You have a budget of $15K to remove, purchase and install 1850sf of flooring. That works out to be $8.11/sf - which includes install I am going to assume. Removal/disposal of laminate can be as much as $1/sf. With that assumption, you know have $7.11/sf. Assume that roughly HALF OF THAT will be labor (preparation and install). Excellent. We are down to $3.55 per square foot for flooring + under pad. Another HIGH END laminate will do the trick with a high-end under pad. CoreTec can START at $4.50/sf and go up from there. Other LVT = $1.79 from Home Depot...rising all the way up to $7/sf from high-end independent dealers. The "laminate is splitting" is the INSTALLATION in the KITCHEN...not the laminate itself. The LACK OF TRANSITION STRIPS through the DOORWAYS is causing ALL THE PROBLEMS (and the fact that they installed an inappropriate floor in a kitchen = big NO-NO)! With a budget such as yours, and a kitchen that you wish to "deal with" I would save my money, fix the floor so that it stops doing what it is doing, get a REAL kitchen floor installed and deal with the counter tops to suite your lifestyle. Congratulations - you've just spent $15K. The laminate throughout the house is fine...you just need to drop in some T-mouldings through doorways (couple hundred dollars) and install a PROPER kitchen floor ($1000 - $3000). You can do that when you deal with the counters/cabs. And to be clear, you will use the $15K just on the counters and cabinets...with only a small amount left over for the "proper" kitchen flooring.

I love the balance the existing door brings to your space. You could perhaps work around the furniture placement issue by floating some of the furniture pieces, rather than having them all along the walls. If you post pics we could help.

Consider a privacy film for the door-the curtains take away from the pretty doors. I agree that the curtains are too stark. They're also too short and not full enough. If the curtains are 84", try 96" instead. Try to find something closer to the wall color. The gray, white and navy are a bit blah. Is there a color you like that you can add in with different pillows and a throw as suggested? I also agree that the coffee table is not quite right. I'd consider a round ottoman, maybe in leather, that you can add a tray to for drinks and a bit of decor. What is the distance inside the U shape? You could add a pretty demilune shaped table next to the door to ground the artwork. Maybe something like this with just a small lamp and pretty bowl. https://www.hayneedle.com/product/belham-living-james-half-round-mid-century-modern-sofa-table.cfm

We are in the process of building and have a door in the center of the living space as well. It helped me to draw things out in scale on graph paper. Please forgive my very basic skills 😂 I have planned 14 x 18.5 for the living space,