I love those cabinets (but not in that color!). For inspiration on painting that brick, look at subway tiled kitchens. Squint and pretend they are painted bricks. See? Looks good! Are you sure they're fake brick? Not that it really matters. It looks like a neat place--congratulations! I had cabinets just like that in my first house, but they were avocado green. I painted them white. I've missed them ever since. My counter had an ivy patterned Formica, so I didn't have the counter worry you do. (Hey you have a matching bifold door, already painted white!) But they do in fact look great in white. So, if you're keeping the counter, and why not, what about using white on the upper cabinets and a totally different color on the base cabs? Like a deep yellow or blue or well, you get the idea. The brick/backsplash area would then be a nice accent color, maybe. Were you going to keep the brick bricky? It isn't bad, and it looks good with more colors than you think. It ought to look good with yellows and tans. Cabinets are hard to paint (but worth it). Get that color right the first time. The brick, if painted, can't ever be brick again. But walls are easy. Go ahead and be daring.

If you use lisa_a's with 2 entrances to the pantry it may just vent itself easily as I'd imagine the pocket entry door to it from the garage may stay open or ajar frequently. You could possibly fit it in the bump back to match the entrance stairs. Fridges in garages are pretty common around here but we have more issues with freezing temps than overly hot. Otherwise I'd put it in that spot in the garage where the writing says small appliances for inside the kitchen. That's not far of a walk at all.

Kudos to you for having a budget and a sense of your needs/priorities. My guess is that Sub Zero and Wolf are not going to be in the running for you. That's OK. You'll still end up with a great kitchen. You can get a perfectly fine ~25 c.f. french door fridge for about $1200 (with no in-door water/ice) - $2000 (with in-door water/ice). Possibly even cheaper on sale. A 5-burner 36" cooktop will be significantly roomier than a 4-burner 30" range - as you point out, it's not so much the number of burners going at once that's key, it's the ability to have larger pans not touching. Upgrading to a rangetop would add at least $1000 to the tab, so.... Also, you might consider getting a portable induction burner (under $100 works fine) as a backup/extra cooking spot. Don't forget to budget (maybe $1000) for a range hood. You might have to compromise quality of steel (20 guage vs 18) and decibels to get to that price. Cannot tell you what Make Up Air will cost - depends on contractor/ducting cost. You could have a double oven setup with micro/convec on top, convec on the bottom. KA, Bosch offer these, maybe others as well. Check Kenmore? Otherwise, look at a KA or Whirlpool double oven, and a countertop microwave. A drawer micro is $1000 and up - seems like a splurge to me, but you might decide it's what you want. You can get a perfectly fine DW for $600. Look at Bosch, KA (helps to find them on sale). Finally, once you get a sense of which models you like, you can look around for some good deals on clearance/floor models/dents/open box. I was able to put together this package for about $8000 Whirlpool 25 c.f. French Door frig Bluestar 36" cooktop Kobe 750 c.f.m. range hood Bosch 800 speed/convec double oven 2 x KitchenAid KDFE 204 Dishwashers

The measurements on your plans are difficult to read. I estimated the kitchen at 12.5' wide, so this plan might need to be adjusted. The aisles are just under the NKBA recommended minimums, therefore I made the island 107" long, to end it just at the DW door. The drawer base on the end of the cabinet opens toward the kitchen table for easy unloading of the DW, and setting the table. Dishes can also be kept in the 33" drawer base on the island, with pots and pans in the 33" drawer base between the clean-up sink and cooktop. The island overhang is 15". I included a prep sink on the island, but if you choose not to have a sink on the island, then the perimeter can be extended 12", and the sink and DW moved down, to provide a wider prep space between the sink and cooktop. (red rectangle) On the fridge wall, I cut the stub wall down to allow the fridge door to open completely. The wall ovens are beside the fridge, with landing space to the right, and optional MW shelf or drawer, with space for a coffee center beside the DR door. Click to enlarge I think having a fireplace near the kitchen table is very cozy, even if there's never a fire in it.