here are pictures of the kitchen decluttered so people can have a better idea of the space.

If I'm to understand you are replacing the entire kitchen I would certainly remove the brick BBQ especially since you've never used it.

My response would include BBQ removal and the frig goes in its place. Close the entrance to the kitchen from the foyer. Add counter across that new wall. Move the pantry to the end of the old frig space or delete it. Remove the island.

I am seeing the "beyond" clutter of the cluttered kitchen.

I am reading the SF Bay area, "rare" design.

For me? It's a gut. Rare isn't necessarily wonderful, often it is just odd and doesn't work well.

What is back beyond the kitchen? I see a home not "living well" for the owners. I think the sun may have set........on the Sunset 60 design.

Post more jpegs of the surroundings.

This is a good challenge. Please add more photos: stand in each of the two entries and take four photos going around the room for eight photos total. That will show how the kitchen is actually built and how it is being used.

Do you use the bar sink shown in the original Sunset floor plan?

I can well imagine that the remodelled kitchen will end up as a showpiece for the contractor.

What is your budget and are you willing to get rid of it entirely? I think it is a poor design not worth keeping since it has 3 entrances including a main thoroughfare through the middle of the work area to the foyer. You could have a great open design kitchen to the rest of the house and even put in a island. I would consult an architectural engineer to see what can come down.

I sometimes just really like a space that is not cookie cutter Of course you can demolish it but to what advantage it will still be in the center of the home unless you totally demo the whole main floor . It is an era sort of like MCM ot Art Deco where it is not the usual tract house but something interesting

Everything depends on your budget and what you want to do. Come back with clarity on how much you want to spend and what your goals are and we can go from there.

I think you could do a better layout and sharpen the oval shape of the kitchen as a whole. The current execution loses something because of all the flat parts. The countertop could really follow the curve around just like the soffit.

Here I reduced it to one bigger opening near the garage entry where groceries are being brought in. There is really no reason to have a direct entry from the front door area.

It's odd, yes, but I hate to see every unusual thing demolished out of existence. Just adding it to the rest of the open space turns the room into a "blob"

I don't think the island adds much here but at least mostly everything is on one side of it.

This house belonged to Jackie Gleason

Here's a semi circle with a built-in refrigerator.

I think the kitchen is cool. I like the soffit. Is your indoor BBQ useable? Would it meet code today? If not, I'd definitely get rid of it.

Could the BBQ become a pizza oven? That would be cool! Btw, I like it, I know it’s not current today, no white subway tile, Shaker cabinets & white quartz mimmicking ”marble”, that’s why I like it. It does need some tweaking however.

Wow community. Thank you. Thank @lisedv for cleaning up my photos (my photos does show the true clutter that represents no storage, limited cabinet and little counter space. The middle table was to compensate for the distance of the original curved island was way too far away from the stove; and a work space. Budget, I am willing to take the jump to improve this kitchen and this half of the house (90k-150k). The layout was the original design I happen to find. The family room is actually our dining area. There is a vent above the never-used-indoor-bbq; would this meet current code in California - I suspect not.

Agree that if the indoor BBQ should not be used, why keep it (we will end of filling it with stuff). Pizza oven is interesting idea, but what would it take to bring this type of appliance to code? Front kitchen window layout will stay in place. Question is what shape of island and location?

It seems your number one problem is no storage. To get storage you need to add cabinets and/or a pantry. To do that, you’ll need some walls.

Start with researching where to add meaningful walls. Stretching your circle into an oval makes sense to me.

I think that space would make a beautiful dining area with a big round table and a fabulous light that you could see from the atrium. Then the kitchen could move to the family room area (since you also have a living room.) Purists may not like that idea, but I'm thinking practicality. Also it would be nice to have the kitchen near the garage for easy grocery unloading, and near the patio door if you like to grill or eat outside.