Thanks for the feedback! Here are a couple photos of the other side of the living room. The existing kitchen is 10' x 14' and the living room is 15' x 22', the area of the kitchen, dining area, and living room together is 25' x 22'. The fireplace is 7' wide and 5'6" tall, it is a behemoth. Removing the wall and changing to any layout other than galley are my two highest priorities. I cook every day and even if the only gain is in my own increased happiness during that time I think it will be totally worth it. We live in nice neighborhood with some million dollar homes, so I think spending the extra money to make the kitchen really nice would get us higher rent prices than just doing the minimum. I realize that my plans are ambitious but the time frame is flexible and 5 years is the earliest we would be looking at. In the 3 years we've been in the house we've averaged about 20K a year in improvements, we have two incomes, no children, and we don't take vacations, so right now we're able to focus our finances on reaching our real-estate dreams. We live in a Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and warm, dry summers. There aren't any universities nearby so it's not a student rental area, but the house located conveniently close to a highway, an airport, and several business centers so it would be good for professionals. It also has a very large backyard with vehicle access, and a nice, big shed with a workbench and built-in storage set up for a carpenter, and we are in an area with lots of auto enthusiasts and car shows. The workshop is an addition that we built for my home business, the exterior door was a requirement of the building department and is not something that can be removed. It is already well insulated, and we were going to install radiant floor heating when we converted it. I think despite the odd configuration and exterior door it would still be more valuable as a bedroom with en suite bathroom than anything else. It is already plumbed for a bathroom and it has a gorgeous view of our majestic, 200+ year-old oak trees. I did consider adding a second, smaller addition to provide a better entry to the workshop/bedroom. Mainly because it would allow me to remove the door to the garage (or move it to the other side of the fireplace) and have an L-shaped kitchen, which is my favorite kitchen layout. If we were to do that, what would be the best use of the new room? It would have to be small, like 9' x 14' or so, I was thinking it would be a laundry room, dining room, or breakfast nook. Thanks again, everyone! I really appreciate the insight and difference in perspective that comes from other people's opinions.

"Customers have the option to not pay until they are satisfied...what risk is there when you the customer is holding the money." The risk of a lien against their property for failure to pay? The risk of damage to their property? The risk of shoddy workmanship which then has to be trusted to the same person who first did the shoddy work to repair satisfactorily? Then there is the fine line between what a contractor feels is satisfactory and what the customer feels is satisfactory, which is something we see a lot of on this forum with opinions varying widely. There are risks on both sides of the fence. It can be just as stressful and risky for customers to deal with contractors as it is for contractors to deal with customers. If a contractor has written it into his contract that he is not responsible for incidental damages to a customer's property, the customer is then taking on that risk. Honestly, when I hire a contractor, I am hoping that he is experienced and knowledgeable enough to have minimized his risk both to himself and to me. I am assuming he knows enough about his employees to know that they are not going to be costing him more than they are making him. I am assuming that the money I am paying him will not be used to finance screw-ups and mistakes, but will rather generate a profit for him and his business. And I am assuming that if mistakes are made, they will be on the small side and not eat those profits in one fell swoop. If I thought otherwise, IâÂÂd likely be thinking about hiring someone else. This post was edited by jellytoast on Tue, Aug 26, 14 at 12:07

It's over a year later, but I thought I'd update everyone on how we feel about our kitchen. We continue to love it. The only things we'd change: practically nothing! The design and flow has worked well for us through the last 12 months. The only things my husband and I have ever-so-briefly mentioned in the past has been the addition of a potfiller at the stove (but my husband, the cook, said it isn't necessary even though he has to take 5 steps from sink to stove), and having the garbage disposal be on the LEFT drain of the sink rather than right (which is my left-handed self being picky about how I do the dishes). We had some brief concern about the dark floors, but they are still lovely and comfortable. We do have to sweep and clean them quite often, but that's okay. That's what the kids are for, right? *lol* HollyRu - as for your question as to what's to the right of the sink, we have a 12" cabinet, our black dishwasher, and then the turn to the winerack. The second rack you see is actually a reflection of the real one on the black dishwasher. When the dishwasher is open, it's a breeze to put away the bowls and plates, which go in the two large dish drawers visible on the same photo.

Budget Vs. look? I’d say it’s both. Like Beverly mentioned above, my MIL has had drywall returns with marble sills for 35 years. To me they still look great...classic and timeless. They were done well at the time, and it shows. Most trim I see going up these days does not any look better, IMHO. Especially if you’re trying to achieve a clean, contemporary, but somewhat “timeless” look. However, I also have several rentals with basic vinyl windows and drywall returns all around. Those were done for budget, and for the ease of a quick paint touch up when it’s time to turn them over.