Am I a hypocrite?

Probably. I have been cringing and crying every time I see people undervalue or rip out original kitchens for years. How can we get rid of our original vintage kitchen?!? This is something that I have struggled with and not a decision I take lightly.

The fact is that our kitchen was designed with a servant of some sort in mind. I love the metal cabinets but it is so secluded from the rest of the house that it would probably (combined with only having 2 bedrooms) force us to move out early. I have weighed the benefits of a new kitchen vs keeping or even updating the old and the choice seems obvious... even though it is a hard one.

The cost of painting the metal cabinets would (supposedly) be the same as buying new ones (the pink needs to be touched up if nothing else).

The layout of the old kitchen (if we kept the cabinets) is very limiting.

Modern appliances do not fit where old ones did so we would have to rethink half of the kitchen and probably get custom cabinets anyway.

The new kitchen opens the kitchen up to the rest of the house (Tyler has been closed off when preparing foods at parties which he hates).

The new kitchen gives us the chance to design our "dream kitchen" and hopefully will keep us in the house longer. The layout possibilities are endless!

The new kitchen makes the lower level make sense. No longer will we have a useless living room that basically acts as a hallway and is impossible to furnish. Plus the fireplace will be freaking sweet.

Moving the kitchen gives us a "third bedroom" even if it isn't actually a bedroom. We can close off playroom or craft messes and have a sense of privacy or "back of house."

We plan on using the cabinets elsewhere- in the basement or garage.

As much as it hurts me to think of our wonderful pink metal cabinets being ripped out I feel like it makes sense for our house and our family. We had both a midcentury modern realtor and architect give us their feedback and they were both supportive. It seems like upgrading our kitchen is inevitable (with the outdated appliances and vinyl tile floor) so we might as well make it our own right? I hope if we do it well no one (including me!) will miss the old kitchen...