We have updated appliances to stainless steel

Start by getting rid of that brick monstrosity. Then go to Retro Renovation for lots of ideas. The site is mostly about '40s and 50's renovation, but it creeps into the 1960's.

You are in the idea phase, so create an idea book. This can be on line at a site like pinterest.com or even here on houzz. Once you have an idea of what you want the kitchen to look like, engage a designer to put your ideas into a plan.

For more information on design/planning, try The Remodeling Design and Planning Process.

I think the brick is awesome! Refacing those cabinets is going to be tough given the age of the boxes, I think. You'll have to do a lot to make the frames blend with your new doors. Plus, a lot of designers are recommending drawer bases to make the easiest use of the space. You don't have that many cabinets. It might be easier to replace the cabinetry, honestly, and that way you could upgrade to soft-close hardware. If you think the cabinetry boxes are in outstanding condition and you want to go forward with refacing, I recommend TaylorCraft Cabinet Door Company. They have state-of-the-art equipment and do some beautiful graduated shapes with the rail/stile and panel profiles.

Also look into workstation sinks to make the most of your limited space. I recently purchased an apron-front in the textured Prestige finish from Havens Metal, 42" long with several interior accessories to go on the interior ledge. These large sinks work really well to maximize small spaces.

renovating is quite different than updating. Especially with these features. You can certainly play up the feel that is already present. Establish your budget for that. A renovation would likely be a gut job and you can do quite a bit more....get a whole different/better kitchen. What do you want?

If you can DIY, for now I'd suggest painting the brick and installing a tile backsplash, which would be so much easier to clean. Paint the cabinets--but please do some research about how to do it right--clean, sand, prime, sand, prime, sand, paint, sand, paint. I like cream colors and earth tones, so I don't usually give color advice. Do you have a favorite color or a collection of accessories in a certain color?

seriously: PAINT?? those cabinets with the RICH GRAIN showing with decades of patina??

@ Belaria

Seriously? Keep the brick? Nah!

I'm old enough to remember when this sort of edifice was new and the latest au courant thing in all the home decorating mags. It was a terrible idea then, and is more so now.

Think about it. As a cooking area how does it rate? It does not have any "countertop" on either side of the cooktop. Where do you put hot pans? Across the room? How about storage? Where are the pots, pans, condiments, sauces, hot pads, etc -- all the stuff you use in cooking?

Since this bomb-shelter was built kitchen design has moved on to arrange kitchens in task groups in which everything needed for a task such as cooking is located in the area where the cooking is done. It would be impossible to do that with the bunker still in place. There is no storage in this "cooking area" to speak of. It violates at least a half dozen of the NKBA's kitchen planning guidelines. I could go on, but I'm getting a headache.

Sorry, but the brick really has to go.

As to the rest of the kitchen, I agree with herbflavor.

Hire a cleaning service to give everything a good scrub. Update the technologies (add electrical, new faucet, sink, range, refrigerator, etc.). Leave the cabinets alone except to load them with the latest pull-outs, swing-outs, drop-outs, fall-outs and organizers of all kinds, maybe replace the tile floor, save scads of money by not re-doing a kitchen that does not need re-doing, take a nice vacation to Miranmar with the money you saved.

@ Belaria

Before I was born (which was before there was dirt), many old kitchens in my ancestral town in Arkansas were brick and in a building separate from the main house so when the kitchen burned down - as they did from time to time - the house would not also go up in smoke.

My grandmother went directly from a brick range to a Tappan gas range in the 1950's bypassing the coal- and wood-fired iron stove era.

The first ranges actually were stone and brick, invented by Benjamin Thompson also known as Count Rumford (of fireplace fame), a Tory during the American Revolution who escaped hanging by the victorious colonists because (1) he was a nice guy and (2) he hot-footed it for England as soon as the British army lost the battle at Yorktown.

His range looked something like the brick bunker, and had many of the same faults, but was a vast improvement over cooking in a kettle in the fireplace which was all the rage at the time.

I have include a photo of a reproduction of the Rumford stove as recreated by Pyromass of Montreal, Canada so you can see what it looked like.

For more information on the evolution of the kitchen range, see Understanding the Victorian Kitchen, an article on our website.

Its not that I'm against brick in a kitchen, just this brick in this kitchen because it violates so many design rules. Design rules have a purpose. They make a kitchen convenient to use and safe, so any violation needs to go.

@StarCraft Custom Builders Brilliant article, thank you! I remember reading this about a year ago during my early research for my own kitchen remodel. Catherine Beecher's "rational kitchen" intrigued me at the time, and I did more research on that on my own. From your article, "Beecher wrote, if the kit­chen is small and necessary equipment close at hand. A large kit­chen, as was the convention at the time, wasted time and effort by requiring constant movement around the kit­chen to get work done."

My grandpa's kitchen started out without running water, hand-carried from a windmill-powered well. He also had an ice box system. We take for granted so many modern improvements in our food supply chain and food safety. It's also good to remember that despite our romanticized view of Victorian kitchens (due to British period movies perhaps, as you suggested), they weren't as efficient as all the modern conveniences we have today.

I have a personal friend who has a brick structure similar to the one in the OP's kitchen, and I've told her before she has an ideal setup for capture and extraction of cooking effluent, but she complains it is a big waste of space, so I can see where you are coming from, but I think the OP was not mentioning addressing the brick in this re-do, just refacing. We'll see if OP checks back in with an update on all our suggestions.

@ Belaria

" Brilliant"? That's the first time John Edoard "Sqeezy" Svoboda has ever been called brilliant. I'll pass that on, and risk the multiple strokes that may result among John's friends and neighbors. Thanks for the comment.

I think the brick is awesome too. What a unique feature—like something from an English manor house Or a hunting lodge.

I could easily create a kitchen leaving the brick in place. just clean it up or give it a white wash and install some Euro appliances. It may not be the most efficient kitchen, but it would be cool. A lot depends on how much the owner will cook and how often. Oh, and how much money they want to spend. Lol

If feeding a family of five kids it probably wouldn’t be efficient enough, but if it were for me and my husband who aren’t home much and cook simply it would be great. BTW my mom had a similar set up in her 50’s ranch and it was wonderful—so homey yet chic.