Kitchen Questions

I have been itching to get a window installed in our kitchen eating area since we moved into our house.  Our kitchen is very dark and installing a window on that wall, which is on the south side of the house, should really help brighten it up with natural light.  The problem is, there is a Mr. Slim air conditioning unit on that wall as well, which is making it harder to figure out what size and style window to install.  If the air conditioner wasn't there, I'd probably go for a bay window.  Here's what I'm dealing with:

The wall is about 11 1/2 feet long and the air conditioner takes up a third of that length.  Any suggestions?  I don't think moving the air conditioner is an option either.  We don't really have anywhere else on the first floor to install it. 

Another thing I have been thinking of doing is painting our kitchen cabinets white.  That would also help brighten up our kitchen, plus it would look better with our color scheme.  I watched a video on the Young House Love blog of them painting their kitchen cabinets white, and I totally think Justin and I could do it.  Just need to find the time, which is the tricky part!  Here's our kitchen now: 

My ultimate goal with the kitchen is to blow out the wall between the eating area and the kitchen and open the room up. 

I'd then redo the whole room. New cabinets, new appliances and a breakfast bar/peninsula.  I think there's enough space to do that, I just need to figure out the layout.  Oh, and win the lottery.  Haha.  Small detail.  Fortunately, our kitchen functions just fine for us now since a kitchen remodel isn't in our budget and likely won't be for many years.  Any non-budget-breaking suggestions on how to pretty up our current situation are welcome though!