San Francisco old house kitchen remodel - need advice

[Wen Chuang]

Dear all,

We have a family-owned house (built in 1935) which has some old world charm and we decided to keep the vintage master bath (green color) that's still in great condition. The house is about 3,000 sq ft (considered as a big house in SF), 4BR and 3BA (with one big sunroom and huge formal dining room that can be converted as a 5th BR). The current tenant just moved out and we have a window to fresh it up a little bit. The previous rent was $6,600/mo.

Over the years, we had done some minor upgrades to the kitchen. However, currently the kitchen still has the original formica countertop. Although still in great condition, it's starting to show its age. Here are some photos:

How would you remodel this kitchen to get the top dollar by spending the right amount of $$ on the most needed areas?

We are considering to do the following:

1. Replace the formica countertop with granite (new venus galaxy), replace backsplash with tiles (subway tiles?)

2. Replace the sink to be under-mount sink. Replace the faucet to a high-end one.

3. Replace the wooden chandelier with recessed light? (not sure if this would still kind of maintain the old world charm). our master bath is a well-maintained vintage green bathroom.

Any thoughts or comments?

Here is the granite countertop that we are considering (we want to keep the current cherry kitchen cabinets which is solid wood and great quality):

It seems to be very competitive on the rental market in SF now. Here is a comp which is smaller and in a less desirable neighborhood, but looks brand-new remodeled. Thanks!