Progress in the kitchen

Here are some not so great drawings of the original and the new floor plans.

Before:

After:
Before: One of the only pictures I have before we started making changes. Although I loved the huge island it was HUGE. It had no flow, blocking the other half of the kitchen and only had a small amount of storage space for its size. It was also covered in carpet, who does that anyways?! The first changes we made were to repaint the cabinet doors, paint the ceiling, and the walls were painted red.
I also faux painted the ugly backsplash, adding the "roadrunner" and fake brick.
It was at this time that we removed the built in oven (that didn't work) and got a new free standing oven. Bryan moved the laundry room door over about 2 feet and installed a new solid wood door. The other doorway (leading out back) will have a matching door.

Bryan has installed the recessed lights and electrical outlets for the new "desk". It is taller than I would like, but we have decided to leave it at that height. Which will allow us to use it as a "workspace" as well as a desk. We still need to buy the upper cabinets and decide on the shelving that I would like for baskets, mail, etc.. Countertops will be a light grey tile. The backsplash will be really cool small granite tiles, with larger tiles around the sink area and "workspace". Stainless steel hardware will be installed on all cabinetry. Since the old drawers were made of plastic, Bryan will be making new wood drawers with the existing fronts.

The floor is almost finished, I still need to grout under the stove and fridge and then seal it. That will be done in the next day or two. Bryan will be hanging the small pieces of drywall and fixing the holes in the wall that were found when we removed the paneling.

Here are a few of the distressed cabinets that I found while searching online. I haven't decided on the extent of the "damage" I will inflict on the cabinets. I plan on beating them up a little, then applying stain to the exposed areas, but I'm not sure if it will be on the edges only or all over.

We will also be leaving the new cabinetry unpainted and they will only be slightly distressed.

The ends of the island, pantry, and workspace will be cover with tongue and groove wainscotting, like the above image. I love the look of the posts on the end of the cabinets, but I didn't ask for them soon enough and will have to do without. I still need to take our existing doors to the cabinet maker so that he can make new pantry doors. The pantry will have two large doors that hinge in the middle opening up to 3 large sliding shelves. We haven't decided on moulding, although I am leaning towards a very simple moulding with either crown moulding around the top of the cabinets or some decorating trim.

New light fixtures and potrack will go above the island. I love the look of these lights, but not the price. We will also be adding beams on the opposite side of the room to balance out the already existing beams. We are still discussing what to do with the hood exhaust. Bryan would like to install a microwave/exhaust system, I would like a simple exhaust that actually vents outside. We also need to buy a new dishwasher, sink, faucet, and fridge, but those will have to wait a few months at least. I would love to install new windows and possibly patio doors, that would lead out to a deck. The deck is not in the near future so I doubt I get my new doors anytime soon. This has been a looooooong project but the end is in sight.