I like the wood. It's warm and attractive. It's not budget friendly, but if you moved the sink, you could put more people at the island. Equally, you can reduce the size of the island, reducing the cramped exit to the kitchen.

I'm less keen on the blue formica and blueish walls. I'd replace the counters and paint the walls.

The place to start is what are your needs? Do you need the breakfast area? Do you need all the cabinet space? How are your planning on using the great room?

What would you say your budget is? Painting the cabinets is not inexpensive, to have it done right. They look in good condition and the wood is nice. That money might be better spent on new countertops and lighting. Would you consider a larger remodel down the road?

I’d wait to remodel the kitchen until you have a good budget. In the meantime, I’d focus on better lighting and an overall palette that works with the kitchen.

Open to keeping the cabinet color and yes change the counter top and backsplash would like to keep it under 6k
We will be pulling up the carpet in the great room and put down similar hardwood or LVP.

Don’t need the breakfast area if I could increase seating another way

The blue counters and walls are fighting the warm wood. If you're not going to paint the wood trim around the windows (and baseboards and crown) there's nothing wrong with the wood cabinets. They go with the rest of the wood. Get new Formica counters and paint the walls. Don't spend too much on putting new counters on old cabinets.

Is there not enough seating in the dining room? Or are you going to use that room for something else and that's why you need the breakfast seating?

We can use the dining room just some bar seating would be a nice option. The entire house needs to be painted along with the crown.

No to painting the cabinets. Oak does not paint well and wood is back in fashion. Your odd shaped peninsula needs to be removed straightened but that is not in your budget right now. Eliminating it and setting up a nice banquet under the windows could work nicely. Light countertops/back splash would help a lot with new lighting.

I would spend your budget on first unifying the flooring through the space. I'd remove the carpet and have hardwood put in and stained to match or refinish all the hardwood to a more medium brown (no LVP next to real wood). If there's money left over after the flooring, then I'd replace the light fixtures. I would not go to the expense of painting raised panel arched cabinetry nor top those cabinets with new counters.

Loving these ideas! Can someone show new counters and backsplash?

Here is another view

Be sure to set aside some extra flooring material so that if you change your cabinet configuration later, you aren't stuck without matching flooring.

Additional view

I’d paint window and door trim white and paint walls to match. Run new flooring into kitchen so hoe house matches (buy extra in case you ever gut the kitchen and move cabinets someday creating a gap in the floor). Replace counter tops. I think you could keep wood cabinets as is. I guess for backsplash I might just run the counter material similar to how the laminate counters are now.

Keep the ideas coming!

Does your family usually eat at a counter now? That counter, I see it more as a perch for chatting, or school-morning breakfast, not for dining, because who wants to sit in front of the sink? I would love to use the breakfast nook as my ”office”, so I’d have a long-ish country table there, but of course it would be cluttered under my watch! But a long table would look nice there, and used for meals or casual serving for get-togethers. Is it too narrow a spot for a table and chairs? Maybe just a table, for herbs and for breakfast or lunch looking out on the backyard.

What colors and styles do you have for your furniture? and is that a sunroom beyond the fireplace? Back door is by the stairs?

Sunroom is located behind the fireplace. We would just use the counter seating for breakfast or chatting not big meals

I’m assuming that the current wood flooring is solid red oak (not engineered). It appears to run through the kitchen, dining room + foyer. I would extend your existing hardwood into the other areas - they should be easy to match. Plus, if you decide to change the layout of your kitchen later (for example, reconfigure the peninsula), you will be able to lace in new hardwoods as needed).

I wouldn’t replace your countertop now, unless you don’t plan on changing your cabinet boxes for a very long time. I know someone who did change her countertops before doing her kitchen renovation. However, she reused her cabinet boxes (turned out amazing - she actually turned her partial overlay doors into inset doors - she had an amazing carpenter).

I’ve seen many kitchens where the doors have been replaced (and made full overlay instead of partial overlay) + the cabinet boxes painted to match the new doors - and the kitchens have turned out really beautiful (and look brand new). For an example, look up Beth H - she’s a pro on here - and I believe she has photos of her kitchen on her profile page.

Her kitchen looks STUNNING - and no one would ever know that her cabinet boxes stayed the same (obviously, her existing cabinets were high quality ones). Her existing kitchen had a functional layout. I think that she changed her island a bit - but the existing layout stayed mostly the same.

IF we could move / remove / adjust the kitchen peninsula can some one give me some design ideas

The minute you move-replace-change the peninsula, you’ve affected your kitchen sink. That is the only place you have plumbing for your sink, so without full remodel expense, it needs to stay there. If you redesign the sink portion to face the living room, you can extend the (assumed) new countertop into that space for stools. I’m not sure if that works for your lifestyle, but it’s one idea.

I would wait and save for a full remodel or refacing job. If you reface, you can add and subtract cabinets but the old and new will match on the outside with new doors and painted exteriors.

If you like the wood, just replace the countertops, hardware and new backsplash. It will definitely feel different without the expense of a full remodel or refacing job.

Here are some oak kitchens with new countertops.