Cpartist, I picked up that you were living in Florida. I’m in central Florida. My DH can’t wait for the pool either! The pool/spa bids were waaaaay more than I thought they would be. (We didn’t want a screen initially … but that’s what ya get with two huge trees around. Plus we won’t have to deal with all the bugs and animals!) Several of the pool salesman were just awful to work with. (I got recs from people as well as cold called.) I’m glad we finally found a wonderful company that didn’t jerk me around. Fingers crossed it goes somewhat smoothly!

I have really appreciated the honest feedback here. My friends all tend to say "It looks GREAT!" no matter what I suggest and my dad continues to advocate for leaving it alone... but he is my helper. (More accurately, I am his helper) I am considering a lot of your suggestions. I think I became overwhelmed by how many things I DISLIKED about the kitchen that all I could see was it all going away and starting from scratch. The only kitchen I have done before was a new build so I did get to start from scratch, which was fun! :) I have included a drawing of what is current and what I am proposing. The current one includes neighboring rooms. The proposed ones are just the kitchen. I am thinking that I would keep all of my lower cabinets (Except for the desk) and actually, I am strongly looking at how to use my uppers too. I would like to add sliders etc... inside the cabinets, but I could add that a little down the road if need be too. I REALLY like the changes you have suggested for the pantry. One thing that is really stumping me is my uppers. Currently the soffit sticks out in front of the cabinets 12 inches. It is why I dislike it. It feels so crowded and closed off. I was thinking, if I could cut them off flush with the front of the cabinets that would help a lot. My dad said that would be very difficult and I'd need to remove the old ones and just build new ones. He suggested just removing the soffit and having it open above them at that point. My original plan was to purchase new uppers to go to the ceiling, but I am trying to use what I have instead. I have included another picture that looks in towards the sink where you can see the depth of the soffits and where I was hoping to shrink or remove them. I would still need to purchase cabinets to go where my desk currently is to surround the refrigerator. I was thinking about possibly having them VERY different so they look like an accent instead of trying to blend them in with the existing ones. Perhaps painted ones, glass doors, or some other unique look. (I do not prefer glass though) I do have the same doors on uppers in the laundry room and also lowers in my bar and master bathroom. I would not be opposed to taking any of those doors and replacing the doors in that area with something different as they're not visible from the kitchen.

I like the idea of the covered deck. Especially if you plan to use the outdoor space a lot. With those views I can imagine sitting on the covered deck listening to the pitter patter of rain! Or in the summer evenings you could have it decorated with pretty lighting. It just depends on what you would use the space for. If you don’t plan to use your deck a lot maybe you should remove the covered portion so more light can get into the living room. Not to be picky but one of your windows is behind a porch post not sure why it isn’t joined with the other two?

Ben, I remember when I first moved here, I planted tomatoes like I did in California. I spent $70 on soil amendment, tomato cages, plants, mulch. Half of the plants got wilt in the middle of the season and collapsed. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. The other half didn't bloom until a couple of weeks before the first frost. I think I harvested 2 or 3 green tomatoes at the end of the season. Now my doctors say no tomatoes. I planted an apple allee, peaches, plums. Now about 5 or six years later, they are all full bearing size, and I'm not supposed to have any of them. No apples, no peaches, no plums (and no strawberries, no alcohol, no citrus of any kind, no peppers, it goes on and on). Sigh. To take out all the trees? At least kale is still okay, whoopee. lol!