The trim in the second picture looks good, however, it doesn't look like the trim on the door. Is it the same?
If so, leave the trim stained and paint the door white.


As for the kitchen cabinets...well, dated is a very good description. I first would put my money into replacing them.

What type of look are you going for? I think there are definitely a lot of ways you can update the appearance, but a modern look is going to be very different than eclectic or something that would be in keeping with a historical appearance.
Do you have other pictures of the space and your style overall?

If possible, I would consider replacing the doors and adding thicker trim. Those doors look like composite doors which you cant stain. Your only option would be to paint them but then again painting all of your doors and trim is a huge pain and the quality might not come out as desired.

The doors displayed are veneers, therefore in re-stained or finishing the you must be cautious when sanding. Veneer is just a very thin layer of wood and can be sanded through. If you attempt this I recommend sanding by hand. However, replacing the doors could be good option.

@new england design & construction: The house is a spanish revival. We are trying to update the entire house to be a bit more modern but also keep some of the spanish feel. (The exterior is stucco/clay roof with some wood details.) So we dont want to have a completely different style on the interior. The interior primarily has the knockdown texture. It has nice tiled arches in areas. The problem is that all of the finishes are very very dated. We are going to start in the two smaller bedrooms since those will be easy to finish and consider "done" The issue is that I feel that whatever "trim/wood decision" we make for the entire house should be carried into those rooms. We could probably stand to keep the baseboard and just paint it white. However, a decision needs to be made for the doors. I was thinking they were veneer doors. I don't have any experience with staining etc. So I wasn't sure what the best option is. The doors are extremely light.. not sure if that helps determine if they are veneer or not.

@judyG designs. you are correct about it not being the same trim. That particular trim is around a mirrored bifold door that is adjacent to the doors in the other photo. I took the picture quickly and didnt realize it was different.

If you can't sand, cupboard doors and kitchen cupboards could be painted with milkpaint and I believe you don't have to sand (change handles on all). You could take down the border and change paint color to help with some updating before a complete redo. Good luck.
houzz=]

in the kitchen you might replace the cabinet doors and paint the kitchen white with new hardware
Add a rough hewn wooden floor
And some added elements such as the stain glass window
ref inpiration pic