If you haven't already, I suggest posting this on the "Discussions" side of Kitchens. This is the "Gallery" side that's more for finished kitchens and the like. The Discussions side of Kitchens is for on-topic discussions concerning kitchen remodels. You will most likely get many more responses over there. Good luck!

I'm going to disagree with advice to paint first and hold off on reupholstering the chairs. You say you've been waiting three years to do this. Selecting fabric can take a lot of time--esp. when working with an open floorplan where you want the colors/fabrics to flow from room to room. You have some lovely fabrics to choose from that can be incorporated into your space in a variety of ways--or even into the adjacent rooms. I recovered my DR chairs last year and am so glad that I did. Mine also were hard and uncomfortable--which you said yours are as well. One thing that was important to me was the fabric not only coordinate with my DR, but my LR since I planned to occasionally move the DR chairs into the LR if I needed extra seating for a party. Personally I found a stripe to be the most versatile choice. I do also agree that you are more likely to tire of a floral or find it more limiting as time goes on. To me, your ivory will always read more formal due to the sheen of the present fabric--not so much the color. If you still like the floral, I would again consider using two complimentary fabrics and use the floral in smaller doses. For instance, you could do the host chairs in floral and others in stripe or solid, or do different backs/fronts as I suggested earlier. Or bring in your floral fabric in a less permanent way via a table or buffet runner. Calico Corners is also really good with suggesting complimentary fabrics. It may be worthwhile to bring in a swatch of the valance fabric and ask for advice on complementary fabrics.

My bf has had granite in her kitchen since the late 80's, well before it became mainstream. It is much thinner than is typically used for counter tops today, and the edge is completely straight, not eased in the least. She hasn't sealed it since it was installed, and uses/abuses it regularly (it's not babied, in other words). With the exception of a very few slightly less-than-smooth spots on the edges, felt if your feeling for them, rather than seen, and some epoxy filling in around the seam, you'd swear the granite was newly installed. Again, this was installed over 20 years ago. My granite, Labrador Golden Flake was installed in the spring of 2007. It still looks terrific and is easy to maintain. It does have a lot of mica (pearling) which is more prone to scratching (because it is relatively soft compared to other parts of the stone), but the one or two scratches it's gotten are superficial and by no means take away from its beauty. I recently wiped on/off some sealer (hadn't done so in a couple of years) but it doesn't seem to be necessary to use it on our stone (although the stuff we have does make it uber-shiny!). I use alcohol-water (mixed with a few drops of lavender oil) and a microfiber cloth to clean our granite. Easy, and no streaks (if the counters are particularly dirty/greasy, or the cloth is wet, it might take another few spritzes and wipes to clean-up completely, as would many other counter materials). Our moderately hard water sometimes leaves deposits/rings on our black granite that I buff off with a piece of 000 (or 0000 or even 00) steel wool--again, takes less than a minute and is easy to do. It also leaves deposits in our white porcelain sinks, so it's certainly not a granite-specific "issue." The ONLY thing we try to be careful about is wiping up BKF splashes (we put the can on a piece of paper towel or something to prevent rings)--that can etch many stones, incl ours. We have found that with our particular granite, acid-oil mixtures (oil and vinegar or oil and lemon juice) can sometimes leave marks if left to sit for long periods, so we try to wipe up spills/rings sooner rather than later. Vinegar or lemon juice by itself don't appear to have any effect. So, with the exception of taking a one-second precaution when using an acid-based cleaning product(s) in/on our SS sink and when mixing up acid-based marinades/dressings, we really and truly don't find our granite difficult to maintain in the least.

I'm still reading through this thread, and very much enjoying it. I personally function better and am more relaxed in a space with most things "put away," but when it comes to actually doing things, visible storage is required for me. I too am an avid cook, and being able to look at a large shelving unit that's open with all of my ingredients helps me greatly, otherwise, like OP's husband, if there's something behind another thing, unless it's commonly accessed, it gets lost. For me, keeping everything in one place (or 2, if both are high-traffic) is a necessity, otherwise things get forgotten I had an old dresser that i used to store uncommonly used items in the laundry room at our old place and threw out so much very old food when we moved. Same thing with medications, they all need to be stored in one easy to access location. My husband will get things out, use them, imagine another use, and then leave them on the coffee table until I pick them up and put them in his hobby room, and it makes me crazy. A landing strip next to the door that's most used is required for us. Keys, wallet, stamps, extra cash, etc all go there (I have a little tray to help keep it contained, if there's more than fits on the tray, that means we need to do some management). But overall, removal of flat surfaces is the key to this for us. I'd like to have a dining table, but when we had one, it became a clutter pile and didn't get used as a table, so we got rid of it. I highly recommend reading up on the clutterbug organizing styles, there's a quiz, might be worth having your husband take (it's very short) which will give you a better idea of what organization style works for him, and how to fuse the 2 together.