I don't know if there is much in the way of little things. Recycling your existing cabinets is always the hardest thing to do. It takes a lot of planning and the help of a fine carpenter because some of your existing cabinets would need to get reconstructed and some others made.

The problem with setting out to recycle the cabinets WHEN THE FLOOR PLAN doesn't work is shown with the corner cooktop/oven combo. I don't think I'd want the cooktop in a corner like that either. But if you take that out (microwave, cooktop and oven move), you don't have a cabinet in the corner. Worse, you don't have extra cabinet doors lying around, nor any assurance that you'd be able to buy a 45" corner unit.

From a function standpoint, the best thing to do is get rid of that particular island first. You could have a biug rectangular island there instead - enough room to gain a fair number of base cabinets and put an induction top there.

Ordinarily, I'd vote for the cooktop on the ref wall - but in your case, the ref would completely block your view and there's really no where else for the ref to go. Unless you considered something like ref drawers? There are newer makes and models that can be had for less than $1k. You could put a unit in the island and then park a spare ref somewhere else?

Another thought close to those is to turn your existing kitchen into a big "U" and make both long legs extra deep. This would add a lot of base cabinet space but possibly also feel hemmed in.

There are definite issues with doing this sort of thing, and I wouldn't know how many of them you might run into.

Cooktops take more electricity than a line run for outlets can handle. So, expect some big bills no matter what.

You'd need a vent of some sort - either one of those popup ones or an overhead one. Vents for island cooktops ain't cheap to begin with, and you don't have duct work from anywhere close by to the island. You might have ductwork leading from your existing hood and you might not. I don't know enough about log houses to speculate on that.

People don't necessarily put finish flooring under an island or under cabinets - redoing flooring gets pricey.

Cabinets, appliances and rough-ins can get damaged in being removed and reinstalled.

So, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but maybe think through what you need and what you want, do some reading on what makes a good kitchen (A motion minded kitchen by Sam Clark comes to mind). Think about the best result you could have and then see how you could take steps that lead from what you have to where you'd like to be.

It may be that you do end up replacing the kitchen cabinets - OR - perhaps you live in an area where a lot of similar cabinets were popular and you could "find" some through craigslist or a seller of used cabinets.

I always play a game of what's the least I could do (in your case - rip out the island, get a 4x7 used restaurant work table to be the island (no electricity required - but you could have electrician run an outlet on a pipe). See if moving prep changes the way the kitchen feels to work in.

And what's the most I can do (rip it all out and replace with my ideal floor plan after saving every penny I could for about 5 years).

hth

It doesn't look like you really have many cabinets, other than the hutch. As a matter of fact, it kind of looks like the kitchen was designed around the hutch.

What style do you like? Can you do Ikea? They are inexpensive. I would fix the layout before spending money on anything else. Function first!

Thanks! Yes, I guess the problem I keep running into is that the people who had the house before us threw this together at the last minute because of time/budget problems. So there really aren't enough cabinets, and the layout is non-functional. At least you've confirmed it isn't just my imagination.

Forgot to mention, the whole bottom floor is stained concrete, which we like, so no flooring issues. Also, our fantastic electrician who did the bathroom verified he could run the line for more electric in the island inexpensively through existing pipes.

The hutch's style is very common here for furniture. Haven't seen it as cabinets before. I'm adding a link to that style of furniture like the hutch. It's far more rustic than we'd ever choose, but kinda suits a Texas log cabin if it weren't for the function issues.

Here is a link that might be useful: Style of hutch & cabinets

Funny, we love Ikea for all our furniture, but I looked at their cabinets a couple weeks ago and was disappointed to not find any real wood cabinets. Maybe I missed that section? We do have salvage yards nearby that sell lots of cabinets.

I'm attaching a picture of a kitchen I like that is in a log cabin. I'd want more storage and upper cabinets and this is obviously huge, but it gives you an idea of the style that would be ideal. Modern & bright meets log cabin.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Oops, one more thing, we have no current vent, and have never used one. It's pretty drafty in here, so maybe that's why I never noticed! Oh dear.