I know exactly what you're talking about, phoggie. VERY popular design in the 70's. Don't know how it would look especailly since it would be on all the cabinets, but could you fill in the hole in the middle and then maybe do some type of nice stencil over it to conceal the fill spot? The only other idea I have to is hire a good refinisher and have him strip the cabinets, fill in the hole & restain to match the old color. Just a couple thoughts.

I would just fill the hole and use a stain marker. Would be part of the kitchen's story. A screw hole is actually quite small.

Cross grain wood plugs are available.

They can be used to fill the holes (you might need to enlarge the holes to fit the plugs available) and then finish the plugs to match to match the rest of the door.

If done carefully the repair can be hard to detect.

IMO, there will be a very obvious color difference under the ornament. Walnut changes color when exposed to light. May require a refinish/restain to minimize the shadow.
Casey

phoggie, you can plug the holes or fill them, and them color them with a furniture repair kit. I had a large area I need to color, and I bought this amazing kit, and I was able to blend and fuss a bit with it.. and you can't see where I colored in the missing color. I'll dig around for the box, and post the company info.

I was going to suggest much like the above. Lightly sand the doors, wood filler/putty and then light restain. They make the wood filler in wood tones so you should be able to get close. It won't be noticeable from a distance and probably you'll be the only one who knows it's there.

Below is the product I bought for touching up furniture, it really worked great!

Here is a link that might be useful: Touch-up

My dad is going to have a similar issue when he wants to sell his house, but the holes will be in the corner of the inset panel rather than the center. And he used brass hardware with white ceramic centers. I hope you all are right, because I have not felt I could patch them up without it being obvious. My plan, if I have to deal with the sale, would be to change to a darker metal and hope they don't look as obnoxious.

Let us know if filling and retouching works. I think the plugs would probably be less noticeable than the wood filler with no grain. I'm pretty good with retouching, but woodgrain is woodgrain.

These are standard inset panels, surrounded by the door frame, captured in grooves cut into the frame's rails and stiles? See link. If so, it will be difficult to replace the panels with glass. You'd have to remove material from one side of the frame so that the panel can be removed and the glass can be inserted, then secure the glass with molding, which is work and will present fitting and matching problems. Easier to replace the doors.

I would either put new pulls in the existing location, or put new pulls in a new location and plug the existing holes. Hard to know if the plugs can be finished to blend well enough for your eyes. Maybe you can make the plugs decorative. Worst case, you replace the doors.

You're not going to make the buy/no buy decision on a house because of the cabinet doors, they are a minor issue in the scheme of things. If you buy the house, try converting one door and see how you like it. Then go from there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Panel Door Construction

My friend's old kitchen had the same issue. She and I spent a Saturday covering the center panels with grasscloth. You could use anything, even veneer or screen or glass or something..... Hers looked great when we were fined, she put stainless bar pulls on. No more center knobs! Those center mounted knobs are so hard to use, too.

If you were to paint the cupboards, you could use beadboard textured wallpaper for the centers of the doors.