How much storage is available in the pantry? Other than glasses, I'd keep everything in a pantry over cabinets.

How extensive of a renovation are looking to do? What is your budget? I would certainly remove that suspended cabinet.

The location of the sink and dishwasher is really odd. It seems you'd have to talk over to other cabinets to unload and where do you stand when you are washing and loading?

I good exterior venting exhaust fan over your range should take care of the nasty grease problems. Are you able to vent outside? It looks like you just have a recirculating situation.

oh good heavens. that monstrosity just needs to come down

(you also need to upgrade your light bulbs to LEDs in the 4000K temp. how can you even see in there?) I'm serious. get some new lights (bulbs) the ones you have appear to be 2700 or so? changing those out will make a huge diff. and if you can put a few more in the ceiling, great!

If you can't do a complete gut,

I'd reface if your cabs are good quality wood. I'd build some boxes on top and take everything to the ceiling.

The island? I'd rip that out and do one that isn't angled. I mean, how can you rinse dishes and put them in the dishwasher?? you can't. that's horrible.

Maybe remove that pantry and extend some work space. you have no room on the right side while at the stove.

Hard to tell based on the photos you've posted

What's the budget? There is no sense in only spending a few thousand on this. It's extremely dated and isn't using the space wisely. You could have a much better working kitchen if you just started over. If you want to reface the perimeter cabs, redo the pantry, and the island, maybe move a few things around, new countertop and tile splash, do that.

Either spend a good amount, or save up until you have a good amount.

you have the space to do any of these:

I absolutely love this one!
I can’t even imagine how much it would cost to get something like this in the place of ours.
And yes we have to stand at an angle to rinse the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.
I don’t have room in my pantry for dishes and such. We’re a family of 5 and the pantry is pretty small as it is.

How much would something like this cost?
I’m in north Texas and the house is a 1996

with everything you see? minimum of 20-25. depends if you're getting all new cabs. if yes, then that depends on the quality. New cabs could be 5K or 30K, or anything in between.

countertops, about 4-7K, depending on what you get.

Tile backsplash? 1-3.

Appliances still good? great.

moving the pantry? depends.

Do NOT use home depot or lowes. way expensive.

you prob have some local carpenters who do cabinets. check w/them.

check w/a local kitchen rehap place who does it for a living. I had mine refaced, painted (nothing moved) and paid about 14 ( i have a double pantry off to the left) but I had a bunch of other things done w/mine.

drawers built, microwave moved, custom hood vent, doors made for the desk area, all the ornate trim removed. drawers in the island. Flooring was a separate cost

I paid an extra 2K to reface all my doors and drawers. pretty good price.

I found my guys on yelp. 70 reviews and 95% were 5 star ratings. start w/that. If it's cheap and too good to be true, then it prob is.

family of 5 needs a good working kitchen w/proper space. You have a crappy layout. don't spend money on a crappy layout. Change the layout. Spend the money on that. it will be worth it.

Start getting some estimates on kitchen places and see where you're at. find out exactly how they paint (IF you plan on keeping those. but honestly, you don't have that many cabinets. would prob be better just to get new ones since you want to reconfigure the island. So start looking at cabinet options. To save money, look at some RTA or online options. The kitchen places you interview should have many choices .

Exceptional advice Beth! Thanks so much!
I’m going to bring all this to my husband and see what he thinks.

The worst part of your kitchen, is that hanging thing. That has to go. I would also remove the island, and put in a straight island, with sink, and dishwasher mounted in it, so they are more easily usable. At least that gives you a bit of function in your kitchen. You already have all the plumbing there, in the existing island, so that will help with some of the cost.

The hanging thing is comical. Maybe the most hideous things I've ever seen in a kitchen that is also expensive. You have a great wall of windows. Why someone would block that is just insane. That natural light is going to make your kitchen a great place to be, even without perfectly executed cabinets/other, so don't worry. Just get appliance placement, counterspace, clearances, and lighting right. With cabinets, btw, the way to save big is to NOT get wood. Go with laminate frameless - not cheap, but midrange - and get solid color TFL, ideally slab, or fake wood look if you want wood. Or, next step up before solid wood, get veneer. When you go with solid wood and start wanting a decent finish - that's when your cabinet budget will explode.

I still think the layout is horrible. that sink and DW is a joke. i'd be cussing that out every single day. to me, that island would have to get redone.

does anyone sit at that bar top? do you have the room to take it down to one level?

what about doing away w/the harsh angles? That alone would be worth any cost.

You could do a whole new island and then reface the other cab doors/drawers to match. That would save you a bit of money.

can you take another picture so we can see what's to the right of the pantry area? how deep is that pantry? could you be ok w/a built in pantry and pull shelves? is there room?

Regarding that hanging cabinet: it doesn't even look like you have a lot of things in there. With a little decluttering and organizing, I'm sure you could find homes for everything. The cookbooks could go on a shelf somewhere near the kitchen. The wine glasses could go in a bar (if you had the space to designate a bar somewhere else in that house-- maybe a corner of the dining room?).

The rest of the kitchen doesn't even look all that bad to me. I think the simple act of getting rid of the hanging cabinet will make an enormous impact w/o having to do a total gut job. Get rid of that bizarre ceiling trim as well (the ceiling will need some repair work anyway, so you may as well add that change).

Of course if you have a healthy budget, there are many other things you could do too. Personally I'd want to replace the island with a rectangle one (if it fits) with barstools on the far side. New counters everywhere, and maybe a new backsplash. That's about it.