I'd put a nice roman shade in the butlers pantry, and add fabric panels in the open/glass paneled cabs. If you're not going to paint the cabs, then definitely paint the paneling and add an antique glaze to age them.

Will the wine decor stay or go? If it stays, then I'd pick an olive-y green for the walls. If it goes and you want French country, maybe a deep, luscious blue?

I can't help with photoshop. But I do like the idea of sage green walls. I think there is a common thread that with oak cabinets, green looks very well. I also think you should paint the paneling, but you should paint the door and wall trim white too. Not a stark white, but maybe a warm cream like navaho white. What type of countertops is she thinking? I would pick those out first and then do the wall color to match that. Have you looked at Uba Tuba granite? It's almost black in color but is a very dark green. It has golden flakes in it that would go with the cabinets nice and then you could paint a nice green, cream on the the trim and paneling.

I would also swap out all the door hardware. That will make a huge difference too.

I vote for sage or olive green walls.

Inexpensive beadboard panels are available and Home Depot and Lowes. You glue it on, trim the top and bottom, and then paint it and it looks fabulous.

Glass-front cabinets are one of those things that look great in decorator photos and are a PITA in real life. At the very least, clean out those cabinets and dress them up a bit. Stack the books vertically and add some green pottery to match your new walls.

Have fun!

Tracie -- I seek more advice than I give - so FWIW ---
I have the same type of oak cabinets and had almost the same wall color - I used BM Saybrook Sage - I love it. It calms down the cabinets and also I have a terra cotta floor and it brings out more of the blue in it rather than screaming orange.
It does seem that the artwork is a bit disjointed. The wallhanging is obviously too big for the space - what about moving it to the left over the door and either eliminating or moving the two prints in that shot to another place.
The cabinet glass -- as Pesky suggested, add fabric or something to the glass cabinet doors. Take a look at etching cream as well. It is tough when you can see in the cabinets and the contents are not perfectly organized. So I guess you either need to get them perfectly organized or find a way to cover the glass.
Unless the counter is damaged, it really doesn't look to bad on my monitor --- of course, the granite described above would be beautiful.
Thought I would chime in as my kitchen was just about the same color --- what a difference a couple of coats of paint made!

You can add depth and interest to the panelling by running wooden trim along the top.

I'm guessing this is an old victorian house...dumb waiter, butler's pantry , and high ceilings. Gee, wonder what it looked like originally...

Anyway, I think it might look odd with just the paneling painted but not the cabinets. I would be mentally prepared for painting the cabinets once the paint brush comes out!

See if there's an auto body shop that would paint the cabinet doors for you!! My mom did that with her cabinets and they look awesome. I think painting those cabinets will make that whole kitchen look brand new. Adding beadboard over the paneling w/ a chair rail and doing some sort of a backsplash would look really great too. Changing out the cabinet hardware to something bronze or nickel would help too.

I am wondering how off white will look since the countertops are a creamy color and the fridge is white?? Would she consider painting the cabinets a sage color??? Then you could paint the walls/beadboard a creamy white or off white. I am REALLY starting to love colored cabinets. I painted mine white, but there are some really pretty kitchens with green cabinets.... here's some inspiration for you!!

Here are a few color combos I love in a kitchen that could easily translate into french country or cottagey for that matter.
BM White Dove cabs, paneling and trim with robins egg blue walls.(or vice versa)
Creamy white cabs with a coffee glaze, Behr Provencal Cream walls (pale, pale yellow)
Provencal cream cabs with SW moderate white walls.
SW Ivoire cabs with coffee glaze, SW Blonde walls.
Creamy white cabs, EK Mocha walls.
Glazed Creamy white cabs, warm red walls.
ORB or brushed nickel harware could be used on all.
If painting the cabs seems too much right now, then paint the island a contrasting color like rubbed black or creamy white and paint all trim and paneling creamy white with sage walls to tone down all the wood.
Paint the paneling and all trim creamy white even if leaving cabs as they are.
Reorganize glass cabs and replace books with platters pitchers etc or everyday dishes and glasses stacked neatly. If not able to do that then cover with fabric as suggested. Another alternative would be to replace glass with shirred fabric and chicken wire over that.
Leave the cabs as they are and paint walls a warm sage or warm white and use a tumbled marble backsplash. Paint paneling creamy white.
Also look at the finished kitchens site or google country french kitchens images for ideas.

