We're the same height/age and have had similar paths for fitness, so I thought I'd share my pics (you can ignore the top left one--that's from a long time ago before I got chubby). My other pics go from 205->160->175. I found that after I cut I was unhappy with how I looked because I hadn't really built up much muscle (was particularly disappointed with abs as well). When I decided to bulk (gaining ~.5 pounds a week) I ended up looking better than I did down at 160 since I didn't have much muscle to get down to. I think it's up to you for what you want to do, but you might find that if you cut down to your goal weight you might still not have visible abs because you haven't really given them a good chance to grow yet.
Also I think what helped me a lot with abs are squats, deadlifts, and front squats with a bar (not a smith machine). Trying to keep the bar balanced/in a straight path requires a lot of core and I don't think a smith machine is going to work that as much as a bar will (especially with squats).