My kitchen and bath renovations are scheduled to begin tomorrow. I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight! I, too, have a small kitchen and I live alone, so I opted for the Bosch 18-inch dishwasher. I preferred the conventional-type dishwasher thinking that I'd have an easier time fitting tall items. Turns out the 18-inch panel-ready is quite a bit more costly than a standard model, about $850. I treated myself and made room for a 12-inch wide undercounter wine fridge. Mine is a Danby, and I think it was $650. I'm pretty sure beverage cans will fit as well as the regular bottles of Champagne, but the larger bottles might be an issue. All the more reason to drink them quickly! Also a splurge was the Liebherr 24-inch wide refrigerator, but it makes sense in my pretty small kitchen. The narrow refrigerator allowed me to get a 21-inch wide full height pantry -- and, yes, it's made out of an upper cabinet with 3 or 4 rollout shelves and a lower cabinet with a narrow drawer and two deep drawers. I do plan to be here for the long run and since this isn't really a family-size apartment, I'm not too concerned about resale value. I just wanted what suits me! Good luck!

Your request for help is quite broad and without a lot of specifics. That makes it hard to answer. I'd suggest breaking it down for yourself and for us like this: 1) Before you start choosing finishes, you'll want to solidify your kitchen and likely furniture layout/orientation. You'll get the most help with that if you post a current floor plan of this entire floor drawn to scale with measurements noted on. Your architect might already have a floor plan you can share here, or you could make one with a tape measure and some graph paper. Generally a 1 square = 1 foot or 1 square = 6 inches is a good, usable scale. Please indicate on the plan which sections of which walls are coming down and any other features (good/bad views out certain windows, fireplace, ducting that can't be moved, etc.). Also note anything you'd particularly like to achieve layout-wise (e.g., an island, a view from the island to the TV, etc.). Post that and and people will have enough information to make helpful suggestions. 2) While you're fielding suggestions about your layout, sift through Houzz and Pinterest to find some inspiration pictures you like. Look for rooms that really sing to you and have the kind of appearance or feel you really enjoy in a home and want to achieve here. Once you have found, say, six or more pictures like that, post all of them together on here and ask people to help you review the images and figure out what the commonalities between the pictures are. This will help you identify what specific things you really respond to so you can include those deliberately in your new spaces. 3) After you can articulate what it is your really like and want to bring to this space, THEN repost this question about colors choices and finishes with that information. Provide your final floor plan (the result of #1), explain what specific finishes you like or what you're specifically trying to achieve through finishes (the result of #2), and then ask us how we'd achieve those stylistic preferences in this space that you have planned. You'll get MUCH more targeted, helpful help. Only then will people understand your taste and the space that we've got to work with. THEN they can say helpful things like, "You might like X paint on Y surface with Q backsplash, plus maybe G feature on M wall? That takes advantage of your space for K reasons while adhering to your taste." Also, some side notes: a) I think you'll have an easier time balancing the dining set with styles you prefer if you break up the set across several different rooms. Use the table in the office, the chairs in the dining room, and the hutch in the kitchen or whatever. With all three - the hutch, table, and chairs - together in the dining room (and being the only furniture in that room), the country note you don't seem to be a fan of will inevitably dominate that room. b) I disagree with Sophie that it makes sense to hire an interior designer at this time. When you bring in a professional, you want to have some idea of what you're asking them for. Something you want them to help you achieve. I don't think you have that yet, and free discussion here is a good way to pin down your own thoughts a bit more. c) I don't think whoever said this looked like an inexpensive house meant it in a denigrating way. You mentioned several very large ticket items (kitchen reno and opening up two separate stories of your house), and I think she/he was simply trying to make sure you're not putting more into the house than you can get back when you sell. That can be devastating. But in case that made you feel weird about having posted, rest assured that people post on here with every single kind of house. Is this the grandest house we've ever seen? No. Is it the humblest? Also no. But no one cares. We're all just here because we like improving homes. The starting point really doesn't matter.

Depending on your lifestyle and given this area leads to the patio, i think there are some options WITHOUT a renovation (Jan Moyer is spot on with her advice). make this room into a cool bar area by placing a wall of cabinets on the left wall with a mini fridge, wine fridge etc. and maybe small round table in the center-- It would be nice to have two bar stools at the counter but there is no knee space so you would have to play with it It seems like the concept of the island is really driven by the desire to have a larger more open kitchen which would be a major cost with potentially little return. You could see if you can do a mini reno and take down the wall where the corner cabinets are- you would lose the two cabinets but would gain allot of openess for less $$$.

@Sharon Baker I have a compact stackable, high efficiency, washer dryer. GE. Perfect for a small house, which I also have. If I wanted to wash something super bulky (which wouldn't be often), I'd go to a laundromat. Really, if you live in a small house, things like large washer/dryers are low on the priority list, because there are more important things like closet space to fit in, room for the vacuum cleaner, place for laundry soap, etc. And your kitchen is a key priority for you. I fold in the air BTW after dumping clean stuff on the bed. Easy to come and go to each room in a small house, and I can't easily forget about it or get lazy.