Other side of kitchen after first redo.

You have too much of one tone in your kitchen. I would recommend when you reface your cabinets you use your wood floor finish as a guide for what finish goes on your cabinets. Since you will be doing recessed lighting throughout, light will not be a problem. I've attached a picture of a kitchen that has similar (light to medium) floors and light to medium counter top. You may want to consider doing a lighter paint on your walls as well.

Hello! Try adjusting the knob. It is well to add a patina to the warm and the lighting. Color to make softer.

Thanks Karen!! This is a beautiful kitchen, my base cabinets are white, would it be ok that the insides would be left white? I am diffinitly going lighter with the paint color thoughout my kitchen and living room.

Lompier, thanks you for you suggestion, changing hardward can make a difference, but I just change the hardware not long ago and what to use what I have now. :)

I am jealous of those white cabinets! Mine are dark dark dark, but I like their contrast with our light floor. How about adding a darker floor via peel and stick tiles or inexpensive laminate? (I know wood is popular, but with kids, I love the easy to clean/replace stuff best.)

Hi feeny, I've consider some glass cabinets, don't know if I want to commit to having to have them all neat, well most of the time ;)

crtown12 that's what I'm afraid of, if I were to go dark I would tire of them quickly, while I love my dark dark hardwood it may all be too much dark ;(
changing floor is not an option at this point

thanks for the suggestions, keep 'em coming!

Why don't you try to count how many cabinets you would need for glassware (which always looks neat) and for your china. Even if you put in only one pair of glass cabinets it would help open up the look. I completely understand about not wanting to commit to keeping your cabinets neat all the time, but some things you will be putting in your cabinets anyway are what I'd call inherently neat. There is almost no way to make glassware look messy. Cereal boxes, on the other hand......

You could go with a reeded glass that will still look light and airy but will not give a clear view of the contents of your cupboard.

And here's an ideabook on cabinet glass so you can see photos of different options in context:
https://www.houzz.com/magazine/choose-your-kitchen-cabinet-glass-stsetivw-vs~2205796

Loving the suggestion guys, I do have some pretty everday dishes that would give a splash of color and also some all white bakeware that would look pretty.

Anna, love the idea of making the pantry look like a separate piece of furniture! I could go with the darker stained look there and have the a lighter or white color everywhere else.

How would using glass for the two end cabinets on both sides and maybe the corner cabinet on the right side of the room look?

Cynthia, that might work. Love the concept

Thank you all so much! Lots of inspiration and ideas!

Houzredo, with a marked preference for white kitchens based on houzz feedback, and most folks looking to eliminate or modify their wood cabinets, perhaps your kitchen update only needs the addition of stainless appliances. They would be a great investment for resale and would add some sparkle to your already pleasant kitchen.

I'd love to go on Anna's idea to have frosted glass , and Cynthia's viewpoint as well to put Reeded Glass both are good options , as far as colour is concerned the present kitchen has a Matching Range and Micro and once you change to any dark colour they will stand out ! would you like that Look ? as in Karen Paul's attached pic.

While I love the idea of the making the pantry dark, you have one problem there. The kick board at the bottom is white and is one piece with cabinet right of it so you will either have to leave it white which will then stick out next to the darker cabinet or make it all darker and it won't match the cabinet above it. I guess the third option is to paint the one board two colors but that might look strange as well.....And I would recommend either staying with white or going really dark as suggested above on the cabinets. Everything else in your kitchen is mid tones and a warmer white or a glazed cabinet is going to put your cabinets in the middle road as well. As far as which cabinets to put glass inserts into I would go with the two sets on either side of the stove and the middle set on the other side. Putting them on the end cabinets doesn't break up the vast amount of white cabinetry you have going on. This would be way more cost effective than redoing the cabinets anyways. Another thought, I love the idea of painting them a chocolate color if refinishing them to a wood grain isn't an option price wise. And if you just paint them chocolate you could do inside and out so that it all matches.

That's a great solution Anna!

Anna, yes all three door styles would be too much, I was just thinking of have the two end cabinet on either side glass and maybe the one in the corner. Will have to look into different paint color for the cabinet, but I think I would lean more towards stained wood, that would give me the warmth I think I'm needing/looking for. Good call on the molding!

Michigmmemom, thank you! Once I started search houzz I did notice everything tends to lean toward lighter cabinets. The addition of stainless appliances is what let to all the cabinet changes in the first place. The new fridge is 2 inches taller than the fridge we have now, thus having to have the cabinet raised which led me to start thinking about updating the doors. I wanted a larger (deeper) cabinet with organizer in it to store cookie sheet, cutting boards, platters and such and it's turned in to a makeover fast, lol!

