One of my motivations for keeping the sink/range where they are is to minimize labor costs, which seem to be almost two times higher for any work (on the plus side, it's as if all appliances and materials are 50% off). For example, a quote from a highly rated (for both quality and cost) installer to just hang the stock Ikea cabinets is $2000. I plan to go with them, or just do it myself. It's a small condo, so both walls are interior walls with no exterior access. The range hood duct currently vents to the exterior through the dining area (running straight between two ceiling joists). I'm hoping to reuse the existing 240V junction box where the slide in range currently sits for both the oven and cooktop to avoid breaking into the concrete slab to run thicker wiring. Will extending the countertop overhang from 10" to 15" help with safety and usability of the cooktop? The dining area isn't large enough to really take advantage of countertop seating. To keep the range in that position: 1. Move sink supply/drain lines several feet along existing wall. 2. Buy a more expensive, larger 36" range hood. But use existing ducting. To switch the sink and range: 1. Break concrete slab to route 240V across kitchen. 2. Run plumbing and drain line around kitchen wall. 3. Modify ikea cabinets to run supply and drain lines through them (the toe kick solution looks nice, but will require elevating all cabinets). 4. Modify ceiling to extend existing range duct across kitchen, and through two joists along the wall. On another note, I will probably go with a 30" GE induction cooktop with 28.5" cutout width requirement, as it seems to be the only one small enough that can fit the 30" ikea cabinet (which has two 3/4" sides for an opening of exactly 28.5"). But I'll have the countertop opening cut slightly larger so larger cooktops could be added in the future by shaving down the sides of the ikea cabinet.

Thank you, everyone, for taking a look. :) I'll try to answer all of your inquiries to help with the advice. I'm attaching a photo of the room on the other side of the diagonal wall. If you shoot through the small door in the kitchen you hit the dining room. If you go left it's the living room. I'm probably going to leave the diagonal wall as it makes the living room less boxy. I've swapped all the flooring to wood-look, hand-scraped tile. I wanted hardwood but wanted bullet proof tile for my dog. The picture shows the installation. I haven't finished the kitchen floor but all of the other rooms are done. I'm adding 4" baseboard molding and painting it Farrow and Ball's All White. I'm looking for a beach, light blue with depth for the kitchen/family room. The cabinets are maple and in good shape. It makes it hard to donate/toss them. The family that had the house before me took the refrigerator and the microwave did not work so I purchased Kitchenaid counter-depth appliance in stainless. My Mom felt the built in oven was too small and so I purchased a down draft oven to replace the cook top. I already have to do some electrical there to move the extra wattage. My Dad is an electrical engineer so he can help with that. I would probably put the sink in the island and so I would have to move the plumbing. The good news is that I can almost stand up in the crawl space so hopefully that will make it a little easier. Because of the changes I'm already going to have to replace some of the cabinets... The granite. It's kind of pink/salmon with black and it is on every cabinet surface throughout the house. :0 I would like to swap this with Carrera marble and tile the black splash. I'm hoping the original granite can also be donated. I really want a timeless classic look. I priced inset cabinets (including the island) I think through the cabinet joint and they came in at around $15k. I think they were MDF and I really wanted wood. I haven't decided on a sink. I was concerned that farmhouse sinks were trendy but they seem to be staying around. :) The house theme is modern cape cod. So for the island option it would probably cost $22k. I priced cabinets at Home Depot (non-inset) and they came in around $5k. So less expensive cabinets would bring me in at $12k. If I leave the layout, paint the cabinets, order the replacement ones I need, swap the counter top and backsplash it would probably be around $7k. It's a pretty big difference in dollars. I also don't know if at some point if I would rent the house out. I don't know how bad a kitchen would take a hit. That's about it for now. Thank you again and please let me know if you have any other suggestions. :)

damiarain and mama goose - thank you for those bold and beautiful layouts! You've found a graceful solution to a lot of my wishes. I'm on the fence about windows to the fridge/stove side of the house, because it faces our driveway and the neighbor's (not so attractive) yard and house. But the natural light would be wonderful! Great food for thought, thank you again. I'll have to check the space to see if there's room for dining table in kitchen. What's that great layout software you're using? rantontoo - We don't absolutely need two spaces to eat, and I had thought about shifting that door as you describe -- it would be between kitchen and DR. That way the traffic lane wouldn't go through the kitchen. I just couldn't figure out a good way to do that. Unfinished crawl space is underneath the whole main level where kitchen, etc. are.

If, like most of us, you're on a budget, consider an alternative to a total rip out and replace. It is, after all, mostly where the peninsula is located that is not good - not that you have a peninsula or that the look of the cabinets is a real issue. Take some measurements and, with your grid paper, see if you could move the peninsula base cabinets toward the dining part of the room where the microwave cabinet and the base cabinet with countertop that is left of it are now located. Then put the microwave base cabinet and the base cabinet that is now to the left of that where the peninsula was. When you replace the countertop for the peninsula, put both the sink and the stove top on the kitchen side of the peninsula. You may need to rework the innards of the base cabinet to make room for the stove top instead of a drawer but you can reuse most if not all your cabinets and doors and drawers. There may still be some inconvenient spacing between the row of cabinets against the back left wall and the closest cabinet, but if there is a walk space issue, put some wheels on the single door base cabinet (with countertop now left of the microwave cabinet) and park it elsewhere.