Question is how to find all the leaks. Incense stick around doors & windows, DH has already sealed pipe and sire penetrations in basement with Good Stuff. HVAC people taped duct seams and wrapped them (with foil tape). I did notice today standing on the counter that modular company sealed seams in range hood install with plain old duct tape, plus I can feel air coming down onto cooktop. Not sure how to fix that. Shouldn't there be a flapper on the vent so it only opens when fan is on? We can seal penetrations (vent stacks) in attic with Good Stuff - only other penetration is ductwork coming through chase but I think that's pretty tight. Bathroom fans have firecaulk around them and are under the insulated plywood floor in attic. Have radon pipe running basement to attic (for future use) but it's within exterior wall, should have been glued at joints when house was set I can't get at it now. Walk up attic with solid pine door into computer room - walls are insulated, door is pretty tight to carpet but I can install sweep (don't notice draft). The auditor is actually supposed to do caulking - I can check again. If they do more than just give list of recommendations it could be worth $75. How about my idea of caulking the back of casing just before installing it? I don't want to caulk around outside of stained woodwork. Or will the low-expanding foam do just as well? What do do b/t floors? I'm not sure about air infiltration, I guess I can check if leaks around my recessed lights in kitchen. I know there's no insulation b/t floors. But what to do about anything now???

if she wants stain, the old finish has to be removed. applying a new finish on top of an old finish will not yield good results. And dying wood, well that has to have raw wood w/no finish at all. I've done it. The aniline dye is water based. It actually absorbs into the wood, dyeing it. And that's where the labor comes into play. sanding or stripping off the old finish. There's no way around it. If you want a new stain color, the old stain/clear coat has to be removed. period. (unless you want a crap job. in that case, just fine sand and rub on a darker gel stain color. ) That's why I mentioned priming and painting. less labor costs btw, most painters don't specialize in wood finishing. That's a whole other skill set. They may employ wood finishers, but most run-of-the-mill house painters aren't wood finishers.

I love the floated sink in the link @apple_pie_order posted, if you want to find a way to incorporate the low windows in the current dining room. However, in the plan I posted you wouldn't need to worry about the low windows, because the entire kitchen would be on the other side of the room. According to your measured plan, your kitchen (and presumably your dining room) are 146" deep. That gives you room for an island (with seating) if you have appliances/cabinets on one side only. Because of the flue, it would have to be the flue side rather than the window side (otherwise the flue eats 23" of your depth). Can the doorway from the current dining room into that small central area (a hallway?) be moved? If you can shift it down to the end of the wall, you'd have a nice long (approximately 17' I'm guessing?) solid wall along which you could place your range and fridge, interrupted only by the flue. Having the sink in the island in this orientation would allow you to look out the windows while you work. Obviously conventional wisdom would have the bulk of the kitchen placed on the exterior wall but given the limitations of your space I would think this could work very well for you.

A bit of prep work, some bondo and caulk should do the trick. More than likely you have lead based paint, might want to take proper precautions.