You have a lot of space, it's just not working very well, esp those little lips that pass for work spaces. If you could really re-do the entire space cost effectively, that would be best, not only for now but for longterm. Can you give us a good idea of what you have in budget and how much DIY you can expend? And where you are in the nation--climate, costs, labor, etc? One problem with planning on finding antiques and useful castoffs is that you will find them a week after you quit your search and commit to a plan B. Doesn't sound as if you have the luxury of time to collect useful stuff. I like to think that our G-shaped kitchen is somewhat like a farm kitchen. We can have 4 working cooks inside without saying "excuse me." We got new oak "shaker" cabinetry by a local guy at $8,000-10,000 and $3500 for finish and installation--you can avoid much of this if you re-use your oldies and work in some additional ones or perhaps just doors, trims, etc. We had to put in new floor and walls and plumbing and electrical fittings and had to marry three wood floors and accompanying walls, which was a big expenditure in time and money. You're in a better position--not making new spaces. As you note, you don't need to follow all the fanciest choices--we sure didn't for much of our project. I like the idea of Ikea butcherblock (we have two hunks of this in beech) but don't discount the new laminate countertops either. Don't feel the need to buy new appliances right now--you can leave standard spaces and swap out your stuff later. That's what we did--hard to trash or sell a 4 yr old Energy Star refrig so we didn't put it into a custom housing. When it dies or someone decides to trade it out, it can go. We have very modest appliances; affordable white enamel in sinks and appliances. If the old cabs are salvageable, it's possible to get doors to match new units. Or give your plain slab fronts a custom paint treatment, perhaps paint with one color and add a distinctive recurrent stencil motif along the bottoms of doors or such in a complimentary color. Then if the other new unit doors are similar, the motif can be used to make them match more. It's very important to plan for the young people when they become adults, or at least adult in physical presence. What will grown up women feel like in the space--you and a subordinate or co-cook? That collision potential was the worst aspect of our old kitchen and the best part of our better planned new space. I actually like other people better in an efficient kitchen than in an inefficient kitchen, or put it another way, my old kitchen made me dislike my own family sometimes. On one of my constant tirade topics, I recommend pullout breadboards/cutting boards to expand work surfaces and plunk space. Are your countertops less than 24 inches at present or do they just seem narrow? Eliminating the 1-inch backsplash at back give you another inch of room on counter. What amp electrical service do you have and how extensive will the work be to bring everything to code if it's not there already? Will you be opening up any exterior walls? If so, insulate, insulate, insulate. Even if it costs. Since you have marked that you are moving the sink, give yourself permission to really redo the room arrangement--you're committed to plumbing costs already. Strongly urge you to visit the paint counter each time you are in a store--ask about "mistake paint." One of our vendors gives it away; others ask $5 per gallon. This stuff might give you the freedom to paint insides of cabs & closets, clean up stained areas, etc. You can try some experiments with it too. Consider a movable work/island cart as a way to expand efficiency. If the floor cleans up but still looks sad, consider stencil painting a design on it, perhaps in a classic folk motif if that's your taste. Or just checks, stripes, rectangles for rugs, whatever. There are a lot of examples to look at and a wise pattern can reinforce or define a room's visual layout--walkpaths, work zones, etc.

Thanks for the additional input. I didn't realize a couple of you had posted since the last I checked. Not much has been done yet on the kitchen but we are starting to work on it now. I actually painted primer on the island today :) The progress so far is that we have a solid oak countertop soon to be made for our island out of local wood. A friend of ours called last fall and said he had someone he knew who had firewood that needed cut and removed. The trees ended up being straight oak trees. My husbands old shop teacher owns a sawmill and he is going to make us a countertop for the island and "coffee" bar. My husband is planning to call him tomorrow to set the plan in motion now that we've heard he's back from overwintering in Florida. I intend to treat it probably with Waterlox to keep it's natural color I have decided to paint the island and "coffee" station area. My first thought is cream because it's neutral and not risky. There is still a chance I could go apple green but I'm leaning cream. If the island isn't green, my husband would like the wall color to be the green. I am currently getting quotes on soapstone. We are hoping to make it work with the budget for the perimeter countertop. There's not a lot of it, but boy is it pricey. We have a friend who does Corian installs for a living who says he's done soapstone before and he is going to check on the pricing he can get on a slab. My husband talked to him so I have no idea what particular stones he has access to. My husband is trying to get more details. I have also gotten quotes from M Teixeira for DIY slabs. Our friend said we can use his shop and cutting tools to work our soapstone. If we decide the cost is too much we will do the laminate version that is the closest to the soapstone we liked... It is mostly black with some white veining. At this point the DIY pieces from M Tex are about 3-4x the cost of laminate. It's the first time I've looked at "real" stone.. it's not a demand in our area.

