So I normally hate posting projects that aren't finished, but with the craziness of our lives right now, people asking me to post pictures, and having just had baby #3 last week, I'll just post where we're at right now.
Here is the picture of our kitchen before:
... and here is the kitchen currently...
Dave raised the upper cabinets to the ceiling and added the open shelving underneath. He put in a real range hood and added a shelf over the stove. He also built the cabinet around/above the fridge and painted all the cabinets.
We replaced the old countertop with black honed granite and added the subway tile backsplash.
We removed the cabinet to the right of the window to use in the play room and will be replacing it with rustic wood open shelving. I'll post later about each detail and sources as well as paint colors. We still have a bit of work to do and need to refinish a table for the eating area. But for now, I have to go change a diaper :-)