I need to admit, I'm not a designer but I am in the middle of a kitchen remodel too. I have two upper cabinets on each side of the exhaust hood that are glass doors which I love. It never gets messy, after all, you're simply putting plates and glasses in there (I do put my prettier mugs in the front though). I put undercabinet lighting on those cabinets which makes them pop a bit.

I then added a pantry (hardware not installed yet), similar to yours but freestanding for additional storage space. Mine has 3 doors and I made the upper cabinets glass with recessed lights in them (the camera made it a bit brighter then usual). I did plain glass, total cost was $15 for both. Water glass was my next choice or seeded glass, both beautiful, hides the items in the cabinet but was more expensive. Whatever glass you choose, use the same style in all cabinets that you are changing. I then put bun feet at the bottom to make it look more like furniture. I do like the idea of painting your pantry a fun splash of color. I didn't do that since my color splash will be a vivid green on the walls.

If you wanted to change the color of the cabinets too, my preference would be painted, pale cream or light gray/blue. But as I said, I'm not a designer! Good luck and have fun with it!

I love lauriebtown's idea of using feet!

If you paint them I believe you'll want to rough them up with a fine grit sandpaper. I would check with a paint store or similar to ensure it doesn't peel off.

Wow, thanks guys, so many great suggestions!

Anna, my doors now are a pvc laminated finish on the door which I'm told would not be a good canidate for paint. One door is damaged due to the coffee pot being set directly under the cabinet and it made the edges of the door curl up also on the drawers next to the stove. Since we were having to raise the cabinet for the new fridge I decided to go ahead and see about replacing all the doors to wood. Love the molding suggestion for the bottom of the pantry and moving the hardware. Oh I just caught my kitchen on a uncluttered day, lol.... but thank you!

Laurie.... love your freestanding pantry! Would love to see more of you kitchen makeover, the glass doors, did you put light in them too. My dinning room which you can see from the kitchen is painted is painted SW Spicy Hue so I thinking that me be enough color.

I say enhance what you have- mix, blue,marble,wood and open up upper cabinets to glass fronts. It will be incredible!!

I took some pictures of it then said to myself, ugh, the kitchen is messy and half of the dishes in the glass cabinets are in the dishwasher! I'll post them anyway :) Keep in mind the countertop and new sink are being replaced in two weeks, paint, backsplash and hardware to follow. Unfortunately, I already ruined my new golden teak hardwood floors, i left the freezer open all day, everything turned to a block of ice then it leaked all over the floor and it buckled, I just had them installed 1 month ago.

Looks nice as is... but I prefer cream to the bright white. I agree a warmer tone would be preferable.

I agree with geo55, cream is softer for cupboards.

I totally agree with Betsy Weisberg, mix it up. I have limited upper cabinets but as you can see in the picture the upper cabinets and pantry are white and the lowers are a brown stain. I did add one stained cabinet as a pull out trashcan next to the dishwasher and the first go around was not good (see base cabinet sitting in breakfast room , 3rd picture!. Anyone want to buy it? lol). I had to reorder it at my expense with a different company which ended up being a custom order and I got lucky, it's really close to the original ones that are old. It was risky to do because it's very difficult to match existing cabinets on a stain with the moldings that i have. I didn't want to replace the existing upper glass cabinets by the range so I made the pantry and over the fridge cabinet and overlay (like yours Houzredo) when I should have paid the extra money to do an inlay recessed door and replaced the upper two cabinets but that's how it goes!

Hi, I think you have done a great job already. I haven't read all the entry/suggestions so I hope mine is not a repeat. We inherited all white cabinets in our house when we bought it and I antiqued (sometimes called glaze) them and they look great. I am attaching a link to a how to for darker cabinets that also has pictures of antiqued white cabinets you can look at. Pinterest has a lot of ideas and tutorials you can get help from. The antiqued look will make them blend well with your present floor and walls.
http://seecatecreate.com/?p=368

Ha! I was just looking for the vocabulary to suggest adding depth in the grooves!

Maybe to Accent them or to Highlight them .

add black appliances to it

Personally, I would change the hardware on the cabinets and add an amazing balck granite to the kitchen, unless you really feel the cabinets need refacing.

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. Gave me lot to think about!

jstar, all my appliances have been/will be upgraded to stainless.

We help customers just like you all the time, my suggestion is to reface your cabinets with new doors lighter or darker tones, this way it will make you kitchen look new, and if you get upgraded stainless appliances it will look even nicer, if you need more ideas, please visit our website http://www.idealkb.com