When I bought the house in 1994, the dishwasher had been leaking. Of course, the previous owner had continued to use it!! This damaged the 3/8" particle board sub-floor. The base cabinets were set on top of the particle board, so I had to remove them to fix the floor.

I also want to change some electrical stuff, so I opened up the wall from the floor to the top of the first sheet of drywall (4 ft). This will also allow me to replace the R-11 insulation in the west wall with R-15. Behind the sink cabinet, I decided to install 1/2" plywood instead of drywall, because the cabinet is open in the back - the plywood will handle abuse better.

The north wall of the kitchen is a 2x6 "water wall" (lots of plumbing). While I have the bottom half of the north wall open, I'll stuff in some insulation to reduce the drain pipe water noise (never really heard it before, but this is the time to do it). I will also be replacing 2 duplex outlet boxes with quad boxes and additional switches for the ceiling can lights and the under-counter lights.

The last 3 pictures show a plywood mock-up of the counter top layout, except that the corners nearest the refrigerator will be clipped (about 4")