We are going to be renovating are kitchen and have narrowed down the redesign to 2 very different options.

Our current kitchen is 6-8 years old and installed by the previous owners. The cabinets are 3/4" plywood and custom (Amish) built so our intent is to re-use the cabinets, with a few modifications. The existing plan provides a ton of cabinet space, but it is not very functional for more than one person. The kitchen is off the living room (most would say family room), and the current layout actually decreases the usable living room space. So in addition to a more usable kitchen layout, we want to increases the living room space as well. We are limited with this as the living room/kitchen area is an addition with cathedral ceilings; the rest of the house has 8' ceilings. Ultimately, we would like a kitchen with multiple work zones, with the refrigerator and dish storage out of the way so people aren't under the cook's feet.

I've been playing around in AutoCAD with the layout, and I also found the Ikea cabinet planner. They're stock cabinets were nearly the same measurements as what we have (please keep in mind that the dimension cabinets I put in are reusing our existing).

Our first option is the simplest. We take the kitchen cabinets and re-organize them in U shaped design; this design leaves the refrigerator in its current location, along with a couple of the adjacent cabinets. This would require moving the kitchen door in addition to the cabinet and utility. We can do all of this ourselves. The two peninsulas would have half walls on them approx. 6" higher than the counter height.

Our second layout is the most work. It requires removing a load-bearing wall, moving the basement stairs, moving the exterior door, removing a pellet stove and chimney and raising part of the office floor to be the same floor height (the office and current basement stairs are conveniently 4" lower than the rest of the floors). We would hire someone in to do the structural work, framing, and ceiling sheetrock work then do the rest ourselves. I'm estimating this plan would cost an additional $6k-$10k over our first option. At first we thought this would make the living room wider, but the additional width would be under 8' ceilings, while the rest of the space would have cathedral. If we put the couch under the 'low' ceiling, I'm afraid it would feel weird.

Here is our existing floor plan: