Decide how much you want to spend before you even think about what to do. Do these cabinets function really well and do you work easily with the layout? Do you want to invest in stone counters or will laminate meet your needs?

Some immediate updating would be wall paint to blend with the floor, new lighting, remove upper cabinet decor and the chest in eating area.

wall color is not right for these cabinets. paint off white or a grayed light green. remove most of the clutter/décor.

do you want to keep the cabinets because you like them or do you have a budget.

if you like the cabinets and they work for you I would suggesting painting them in a light colour. You will get a much cleaner and modern look by removing all the extra bits and pieces scattered about the kitchen.

Perhaps a larger and more contemporary light fitting

Thanks for all your comments! I don't really have a budget. Just don't want to get into a really big project. I am concerned that if I update the cabinets in anyway that may lead to having to up date much more (appliances, flooring, rest of house :)! If I paint them a light colour as hkuk suggests, will it look okay with my pine doors? Lighting -- do I replace both the pot light and the little light? -Any suggestions? Bgfuqua thanks for the paint suggestions - agreed needs light paint! And yes, I need to remove clutter.

and yes… thinking of stone or manmade stone for counter and tile for backsplash? Should colour go with floor?

Bunch of things you can do or not have to do depending on your budget. Some of the Houzz pros can suggest the specifics of colors and materials. Also, please provide views of the kitchen from other angles so we can see dining area that's part of it and the other kitchen wall

--Get all the stuff off the tops of the cabinets. Find another place for what looks like a wooden trash can. There's also something in the middle of the kitchen floor. Do you really need it? If you ruthlessly declutter stuff from inside cabinets and drawers and on the countertops, you have a nice u-shaped kitchen that should have enough counterspace for your needs.

--Keep the cabinets, trim, and doors the same. You don't necessarily need to paint them right now since it would involve painting all your trim, doors, etc.

--Get a new light-colored coordinated backsplash and counters--hope others can suggest what direction to go in with those.

--Cabinet upgrades: Add decorative cabinet molding to take them all the way to the ceiling for a taller look. Replace one or two cabinet doors with glass fronts provided the glassware, dishes, and pottery you store inside are visually interesting and arranged neatly.

--Install a fabulous new, much larger light fixtures in the kitchen and dining area.

--Decide on a much lighter, more sophisticated paint color for the kitchen and dining area that's part of the kitchen.

This doesn't have to cost a fortune.

Could you put an extended counter top on the peninsula? Would two small chairs fit? What about a new frosted panel door? Paint colour needs to change to a lighter colour. Also paint the door and trim, the window trim above the sink.

I would start with paint on wall and new decor, what does the rest of your home look like I am just trying to get a feel for your taste? I don't suggest painting all the trim and doors unless you plan to take it through your entire house, honestly the maintenance of painted trim is a pain in the butt, I find myself missing the wood trim!

From a functionality standpoint, the first thing I would suggest is removing the wooden trash can, and install a pull out unit in a base cabinet nearer your sink or where you prepare meals. I would not like to have to walk to the end of the counter to dispose of all my cooking scraps, I'm way too messy, plus it takes up too much space in your walkway.
I agree with the above comments to remove most or all of the cabinet top items, and paint the room much lighter in a color which doesn't fight the orange in the cabinets, and replace the small kitchen ceiling fixture. These things could be done for probably $500 if you paint yourself. More drastic changes would be dependent on your budget... But just these few changes would make a huge difference. Then you could decide whether to spend the big bucks for a big project of new countertop & backsplash or cabinets. Just a thought.

Great advice from people above. Updating this kitchen is not a big deal if you choose new lighting, new paint and remove the items on top of the cabinets. I agree it can be done for $500 or less. Change the artwork and displayed items. Bigger artwork on the walls has far more impact.

I wanted to say if you do change the counter-top you could do an overhang on the end of the peninsula which would give you a breakfast spot without needing to have one in center of kitchen- and I too would put the trash into a cabinet- (you would just need to re-home dresser)

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wow great ideas! It's interesting how much others can see that you don't. Like the trash can idea installed in cabinet. My cabinets are pretty empty so I can do that. The dressser can absolutely go! And definitely time to rid myself of those old brass plates. I used to refinish old antiques. Have many odd unmatched pieces throughout the house. House is cedar outside, wood trim and doors throughout. Hardwood and ceramic throughout. Going to do one room at a time starting with kitchen. Love the advice! please keep it coming!

Your wood is gorgeous, I wouldn't change it!

