WE painted our cherry veneer 20 year old cabinets in our old house. We also replaced appliances, counter, backsplash, fixtures and found the old floor. I think you are on the right track removing the overhang, but also removing the soffit will make a huge differnce. Do it if there is nothing in it that is too difficult to relocate. If you do not replace doors, definitely fill in the groove and sand flat. You also be able to add glass to a few uppers to really make an impact. The fun thing about painting old cabinets is that you are not destroying anything and making an improvement. You could try different colors. We pained ours about every 3 years, first white, blue, then yellow. I wanted to try gray but we sold the house. We also cut out some of the uppers for glass, but ended up cheaping out and using wire. We also used Soapstone remnants, since we did not want to tear out anything too great because we wanted to eventually replace cabinets (moved first). We were able to them for $2500. Before: First remodel in progress (no finished photos): Yellow:

There's no reason that you can't replace the current door at the foot of the stairs with a larger glass door for access outside. That would keep it close to the kitchen and create the possibility of a "mud" type area for the new laundry bath location. Straight in from outside to the bath to wash dirty hand after depositing muddy shoes in the laundry.... It could work. Or you could place a large single glass door where the current window in the laundry room is located. You wouldn't even have to change the header, just rework the drywall and siding. You could also just add a pass through window above where your sink will be located and use that to connect with the exterior while leaving the door at the foot of the stairs. A lot will depend on what type of outdoor amenities you have and how you use those now. I can see the fridge and oven (or a snack area, or a large china hutch/storage combo) located where your current sink area is against the stairs. Then you'd have an opportunity for a large opening between the family room and kitchen area, framing the dining table and banquette at the bay window. Your cleanup sink can go where the bath is currently located, and you could add a window if budget permitted. Across the galley, there's your range (venting straight up through the roof, or horizontally to the exterior through the current garage space.) You could have a bit of a peninsula where the opening to the family room is located, with stools for perching and maybe a prep sink in that peninsula. And you're mostly recycling/re-distributing/reusing the current space that exists, which is right up my alley and always kinder to the pocketbook. You could even recycle all of the bath fixtures to their new location. But, what makes this an easy option is that you can piecemeal the project and DIY a lot of it. Putting in the bath and laundry into the current DR will allow you to keep using the old facilities until the new are ready. Then you can demo the old without losing any functionality during that project. If you put in a laundry sink, then you can do dishes in that while the kitchen sink is out of commission. :) The whole project becomes easier for your family to deal with because of the minimal disruption.

Fred S, thank you. I will verify that and thank you for the snippet -- Architect did have these same dimensions but with a continuous wall vs. partial railing I added. Much appreciated! We may have to scrap the dumbwaiter per the requirements regarding the door and I am ok with that. That toilet will be a wall mount and I'm looking at TOTO which now has a standard 4x4 framing mount (vs. previous 6" wall framing requirement). I did play with an outswing door that could work with the 12' door opening, and aligning looks ok with the metal rail from stair landing to the bathroom wall. The intent was to create some privacy as you enter, but given it's a standard door, there would be a lock -- great input for things to think about. Very many thanks!

Yeah, my little guy and our full time jobs have obv pretty much consumed all the hours since he was born not quite 2 years ago. lol...But, the pots I had started pre-him are actually all my gorgeous hostas that are just sprouting and now need homes ;_; The big pots are my hydrangeas that are coming out as well. I didn't want to put any into the ground since I wasn't sure of the plan for our yard. I would like to keep them potted and in our hopefully semi shaded new patio wherever that may be. The weeds on that upper part have been a struggle since day 1. The tree roots sprout new shoots constantly, so weed killer becomes difficult. Not to mention, the roses we had inherited with the property became diseased so we are in the midst of pulling them out as well. Believe it or not, we had a full vegetable garden year before last which is why I was hanging on to the empty pots as we do not have great soil. Long story short, I am looking to have more livilable space that doesn't include more weeding, watering, and gardening in our outrageously hot summers. If I put a patio in the corner between the windows and the retaining wall, what would be the best surface? raised wood type? Gravel ? would gravel hinder drainage and made the ground underneath even more soggy? same issues with brick? Even if I had concrete poured and connected it to the existing patio what kind of drainage solution would we need under and around? These are my beauties from last spring.