Thought I'd report back on germinating beans with a nitrate solution. (Only a third [8/24] of my beans planted in ground earlier in May had germinated). In the cell pack with Miracle Grow I planted 72 beans. Thirty one germinated, so 43%. The cells were too small, so that a couple of beans got their roots growing over the stem, so that they could not get up out of the soil. Pretty weird to see a bean with true leaves trapped in the pro-mix, coiled twice,yet not able to escape the roots. Those roots were partly above the soil. Also, some beans came up with oddly thin stems. (That was the case in the garden as well.) Quite a few had trouble completely splitting their seed coats even after their were well above the soil, so I gave them a little help with that. Tonight I planted out as many as I could. Will be interesting to see how many survive transplant. I left the weaklings in the cell packs to see if they will develop any more. I still need to plant out a lot more but I'm going to move on to my seed purchased for 2018. Got to get them in pronto.

Take a look here, this transformation is perfect for your son's kitchen. http://www.remodelaholic.com/update-builder-grade-cabinets/ Other suggestions- 1) find someone like Trebuchet to change out your double sink for a large single sink (perhaps the same manufacturer will have one that perfectly fits the existing cutout). 2) add pullouts to your base cabinets. Ideally change them to drawers with new drawer fronts that match. 3) change stove to slide in style with stainless hood. The counter is beautiful and likely cost at least $4k installed. Not worth changing if it is not his forever home. I love my sink on the peninsula, and do think it would work well for you if the space between the arms of your "U" is about between 5- 5 1/2 feet, but changing that is not within the possibility of your budget. I like the wood flooring but that decision can be deferred if you are not changing the cabinet layout. Also the upper cabinet opening from the center over the peninsula sometimes works in in these older kitchens because the hinges allow complete 180 degree swing. In my kitchen, I deliberately added inset pin hinges to my cabinets in that location to get the 180 degree swing, and tested my reach physically so that the contents could be easily accessed. I have hidden Euro hinges with soft close on the rest of my uppers, but they only open 135 degrees. I will bet that even here at GW, nobody has ever noticed that my hinges are different in that location (benjesbride kindly linked my reveal above, the pin hinges are on the mirrored upper cabinets over the peninsula). HTH

Hey. When was the last time you found a bag of clothes pins in someones house? Not the cute/colored plastic ones you squeeze. The old wood ones, fixed position. I remember both, and the line in the back forty on which stuff dried. I also remember the wringer washer, ( the last on planet EARTH ) which my dad dug up for my mom somewhere in.... Iowa......? She kept that machine alongside a set of Maytags, grudgingly using the dryer for towels and the washer only for its spin cycle. Her laundry was a space near the bottom of the basement stair, untouched after the "remodel" that gave us the green Ozite carpet, hideous vinyl clad couch, and the turn table spinning those memorable Motown 45's. Another section was a tidy tool shed, and a former dirt floor fruit cellar was converted to my Dads, office. The "mud room" was a bunch of pegs on the stair landing, and winter boots and mittens dried in the DINING room on top of the radiator, or in the kitchen if you ran out of room on that radiator half hidden by the kitchen table. She didn't GET the dryer until all three of us were past playing in snow. She didn't want it, Dad jammed it down her tonsils. Where was I going with this? ....OH! . The house was neat as a pin. Nobody ever wanted for a washed anything, she washed every day, immediately after we left for school. Laundry, blinding WHITE laundry was her "thing" . You couldn't take a scissors from my dads desk, or a hammer from his tool room shop and not risk wrath if you forgot to put it back exactly. If you left a bike in the driveway and he had to move it? It went up to the rafters by a front tire and you were a walking fool for a full week. The house never had a dishwasher other than the three of us. Everyone went everywhere they were going ...... immaculately clean , healthy and on time. .......and did that from one main bath, an immaculate and pretty darn ugly bath with a sheet vinyl floor. I go in and out of far better homes, and have for nearly three decades. I am the "evil" designer making them better yet, despite even the original may be something that would have thrilled the parents. More days than I can count, I see brand new chaotic kitchens, overstuffed laundry rooms where nobody can discern clean from dirty. I see walk in closets for kids where clothes haven't seen a shelf or hanger in weeks. ..........and that's after I've tripped over whatever is left behind on the bedroom floor. I exit through a stylish "mud and cubby hall" that overflows with shoes and who knows WHAT despite the bins and baskets and ship lap. Know what I do? I get in the car and mutter to myself............" Mom, you wouldn't believe it. You just wouldn't believe it." Frankly, even I can't believe it , many many days. Nobody appears any happier than we were. It's all just a lot better looking and a lot more "convenient" : ) LMAO.

We had similar soffits and peninsula with cabinets that obstructed our view to the BR and backyard in our U-shaped kitchen. I hated how I had to duck down to see the BR, and I'm not tall. We also had a 3' wide, floor to ceiling wall at the end of the peninsula (it housed electrical outlets and wiring. The floor did not go under the peninsula. We had all removed and a large island put in, which dramatically opened up the space, but it was all a part of a major kitchen remodel (new everything, except tile floors, which we had done just a couple of years before (were able to get additional 20 x 20 tiles for parts of the new floor)). I only bring this up because our kitchen remodel cost was 9x your budget, and that was 14 years ago. I cannot imagine doing much with 15-20K. HOWEVER, I think a good place to start would be to remove the overhead cabinets and the soffit (on the right in the first picture), then replace all countertops, and making that peninsula all one level. This would leave the rest of your cabinets, but I don't think you have the budget to replace, or even paint them, now, and I'd leave that for when you might want to remodel the entire kitchen (including cabs, floors, appliances). There might be ductwork in the soffit, too. Just removing the cabinets and leaving the soffit will look odd, but even that would really open your kitchen to the lighter dining space. Good luck to you in this journey!