Painting cabinets is a mega task. I'm not a big fan of oak either. But yours look good. And I like the play of the wood with the stainless steel. Invest in some modern stainless steel handles for your cabinets and drawers. Simple fix. Big results.

I agree the oak cabinets look good. What I don't like is the darke grout. How about replacing the backsplash grout to a shade matching the tile?

you could try light color on top cabinets and dark on bottom cabinets....look into the gel stains before u decide on the paint option.

I think a really dark gray plus the new contemporary pulls as suggested would be really beautiful! I "m picturing almost black. I think lighter Grays would not give enough contrast. Hope you can talk your hubby into the change!

Well, I'm taking a chance here with color, but going off what you have existing (wall color, flooring, backsplash, counters, fireplace) I think either SW 6075 Garret Gray or SW 6040 Less Brown are two great color options. Both have brown, gray, plum, and taupe hues-which is more unique than just going with black. Pick up the color charts and see how you like them with the things in your kitchen---you might be pleasantly surprised-hopefully... CheerS!

I just had a client paint all her oak cabinetry through out her condo Benjamin Moore, Evening Dove, #2132-20. Below is a photo of her master bath.

Your countertops are dark, so this might be too dark, but we could step it down a couple of tones to contrast to your countertops. This is a beautiful color!
Cheers!
m.

You could also paint your cabinetry in the kitchen white. It would tie into the fireplace mantel and would be a great contrast to your kitchen countertops. You could take the Evening Dove into the bathrooms where you have the white countertops!
m.

2nd vote for white, but the crown gives you an opportunity to add a color. The grey / black route there could work. Otherwise we did a grey seruaced wash in a club that's not too grey, but a lot of work for just crown.

Yes at first glance, I thought white or off-white cabinets would be best for the kitchen too, but since the cabs are oak I opted for a darker hue so the grain would be less obvious. The dark cabs would be a nice contrast to the walls and floors. :)

I completely agree with you Natalie, that was the exact reason why my client loved the Evening Dove after I explained the depth needed to camouflage the oak grain. BUT, if a great primer is used, this could mask the grain as well! I would hate for the kitchen to be too dark and heavy, being that it seems to be a small space.
m.

Thanks, all. Since there's white crown, etc., I"m staying away from white. It's so open into the next room. The backsplash is same tile as floor. Next project is to bust that out and put glass tile. Just don't want to be on the tail end of all trends. Going with black/white/grays throughout the house with what I call an apple (not quite lime) green and touches of purple. Chrome (?) accents. Feel like I'm fighting the house--it wants rubbed bronze/brown/golds and I'm saying, "no" 'cause I just can't relate to that.

Natalie is right. The most important thing is to get the colour of the FLOOR and back splash and wall and walls and cupboards and the rest of the house right. That is how come the rich pepole's houses on Houzz look so good: the colours of ALL the elements work properly. So, if you can't get ALL the elements to work together, either keep saving, or put the money towards extra cigarettes and Jackie Daniels.

Another thing, the whole photo of the kitchen has a yellow cast. That makes everything look like it matches but makes it impossible to help with colours from the photos. So, I will stop posting to you and he me a smoke and another JDs.

While I'm not a big fan of oak cabinets, I think yours look nice. And your granite is lovely. For me, the problem lies with the backsplash, which looks like it is made of the floor tiles (I'm not wild about them on the floor either, but I think with a different backsplash they will just look neutral). I'd begin by replacing the backsplash (taking a color from your granite, but keeping it simple so it doesn't compete with the counters. i.e. no high contrast glass mosaics) and painting the walls a more flattering color. I suspect those two steps alone will set of the cabinets in ways that will improve the overall effect substantially. Only if those steps don't make enough of a transformation for you would I consider the larger step of painting the cabinets.

Can you reach a compromise with your husband? The bathroom that hasn't been stripped, I would suggest painting those cabinets. After your husband sees how nice they look he may give in. And once you both see how much work it is to paint cabinets properly, the kitchen cabinets may start to look a lot better.

I have painted kitchen cabinets and replaced handles it came up a treat.splash backs need a big lift why not try some feature tiles over the existing a couple would look good .