do you have Ikea close? many hi end kitchens use Ikea-say white or light shaker cabs....You could get a very nice kitchen without beaucoup money spent.Use standard appliance sizes and work the openings nicely into the design. keep it upscale but neutral-be sure and get good lighting-backsplash can add a little something extra.Then the people will find it perfectly fine for some time without a compelling need to pull it out. But in time,people do like to do a kitchen their way: by doing a really expensive remodel it's a waste in a sense....you can't know what walls they'd break into or if they'd see a better layout for their needs. In many ways-just leaving as is since you are that close to selling makes sense,but with what you describe it's understandable to want to do something. But a lot of details and stuff takes so much time in planning-that's why a simpler route might work the best....use all the Ikea storage features and it would be a very nice kitchen to move into.It's a tough call as to what to do/how much time and money to spend.

Elizabeth, the floors have to go as they look better in photos. In person they scream cheap. It is cheap laminate. I will also have bare spots where the wall will be removed that I have to fix up. I was planning on putting some tile in the kitchen area but may just do hardwood throughout the whole house. I have also heard that the ikea cabinets hold up rather well but it seems that they use quite a bit of MDF with a foil over it. I personally would prefer a wood face as that sees quite a bit of abuse and potential liquid spills (I am just at the beginning with a 3 year old and 1.5 year old).

Are any of the short walls by fridge and stove arch load bearing or contain ducting or electrical chases? I would be eliminating as many as I could to improve layout possibilities if you plan to replace cabs....that means drywall repair but worth it I think. All those jigs and jags make the room choppy. For example, removing that little wall by the fridge means you could run cabs under the window in an L-shape and eliminate that tiny cubbyhole with window. I am not sure what the purpose of the stove arch was/is but that would be high on my list of things to eliminate. What is in that short wall by the fire extinguisher? What is the space between the fridge and the doorway? If a closet, that would be a candidate for removal too. You will need to decide on how extensive you want to go and that will probably be determined by eliminating or keeping the cabs. If you eliminate them and are on a tight budget, look at Ikea cabs when there is a sale. If you keep the cabs, I would probably forgo spending a lot of money on new countertops so big box stock laminate counters should run $150-250. Using LVT tiles on the floor, painting walls, demoing the brick arch, centering stove on the wall space, removing wood valance, ditching curtains and blinds for Roman shades, and I assume updating lighting but only because I cannot see what is there are all things that could be done within a modest budget. Additionaly, how old is the flooring...old enough to be worried about asbestos?

Thanks. We do spend a lot of time in the family room. That was my first thought actually of opening that wall. The initial problem with that wall between the family room and the kitchen is that it is a load bearing wall. The living room we use as more of a formal sitting room if we have friends over. My wife also has her desk there. My wife has also thought about making the living room the dining room. Personally I think that is a waste of space but am open to being convinced otherwise. My wife and I would like to have more of an open floor plan. Thus thinking of combining the kitchen and dining room into one room. We eat 99% of our meals at the dining room table, so the table would have to fit into the larger kitchen design concept. I would like to incorporate kitchen and eating together. To me the difficult part is all the doors in the kitchen... the sliding doors to outside, the family room door, hall door and basement door.