Your kitchen looks great. Yes, start with taking stuff off the cabinets, taking small things off the wall, attaching paper towel holder to inside cabinets or from cabinet, hiding garbage can, possibly moving cabinet from dining area, getting new fantastic and larger pendant lights in kitchen, dining, and living areas (sorry, more than$500 for those), and painting the walls a pale color that doesn't have any yellow, red, or orange in it. Pale teal? Gray? Pale sage? Depends on what you have for art on walls and rugs in the living room. All of it should flow harmoniously colorwise, so plan your new paint color carefully. You can add backsplash and counters if the budget allows. But now that I see the cabinets, I would keep them unpainted.

Any chance of moving your office stuff to make the kitchen, dining, and living area just a living/entertaining area? I know it's nice to have a computer near the kitchen, but you have a great living space there, and the office setup throws off the flow.

I once did a kitchen makeover on a small budget by simply removing all cabinet doors and re-staining the boxes and crown moldings a medium to dark chocolate color. I replaced all the doors with more modern "shaker Styled square flat panel door"; (You can get them at a local hardware like Home Depot.) and painted them to match the cabinet boxes in a medium dark chocolate color as seen in the photo below. I then changed out the hinges to euro styled concealed hinges, and the pulls to more modern stainless steel ones, and it made a huge difference in the kitchen!

Tip: A local cabinet shop can provide the service of restaining your boxes by first preping your kitchen in plastic to protect ceiling and floors and then lightly sanding to boxes with 400grit sandpaper, then tinting sanding sealer with desired stain color using pneumatic spray gun. Another easy tric is to pick out replacement doors in desired color and simply spraying your boxes to match! Add new pulls and Euro styled concealed hinges and you're done!

Ahh yes now that I see the whole room. I think that paint in both rooms is the first thing to work on. ( So now the project just got a wee bit bigger, sorry! ) You'll have to take down all the stuff from the walls and cabinets anyway, so it's an opportunity to redo that. Your woodwork is really nice so I would go with a color that shows it off, something in a light green, off white, or even light blue, but with grey in them. That will also help tie in with your black furniture. I also would consider removing the little island from the kitchen... It looks like you do have a lot of counter space already, and it seems just like an obstacle in the middle of the room. I love the idea suggested above of eventually making your peninsula counter deeper so you'd have a small sitting area at it... For If and when you change the countertops.

Easiest and most cost-effective thing to do would be new paint (color doesn't look good with cabinets), de-clutter, and add a backsplash that could pull in the paint color and countertops. Having remodeled our kitchen last year, it is a HUGE undertaking and expense! Looks like the layout and amount of storage works, so why start from scratch?

Thanks everybody! Wow -- very inspirational. Curious why not yellow tones? And why grey? Everything I have is earthy warm tones? Will it be okay to go with a light cream colour paint? I do like greens and teals. I am typically a gallery white gal. The terra cotta was a step outside my comfort zone a few years ago. Any more advice I am all ears! I will post pics once completed (is it every really completed?!? So I will paint, replace counter, add backsplash, change fixtures, remove clutter. Great ideas for changing cabinets -- maybe in a few years I will attempt that one! Housegal -- I have an office upstairs and one downstairs. I can't live without my weekend one! My husband and I both work from home. Next on our list is the family room area so maybe when we do that -- the old computer desk will go! Maybe I could mount the monitor by the counter where the new Breakfast Counter will be?

Hi again. Orange and yellows are at the same end of the color spectrum and value as the wood cabinets, trim, doors so it all "reads" as too much orange. There's no contrast. I hope some of the color gurus on Houzz weigh in on this thread. If they don't, then post your photos on a new thread asking just about wall color and let us know what is outside as well. If you're in the woods, for example, the light will be affected by that and the direction light is coming from. In any case, the experts will need to see your living room as well--a whole other ballgame very likely. Just title your thread: "Need kitchen living room paint suggestions" and let everyone know you're keeping the cabinets and paint trim for now.

As for the office setup, any chance you could find a good-looking sofa table that goes well with other pieces and borrow a dining chair for the times you're sitting down with your computer downstairs? I actually can't see what the setup is there. More photos of that and the living room? But watch out, everybody's going to jump in with ideas. :) In an open space like you have the kitchen isn't something separate but part of one room, so they should both work well together.

Here is a render with a 'Grey' Wall colour to get some idea of what it could look like..

Agree... paint will change everything! keep cabinets and trim, go light with walls & backsplash, increase lighting, remove trash collector and declutter. Keep the island only if you love it.

