here is a link to photos, I don't think my photo upload worked

Here is a link that might be useful: 124 kitchen

Here you go. :)

This is what I would do.
I would keep the countertop. Metal edged linoleum is WAY cool! Not only that it returns up to be a continuous backsplash. I would play that up to bring out the 50s.
I would paint the cabs in a light/cream/white color of choice to make the room lighter. Install light above sink. Removed wood valance over the sink.
If you are painting cabs, you probably will have to take hinges. I would replace the hinges with something less obtrusive. Replace the cabinet pulls.

I would experiment and see how the room looks with the cabs painted and knotty panel left unpainted. I actually think it is also way COOL!
I would replace the flooring (which I think is not from the 50s) with something cheap ie vinyl that is more even in color/tone. It's too busy for the room. I think the flooring is printed vinyl made to look like tile. I maybe wrong and it may really be tile....

Another option is the keep everything as is and push the decor to Austrian ski chalet look! It is 1/2 way there...

Make sure to prime the wood really well, with something that will give you even coverage over the knots and which will stick to the current finish, unless you're planning to sand it all.

I'd emphasize the two directions of paneling with different colors or tones. After that, it depends on how much work you want to do. It could be absolutely gorgeous if you did a medium mushroom color in all the troughs and frames. Then, a ligher mushroom on the wide horizontals, and dark mushroom on the thin strips, with just the light mushroom on the verticals. The cabinet doors could be the light mushroom or a muddy light sage or light French blue. I'd do the soffits and panelling crown in the medium mushroom.

Do you like laminate? If so, I'd continue the above with one of the current stone looks, in a dark, sparkly charcoal, with wrapped bullnose edges. If your budget runs to granite, a black galaxy would look good. For the backsplash, if you don't want to keep it as the counter surface, a simple off white 4x4 tile with a sprinkling of small pewter or black accent diamonds. That would also look good on the counter if you're like me and like tile counters.

Floor? Marmoleum in a neutral like Barbados.

Just one vision of what the kitchen could be. Though if you gave the wood a good scrub down, and just replaced the floor and counter/backsplash with something snappy, it could look great just as they are.

I can't advise about lighting, though if it's in the budget, I think some undercabinet lighting would be super.

An alternative approach is embodied in an interesting pine paneled kitchen on Atticmag. If you like the style, you are already partly there via your cool range and hood. The look of stone countertops is replicated pretty well by several of the newer laminate lines.

In any case, you can make dramatic changes with new lighting and floors, neither of which needs entail huge outlays.

Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: pine kitchen

I like what honorbilt suggests, personally I would want to keep at least some of the pine in its original state. I think the whole thing could be really great if you refinished all the pine and offset it with a lighter floor, lighter countertops and backsplash, and lighter soffit.

See what flooring and countertops you like that would go with the pine AND with a paint color you like. You will be more limited by flooring and countertop options while paint color is limitless.

To relieve some of the pine here are a couple ways it could be done:

1/ keep the base cabinets and the horizontal pine wainscotting in the pine, paint the upper cabinets and upper vertical pine.

2/ keep the hutch pine and paint the rest of the cabinets.

3/invert the first option.

In any case, I would probably paint the pine soffit over the cabinets particularly because it has a seam over the sink in an odd location. I wouldnt remove the scalloped valance, it is a hallmark of that type of kitchen and that scalloped detail goes hand in hand with knotty pine whether in kitchens, dens, basements, or even Dr's offices (yep) I've seen from that era.

For recessed cans, I would draw a floor plan and place them on the floor plan and create a grid of sorts getting them close to where you need them about 3' apart. Thats a good place to start.

I don't know about the original poster, but I have a knotty pine kitchen (floors and ceiling)and I can't wait for it to go. We're just sick of it. We thought it was cool when we bought the house, but ten years later we know we need a change. So I wouldn't blame the poster if they painted or even drywalled over the paneling.

Good luck. I'm still a year away from redoing my kitchen so I'll be watching your progress with interest.

Could you repurpose the paneling on a ceiling somewhere? For some reason, IMO, paneled walls seem dated, but a paneled ceiling is cool!

I think once you start to talk about something that is 60 years old, it is time to move beyond "dated". We are of the generation who criticizes the generation who did all those horrible things to "update" Victorian houses (remove "excessive" trim, paint all the woodwork)...when they were about 60 years old.

I haven't painted pine cabs, but I've painted pine before taking great care to prime etc. After a few years, however, the knots/steaks came thru so I would carefully consider and do research on painting pine. I'm not sure it is foolproof.

I think this is a situation where either you have to learn to love what you have or change everthing. If I were doing something on the cheap, I might change the frig, and also consider countertops (the latter only if I weren't going to do a full remodel later). I do like the metal edged laminate and think it's cool like kaismom, but I don't think it is a good color for your kitchen. Maybe the same style in different color would be good. The flooring may or not be ok depending on countertop - it might look ok with different counter. I would also change the light above the table and consider changing the hardware on cabs.

