Thanks for the info. Can we have an old style gas water heater (in the attic) AND tankless water heater downstairs servicing the same house and gradually phasing out the fixtures (room by room) with end result of eliminating the old gas water heater after remodel complete? This post has helped me realize that my main desire is to try to do this in phases rather than one job (which I'm sure would be cheaper.) For one reason, the smaller jobs help us evaluate the contractor and decide whether we want to continue using him (he gets to evauate too). It also helps us keep from having so many "change orders" before job is done as we learn more about our 77 year old house. (think I will cross post this in the "old house" forum as well) background: I think we are committed to going forward because we LOVE our neighborhood but neighboring homes are old like ours so besides prices being quite high though footprints are small (in center of major metro area), we are afraid we would buy another old home that was in worse shape than ours and would still need to do work.

Nice update. Good job on painting the cabinets. Hopefully, they will give you many more years of service. I acted as my own GC for my kitchen renovation, too. As long as you have a list of good subcontractors and an ability to organize, you will be successful. It's a satisfying feeling to complete this sort of project.

Chris, I did to my custom cabs exactly what you want to do. They were solid wood, great shape, but after 15 years I couldn't stand the overall dark feel. I had them refaced and everything painted. new countertops, vent hood, splash, window, everything. The company I hired to paint also deals w/refacing. for an additional 2K, I got all new doors, drawer fronts. (I prob have twice the cabs you do, including a 4X7 island) The new doors are all solid maple w/center panels made from MDF. when painting, MDF is a better choice for the panels than solid wood. To answer your questions about getting new doors that aren't painted, yes, they would then have to use a veneer material to skin your base cabinets so that they would match. something else you should change over is the lower doors to drawers. a good refinishing company can also do this for you. I had them make two large drawers in my island where open shelving used to be. so much better for storing large pans have you had any estimates? If going the painting route, make sure you get all of the steps they take in priming. if getting them refaced, those should come raw, so all they have to do is prime and paint. you can also get soft closing hinges. You're prob looking at well over 6-7K for just painting, and then whatever extra they charge for refacing. as for the gap to the ceiling, there are diff ways to tackle that. since your current cabs have a large wood edge (the part above your doors) , it might be difficult to add on boxes to that. you see how the doors immediately transition into the added boxes? You have that 3-4" of wood above your doors. what you might be able to do is get taller doors to cover that, remove the crown, and then build the boxes above that. or, you could add on a decorative molding or large crown This one might work for you. another poster on here had these, but notice how her doors almost touched her crown molding. They removed that Built boxes and then added doors. I believe she told me this cost her 2K to have that gap closed like this these are mine, before. I'm sure people thought I was crazy for changing it. I didn't care. I lived w/it for 15 years, the finish was wearing and I was tired of dark. notice my drawer/door design. see how the top drawers are slab and the others shaker style? This is why I refaced so they would all match. all of the fluted / rope trim and corbels were removed. micro was moved. vent hood made. drawers in island made. doors added to desk area. We did the window ourselves. new marble/quartz, lighting, flooring, appliances. I did Wrought Iron on my island, bright white on the others. there's a double pantry to the left you can't see. You say you don't want white, which is fine, there are plenty of other colors. Revere Pewter edgecomb gray Navy Kendall Charcoal This just gives you an idea. what is your budget? If you say 10K, that may get you countertops and new tile backsplash.

Amazing transformation. I’m curious to know the dimensions of your old kitchen and dining area. The layout looks very similar to the kitchen I had in my first house. I think mine was quite a bit smaller, though. It was problematic because there were 3 doorways plus a radiator in this tiny kitchen and I’ve always thought over the years how I would have remodeled it and like you, I definitely would have taken down the wall to the dining room and probably would have relocated 2 of the doorways.