I just wanted to tell you I really envy you your windows and view. I can't offer any advice, I visit here to see the beautiful new kitchens. For myself I prefer a low maintenance, basic home. Trends come and go rather quickly, so I don't go there. I like warm, comfortable, light colors that blend as you go through my home. I have been told that, "your home is so warm and welcoming" and that is exactly what I like.

What do you want to be the focal point? I would start with that. So do you want the countertops to be the focus? Backsplash? Floors? For me I wanted cabinets that I knew I would like for a long time even if I eventually changed the countertop again. So we started with cabinets, then picked out granite that would match, then a backsplash that would match the cabinet/granite. Flooring was decided on after we had our cabinets picked as well. Wall color and details were decided later. We also wanted a warm kitchen, so we tend to pick earthy tones & stayed away from cool colors. This place helped me A TON though! You are in the right place.

Where does the exterior door behind the fridge lead that you cannot get to from the sliding glass doors or the front door? It is absolutely possible to move an exterior door, but we'd need to know the point of that one to suggest where to move it.

When you post measurements, please post a floor plan of the whole floor, not just these two rooms.

Jillius, I'll post some of those later today, it's raining today so I'm going to go visit and see if the basement gets wet (oh the perks of buying a hosue with no disclosure!)

The house is something of a rotated by-level so this is the only room on this floor. The only thing not really shown is that behind the kitchen is a half-bath that's 3.5'x9' (not much space I can leech there). Everything else is up half a floor or down half a floor. Underneath this room is the basement (full).

The exterior door just leads to the side of the house. You could get there, yes, from just going out the back and around. However, the concrete pad where the trash cans will be stored is about 2' from that door in the kitchen. Leaving the door would make taking out the trash from the kitchen a 2-second task.

I think for the kitchen I'd like the focal point to be a large decorative hood over the stove. I guess that would mean the stove needs to be against the wall and not the wall with the window because there's not much space there for one. I also want pendant lights over the island.

I am kind of leaning towards a "modern vintage" feel.

Because this is my first house, I also need to keep in mind what kind of kitchen not only would I like, but also what future buyers would like as I might not live here forever.

Have you looked on Houzz? That might be a good place to start looking through kitchens to get a visual of what you like. They you can start getting ideas of what to look for when designing your own kitchen. If money is not object you might want to consider talking to a designer to get ideas.

It sounds like you're gutting and doing a total remodel. Yes? If so, I think it's too soon to be thinking about focal points and other design features. Get the layout right first.

A good layout design will give you good workflow. Search for Marcolo's excellent ice-water-stone-fire post for that. Basically, this means that workflow should be fridge to sink to counter to stove without criss-crossing or other unnecessary steps to prepare food.

A good layout will also give you good storage. This means that you have enough space for the things you need and that things are stored at or right next to where you use them. Again, to eliminate a lot of criss-crossing around the room to prepare a meal.

Once those items are figured out, then start thinking about focal points and the feel of the room. For example, your cooktop might not end up in a place where it makes a good focal point so don't think about things like decorative hoods yet.

Function first. Form follows function.