Have you seen drrachielle's kitchen? I think you should just transplant it to your house! The house is quite grand for the kitchen, not only in style, but size. It is a beautiful place, I can see how you would love it!

I am not a lot of help, but I think your intuition is corrct about the hood with the wall ovens being too much on that wall. I am also concerned about the island. Is there a layout drawing?

Nancy

You keep mentioning resale, and a pretty expensive kitchen remodel in the same breath. The two do NOT go together if you want to spend your money wisely. Spending 50K on a kitchen, even in a nice upscale home, you will be lucky if you get 20K of that back in "added value" when you go to sell the home. What you have is NOT that bad. If I were you and planned to move in a couple of years, I would buy new doors for what's there and possibly new counters, and leave well enough alone.

You are really talking about opening up a can of worms here to remove the soffit and to run gas for a pro style range, and ventilation duct for a pro style range, as well as makeup air for all of that. That's 10-15K of your budget right there before you've even spent a dime on anything that will "show". Yes, I agree it's necessary IF you put in a pro style range, and that's why I suggest second guessing yourself about that, especially if you are thinking it will garner you a lot more money at resale. It won't. It WILL give you the pleasure of using it until resale happens, but you have to be OK with treating the whole thing as an expense rather than an investment.

Since you yourself said you are cash poor, I think the whole idea behind this remodel is extremely misguided. What you have isn't bad, and you should NOT go into debt to change it. Save your money until you can pay cash for a tweak, not a gut remodel.

If you can't afford to do this now as a mostly cash payout, then you can't afford to do this. Going into debt is always a bad idea, but going into debt to pay for a largely cosmetic change reno when you have a perfectly usable space is a HUGE BAD IDEA.

Your home is lovely, and while your kitchen is of a different style, it's a very attractive, functional kitchen.

Do you currently have electric cooktop? If you have to run a gas line in order to get the BS or CC, perhaps you could save a bundle by just switching out to an induction cooktop. It really does cook a lot like gas.

I agree, with GD and holly, though. I think you could get style changes with new cab doors (or maybe just adding moldings and painting - see July This Old House Magazine) and counters, maybe add a backsplash. You could build a butcherblock into a section of your counter, as I did. There is no crumb issue with mine; there is silicone at the edge where it meets the granite. With a new counter, you could get a new sink/faucet. Those things would change the entire look of the kitchen without an enormous expense.

Thank you! You have given me a lot to think about (that is why I posted!). Re-reading my OP, it is obvious I am not a very good communicator. If we sell this house, it will not be for 10-15 years. My resale fear comes from the fact that this house sat vacant for upwards of 4 years and the realtor said it was because everyone hated the kitchen and did not want to buy a house for the price the seller was asking and have to go in and do an immediate kitchen remodel. I have a set of plans from a local renowned KD commissioned by another potential buyer. I did not like them because it got rid of the island. Although our kitchen is not big enough by NKBA standards to have an island I really love its functionality. I just do not like the way this one looks. We tried to cosmetically update it by painting it black, adding corbels, and putting on a cherry butcherblock top and it was a huge FAIL. It looks too stripey. So that is why I am trying to find something "timeless" and that will appeal to the masses. I know that eventually we will sell but it will not be anytime soon. This kitchen overhaul will not be an investment. It is for my pleasure alone. I am actually the one who convinced my husband that the kitchen was purely functional three years ago and there was no reason to rush into a remodel. Simply stripping the 90s wallpaper and replacing the plastic wire cabinet pulls and lighting made a world of difference.
The most unappealing and dated effects are the awful gray laminate countertops with PVC edging and the soffit above the island that we affectionately call the "Tumor."
At one point, we WERE planning to just paint the cabinets the same color as the living room walls (looks a little different when it is semi-gloss) and replace the countertops with granite, but after perusing the beautiful kitchens on this website we decided to go big or go home! Then we decided we really, really wanted an open burner gas range. I still do, but think I could compromise with a 30 inch model as I really only need 6 burners over the holidays. That area below the current cooktop is nothing but wasted space because of the Jennair downdraft (all the rage in the 90s!). I could also fit a 30 in under cabinet range hood. I do not like that look and that is not an ideal size, but again I guess this is about compromise. I could probably even get along with a 30 inch rangetop, but would really like to have the extra oven. Again, only necessary on holidays. I will think about that one and compare prices.
Thank you for reigning us in!
I had planned to pay cash for the high end appliances and charge the cabs because the appliances would deplete our reserves. You can always get 18 months same as cash at Lowes, so as long as the cabs were under $18K that would be manageable (perhaps I am being naive though since I never actually priced the cabs, but it is not a large kitchen.).
Greendesigns: My brother is the most skilled HVAC person in the U.S. and since his wife does not cook, his labor charges are usually only a home cooked meal or two. Just outside this window is my husbands grill porch (we pass food through the window). Gas is piped there, so I do not think it would be too difficult for DB to run it around the corner to where the gas range would be. I am checking with him, though. The ventilation would be no problem for him and make up air can come from cracking the nearby window. Again, maybe I am being naive!

Ginny20: Thank you for the info on the butcher block. That is exactly what I was looking for. I went to BN and they already had the Aug This Old House mags out, but I will see if I can order a back-issue of the July mag online.

So! Is this a better plan:
- Replace cabinet doors only. Should I put glass in any of them? If so, which ones? The local cabinetmaker who installed the current cabinets is still in business so I have sent them an email asking if they can do doors only. That is a great idea and I wish I had thought of it!! They also have a beautiful style of door called Painted Classic that I love. My concern with replacement doors is this silly curved door. Hopefully they will agree to build a replacement since they installed the original. Also there is a lot of cracking. Not sure if it is the paint or the actual wood. I can live with it. Some pay extra for distressing!

- Replace 30 in downdraft cooktop with 30 in range or rangetop. Add under the cabinet hood.
- Replace sink with ss undermount and ss pulldown faucet.
- Replace countertops with antique brown granite.
- I will replace the fridge/wall oven/mw only as they fail (we have just had to do this with the workhorse ka dw as parts were no longer available) and not upsize.
- Add BS (already have a great tile guy) and paint kitchen Tweed (already have an awesome painter).
- Remove tumor. DH can build something less belligerent to mask the area.
I can swing this with cash dependent on the price of the cabinet doors. Thank you for your concern and, of course, you are right!
In the future, will remove soffits and add crown to cabs. I have already confirmed with the builder/previous owner that there is nothing behind them. Also want to replace the desk area with drawers so it looks more like a hutch. That desk is unused except for a messy drop zone.
Thank you again!
Michele