We just did this in our kitchen. I was a little hesitant about it, but I am really glad that we did it. I do miss the extra cabinet space a bit, but since we hadn't yet moved in when we did it, I wasn't used to it yet! We lucked out in that the end of the cabinet that became exposed was already finished. The only issue we still need to address is re-cutting the crown molding and adding a piece to the side. I am considering having a cabinetmaker friend build a set of shelves that will hang on the side of the cabinet. We are still in the middle of updating the kitchen with new paint, appliances and counters, but here are some before pics and in progress pics: Please forgive the mess here: And now, still need countertops, lots of finishing touches and a few more appliances to replace. Don't mind the patches on the wall. My electrician is free, but he's messy!:

I have a 30" drawer block below our 36" cooktop. The top shallow drawer holds an extravagance of stove tools with plenty of room left over. The next down, 12" deep drawer holds 2 stacks of dinner plates (2 different patterns, bone china and earthenware), one stack of salad plates, and 4 stacks of bowls in about 10 patterns (I like bowls). This is very heavy, but modern full-extension/soft-close drawer hardware has no problem with it. Neither do I--back corners totally accessible, zero bending. The bottom 15" deep drawer holds a couple of my smaller soup pots with lids and my fry pans. Like the middle drawer but only very minor bending to reach. No knee flexing required at all as long as the spine can still flex a bit. The 36" drawer block to the right holds more than my @52 cupboard with doors and shelves in an old kitchen because everything's available at a glance and nothing needs to pushed aside (into the empty gaps naturally left for that purpose) to find something else.

Thanks all! I did all of the painting - but that's it. Hired out cabinets, counters, and electrical. The counter top is kashmir white 'granite'. The cook top model is the Frigidaire FGIC3067MB and I couldn't find alot about it before purchasing so wrote a summary (which is here). It's internal parts are all Electrolux.

"kats meow, I completely missed that bit of info about your husband using the dining room as the office." Well, actually I think you have it. I met today with a designer to discuss all the potential remodeling of the house. We had a lengthy discussion about the kitchen. Of course, we talked about opening the kitchen to the family room entirely or greatly expanding the pass through. The problem (even though all of that seemed awesome) is that it ate up the budget and I still have a master bath that needs to be redone (separate thread on that one). I wanted to preserve as much of the kitchen footprint as I could while improving storage and workspace. Having a more open kitchen was basically more of a want than a need. That is, I don't really need a fully open kitchen although I might like how that looks. So, what was proposed is something that I think I can make work with my budget and will meet my real needs. The first idea is, yes, to move the dining table and chairs to the formal dining room. Yes, DH has his office there. Basically, the suggestion is that we use the family room as an office. Make the formal living room the main living area for guests and use the family room mostly as an office with a sofa in there for talking/TV. DH would move to my current office and I would move to the family room. Probably put in French doors between the breakfast room and the family room. The pantry would be moved to the bottom left hand corner of the breakfast room and would go from the corner to the window. New cabinets/counters in the kitchen. The new cabinets with adjustable shelves and drawers on the bottom would improve storage. For my workspace, basically extend the countertop that the cooktop is on make it deeper. it would go into what is now the breakfast room and could have countertop seating there. The counter and cabinets would extend to where the pantry is now giving me more counter and storage space. An alternative that I would like to find a way to work would be to move the refrigerator down to that area (probably to where the breakfast room opening starts) and then extend the counter/cabinets to where the refrigerator is now. The issue there would be to have enough clearance between the refrigerator and the peninsula with the cooktop since it would now be much larger and deeper. It might be better to leave the refrigerator where it is. There would be no table in the breakfast room but there would be counter seating at the peninsula. What I like about this idea is that it greatly increases my storage space and workspace. It also doesn't move around a lot of stuff in the kitchen. My house is on a slab so moving stuff around like water lines or vents can be expensive. This doesn't move around a lot of expensive stuff. We discussed the possibility of a range or moving the cooktop but those involve having to deal with venting. Of course, this means using the family room as an office. That is fine as I never felt we needed two living areas. And we move the dining to the dining room next to the kitchen. That looks better for people coming in than having people see DH's office. No one would really be going to the family room/office unless they were specifically being asked to go there.