Those big square holes are where support beams would be anchored to hold up the 2nd floor.
Art and I took down that center island to the left to create a larger kitchen from the kitchen/dining room combination. We replaced the island with a smaller storage cabinet area.
We added a master sink by the windows. We also added a third window to what the architect suggested.
We kept that old sink (but moved it a little) to be a secondary sink for the sous chef (unh huh... That's me).
My cousin, Arnold and son, Jon helped Art install the cabinets. My brother, Dennis came to help with the tile work on the wall and floors.
Choosing the cabinets was one of the hardest choices we had to make but we settled on DeWils. 
The only problem we had was with our supplier who just wouldn't get the incorrect pieces replaced. Our contractor finally jumped in and got everything delivered for us. Our contractor was Mike Chun of Aulii Construction.
As you can see, what used to be the dining room became the cooking area of the kitchen. Moving the stove was probably a little disorienting to my mom.
We did go through a lot of agony to change the kitchen but it was worth it and my mother loves it. There's still some detail work left to do but as I said before, it's all Art's retirement project.
I mean.... OUR retirement project.