Just a little paint and changing the countertops

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Redoing the cabinets in creamy glaze
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I have similar cabs and have a feeling the pics don't do them justice. I wish I had glass on mine though. Nice touch! If you can have her get some wicker baskets, I think they would look great in the cabinets. I also saw a few decorative pieces over at Ross last week that would look great behind the glass.

Sage would go well with them, I just painted over sage due to selling, went with a vanilla latte that compliments our cabs and new counter tops really well. We got the counter tops from Lowes, they are a speckled tan. I'm pretty happy with them. I'll be taking new pics next week for the listing and would be happy to share them with you when I do if you'd like to see them. Had I gone with the counter I wanted, I would have left the sage.

Personally, I think the beadboard would change the whole room if you were able to replace the paneling with it .. maybe a creamy white. I also think sage would be a pretty color. What coutnertops are you the thinking about? That would probably be where I'd start and then choose paint.

Christy

Lots of great suggestions here. I like the idea of sage walls. The photshop with gold walls look surprising good. I agree, change the hardware, and either clean out the glass doored cabinets or etch/cover them up.

One thing I noticed is your friend has foil on her burner pans. To me that is like putting plastic covers on your furniture. If the pans are in bad condition she can buy new ones very cheap at many places. I replace mine about once a year. But do away with the foil. :^)

Can you remove the doors with the glass then have the corners of the rounded shape cut out so that the opening for the glass are square? The oval-ish windows look rather weird. If you want more opacity, once squared, buy some of that inexpensive stuff you put on glass to etch it. Just frost the glass if you are going for more privacy, otherwise, just leave the glass plain. Changing the doors out to square shapes would help a lot.

Oh- I wanted to add that I WOULD NOT go with a yellow or gold color on the walls UNLESS you are going to paint the cabinets. Gold paint next to cabinets that have a strong yellow undertone does not look great. I know this because it's what I did in my kitchen with my blonde maple cabinets. I ended up having to change it out to a sage wall color and now it all looks much better.

LOVE the artworks with the wine bottles!

Yes -- paint the cabinets in a soft gray-green and switch the walls (upper and lower) to a simple fresh white. A French Country Fresh look -- and still very vintage -- and would work with her house style!

Change the cut-outs on the glass cabinets to a simpler square-cut look. DH wants to know if you can get the backs off those doors (where the glass is located) and remove the glass and use a saw to cut out the Oval-shaped frame that is around the glass inserts? ((hope that makes sense!)) Just wondering!

And YES! an excellent suggestion above to simply paint the island black at this point .....

As for countertops -- check out the Wilsonart counters -- a simple black countertops would look amazing with painted cabinets!

Does your friend have a budget?

Does your friend love or hate the glass-front cabinets?

If she would like to get rid of the glass-fronts, there's an outfit called "Kitchen-Tune Up" that might be able to help.

When we moved into this house, about a third of the cabinet doors were damaged. We liked the cabinet style enough to want to keep the undamaged doors, but couldn't find a match anywhere. And we looked hard!!!

Kitchen Tune Up found cabinet doors to match, ordered them for us, then installed them for us.

Soooooo much cheaper than having all the doors replaced.

Here's a link if she's interested....

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen tune up

You can't really see them well but I put cute little white porcelain knobs on the cabinets. This first one wouldn't be too hard since it doesn't involve the cabinets. The other two, I changed the cabinets. As usual, I like the sage green walls! ;c)

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Didn't have time to clean up the fridge, add accessories or knobs on this one, but you get the drift.
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Hi all! Wow! I wasn't around today but what a nice surprise & thank you so much for the suggestions/work so far!

pesky1- Yes, I think the wine decor is going to stay..she painted all of it herself. I think the olivey green would look fabulous in her kitchen! I want to see that now!

caroleoh- We actually haven't had a chance to go and look at countertops yet. We are going to be on a budget so it will probably be back to laminate but they make so many great laminates today that it should still look nice. I love Uba Tuba granite and agree with you that it would be beautiful!! It is one of my favorite granites! The door hardware you are right has to be switched out as well! I was thinking of an oil rubbed bronze. Thank you!

