I dont know why the glass fronted cabinets on the wall would bother him so much to rip them out along w the wall.... That wall even w the older ovens gives the place a unique quality. the rest of the kitchen w the L shape sink and stove and fridge on a third wall appears bland but can probably function fine until the appliances in total aggregate start to really require replacement......the dishwasher looks old...not sure about fridge..... At that point Id look at the best way to go forward. it is usually recommended not to go piecemeal with changes after a recent purchase of a property. Id get him to slow down and get a designer in there to point out a few potential things...like first and foremost ..LEAVING the wall intact and use as a design feature can lead to transforming what is there into a great looking space. As said..the whole thing is a little bland but I dont think the wall is the issue. I hope he doesnt do what you describe........Im cringing in a way , in the sense of wanting the best for him of course. Good Luck.

1st pic .... WALL has architectural linkage w the details of the home. he should be careful.

2nd pic....sometimes a wall removal is more suitable for the resident for various reasons but the project has a large scope and the inspiration has to fit for success.

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IMO you get your son to do a toscale floor plan on graph paper all windows , doorways where those lead all measurements all clearly marked posted here in jpeg format in a comment . IMO he should be the one asking and telling us what he wants. I never advise anyone to do a major reno for at least 3-6 months of living in the sapce to see how it functions for him. My advice to you is help as little as possible this is his home he should be the one on here getting advice . I do not like uppers either but I would need to see the whole space in that floor plan DO NOT START another post NO counters right now for sure until the whole space has a plan.

A vote for leave in place. I think living in place for a period really allows for understanding the home better. There is something to be said for having seperate spaces.

I agree with everything Herbflavor above said. Tell your son to live in the house 6 months or so, before he makes any changes. What he thinks he wants now, he may realise isnt what is what he wants in 6 months or more. Its never a good idea to go in tearing things apart, unless they are very broken to begin with. Its a nice looking kitchen, and those cabinets will all be used in the future, and a countertop oven is not comparable to having a regular working oven. I know you are excited for him, and he is excited too, but, both of you need to slow down, and think about things, and stop planning to tear it all to pieces. Add some nice art work, and some color in curtains, and a few accessories, and leave it alone for a while. Congratulations on his new home, and hope he enjoys it a lot.

Its never a good idea to go in tearing things apart, unless they are very broken to begin with.

I agree with you. If everyone else did, there would be no Houzz or HGTV! I too am in fact guilty of creating a new kitchen in a new house where one had been built only a year before. They tore down the wall to make an open space and we put one back up!

I have no doubt that those posts are load bearing. They certainly aren't decorative, so there's no reason for them to be there otherwise.

Thanks everyone for your ideas and suggestions! He works alot, and I am retired so I just wanted to get some ideas to help him out Yea, he will definitely need to find out if they are load bearing. He was thinking they were not just because they don’t go all the way to the top. Regardless he will be leaving either posts or the sidewalls. I agree with everyone that he should live there a bit to make major decisions. But, he is renting now and doesn’t move in to house for 4 months and wanted to get the work done during these months. The kitchen is the only room that was updated in the last 25 yrs. the rest of the house is more dated. Maybe he will just concentrate on those areas before moving in.

Do not piece out "fixes " in a kitchen. It never pays. I understand the desire to want to change things while you don't live there. But he doesn't even know if this is enough space for him, too much space, not enough counter, etc etc.

Tell him to focus on the rest of the house. He can easily remodel the kitchen while he lives in the house.

I also feel that at least one of those posts where the walls ovens are will be load bearing - they do go up to the main beam across the ceiling peak.

Congrats on the new house

He was thinking just because center wall by upper cabinets doesn’t go up to wall that it isn’t load bearing. I advised him he definitely needs to have a professional check it out. I might be able to convince him to concentrate on the other areas first and save kitchen for later.

I can understand that thought. THe support for the roof is the large beam running across. That beam is then supported by vertical posts - not walls. Those posts are often hidden with the walls or sometimes are used as decoration, which is what I suspect is happening here. He very well may be able to remove that middle section of wall , but not the posts.

I do hope he waits to do this area of the house until he has a chance to really use it. It seems like there would be a lot of great things that can be done here if he takes some time and puts some thought into it AND works with a designer to show him the options.

Good luck

Just to clarify what I said, I only meant that the corner posts that you can see extending all the way up to the center beam are load-bearing, not the walls themselves. Taking out the walls but not the posts seems like it would be feasible, but taking out all of it looks (from where I'm sitting) like you would structurally compromise the ceiling support without significant structural work. Having a pro check it out is always a good idea when thinking about structural changes. I'm just a rank amateur looking at photos on the internet.

@gmills717

His and your instinct is excellent. Yes, ( if it is not load bearing ) remove that upper wall and the upper cabinets. BUT.... you will need to replace the floors. Because I doubt the floor is under the posts or the old cabinets. You would need to keep the bottom of the post which will look silly.

