I like that space! We recently painted the bar area in the lower level of our house. It's basically a run of cabinets on one wall, with a sink in the middle and no appliances. We went with white, and now I wish we had done something else - the white feels too much like a regular kitchen vs a fun bar area - although it's technically not a bar and we don't use it as a bar. Here is a blue basement bar on a blog I read occasionally: https://www.thelilypadcottage.com/2018/03/basement-wet-bar.html

The island support also has to be integrated with the decorative elements. That can’t be an afterthought. In the island below, we used a flat steel plate with small welded flanges that aren’t visible. Flat steel is too flexible. The flanges add rigidity. Once the steel was designed, I then had to design how the steel would integrate into the wood. The cabinet side was built thicker, to accept the weight of the bent tabs of the steel that had to be attached to it. The blocking in the toe area is directly under the cabinet wall, providing support all the way to the floor. The cabinet box was also routed out to accept those tabs, before it was finished, so there would be no exposed raw wood anywhere. The steel tabs were bolted to the side, and countersunk, so that nothing protruded. The decorative cabinet panel was routed to account for the steel support flanges, before being finished. Again, no raw wood anywhere. The steel post accepts a steel locator pin that was location plotted, and drilled into the floor and subfloor. No kid will come sliding through and bang into it, knocking it askew. The steel support was then finally installed to the cabinet side, and then the decorative panel was then applied over that. That’s what went into that “simple” design. And seriously, it IS simple compared to some. But if your KD and GC isn’t able to do this? You have people on your team that ought to be back in the minor leagues sitting on the bench. This is is an ordinary day at the shop for any experienced Pro.

Thanks for providing the pictures. I also looked at your kitchen idea book. You are dreaming of storage!! Can you talk to a kitchen designer(s)? This looks like a complete down-to-the studs gut rehab.

Correct! We are painting them. The cabinets themselves are in excellent shape. For the island we will be using cabinets that match the base of the rest - raised panel. We are redoing the floor (removing the stick on tile and just extending the hardwood) so it's all the same as the dining room. We are on a raised foundation and have a full unfinished basement underneath. Since we've lived with it, what bothers me is that 1) there is not enough light coming into the home and 2) the oven door is directly in the way of the door leading to the outside. Having a sliding patio door would solve for both of these problems as it would let in 2x the amount of light and would guarantee that since only one panel would be used, there will never be anyone in the path of the oven door.