mclarke- Oh yes we are doing something with those glass cabinets. I think she should add her pretty glassware to them and store her books and papers in a covered cabinet. Oh and we are definately going to add back molding to the top of the paneling...not sure why she removed what was up.
Does your friend have a budget? Yes, we are on a budget. We are trying to "update" the kitchen as much as we can on a tight budget. There is so much to be done to this house that it will take time & mucho money.
Does your friend love or hate the glass-front cabinets? She likes the glass front cabinets but likes the suggestion of cutting the wood to a square shape instead of rounded edges. Thanks for the link to the kitchen tune up! I am saving it to my favorites now and will look through it shortly. I really appreciate all of your input and time!!

no-green-thumb- Your kitchen sounds pretty with the terra cotta floors. We will definately need to change flooring out as it is a 70's style/color laminate right now.
Thanks for the suggestion on the etching cream I had not heard of that! I was going to try and talk her into moving her book/papers out of there and putting pretties in the glass cabinets. I still think the etchings would be pretty even if she adds all her glassware to the cabinets.
Thanks that's helpful!

bungalow_house- No, it's not a Victorian style house but your right it does have alot of the characteristics of one. I agree with you about painting the cabinets...if it were my house I would have already done it. I know she is a bit nervous abot doing that because she feels like she is taking away from the house. I told her people like the feel of an old house but want to modernize it. Today, most people would not love that kitchen. I think that kitchen had an update in the 60' or 70's so it's really not taking aything away from it since the house was built in the 20's. I am slowly talking her into what I have already suggested & everyone else's so I am hoping once we get the walls, paneling/beadboard done that it will push her a bit more!

citymomof3-
Thank you for sharing those wonderful inspiration pictures! I'm saving those and going to show her! I see what you are saying about the sage green cabinets but I just don't know if I can talk her into that. I'm having a hard enough time with getting her to agree to paint the cabinets off white. I don't think the countertops are staying so that will help with breaking up all the white/off white. Did your mom have to sand/prime her cabinet facings before she took them to the auto body shop? Do you know what they charged her per cabinet door by chance? I know it will probably be different in price in my area but I just thought I'd get a general idea.

kmcg85-
Thank you for all your suggestions, I do love all those combos that you posted especially the Creamy white cabs with a coffee glaze, Behr Provencal Cream walls (pale, pale yellow). I sure hope I can talk her into painting those cabinets, eventually!
lindybarts-
Thank you so much for those mock ups! You did a great job!! I like the restrained gold w/ the cream cabinets. The sage color is pretty to but looks grey on my monitor for someone reason....I can get a pretty good idea though. Could I ask you to put an olivey green on the walls...showing the raw cabinets and cream painted cabinets? Thank you so much again for your time that you have put into this. It's appreciated more than you know! One day I will figure out how to use the Photoshop on my computer! ;)

roselvr-Thanks for the idea on the wicker baskets & we just got a Ross here! Just in case she can't move her stuff to another cabinet/drawer that just might work. I would love to see your kitchen! Send me an email through the board or post me a message after you take pics!

cburch-I would love to do granite but it won't be on our budget this go around. I am thinking a look alike granite in laminate. I need to look at Wilson's selections. I think the beadboard would look great as well but I'm not sure if that will be in the budget either so we may be working with just painting the existing paneling.

happyladi- Thanks for the suggestion on the burner pans. I will have to think of a good way to bring that up to her but I appreciate the suggestion. :)

bindersbee-I see what you are saying about the glass doors I'll have to look at them and see if we could work on those. Great suggestion!

teacats- I'll tell her that you said you love the artwork..I know she will appreciate that since she painted most of them. I'm not sure if we can get the backs off those doors but next time I go over I'm gonna look. Surely they would come apart!! Keeping fingers crossed! I am hoping to go and look at Wilsonart next week and get some samples of there laminate...I'll look at black. I'm all about black since my cabinets in my kitchen are black!! :)

Here's a more olive color and I wasn't sure if you meant leave the cabinets but paint the paneling or leave it all alone? Let me know and I can change it. I was trying to get an Uba Tuba color on the counters but didn't succeed very well. I also like the Verde Butterfly granite.

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A little lighter
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i like the olive color. i would also put fabric behind the glass unless your friend is willing to have her stuff stored neater. Not making a judgement but when you use glass everything should be super neat behind it. and that is coming from the person who took pictures of her kitchen with dishes in the sink AND on the counter (oops)

If she is considering painting her cabinets she can buy new doors only. and it is pretty reasonable to do so. I ordered new doors and drawer fronts. you can get good doors at refacedepot.com or paintgrade and much cheaper from nakedkitchen.com. It will add new life to the kitchen (along with the paint)!

you see those colors in the 4 squares over the oven? I would use those colors. the combinations are nice. I knew this lady who painted her whole house out of colors from one painting she had and it look georgous!

