Remodeling a small kitchen, looking for investor perspective

[George S.]

I recently purchased a SFH (~2000sf, 3br, 2.5ba) in Maryland (good deal on a fixer upper with no major problems). At first I was excited about all the renovation possibilities, but since I don't really see myself living here longer than I have to (~2 years), my practical side started taking over. I anticipate spending $25k to $50k when all the fixing/remodeling is done. The house was built in the 70's. No gas in the kitchen.

It is a 9'x11' kitchen with an adjacent dining area ~9'x9'.  The appliances are probably from the 80's, and in bad shape.  The counter (laminate) is bent in the middle at the sink, and the supporting cabinets don't seem to be helping.

Here is a remodel plan that imitates the original layout (has all the plumbing/electrical to support this configuration without modification):

The sink (dark blue) counter is 9ft long.  The dishwasher location is green.  The purple windows on the right wall are ~33" from the floor to the top of the interior window sill.  The red box is a stand-alone range (electric, no gas hookups) and the blue box is the fridge.  A microwave could possibly go over the range. The yellow walls are the ones I wish would disappear.  I would probably put a low table/storage cabinet in front of the kitchen window.

The wall section containing the fridge and range is about 68" wide, and 37"deep.

This leaves a really small kitchen with minimal counter and cabinet space.

Then I have had some ideas to open it up without sacrificing much dining area.

Another view:

The things that could dent the budget:  (Still mad that most of this can't be DIY) 

Hopefully this can be done for around/under $5,000 mixing DIY with hired out work.

-Removing the suspected non-load-bearing wall portion.

-Running the appropriate wiring for the new stovetop location.

-Switching the DW to the left side of the sink (copper hard lines run to DW)

-Raising the window sills 4"-10" (either flush with counter, or 6" above) to accommodate a standard height counter.

***This isn't actually too bad, I do need replacement windows anyway, and smaller size partially makes up for the materials to fill the window***

The things that could hurt rental profitability (but potentially raise resale interest/vale):

More open kitchen feel, built in wall oven/microwave, built in cooktop (induction) easily vented outside, much more cabinet space.

Avoiding the L-shape leaves ~32" clearance for a pullout trash cabinet, and ~42" clearance for the dishwasher to open.

To minimize these high cost issues in a rental, I have found replacement scratch/dent radiant or coil drop in cooktops for ~$200.  The microwave can be removed, and the hole cleaned up so the renter can supply their own.