Our "remodel" wasn't really a choice- had a water leak. We replaced some things, left others. I did change out an OTR micro to a real vent hood. Never even thought about the cabinets banging- until I went to open the corner upper I keep spices in. That's filled to the brim, has an extra storage mounted on the door AND has a lazy susan (moved up high enough that I can put bottles underneath the bottom lazy susan shelf), Did I mention it's packed? And I have nowhere else to put any of that stuff? Currently using those clear rubber bumpers. What we (meaning me, haven't told DH) PLAN to do is have that cabinet door cut in half and made into a bifold that opens the opposite direction. Flipping just the door won't work for us- it would hit the hood and not even come close to opening. Does the idea thrill me? no, but it's getting really old really fast not being able to open the door all the way.

DON'T spend $35k on a kitchen you're not going to keep! You could get it done with mid-level finishes for around $20k if you watch your pennies (depending on where you live of course). Honestly everything in that kitchen looks functional and like Susie mentioned, you'll never get that money back completely. In the short term, you could take off the brickabrack and paint the existing cabinets white and replace the countertops with granite and do a pretty subway tile backsplash. That'd be enough to sell the house with an "updated" kitchen in a few years. You can get new hardware for the drawers and the center frame you could just live with. Instead of hardwood floors you could look at engineered floors or those new ceramic tiles that look like wood. There's even some pretty impressive laminate that looks like wood now. Your biggest expense otherwise would probably be tearing out the walls - you'd have to get an engineering report if you're taking out any load bearing walls (which require extra beams be added in the attic/basement). Also, you'd probably want to do that before you added back the cabinets/pantries. It'll probably involve an electrician and inspectors and framers and drywallers. If you're set on opening it up, I'd start with the big $$ construction first and replace the kitchen cabinets when you can afford to. If you have a HOBO in your area (EDIT: D'oh! you don't!), they do cheap cabinets if you have standard measurements. You can also find semi-custom local shops who are happy to compete with big box prices for the business. Avoid buying all plywood boxes, they're a waste of money. MDF and birch are great for painting and a good value, as well. Otherwise as Susie said, you could "reface" the existing cabinets easily enough. You could buy a SS rolling island that you can move around when not in use. They're visually light (because they're open on the bottom) and portable. If you do end up doing the fridge flanked by pantries, one trick we learned to cut down on the cost was to buy 24" (standard) pantries and two 30" deep end panels. This way you can cheat the pantry forward 6" (who can reach all the way back there anyway??) and it'll still have that "built in" look you're going for. This post was edited by Swentastic on Wed, Jul 16, 14 at 15:25

Thank you everyone for your feedback. It is so nice to receive so many helpful responses. I am aware that such a build is going to be more expensive that a traditional sub-development home and when I said we are on a budget. I didn't mean we have an unrealistic budget but rather we are trying to use our budget as effectively as possible. For example one of our neighbors spent a ton of money building up their lot to be a level lot and another neighbor built a walk out basement and worked with the slope of the land and I imagined saved a considerable amount by working with the land rather than against it. I am trying to study enough to make smart decisions like this that will make the build more economical. We are a family of 4 so we don't need lot of space and we are flexible on many points, so we are really trying to find the best combination that gives us the best bang for our buck. mushcreek gave me a good suggestion and I will do more research on that website. lazy_gardens: The plot is downhill from the road.

It was originally supposed to be 14 feet long but somewhere between the design plans and foundation it got messed up. Right now it’s 11’ 2”. I‘ll include a photo of the original house plan. I had it modified slightly to make the kitchen wider and had it flipped. The designer did make the kitchen wider but cut the length. The foundation further cut the length. I should have paid more attention to the final plan but I trusted it was done how I asked. Love and learn I guess.