Now I'm not sure about the gray even though it brings out the wood. Would depend on the blacksplash and counter, too. Can you try out a very pale teal or pale sage green, Andrew Boundener?

Found these two oak cabinet kitchens with green and blue painted walls.

I'm a huge fan of painting out cabinets. I did out kitchen oak for about $100 and a weeks worth of elbow grease. BUT in your case I would simply just change the wall colour first and go from there!

the easiest way to play around with the colour is to go to a paint manufacturers site and upload a photo and use their software for free. here is one I use
its www.wattyl.com.au and go to colour designer and play around there. don't worry if the colour isn't exactly correct as you will need a few sample pots of paint to get the look you want. Upload as many pictures as you want and keep the ones you like, You shouldn't worry about the names of the paint local manufacturers would have something similar, you're only after the impression each tone gives.

You are talking to someone who is 95% thru a kitchen update and we kept our cabinets. So, there are two ways you can go to get new look:

1. Go darker thru N hance (look online, very affordable) or
2. Paint. Which we did with a great painter who took our busy orangy oak to a gray/white.

N-hance:


Then, add rope lights to the top of the cabinets and lose those fake plants.

Painted cabinets, simple subway tile backsplash with rope lights above:

A new faucet/sink makes a huge impact:
https://www.houzz.com/photos/3rd-street-bungalow-traditional-kitchen-austin-phvw-vp~214422

When you get new countertops (quartz is clean and simple!), do an overhang and add a few stools.

Andrew Bounader thank you for doing the image and the website for me to play around with it myself - Wow! housegal - love those photos and colour -- and thank you for explaining the reason for the colours… guess I was thinking tone on tone more than contrast --- but I get it now. We do live in the woods and have very cold dreary winters (worried the blue will make it feel colder!) I will absolutely look to do something with the clunky desk and great that you explained the flow of the room. I have begun to declutter and looks much better already! Fake plant gone and all lol! (can't believe I actually had that there!) I do have lights above cabinets now and had purchased new ones to replace but will check out the "rope lights". pcmom1 - thanks you for the great images with links and inspiration. Now with everyones input, I would love to paint the cabinets - but don't want to get into painting all my trim and doors! My husband loves the subway tile. I will definitely do an overhand on the counter -- love that sink too. Thanks all!

I would start with new countertops and build around those. Check these videos out for some ideas.

Go very, very pale colors--paler than the colors in the photos I showed--to start. The warmth of your wood windows, doors, trim, and cabinets is plenty to make things cozy in there. You could just paint the walls and even the backsplash for now, continue with your rearranging, decluttering and see where you are. Then decide about backsplash, countertops, and possbily painting the cabinets. (BTW, the creamy countertops in the first photo look great with the wood cabinets shown when you get around to that.) Good luck and keep us posted on your results. Start a new thread to get specific color suggestions.

Yes, much easier to start with the countertop and build other choices around that!

Here's a Houzz link to paint colors compatible with wood, not cabinets, per se, but wood trim, built-ins, furniture, etc. Note one of the whites is "Mayonnaise" a lovely Benjamin Moore white that someone in the Comments recommends.
https://www.houzz.com/magazine/11-terrific-paint-color-matches-for-wood-details-stsetivw-vs~9025200

Countertops -- was really thinking the quartz but the marble and granite in those videos are beautiful! Thanks allgranite for sharing. housegal200 -great advice again. Think I will paint first and then see what things look like before I do the counter and backsplash. I am leaning towards. The info on the above link is fantastic! Lots of colours and advice to think about there! Appreciate all your input! Thanks!

Quartz is zero maintenance!

I, too, have a house done in oak cabinetry and trim. I used to think yellows or creams were my only options to match the warmth of the wood tone. Until I tried a wonderful gray/green color! The wood is warm...and outdoorsy...and natural looking. What goes better with that than a soft green that is outdoorsy as well?! The color I have now is from Lowe's.. Valspar Cherokee Tan, one of their heritage colors. I have people ask me all the time what it is. My mom swears it is gray, others say green. It changes, depending on the lighting and time of day. It is so restful. And calms down the orange-ness of the oak.
My daughter did a similar tone in her house..same color trim. It looks amazing. Her house has lots of floor to ceiling windows...7 in the great room...and it is a great color that doesn't compete with the view outdoors.
Just another idea...

If you painted the walls a lighter color it will open the space up a bit more and really help the overall look of the kitchen. A backsplash would look wonderful in your kitchen. Our Aspect 3''x6'' glass tile would look great!

Any updated pictures?? :)

wow! so exciting!