Your welcome! I would do the counter tops before the floor. But get countertops you like. Check out the ones on Houzz where the cabinets are the same wood tone. I personally like the current stain. Once you get the countertop, you could pick out a paint color from there. Most any earth-tone color would work and, of course, beige. As someone else mentioned, do a flat on the ceiling. Right now it is a shinny finish, which doesn't help the looks of the kitchen. Use a matte finish on the walls; its washable! Good luck!

If you're really starting from scratch, for power tools I strongly recommend a cordless Riobi 18 volt set with a drill & jigsaw. Get the lighter weight lithium batteries and it will be easier to handle. There's lots of interchangeable tools that use the batteries, you can buy them as a set or individually when you need them. I also have their small circular saw (which I love) and their saws-all. Also I might recommend a dremel tool and attachments for small jobs. If you have no actual hand tools take a walk through Sears and pick up assorted screwdrivers with good rubber handles, both straight and Phillips and hex head, assorted pliers and a wrench. A good claw foot hammer (not too heavy) and miter box and saw, and some assorted clamps. You can never have too many clamps!

On the plus side, you will not have to do that again in the near future. I would definitely ask the pool company to show you how to check salt levels etc. We have an automated system. There are both good and bad things about the automated system. The automated system shows us our salt level (provided that the salt cell is working). The system only works between certain salt levels, so maintaining the salt level is important. You still have to test the water or take it to get tested for stuff like pH. You will end up adding acid periodically for example. There is a wide range of prices. We favor a robotic one due to the size, irregular shape, and pebbletec texture of our pool. We have used Dolphin brand, but I hear aqua bots are nice too. The Doheny branded Dolphin Saturn is on sale right now for about $545. They go up in price from there. There are cheaper ones too, but they have a lot less functionality. Doheny sells discounted clearance and return models.

Thankyou for your advice.