Soshh, the counters are Formica laminate, Basalt Slate in a honed finish with the Futura edge (just a basic curved top and bottom with the center part straight) for a simple look. I really like soapstone, but couldn't justify the price right now. I've always had formica in the 33 years since I've been married. Mom always had it and the kitchen in this house came with the original white formica with little gold specks in it! It was still stuck down tight and in good condition after many, many years. A couple years ago I got really tired of the gold specks, so I decided to do a dark faux finish on the top to see if I'd actually like the contrast, and I had lots of complements on it. I liked it so much I wasn't in a hurry to put in new ones (I hate making decisions!). Well, it was time, so I had to make those tough decisions and decided to just go for it. I really wanted to keep the kitchen and butler's pantry in line with the age of the house. We have original pine floors in most rooms and the original tin roof (now painted barn red), so I couldn't do anything too fancy. Here is a photo of the original counters Here is the faux finish I did to hold us over till now. Note: I WILL NOT be keeping this green wall paint. It was a wrong color choice and hurts my eyes when the lights are on (similar to how ears hurt from fingernails on blackboards :) Close up of faux finish. I like the color the green looks when the overhead lights are off, but I can't use my kitchen with the lights off :) Hey, I should tell DH that and we can just eat out! So now we have to figure out how to do the Basalt Slate Formica in the kitchen. We are keeping the old farmhouse sink, stains and all (still trying to figure out about reglazing or not). The counters are shorter and less deep than todays countertops. I definately want to keep the original cabinets, but raise the tops and make them a little deeper. I've seen this done by putting a "filler) on the top of the cabinets (they need to come up about 2 inches) then putting on a deeper counter top (ours will be about 2-3 inches deeper than original and placing a strip of crown molding underneath the new counter top to the cabinet fronts. That is how we plan to do it, but we have to figure out the sink area. We will probably have to build out a box under the window, extending the window sill a couple inches and mount the sink on the front of the box. I'll probably use white tile around that area. If anyone has any ideas on that, please chime in! Terry Terry

Thank you all SO very much for your thoughtful comments and time. I will post some layout pictures here (just met with our Kitchen Designer yesterday again.) We are going on Year 5 of living here this fall, and I have given constant thought as to the space & use since we have moved it. We have had a project going 100% of the time since we moved in due to the original state of the house. Now it's time to upgrade vs "fix". We are overdue! I've toyed around with ALL ideas (removing walls, extending the bar/not pictured-discussed, etc). For the most part, we like the layout and decided the pantry/2nd Kitchen are functional as is, although I love ideas, thank you all for your thoughtfulness. To answer other comments, I don't need 2 Kitchens + Butler Pantry. But that is the existing layout and it's easier to leave as-is than remove any of these large walls or areas, and I do use the space. I don't need 10K sq ft of house either, but it's what we have. (FYI it was a foreclosure we got for $360K on 25 Acres in Rural Indiana; about $100K put in initially to make liveable, and now we are just slowly chipping away at projects). I am going to reuse a lot of these cabinets in a basement storage room & garage. I hate to get rid of them! The Corian should hold up well in the transition too I think. Here is a picture from standing at the Main Island, looking OUT to the rest of the eat-in kitchen. We'll be adding a furniture-style cabinet piece where the additional cabinets are on the left. This bulkhead we may remove. They are big aren't they..? I have no clue what the $-tag would be to remove all of them (this one cheap likely.) I'll get a quote out of curiosity. My gut feeling just says it will be $$..... Just through that hallway to the left is where the 2nd Kitchen & Butlers Pantry are. I can't wait to get rid of this ugly dark red color. Existing Kitchen. Proposed is moving the Fridge from where it is now (right picture, where proposed Wall Oven & MW are - across to other side). Adding 36" rangetop. I can't go much bigger given the space there and existing gas line. We'll be moving our existing GE Induction, Wall Oven, MW to the 2nd Kitchen so did decide to just do 1 Wall Oven + MW in the Main Kitchen. Thanks for your comments on that! You're all right - as we grow/change, we will need that in the kitchen for sure. I was torn on leaving the 48" Fridge in the Main Kitchen, but it helps me avoid re-doing cabinets in the next picture..... as I have a 48" slot with non-working Fridge. Having a 42" and 48" seems to be plenty, vs adding two 48"s. See below. Here is the before of 2nd Kitchen (Please Excuse the Mess - this was previously a child craft room/nanny area). We would paint these cabs and re-do the ugly hood. Existing Wall Oven + old MW would go in here too on the far left replacing that cabinet. And the other side. Little pocket glass door to the bar. Non working 48" SubZero. 2nd Dishwasher, 2nd Trash Compactor, and Sink. Everything in the existing MAIN kitchen will come into here which is nice. No appliance worked when we moved in but I wasn't ready for a full remodel then. But glad to not be wasteful with those purchases. I have always loved the cabinets/style despite being so wood-heavy, so we are just going to paint these to match the main kitchen, new countertops, new backsplash. PROPOSED: And the Butler/WD/Toilet Room. This is on the other side of the Main Kitchen (behind Range/Wall Oven Area). There is a single toilet behind that far wall. And the other side. Here I don't need a 3rd Dishwasher but am struggling to figure out what to do with that space. I could add another Wine Cooler but seems odd to have in the Laundry/Butler area when we have a Bar. Trash Compactor will become pull-out Trash Bin. Ideas for filling the DW space? Again this will be all painted cabs, countertops, backsplash. But see the big bulkhead in here too? I don't want to take that out. We have 6 Bathrooms to remodel in the near(ish) future. I have to be frugal in some areas if I want other areas to pop more. Layout for these 2 pictures: Comments/ideas/suggestions are all ultra welcome. I will put a separate post about some of our semi-final decisions to our next steps in the remodel and would love your criticism.

There will be shelves and/or cabinets along the wall opposite the pantry sink and on the wall to the right that is out of view and along the wall opposite the w/d wall. The oversized hutch that will go on the bare wall is mostly storage. It’s actually a large antique pantry cabinet. And another pantry cabinet to the right of the frig which will be mostly drawers. I put a pocket door in on purpose to kind of make the pantry an extension of the kitchen. It will be open most of the time I’m sure. Presently, we have our drop in range in our island. We hate the range itself, but we really like it there, but I didn’t want the stove in the island this time. I wanted to keep the island top clear of obstruction. So the oven in it will be what we’re used to. The oven in the pantry idea came up because a lot of our cook ware can be stored in the pantry and I started to see others doing it. One of my favorite kitchens on Houzz has the oven in the pantry. As far as shrinking the pantry and utility, not really if you are referring to the bare “hutch” wall. It’s a modular and that wall cannot be moved. I could move the wall opposite the pantry sink, but we want a large utility room. Ours is big now and I wouldn’t want it any smaller. We have a lot of pets. Our utility/laundry room is packed with pet supplies and litter pans. We’re hoping to put the litter pans in the basement in the new house however, hoping the old gang will catch on.

IMO if you plan to use this as butlers pantry , I agree a good idea, then I would install a sink and use this space exactly like a real butlers pantry ,. Have you foor storage on one side with doors a simple set of sliding doors to make access easy. On the other side a nice set of base cabinets some glass cabinets above for all your dishes you use for entertaining and glassware , liquor and the sink is IMO a must . Set that side up as the service area for the DR and you have a perfect set up and please there is no reason to worry about moisture