Kitchen remodel - where to begin?

margown

We bought our 1st house a year ago. It was a bit of a fixer. We've made a lot of progress on the interior, except for the kitchen and bathrooms. The kitchen is the bigger eye sore so its at the top of our list. 

The full room is 17'x10' (kitchen plus "dining nook")

Kitchen space is 10'x10' and dining space is 10'x7',  its a U-shaped kitchen with a corner sink.  There is a small window in sink corner and large window in dining space.  Lots of wood cabinets, tile counters and back-splash, vinyl floors, white appliances. The fridge and stove are right next to each other.

Dining space has door to garage and opens up to living room. Wall behind the fridge and stove separate kitchen from living room, the other interior wall in the kitchen separates the entry hallway and the kitchen.

My husband likes to cook and wants upgraded appliances. Currently, its just my husband and I living here but we hope to have children soon. We entertain pretty frequently, and have hosted dinner parties of 10-15 and kids birthday parties of 40-70, so having flexibility in the dining area is a must.

Here were my initial thoughts:

• Replace counters, back-splash, floor, sink, and appliances.
• Paint or replace cabinets. Add hardware to cabinets.
• Remove corner-built-in breadbox cabinet
• Add microwave over range
• Replace light fixture above sink
• Add under-cabinet lighting
  

Now that I'm thinking more on it, I wonder about a larger remodel project. Maybe:

• Open up all or some of wall behind the fridge and stove to open up to living room
• Move fridge and or sink (kitchen triangle)
• Create island or G shape
• Replace cabinets
• Increase/improve dining space

What would you do if you were me?  Is there something obvious that I should do with the space? Experience with U-shaped kitchens?

Here are some "before" pictures of what we're working with. (These are from before we moved in.)

Thanks for taking the time to read -- and any feedback you have would be helpful! 

AprilZ81

If it is at all within reach for you guys financially I would open up the wall to the living space.  The increased light alone would make it worth it, plus then the kitchen wouldn't be so cut off from the rest of the house.  Even if you can't fully remove the wall a large pass through would be a good compromise.

dalm0m

First things first: Budget.  It helps to know the residential real estate market in your area because you don't want to spend so much on the rennovation that you won't get your $$ back when you sell down the road.

The next thing I did was go to all the big box stores -- Home Depot & Lowes & scooped up all the catalogs.  They contain planning tools.  Going on line & reading about renovations was also helpful.

I think you can get away with new counters, new flooring, hew appliances & putting updated hardware on your cabinets.  You don't have  to replace them which is the most expensive part of your budget.  The catalogs had budget tools. 

IsaacA

If you can afford to take down the wall in the kitchen then I would do that and add a big island with eat at counter. However, loosing that wall would then make you need to remove some cabinets to put the fridge and the stove. I would either take down the wall of cabinets where the breadbox is and put them there OR I would take out the breadbox, upper, and lower for the fridge and leave the stove (in an island). Removing cabinets would mean new counters. Taking down the wall would mean new floors. I think you can leave the cabinets since they are in good shape and either re-stain or paint.

If you can't take down the wall, then I would paint the cabinets, update counters and floors. 

Good luck.