Good luck. oh and I agree with the foil comment too.

Here is a link that might be useful: new cabinet doors

I sent you an email to make sure that you get it so that I can send a pic.

The laminate we used is Kalahari Topaz, link below.

You can go to their site and look at what they have, click on custom laminate. One of my favorite greens was Green Tigris, they have a lot of nice neutrals too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kalahari Topaz

I really like the olive walls with the dark green granite. You can get a laminate very similar to Verde Butterfly (which is the granite I have). But I really, really like the dark tops! Nice contrast and looks like a dramatic change. Wall paint, countertops and organization just might be the only thing she needs.

BTW, I don't blame her about painting the cabinets. I didn't want to tackle that job either. I figure if I sell the house, the next person can decide what they want to do. Her cabinets are pretty.

Christy

Thought I'd show you another photo with the same colors. If she decided not to do the cabinets and just paint the paneling, this is how it would look with the olive green. I did one with a black counter and one with a dark green.

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Lindy, great job! I would love that olive on the paneling with a sage on the walls, green counter. I also would think to add a molding between the paneling & sheet rock to trim it out. The wall in one picture looks a little puckered, the trim would cover that.

To me, painting the cabs would be a lot of work. I don't doubt they have a clear coat and would have to be prepped. Painting everything else & changing the counters is much easier. If at some point she feels she needs to do something about the cabs, she can then go back and do it later. I would pick paint samples, then look at counter tops. Take a drawer (or take one door off) with you to the store. Once you know that the counter, paint & cabs are a good fit, then order the counter.

I've found that painting before the counter comes is more work as the back splash (if she has one) might not be the same height, you might have to do some patching. If you know the height of the back splash, do the patching, then prime.

One thing I might think to do is to make a new door to the left of the stove, I also might change / paint that trim depending on what I used for that door.

add door to butlers pantry.

How deep is the butlers pantry? Looking at the picture, it doesn't look like the left drawer & cabinet open. If it's not deep, think about a curtain.

What a great kitchen! A few updates could make a big difference, as it's a beautiful space.

IMHO, painting the cabinets would make the most dramatic change. If it were me, I would look into all the possible options for achieving that - refacing, hiring someone, doing it myself, anything. Because there are so many great laminates out there, much money could be saved and invested toward the cabinets and beadboard paneling for the walls. We have Formica's Burnished Glazed in our kitchens, along with Zodiaz on the island. We love them both. As someone stated already, the beadboard paneling is not expensive and could make a big difference. We have it in our half bath.

I know painting the cabinets would be a huge undertaking, but if it were me, I'd rather get what I love, even if it meant doing the project in stages for budget reasons.

Lots of great suggestions.

Jan

for roselvr; I might have gone a tad too dark on the sage but you get the idea. Maybe too much green???

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Oh, I kinda like that, lindybarts. Not too much green for me.

That little trim piece really does add a nice detail.

Here it is in cream.
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Lindy, I love it. I have colors in mind, yours are pretty close. If I have time tomorrow I will get my chips out and grab the names to see if I can find them online for you.

To the OP, what kind of budget does she have? What does she hope to accomplish realistically with that budget? What I mean is, what are the things that she wants the most? What I am seeing, I would do counter tops, paint, then buy the baskets. I would then live with it until I could afford to redo the kitchen with good cabinets. She also might think to replace the handles

I like the idea of replacing the paneling with bead-board but that could be for another time. We spent under $2,000 between the counter and labor. You can go straight to Depot / Lowes, they should have someone to do the install. You can make it cheaper by doing some of the work yourself, like taking the existing counters off, it wasn't hard to do. Molding shouldn't be too expensive if she decides she likes that to trim the paneling.

Just re-reading some old threads, looking for a solution to my own kitchen w/oak cabinets wall paint color dilemma.

What ever happened here? There sure was a lot of help offered and wonderful photoshop work. Is there an update available?

I like green in a kitchen but not sage or grey-green. I love the idea of painting the paneling, and it needs a nice chair rail to top it. Did you and your friend look at the kitchen pictures in our Gallery?