leave the space alone for at least 3-6 months before doing anything as major as changing counters Right now you have what looks like real stone and so IMO switching real for plastic fake stone is not an improvement .

How long have you been there? Do you have your own photos?

I suspect the thermofoil will be hard to match. And are those cabinets really awesome enough for new counters? It looks pretty nice right now but the counter would be the last thing in there I'd replace if I was in a spending mood. :)

We just bought it, but not moving in for 6 months. I see your point , problem is we didnt have budget for everything- cabinets, appliances and countertops. We decided a priority was to make the two level island all one level so thought we should match all countertops .

I agree with those who already said you should wait and live in the house for 6 months to a year before doing a major job on your kitchen.

However, to, answer your initial question - a custom cabinet maker can make and paint new cabinets the same color as your Thermafoil ones but they won’t exactly match.

A refacing company can provide a “fill in” set of cabinets to occupy the desk area, but again, the doors won’t be an exact match.

A two-level island may not be the height of trendiness, but it's perfectly functional. The kitchen looks generally nice.

The desk is a great spot for a stand mixer. Baking areas are often lower than standard to make working with dough more ergonomically sound. The kneehole? I dunno. That's harder to imagine away. You could always put a stool in it. If you have pets, there's a lot of things that can go in the hole. Or a good recycling center?

An inexpensive and easy idea would be to have shelves made and that area will look nice and be handy for the time being.

Love @Maureen idea.....no need to raise the desk, just add shelves and fill.

It looks like the 2 level is behind the sink - I would not be so quick to make that 1 level. The kitchen looks ok for now, however saving all your pennies and doing a layout of your own will make it much better in the long run. I would not waste money changing the tops. Thermofoil does not typically last forever, nor is it easily matched to add on cabinets.

Sit down and figure out how long it might take to save up and do things the right way.

Congratulations on the new house and Good luck!!

Another vote for waiting. Things I see immediately that I would change: all drawers; easy-reach upper in the corner; a proper range hood.

Meanwhile, while you may not see yourself sitting at the desk, it's handy to have drawers for desk things: pens, stapler, stamps, etc. If you eliminate the desk, you need to find another place for those things.

You seem to have a fair amount of counter space, and the desk area isn't in the work area (which for you will likely be next to the sink), so you may find the lower counter less objectionable than you think.

Until you live there, you don't know exactly what your storage needs will be, which is another reason to hold off. Maybe you'll want to remove the desk and last set of uppers for pantry cabinets; maybe you'll find that a stool and desk in the kitchen is perfect for looking up recipes.