There are two main reasons why it might be easier to hire someone. The first reason is that kitchen cabinets require a lot of work to do them right. In addition to the normal prep involved in say painting a bookshelf, one must degrease cabinets carefully to insure any grease from cooking doesn't interfere with the new paints adhesion. Also all the doors have to be removed (as well as all hinges and hardware so they don't get any paint on them). These extra steps all add up time-wise. The second reason is that it is a huge inconvenience to have your whole kitchen taken apart and unusable for the duration of the project. This can be compounded by the fact that you may be at work during the day and painting at night. This means you would only be able to paint a few hours a night, which means the loss of your kitchen for a longer time. A professional would be there all day every day until the work is done which would translate into less time with your kitchen in chaos. Any other room in the house is not that much of an inconvenience if you cannot use it, but the kitchen is really tough to have out of commission. Then there is the dust control. When you are sanding the cabinet frames you need to have good dust control so that no dust gets all over your food or pots and pans in the cabinets. (I am assuming here that you are just painting frames and doors, not the inside of the cabinets.) A pro can quickly cover the inside of the cabinets with plastic, and will have sanders that have Hepa vacuum hookups both of which will insure no dust gets where it shouldn't be. I hope that helps.

So many good points here! mayflowers, I think wall-hung is a bit has more of a contemporary vibe than we want, we're going for more of a cottage feel. But I think I will sacrifice a bit of storage space for the sake of longer vanity legs, so the space will hopefully still feel open. cpartist, this is actually a dilemma for us...our parents, who are currently in their mid-60s, will probably stay a few times a year. No mobility problems yet, but it is something to keep in mind. I know that guests, even younger ones, would probably prefer just a nice big shower in there. But since we don't live in the house yet, it's hard to guess whether or not we'll be happy bathing the kids in the clawfoot in the master (or having that be the only place in the house for them to take baths, if they're so inclined, when they're older). And some of our occasional guests will be my sisters, who have small kids themselves, and might welcome a spot to bathe them without having to worry about invading our privacy? Unfortunately, there's no way for us to add a tub to the kids' bathroom because of space and plumbing constraints (we're actually ripping out this shallow corner monstrosity that's currently in there). I'm definitely planning on grab bars, though, and plan to look for a tub that doesn't have too high of a step-over.

To break up all the linearity and big boxy features think of curves. Looks like you have room for a pair of curved sofas and some theater chairs. Maybe a cocktail corner by the windows. Your large empty wall could use a big shot of color. Pick up that color in rugs and pillows.

Getting rid of the header and dividing wall will give you a lot more space to work with. Whether you want counter space or not depends on how you think you will use it. Will it become a dumping ground? Do you want to keep the curtain, or make the area more presentable without it? Are you willing/able to spend the money to build cabinetry? If money was no object, I would keep the W/D stacked, and build cabinets around/above them. I have pull-outs above my fridge that I find very convenient for light-weight or rarely used things - my canning pot, paper towels, extra cereal boxes (the open box is in a different place). Something like that would allow you to use the deep space without losing things in the back. On the pantry side, use some combination of drawers and doors to suit the items you need to store.