Kitchen/Dining Master Plan

This post has been a long time coming, mostly because diagramming the space was an exercise in ridiculousness since I apparently lack skills of a computer floor plan artist. I've been putting this off for month

Here's the situation now, complete with obnoxious walls and crazy colors.

All three of those rooms can be seen in my house tour, if you're wondering what on earth this diagram is referring to. I'll also share more detailed photos in the future.

And here's my master plan:  
(insert trumpet fanfare here)

 

Here are the deets:

• Paint, paint, paint. Living/dining areas will be BM  Edgecomb Gray, kitchen may eventually become BM Revere Pewter for a bit more contrast against the white kitchen cabinets. We'll see. Trim and ceiling panels in the dining room will be painted white, beams will (most likely) be left dark.
• Entrance between dining room and rest of house (that I was too lazy to diagram) will be widened as it is a major traffic flow area.
• Walls between kitchen and both other rooms removed to accommodate an 'L' shaped lower cabinet addition with bar area and stools. (Can't wait to have a more open kitchen!)
• Remove kitchen cabinets near garage entrance and replace with cubbies/benches - Shazam! Instant mudroom.
• Replace entire kitchen with a more fabulous updated version that includes standard sized cabinets... this will be a treat for me.
• Remove bizarre 2.5' wall section (that's in the worst possible place as far as traffic flow goes) between dining and living rooms (see photo below)

What do you think of my master plan? Do you think the trumpet fanfare was a bit much?

How old will my children be when my husband finally allows me to rip into my kitchen - what if they're in college??

Will I ever have a good picture taken of me while singing? How cute is that necklace?

These are just some of the important questions you should be pondering today.