I did not paint my cabinets, but I have solid raised panel doors and your doors, based on the grain pattern, may have a plywood or veneer center panel, and so I would understand possibly painting the cabinets. Just be aware that the texture of the grain of the oak will show through the paint - the texture, not the color - and this bothers some people, but not others. Some try to fill the grain, but lots of extra work and money if hired out. Also, wood moves with changes in temp and humidity which can cause hairline cracks in the paint at the joints - again, this bothers some and not others. This is why factory painted cabinets are MDF or MDF combined with wood - more stable to temp. The durability of a paint job over finished cabinets is less than a factory finish. How well it holds up will depend on how good the paint job was ($$$) and how active the kitchen. If you do paint, I would wait a good 6 months or more before doing the countertops to be sure the paint holds up and looks they way you hoped it would before the huge investment of countertops and backsplash. One way to decrease the look of the wood somewhat is to remove some of the center panels and replace with glass. One poster replaced many of her doors with frosted glass for a more modern look. Marble is a very unforgiving countertop and read up on it to decide if you really want to deal with it. There are lots of post on here about the plusses and minuses of marble. The prettiest light granites tend to be too busy for lighter oak cabinets, but there are many quartz counters that look good with the oak. Also, don't make the final decision on backsplash till the counters are in - the big picture can change your idea, and don't decide on the grout till the tile is up. Oak cabinets have movement due to the grain and this can affect the backsplash - usually needs a simple backsplash. It looks like you have a lot of counter space, so consider getting a stainless hood and either a countertop microwave or retrofit a cabinet to hold one. I also retrofitted a plate rail into a cabinet if that fits your farm house look. There are a few apron front sinks that can be installed on a standard sink base cabinet. Kohler make the cast iron Whitehaven and the stainless Vault in both short apron and tall apron styles. The "short apron" is the style for the standard sink base cabinet. I think Elkay has recently come out with one too - in fireclay. The short apron style is obviously shorter, which has a slightly different look. I have this style (Whitehaven) and in some ways it is closer to a vintage American "farm sink" than the European "butler" sinks that inspired the tall apron style. However, the Ikea apron front sinks are also short apron and of course are European too. The "short apron" is just as deep inside as the "tall apron" sink. I actually like that I have retained the larger doors that would need to be shortened for a tall apron. My kitchen is more of a vintage style: https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~110720042 https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~109854029

Jhmarie; yes, the kitchen is very functional, and a part of this is almost like therapeutic processing for what to do with this house!Thank you for the heads up about the book. I will have a look for that. Aprilneverends; well thank you. I am really trying to not get caught up in fads, but I think the state of the place made me focus on the yellowness of the oak. And the oakiness of the oak everywhere in that part of the house! I always really enjoyed this blue, to be honest. ha!! It contrasted nicely and I got to cackle in my husband's direction every time someone told me they loved it, too. That's the thing I guess, you never can tell. I am a bit leery of how much the kitchen will change with all of the white and off white in regards to the contrast, and had to kind of giggle at the thought of painting the walls white and the wainscoting blue. Like a role reversal. :D Fidlfreek; I appreciate you bringing me back down from the clouds with some of your suggestions. Some of your sentiments I had thought of and was considering - all white miracle method, subway tile, lighting updates. Now is the time to pull that big beast down I think - we are planning to paint the ceilings throughout the home. Curious of your thought process- the lighting fixture you linked from ikea, is that to coordinate with the current colored cabinets? Or the shape in general? Staining the cabinets darker is of course an option, I just don't want this area to feel any more boxed in, I guess. This vantage point is actually the only way in and out of the kitchen - there is also peninsula seating already to the left, FYI. I actually picked the flooring you circled in the event that I wanted to go lighter or darker with the cabinets, now or later, that there would be flexibility in the flooring color to do so. It's also more of the classic wood look than some of the on trend colors I am seeing out there. The more I think about it, the more I would like to NOT spend a lot of time painting everything white, but I definitely think I need some adjustments in here. I find it interesting that none of you have mentioned the appliances or their color - apart from the microwave, which is usually the least of the appliance worries. ;D I so appreciate your feedback and input.