You will need to at least design the new kitchen now. Building it now would probably save a bit of money.

You need to think about ventilation. I see you have a useless non ducted OTR at the present and presumably you will want something that is actually effective. That means a vent to the exterior. That vent is generally the most effective when it goes straight up through the roof. The most effective venting requires a 10" duct. You can create a drywall chase through the bedroom to accomplish that, but it would be less unsightly if that chase went through a closet. Or you can plan to take the ductwork straight up, turn 90 degrees and exit out the wall that the sink is located on. The ductwork could then be hidden in the top shelf of a tall cabinet or small stacked cabinet atop the lower ones or a soffit.

In addition to planning the correct placement of the recessed lighting and ENOUGH of them (people always skimp and/or put them in the wrong places and forget dimmers) you need to plan to have undercabinet lighting, also on dimmers.

Your layout appears functional, so you can probably get by with a mere "refresher" rather than a full blown to the studs remodel. Paint the cabinets, add new counters and better lighting and you will have an entire new kitchen.

thanks for the info! It is a good space, but actually using it is not so great. Our fridge is wedged in next to a wall, so you can't even open the door all the way. I want to try to extend the counter all the way to that wall and move the fridge if possible, so it is on the far wall facing where the stove is now. Stove and sink are fine where they are placed. The stove annoys me horribly; it is bottom of the line, and I cook a LOT.
And yes, the microhood is not great; I would definitely get a real hood with the new stove.

I suggest you post this over on the Kitchens forum. There are some really great design minds over there, and they will be able to provide a lot of inspiration and ideas. :-) On the first page you'll find a "read me" thread with a lot of good info to go in with. Be sure to post your picture and current layout, or a drawing with measurements.

Have fun,
Cj

I'm sorry, I should have posted a link to the "New to Kitchens" thread. Here it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Getting started on the Kitchens forum

Venting (8" duct round, or...) and a bigger countertop over the island. Do as much now as you can. DIY the rest.

"Venting (8" duct round, or...)"

look up the vent size for hoods you might like to use in the future.

Changes as simple as joist direction and height can make ducting easy or impossible.

thank you for the info and link! I am now obsessively thinking about my pendants over the island...not sure what I want but I don't want to have to switch them later...

Changing light fixtures is very simple.

Adding or moving electric boxes may be not bad to a PITA.

I don't know much about structural issues. Is the span small enough that you do not need a support beam? If it could be in the middle of the kitchen. Have you talked to a builder/designer to see if this is a feasible span that can be turned into a bedroom. For example, you may need to tear out the other rooms to create a cantilevered joists from the other rooms thus increasing the cost.

If you don't want to deal with much now, just don't close in the underside of the new floor. You're probably stuck with running the joists a particular way already, but if not consider which way would make running venting easier. You can run wires any way you want, but not an 8" vent unless you want to either have a very deep cavity, or soffit in the vent.

Also, are you going to worry about noise between the bedroom and kitchen? We insulated all the walls/ceiling around our master bedroom to cut down on noise. Here again, any of that will be done from the kitchen side (ceiling) so can be done when you do the kitchen.

You can always nail heavy poly up on the kitchen side to help control any dust that might come through until you are ready to do the kitchen.

I'd also be interested in seeing how they are dealing with the support issues. My house is balloon framed, meaning the wall sections go from sill to roof, and the floor joists are attached to the wall with hangers, they don't sit on top of it for support. When we redid that section, we put studs below the joists for added support, but they had been that way for about 75 years with no problem. This room is about 16' across.

We also increased the wall depth to 6" to add insulation, so you don't see the 4" stud that is alongside the new one that is underneath the joist.

Here is another picture showing how they are attached. This part of the house was added on, so you can see the orignial exterior wall of the first part -including the roof overhang . . .

macybaby, thank you so much for those pics!! Was it an addition over a high ceiling? It looks very similar to what we are doing. Thanks for reminding me about the insulation; I did think of that months ago and want to mention to the contractor that I want to do noise the blocking type.