What you have now is VERY similar to what we once had. In my old kitchen, the pantry was where your ovens are, the desk was where your pantry is, and my stove was where your desk is. I promise you, if you remove those hanging cabinets, the room will feel HUGE, like twice its size without doing anything else. It appears you will not be short on storage space without them. I know what you mean about fixing the end that is now unfinished. If the cabs are taken down carefully, perhaps the finished end that now faces the desk could be placed above the small finished part of the longer cab (currently facing the cooktop). I know there will be a seam, but if that seems too noticeable, maybe hang something on that side, like a larger decorative trivet or a leaded glass piece? Definitely something washable, since it's near the cooktop. Just a thought, but I definitely empathize with your situation. I was so glad we took our "room divider" down- best decision we ever made and never looked back.

I would definitely remove the wall. It makes such a wonderful open room, and lets light into the front as well. Any "confusion" about eating areas can be resolved by thoughtful arrangement/coordination of furniture. I'm not sure about the frosted glass panel above but I could see a frosted glass slider of some sort if you think you might want to close off the room in some way. Also, I think the play area could be integrated into the kitchen. Our DD has hers that way and it works really well. You have a lovely home. All the best luck with your plans.

I like it, the woodwork is nice and it does give it a iron look with the black. Paired with a rustic bench with colorful pillows and a talavera planter would play nicely with the Spanish design. If the beams and trim were dark wood that would look nicer and the walls a flat white would look better with the nice terracotta. A nice iron pendant light would compliment it in the entry, the wood flooring I'm not a fan of a darker wood would look nicer.

We are lucky to have the vault overhead, but I honestly don’t feel that loss of height anymore. It was noticeable at first, but we adjusted quickly. Is the ceiling the same level as your kitchen? If so, I think once you have the continuous floor level, lose the wall and maybe the beams, it would eventually feel normal too. I think I would feel more of that in your kitchen with those lighting soffits. As for your fireplace, yes you have a bit more demo, but I bet you could pull that cabinetry and rebuild it again - or leave it out. I demo’d the brick on our old FP. We were both recovering from catching 🇨🇳🦠 and I was getting out frustration. Our whole first floor was draped in plastic because they’d scraped the old acoustic texture off ceiling, but it was in a dirty, dusty limbo because we were sick 🤬. I still had some pneumonia, so I should have had a dust mask, but I didn’t really care. Swinging the sledge was cathartic. Hubs & friend pulled the firebox. That was a bigger job, but we agree that in the end it was one of the better improvements we made. No regrets at all! The flooring is a long story, but briefly it was a special order board of 3/4” engineered white oak with black fill. They are 8’ T&G boards. The color is nearly natural they call Shalke (think chalk. It’s a slight whitish tint, but still quite transparent) prices may have gone up - like everything, but we got it for well under $10 sf.! Check out https://www.heidelbergflooring.com. They’ll work very closely with you. Ps, thanks! It’s been a journey. We love it all too 😊