These were the MLS photos when we bought the house. I have painted the terrible z-brick the same color as the walls, which does help some! OF course, I need to add getting rid of that to my list!

And here's our kitchen now--looks better due to new appliances and light fixture, but those horrible cabs are still there (and dingy plasticy white countertops, original cabs (some of which have mold in them from POs not fixing kitchen leaks in a timely fashion and others which are falling apart!), upper cabs that block my view of the living room, filthy-looking 1960s lino, etc).

Pic of the right side of kitchen--obviously the original wall oven will go!

And then a side view of the hanging cabs

Step #1 is to figure out how much money you can spend on this. A guideline is 10-20% of the value of the home. Average kitchen remodels in the US are around 40K. You may end up spending a bit more since you are talking about taking down walls.

Step#2 is to figure out a layout that will make the kitchen work better. I can see right off that it has several issues, including a big safety hazard with no landing space on one side of the cooktop and very little prep space between the sink and range. Take some graph paper and graph out the space, and the adjacent spaces. Sometimes taking down walls causes more problems than it's worth.

Step #3 is to interview contractors based on the list of specifications that you have developed and the layout that you've developed.

Or, you could just do step #1 and hire a KD to do most of the work for you. We've done hundreds if not thousands of kitchen remodels and can guide you through the whole process. That doesn't mean that you would be uninvolved with the decisions, just that you wouldn't be so overwhelmed by them and would have someone to bounce your ideas off of.

LWO, are you saying you do kitchen designing on the web?

You are in the right place! I'm not one of the resident experts here, but I can give you some advice to get started and get more replies.

Post a labeled, to scale layout of your space. This will help people give you suggestions and use the space better. Include all windows, doors, walls, etc and indicate where other rooms are in relation to the space.

Include how you cook. One cook? Two cooks in the kitchen? Lots of meals cooked at home? Baking? Canning, etc...? How many people live there?

Read over the sticky thread at the top of the thread list, including the link to tips for layout help, linked below.

There are lots of beautiful Ikea kitchens here, I'm sure someone can point you in the right direction for assistance there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Getting started

In addition to LWO's excellent advice, here is a book I recommend to give you an overview.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kelly's Kitchen Sync book on Amazon

Back to the question about the "designers" at IKEA, HD, etc.:

The folks who work at these places are a mixed bag and unlikely to be trained kitchen designers. There are exceptions, but generally expect to find people who learned what they know on the job at the store. Some kitchen and bath places have "real" designers. IKEA has free software you can download to help you design your space, but you have to know stuff like needing a landing space on both sides of your stove, and what to do with your two inside corners. (Maybe when you get rid of that wall you won't have 2 inside corners.) You could luck out - one of the members here works for a Big Box and is a "real" designer. Our guy at HD was great, but we were working with a plan that didn't have the big kinds of changes you're needing. Not to hurt your feelings or anything, but your current layout is less than wonderful.

So, a couple of suggestions. Think about your time and your finances. If you have time, you can do a great design job using the resources on this board; people are so generous about helping you figure out how to use your space to it's best potential, it's fantastic. This is time consuming as you'll do a lot of measuring, re-measuring, drawing it out, thinking it through, but, in the end, it's very satisfying. If you don't have the time, then you probably need a real KD. There are several threads on how to find one. This will cost you money. Even if you end up hiring a KD, you can always come bounce ideas around here. There was a thread just the other day asking about peoples' 3 favorite parts of their remodeled kitchens. That was interesting.

And don't forget to read the post that is always at the top of the first page of this blog. There is a link to the Sweeby test, among other things, and that's always a good place to start.

P.S. You haven't started to soon on the planning. This will give you a good amount of time to get all your plans in order before summer. I've found that you just can't hurry the planning stages if you want a happy outcome.

P.P.S. Painting those bricks to match the walls was a brilliant idea!

Purrus, My existing kitchen is almost identical to yours. We are planning a renovation and have almost finished the planning stages. I have lurked here on GW for months, and been researching for years, so if you don't have tons of time to devote to the planning process, hire a KD (not from the big box store) For various reasons, we must retain our original footprint for our new kitchen. If you would like to see a tentative floorplan, there is one on my current thread "Small Kitchen Renovation".
This forum is a treasure trove of information and ideas and everyone is eager to share.
Have fun with your reno!

I think the real first step is to go online and look at photos. LOTS of photos. Figure out exactly what your design aesthetic is and what you want your overall kitchen style to be. A kitchen designer can come up with a great design, but if its not your style then you just wasted a bunch of money.