Open 'Er Up

My kitchen is great! Open floor plan, large window above the sink, lots of work space and cabinets....maybe a few too many cabinets. We have some that hang from the ceiling and separates the dining room from the kitchen and puts a serious damper on the open floor plan:

It is not a good thing having cabinets separating the dining room and kitchen. You have to practically bend over and touch your toes to see into the other room. And I can't forget to mention how many times we have hit our heads on the corner of the cabinets...ouch! Yes, the storage was nice, but not nice enough to keep the cabinets around. These no-good cabinets need to come out, pronto.

After some quick demo work, the cabinets and vent-a-hood are no more. We had hoped to remove the header that the cabinets were on so there would be no break between the dining room and kitchen. However, when we got up in the attic to pull the vent-a-hood wire, there was a huge hole in the ceiling! Once again the builders took the cheap way and punched a hole in the ceiling to get the wire down instead of a nice little hole. And since I don't know how to match our ceiling texture or feel like patching a massive hole, the header must stay. Here is what the space is looking like without the hanging cabinets:

Much more open. (Ignore the shirtless hubby) And after I paint the header, the plan is to add three pendant lights over the bar and a matching pendant over the sink. I'm loving how much more open and inviting the kitchen is now.

Have you demoed cabinets to open up a space? Are you remodeling your kitchen on a non-existent budget?