Your son might want to contact a designer to meet with and hire for a few hours to give some ideas of the space and how to incorporate a plan. And this way you are not rushing to create a mess but rather create a beautiful plan.

I think if there is not anything significant in the wall with glass uppers next to the oven that you could consider removing a portion of it. I think that sometimes a small change can make a big difference. I would consider removing the upper cabinets there but leaving the wall substantially intact and making a “pass through,” perhaps with decorative framing. This joined the rooms for us but kept definition between the spaces while still being able to talk with guests in the other room. The small ledge was fairly useful also. I largely agree with Kendrah regarding what to keep/demo and only doing a little before living in it more. This much is reasonable in my opinion. I would make it bar height to match the counter behind the cooktop, which also allows you to keep a few small things on the counter if you wish. Even though this hole is only 4 foot square, it really connects the rooms socially while leaving the architecture of the space as is. It was a good decision for us, and we did not go any further. There was a buffet under the ledge when we didn’t have the tree there. I just picked this photo because you can see how little wall is gone and that you can literally lean through. There were no counters where I am standing obviously, but I placed party snacks on the buffet and ledge all the time when we entertained. Think picture window without the glass. Food for thought anyway. I wouldn’t demo a lot up front. Better to plan appropriately for a bigger scale reno later on. Congrats on the house.

I once knew someone who’s puppy broke through the glass on a bottom cabinet and got really injured. Probably not a high likelihood, but I definitely would not put any bar seating in front of glass cabinets for someone to accidentally kick their foot through.

I love the idea of taking down upper cabinets by stove and saving them for if he later changes his mind, getting new hardware and leaving the rest alone for now. Or if he wants to get it done before moving in, get a good designer to figure out the plan and if anything current can be used vs a total gut and remodel.

At least the color is good and no ugly grey to be seen except the ugly black frig. And the french doors make the use of the frig so inconvenient to load and unload having to constantly walk around a door. And I would not open up the wall to the living room - open floor plans have been going out of style for a while and not really a good idea to begin with. Double ovens on the wall are great not having to bend to get food in or out. If the cabinets are veneer over particle board, get solid wood or plywood to avoid off-gassing and toxins in the air for your grandkids and the cats and dogs. Use real wood on the floor - warms up a room - so many kitchens today are so cold and uninviting. I would move the new white frig closer to stove and sink all in a tight area to make cooking easier with less steps. Mine are all real close even in a larger kitchen, and it is great. I will try to look at more later as I am very good at functional design as well as colors, etc.

I would definitely not make any major changes to the kitchen until he lives in the house for 6 months to a year. You said other parts of the house are more dated. I would focus on updating those areas before he moves in. Once he does that and has a feel for how the kitchen works, he should consult a kitchen designer. He could change the hardware on the kitchen cabinets now for a quick and easy change. I agree with other posters that a kitchen is not something that can be done piecemeal when you are talking about removing walls.

Agree with above. Live with the kitchen for a while to learn what works and what doesn't. I spent several years with my kitchen before redoing it. It's now 20 years old and still feels like I did everything exactly right.

Agree to wait. I also like Kendrah’s plan of action, except, instead of putting the glass upper cabinets into storage, I would replace the upper cabinets on the right side of the sink with them. To me, the upper cabinets by the sink look very bland and flat and putting the glass uppers there, I think, would help to add more visual appeal to that area.

I don't normally like to wave this flag on GW, but this is definitely a kitchen where he either spends the $100k to redo the whole thing (this is not a small kitchen), or he shouldn't spend a dollar other than to maybe paint the walls. This is not a kitchen that you can make some piecemeal improvements to.

Without a floor plan I attempted to open up the kitchen onto the living area. Perhaps something like this would be possible? I simply took down the upper cabinets and the wall behind those cabinets and moved the ovens at the other end of that counter.

In the bigger scope of things, now or later, I would also consider “landing zones.” Life is significantly more functional when there is counter space on both sides of the sink, cooktop, at least one spot next to the oven, and a larger area within arms reach of the fridge. It is an especially bad idea to have the cooktop at the end of a cabinet run next to a room transition/walkway. My neighborhood was built that way, and everyone has or wants to renovate out of that situation. There’s a tendency to want to rest papers/mail when entering the kitchen as well as a concern that hands will accidentally get burnt, especially just after everything is off but before they’ve gotten cool again, because as soon as no one is standing there and no pots are present, it appears cool. We also used to have our fridge just to the right of the cooktop, and it always felt squished because there was not only no place to put something down (or pick something up), but it really impinged on elbow room while stirring or flipping, etc. I am sure you will get some great ideas but I would not place the cooktop where the oven is now. If you want a range without a major reno, put it where the cooktop is now. Space for both elbows and things on both sides, and out of the walkway. Other locations could also work, but those are a bigger reno imo, so I have only considered the existing locations for now.