You tear into a wall and there is no telling what you'll find or what might happen.

An additional note, of the three different quad-glazed windows we examined for use in renovation of our own house, they all required a minimum of 2x6 wall thickness and would probably work better in a thicker 2 x 8 stud wall.Insulated spacers in a triple glazed vinyl window (I've yet to find one with a real insulated frame) will probably give you the best performance / cost ratio.  

1) Clean up the plaster and paint2) New sink vanity with cabinet (hides the trash can) get rid of small table3) Replace painted tile on walls4) mount toilet paper holder on wall5) Clean / scrape window glass6) Hang decorative mirror over new vanity7) install medicine cabinet in left wall if there is room

Got a few bids from contractors to do everything from foundation work, new roof, central AC install, wall tear down to open up the kitchen, and new drywall throughout the house.  

My hope is to leave the exterior access and simply reopen the original wall/case and add back a few stairs to that landing.

(This is why you should tile all the way to the wall, not just up to the counters)Finally pull the dishwasher out far enough to unhook it.  

Your outside A/C is usually the only thing to worry about, although they'll tear the coppper out of your walls and do $20k worth of damage for $20 in copper in some areas. 

If it does happen do they start building walls around major cities or do we abandon everything and move in land?

I think it looks great, especially the goal against the wall paint color. 

There are little brown spots of fly poop on everything from the walls to light fixtures to window frames and everything in between.