The thing is, there is no one right answer for this. For every person like me, who wants a closed-off kitchen, there's someone else who would rip down all the walls and have no barrier between the kitchen and living space at all. And there are a thousand in-between variations, as well. I've read your post on the Kitchens forum, so I have a better idea where you are coming from. For what it's worth, here are some more thoughts. I would not break through the wall into the living space at all. Once you put a window or pass-through there, you are defining the space on the other side of the wall. With the whole wall there, someone could put the head of their bed against that wall, and place a bookcase or other type of room divider parallel to the bed, creating a little, cozy, semi-hidden nook for their bed. Put a window there--it would feel really weird having your kitchen open onto your bed. And the height of the windows you have shown is awkward--the cook would have to bend down to see anything in the living space. I'd take my money and concentrate on "blinging out" the existing kitchen. Not knowing your area, it's hard to say where to spend the money. Definitely change out the "boob" light on the ceiling. Add some undercabinet lighting if you can. If the cabinets and granite are in as good shape as they look in the picture, and if stainless is what the renters in your area are looking for, then concentrate on getting stainless appliances. If the cabinets themselves are in good shape, but you want to lighten up the kitchen, then look into just refacing the cabinets with lighter colored doors. I would not give up an inch of storage space. Unless there is additional storage elsewhere in the building, like a basement lock-up, every bit of a renter's life must be contained in their apartment. Sports gear, clothing for multiple seasons, holiday decorations, the childhood teddy bear, books, CDs, DVDs, shoes--everything has to fit in that apartment. I've known people who didn't cook much who stored CDs or bicycle parts or clothes in their kitchen cabinets. There will always be renters who walk in and say, "We want open concept." But there will also be renters who walk in and say, "Look at all the storage!" You need to pick one group and market towards them. And in the other thread you mentioned fitting out one of the closets as a pantry. I'd suggest not doing that. Let your renters fit out the closets to work for them. Unless they are gourmet cooks, there should be enough space in the existing kitchen for most food storage. A dedicated pantry won't attract the average 20-something who eats out twice a day. They will only wonder how they can make the pantry work for them, instead of seeing it as a bonus.

Thinking about what everyone has said and how people use a kitchen when on vacation. The house is halfway between 2 small but cool little mountain towns. Great restaurants and shopping, so I think anyone renting would probably go out for dinner at least once or twice. So probably will use this kitchen for breakfasts. I made the kitchen back into a U. If I could, I would make that window a door and add a small deck to have a grill. I like the idea if the dining table being a sofa table with the option of pulling it out to seat more if needed. This also gives me the option of adding a bar overhang on the peninsula. It is only 12" deep, which isn't ideal but it should suffice.

