I know you are here for the "after" pics, so I will get right to it.
Here are some side by sides.
We peeled the wall back, moved the sink over, installed new cabinets and countertops.
We moved the fridge from this wall to where the oven was, moved the dishwasher to the right of the sink, and got rid of the bulkhead. That allowed us to install 40" upper cabinets, maximizing how much storage we had here. We installed a 12" cabinet at the end for cookbooks. We did this in our first home and found it so valuable that we have done it in every kitchen since.
We got a counter depth fridge so it wouldn't be as intrusive in the space. The cabinets to the right are used as a pantry.
There is only one 40" tall cabinet on this wall, and it holds more than the three cabinets that were there before. We have done open shelves in all of our kitchens in the last three houses we lived in, so this was a no brainer for us.
This was a tough color to photograph. The pictures with the darker color are a more accurate depiction of the color on the cabinets.
We installed 40" tall cabinets and made good use of all of the height we had. At the end of the day, we had the same amount of storage that there was before.
Not bad for some sweat equity.
Check out this post on the design plan and hiccups we ran into during this renovation.