Hi, Lots of great ideas and good to see you're a planner. I would suggest getting # 2 & #5 decided with a floor plan and dimensional design locked in before making decisions on finishes. You'll need to know your new electrical and plumbing requirements (codes change, you may need to spend a lot more on electrical and plumbing than you expected) and until you have your kitchen layout finalized with construction requirements, you won't know your budget for everything else.

Definitely get a counter depth refrigerator to open up the space.

Even if all you are doing is replacing the footprint with new stuff, you'll be surprised by what that opens up for things to go wrong and cost money once you start ripping out soffits and cabinets. Get the basics understood before you select finishes.

Keep us posted on progress!

Do a scaled layout of the whole floor with measurements. I'd choose appliances for longevity, quality and put finish last. Or you'll be replacing them as they fail with what? And many these days don't function well or fail. Everything has a one year warranty. For function a radiant top stove is the worst. Induction looks the same but is the best. Faster than gas and simple cleanup. It heats the pan instead of the glass surface. Actual exhaust with a hood beats an otr micro. A Bosch or Miele dw will last and quietly clean. A counter depth or integrated frig with french of 4 doors is an option to look at.

The most important unknown in your kitchen is what is hidden behind the soffits. There could be electrical and/or plumbing in there, and they would need to be re-routed if you eliminate the soffits. Since the soffits extend beyond the front of the cabinets, I don't think you can disguise them easily. But that's not my area of expertise.

A lot of your questions are a matter of taste and personal opinion. I find that a lot of the gray and white kitchens so popular today are just too cookie-cutter and frankly, a bit boring. If you choose gray or white cabinetry (I prefer white, but that's just me), then you need some organic, textural elements to warm up the space. Consider using a backsplash with some texture and color, like a glazed brick. Hardwood flooring in a medium brown color (NOT gray!) is beautiful with white cabinets. I personally prefer black hardware over brass/gold. I like your choice of the colorful rug to add interest.

I would caution you about "Fantasy Brown" unless you are aware that it is marble, and has all the pros and cons of that stone (etching, chipping). I also am not a fan of dark sinks, and would choose stainless steel instead, and would choose the SS appliances instead of the gray. Depending on your budget, wood panels for the DW and fridge (built-in or at least cabinet depth) are a more seamless look than either SS or slate gray.

I also would do a complete gut of the space rather than trying to work around what is existing. Especially if this is a home you plan to live in for the long haul. Better to do it once and do it right, is my motto. I agree with tozmo1 that planning is the first step!

Good luck and keep us informed!

Thanks so much for all the feedback! Will definitely reassess finishes once I have a better understanding of what soffit solution will run me. The good news is upstairs bathroom is along the front exterior wall of the house so I’m hoping there is a low probability of any plumbing routing through the overhang. Even if there is something impossible / cost prohibitive to reroute my hope is that will at least be able to push it back and make the drywall flush with the uppers so I can do a faux a ceiling high look with some trim and molding. Also for context I am trying to keep the budget to lower mid range level given that while I plan to be here for the foreseeable future, I do not anticipate this to be my forever home.

Counter depth fridge is a must!

Appreciate the caution on fantasy brown, I read up a bit on it since it seems to be such a contested material. Based on that I was under the impression that the stone was a fusion between marble and quartzite, and hardness depends on which stone is more dominate and that you can do a scratch test to assess whether it would stand up to the demands of a kitchen surface (🤞🏼). I’m certainly open to other options and will go that direction if this stone proves to be too temperable to work, I just was not seeing any other slabs in the price point I want which made me as excited as the beautiful look of this one!

As for incorporating colors, I have always wanted to do different colors on my lowers (navy or sage with white uppers), however there is a floor to ceiling (er.. soffit) pantry cabinet that is throwing me off since I’ve never seen a kitchen design where this paint scheme exists with a cabinet that is both an upper and lower.

Hi, Some pics of the problematic pantry cabinet might trigger some solutions.

Here's more than you'll ever want to know about fantasy brown countertops. Definitely a marble. https://columbusgranite.com/granite-countertops/fantasy-brown-granite/

I asked my geology professor DH about what your were told and he laughed and said whoever told you that is just trying to make a sale. He calls them "trade names" and hates to see granite and quartzite thrown around like that when in reality the stones are often neither.

Find a local stone fabricator yard and wander around. You'll find something beautiful you don't have to baby.

Thanks for sharing that, great to get some perspective from a pro and hope I can find a more rock solid rock :)

Here is the best I have for the pantry as well as another angle (I don't have possession yet since the seller is leasing it back until 9/28 but trying to get my ducks in a row so I can complete the project during the 3 month overlap with my current apartment lease).

3 months is not nearly enough time for a kitchen remodeling project. Not during standard times, but especially not during the time of Covid. It takes 6-12 months to get on the schedule of a contractor worth hiring. Anyone that is available sooner is a red flag. You need to use that time to educate yourself and work with a Kitchen Designer. And NOT one who SPAMS the forum. The flag for that seems to be not working now, or that unacceptable would be poof.

tozmo's DH laughing had me laughing too.

I've read many DDs here by a geologist named karin_mt, her real name is Karin Kirk, and she is a wealth of knowledge about stones. You may want to search her DDs here on Houzz. Be forewarned, though, some of them run for hundreds of posts!!!

Here is a link to her work at the Use Natural Stone website:

https://usenaturalstone.org/author/k-kirk/

Totally understand a full scope reno would require a lot more time than a few months, but that is not my plan. My dad and a family friend (both engineers with lots of experience in reno projects, electrical & dry wall) have offered up their help with the soffit so the only contract work I anticipate will be ceiling retexturing and if anything really ugly is hiding behind it (in which case I will reassess at that time).

Looks like your pantry cabinet is at the end of the cabinets. In that case, I would paint it the same color as the top cabinets and treat it as a framing end of the kitchen. It might not be to your taste, but I have three different cabinets in my kitchen and treated each end of the cabinet run as a framing of the kitchen. Imagine if your pantry wall was one of these ends.

It is at the end so that could definitely work :) I never would have thought to incorporate 3 different kinds of cabinets. Your kitchen is gorgeous!

Thanks, I worked on planning for over a year, got a lot of good design advice from pros and way overspent my budget (entire main floor remodel of a 1969 split level) but now that I'm stuck at home, I'm so glad I did it.

So nice to have a dad and friends who are experienced renovators. Hopefully the soffit isn't hiding anything. What is above the kitchen? If a second floor, there may be ducting in there. If you can, see if there are any floor heating/cooling vents that line up with the soffit. Or it might just be that someone thought it was decorative. Here's my kitchen the day before it was torn out. You can see a little roof like soffit above the cabinets. We were afraid it was hiding something but it turned out to be decorative. At least that's what they thought was decorative in 1969.

You mentioned a textured ceiling. If you're ripping out part of it, you may want to see what it would cost to smooth it all out rather than repair texture. Going from texture to smooth will update the look considerably.

A couple of hundred thousand dollar remodel can‘t afford to not pay for professional design advice. Engineers cost you lots of extra pita points paid up front, and add very little value. They generally confuse academics world with the real world.

There’s a bedroom over the kitchen, so possible duct work in there but hoping it’s decorative like yours was! I get keys week after next and getting a bit antsy to scope it out. And agree, smoothing the ceiling would look nicest just wasn’t sure if it’d look odd to deviate ceiling styles from the whole rest of the house.