Late night ramblings: Oh, good grief! Did I never show you the 95.5% finished work? Yes, you know it's not 100%! MrHunzi still hasn't put in the counter and the sink for the coffee bar. He has a good excuse, by the time we were ready to do it, the stupid virus was upon us and we couldn't invite his work buddy over to help, and then the next shiny object took over... the BIG RENO - The BIG RENO is all the super necessary and completely unsexy stuff we've put off doing for a decade or two or three. So far, we have spent 3 yrs sucking all the 100yr old insulation out of the attic, spray foaming the roof deck, upgrading the electrical panel, burying the service lines, trenched and burying the roof runoff system, fixing a bit of masonry, cleaning up a few thousand feet of wiring, installing a 1100sqft of plywood flooring in the attic during the height of the pandemic (I could have floored it in gold bullion and had it be cheaper), putting in a pulldown sliding attic staircase, tearing out a few tons of lath and plaster (3.25tons to be precise) from the upper and lower halls, cleaning and adding meeting rail locks/latches to 16 huge double-hung windows and installing interior storm windows to tighten up the envelope, and pouring a concrete utility pad for the reason we've been doing all this work - getting HVAC installed in this 140yr Shrine To Our Lady of Perpetual Renovation! (cue angelic singing). Yes folks, in a few weeks' time, the window air units will be no more! (Well, except for the converted side porch office, that's a whole other problem for another time.) And we're getting a whole house generator to boot, because, go big or go home. Anyway, I promise as soon as all the piles of stuff that have nowhere to go right now are gone, I'll take some lovely photos and show y'all the BabeCave. I'm about to reopen it to clients after all the hot mess of 2020/2021 is done. (I am about to have a breakdown over this part of the reno- the absolute CHAOS of everything everywhere. This is the part that breaks a lot of DIYers, and I know we'll get through it, but it's tempting to say eff it and start over with something that's "turn-key". With all the other projects we've done, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, LR, DR, Library, they have been easy to compartmentalize and keep the mess to that location. Y'all! There is no part of the house that isn't getting touched and there is no refuge from piles of tools, stuff that has been moved out of the way for something and has nowhere to go, oh and there are literally 17 giant bales of insulation stacked in my dining room and it's 2 weeks till Thanksgiving. No turkeys will be sacrificing their lives for us this year! Oh, only 5 of those bales have immediate use after the ducts go in, 4 more are holding for when we do the bathroom because MrHunzi is worried we might damage them somehow when demoing that ceiling if we put them up now, and the rest...there was somehow a mad rounding-up error on how much was required, so yay, I'm going to have the privilege of dragging them down into the basement, putting it up in the boiler room ceiling, and crawling up into the 2ft high crawlspace ledges and scootching around on my back to insulating them with Rockwool, because waste not, want not, and I have 8 bales to spare.) It's all good - the goal in this house is always to stuff every possible accessible space with Rockwool because fire is the one thing that is super scary in an old house like this - if you've ever tossed a stick of lath into a fire and watched it go WOOSH and contemplated, my whole house is made of that stuff, you too would be willing to backcrawl in dirty, dead mouse filled crawlspace ledges with the goal of not making your house fireproof, but to at least buying you an extra minute or two to make it out. And this is the one time that MrHunzi gets off easy - he can't work in quarters that tight, and while I'm no skinny mini, I can, so yay for that. But I know it will get better. As soon as the ductwork (and insulation for the hall) is installed, I'm planning to call in my fabulous assistant and we are going to organize and PURGE like mad, then I'm going to call in the Stanley steamer guys to clean every floor in the house, and beg my housekeeper to come back to work. I'd really like to do it now before the contractors descend on us right after T-Day because I'm actually horrified to ask anyone to come work in this house in this condition - I'm not sure they won't think we're hoarders. Isn't there a DIY show on TV like this right now? Where the DIY got out of control and the homeowners are a full hot mess and need to be rescued? I feel like someone could nominate us for that show. We are currently the poster children of why not to live in the renovation. Contractors will take photos to scare their future clients out of ever attempting DIY with tales of our woe. Oh and for extra fun, Thanksgiving weekend, the Mini-Mes are coming to stay with Nana for several weeks, because it's not chaotic enough without throwing two small children, 4yr (girl) & 8mon (boy), into the mix between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think I was fine until I realized there will be a point while the HVAC guys (arriving Monday after thanksgiving) are working here for 2 weeks where I will need to remove ALL THE FURNITURE from the nursery and ROLL UP THE CARPET, so we can put the ductwork in for the DR below, while I have infants/preschoolers who need to sleep in that room because the other guest room is 6ft deep in all the crap from every other place and will have the nursery room furniture piled in there to boot. Everyone be sure to say your prayers and light your candles to Our Lady of Perpetual Renovation for us. We're going to need them! ;-) Once the HVAC is done, a brief interlude for celebrating Christmas, and the purge and cleaning have commenced, it's drywall, paint, add more fancy applied moldings on a huge staircase wall, and we'll pour a concrete driveway big enough to land a 747 (well, maybe not quite that big but at least a 7/11 parking lot) and that will probably mushroom into more landscaping. And then maybe by this time next year, we can declare victory. For five minutes at least. And then, we'll see if there's anything left in the tank to work on that truly evil old converted porch/office reno - that thing is going to mushroom like a nuclear cloud. And then there will only be some minor drywalling, install a window and pocket doors for the dining room, the 2nd-floor bath (only bathroom on the 2nd floor shared by 3 bedrooms so making it master-bath nice is the plan), and the kitchen to do, you know, nothing major.... But I promise - photos soon.

OTR microwaves are crummy microwaves, worse to clean--and people rarely do clean them since they're hard to get at--and useless as vents. They're also not really recommended for use over gas. If you have a hood that works, keep the hood! If it needs replacing, buy a new one that works. If you're just unsure about the rentability of the old appliances, get a professional crew who specialize in appliances to come clean them. You'll spend a lot less than for new, and get value in terms of appeal.