It's one of those 50/50 questions. It's really not that uncommon.

With the right aesthetic - I think it can be fabulous. It just shouldn't be an afterthought

Nobody can answer as to what is possible without a floor plan of the existing condition,

Brick can be quite charming - but you have nowhere near enough info above.

Feet, inches all. : ) of every last bit of the kitchen and beyond. Right below , add in a comment box

The brick can look really charming depending on how you decorate the room. It can also look out of place. It all really rests on what your style is and how you would incorporate the look of it. When you demo the kitchen, please be sure to give away your lighting fixtures instead of them ending up in the dumpters. Really nice vintage pieces.

Too late Kendrah--I already claimed the light fixtures! :)

That wall isn't large enough to bother opening up if you leave the chimney. Just remove the fireplace if you want to gut the place. The kitchen looks fairly spacious already with room for a table although without a scaled plan we are just guessing.

That probably isn’t for a fireplace but rather a furnace flue.

Do you know what the brick looks like behind the drywall?

Take down the dry wall and see what you’ve got. If it’s a furnace flue you need to work with it. If not, you need to asses if taking it down is worth the cost-mess-etc.

I agree with @Kendrah - it could look great if incorporated into the new design.

It is a furnace flue made of brick. The flue itself is not as big as the blackboard. It would be about 7' from the wall to the chimney.

What is the age of the house?

I had a furnace flue chimney removed,and replaced with a much smaller piece of ductwork, in my 90+ year old house. It may not be impossible. Compared to the overall cost of the remodel it wasn’t even that expensive.

I think you are going to need to expose the chimney before deciding if it will look strange or not. Depends on if it's a good looking chimney. I've seen some awful and some great exposed chimneys in the kitchen.

This is the chimney I found in my house. Luckily I never intended to expose it (or use it!). Poor thing there is more patch than chimney.

Okay, so now we are all praying your exposed chimney does not look like @HALLET & Co.’s!!

Wow. That’s an interesting photo, Hallett….

^^^ 1830 post and beam cape in downeast Maine that grew a second floor and became a Victorian at the turn of the century only to have most of the interior walls removed in the 1990’s open floor plan craze. Oh and the floor is framed with logs and it’s super crooked. It’s a fun counterpoint to my regular home which is a 1950’s modern ranch.

Yeah, those are common in Philly -- they have the pipes on each floor because they heated the place! Probably wood stoves or somesuch. (Of course, it looks worse hidden by the lathes.)

I need to see a to scle floor plan of the space including the chimney and also info as to what thta chimney is serving. I designed a whole storge cube around a chimney in our house becuase removing it to another spot was not worth the 30K to do so . In this photo you can see part of it between the TV and the fridge and also part of the cimney still ther . It hase storage for 8 sets of 12 place setting dishes and ove 100 glasses for evry type of drink possible A true pullout pnstyr on the kitchen side , another for cleaning and dog stuff on the die opposite the one you see. and a coat closet since this was our entry . With a good design anything can be overcome is what I am saying.

Post the scaled drawing on graph paper here in a comment in jpeg format DO NOT start another post .

I was going to say that the only thing better than an exposed brick chimney in the kitchen would be a brick fireplace, but Hallet. I love exposed brick.

I’ll take ownership at the end of November. I can open it up at that point. Fingers crossed it’s something good! Thanks to all for their comments and help!

We will wai for the fun to begin ., So once in a to scale floor plan is the first step to get lots of help here . Do it on graph paper showing every window, doorway and that chimney with info about it . Post her ein jpeg format and in a comment DO NOT start another post everything to do with tis space can be dealt with here .