About 20 years ago I painted exactly the same knotty pine walls that you have. It was in a fit of temperment at the time. Painting them made the room seem huge! I only did two coats of flat just in case I realized it was a terrible mistake and I might want to take it off. I don't live in that house any more so I don't know what happened. I still like the look but I don't want to live with it every day. I am one of the few people on here who think painting perfectly good wood is a sacrilege. But I did it. First time for everything. I would consider taking the knotty pine off if you really don't want it any more. Or drywall over it. You won't regret saving it but you might regret ruining it. There probably isn't anythng behind it so you'll need to put drywall in your budget if you take it off.

When I moved to this 1950 kitchen in an 1880 house, it had the lineolium counters with it continuing up for the backsplash. Metal edge. I changed it the second year. Looking back I don't recall it was so bad but it must have been. And then I discovered Retro Renovation. There are times when I could just kick myself.

Skip to now. I have white Formica counters with white paint on all the walls. I had planned white subways but they just don't "look" right with the matte Formica so now I think leave it white, whatever color I choose for walls next time, or wallpaper. My carpenter nearly choked when I suggested putting the white Formica up for a backsplash. We're the same age and I'm sure it freaked him out! That's all he's been doing the past 30 years is taking those out and putting in preformed.

palimpsest, I definitely see your point, but I figure it will be at least forty more years before someone else owns the house so I may as well do what makes me happy. It's hard to believe parts of my kitchen are 60 years old.

This is such a nice kitchen with lots of functionality! I personally would go "fresh, bright vintage", keep the countertop and floor and paint everything else white. Pull in some vintage metal light fixtures and maybe some open white shelves for the wall behind the table. I might do a few hits of jadeite or citrus green to cool the bolder colors down. Keep it fairly minimal (maybe get most things off the counter) and go for modern table/chairs and mod white hanging light fixture from Ikea. All the white will really calm and unify the business of the knotty pine, but there will still be great texture. This would be a fun project!

I like a lot of the ideas above. Here are some more, a brainstorm....

This is a decent kitchen layout and it's actually a decent place, especially considering the context of the house. That's the hard part about trashing and starting over. Conscience.

The cupboards, the countertops, the table and chairs, and the stainless steel seem to strike a very similar note of color intensity, which enclose and close in. If the new refrig is also stainless steel, you'll lose that last big contrast of white. You will need some new light color relief and some low notes so there's intriguing contrast to the heavy sameness of the rest of the color intensity. Some of those darker low notes need to be in the floor.

A new floor, interesting hardware, and good lighting with a very different flavor might give a new perspective. The floor especially needs to take a long hike. Do NOT choose a flooring that simulates wood. I like the Marmoleum idea. Have seen some very interesting custom projects using it.

The room needs a new theme, one in which the knots of the cupboards and paneling are not the major story.

Paint the table and chairs if you need to. (How comfortable are those ladder-backs? Could you replace the set?) If painting the cupboards doesn't work, how about new doors on the cupboards?

Are the countertops in acceptable condition or are they certainly going to be replaced? That will have a lot to do with the color combos you will be dealing with. (I belong to the red freak subgroup, so I would find it hard to change out that red, but it's YOUR kitchen.) There are very interesting laminates which deserve your consideration. Some are "retro" and some are fake rock and some are just plain different. If the countertop color were much lighter, you would find that the "feel" of the room would automatically give the lift of change. Suddenly the backsplash area and the objects on the counters will have a new importance.

Could a talented worker insert some modern kinds of enhanced storage devices into the existing banks of cupboards, so that the innards are gratifying when cupboards and drawers are opened?

And that soffit-like area above the cupboards--how could that be addressed as a canvas needing an artist? Paint or otherwise cover this area? Stencil or mount a collection? Add words?

And a fabric which is repeated in a number of places, including the eating area, would tie things together in a new way. A killer piece or two of art on the far wall would draw the eye down the room to the new light over the table and then even farther beyond. Shelving on that wall would also give perspective, depth, and prominence over the knots.

Imagine how different each of these would feel...

--"coolie hat" pendant(s)
--industrial chrome pendant(s) and a stainless utililty steel cart and shiny chrome hardware
--brown & white art glass minipendant with butterscotch splashes; white fabric with these colors repeated in the trim on edges
--colonial wrought iron faux candleholder chandelier hung from chains
--splotchy white glass globes with nickel look trim; white faux marble countertops; a collage of white plates on the far wall; gray-silver slightly mod trim on hardware
--a classy rug under the table with a pattern that is picked up in other items

Pionite makes some nice abstract laminates: a little pattern, not trying to emulate stone, or wood. Something like that would be great. It appears something is going on with the countertop around the sink so it needs to be replaced.

We faced almost the same kitchen in our house 12 years ago.
We primed and painted the cupboards, adding trim and new hardware, replaced bright yellow formica with beige, replaced backsplash, and updated floor with laminate. We are going to be doing a major update this summer, but we've had an ok kitchen in the meantime.

that floor looks like a vinyl from a number of decades ago...

I had that counter in the early 80's!!

some large art work on the walls by the table will cover up a lot of that pine.

how about the table and chairs painted a color? that'll remove some of the wood in the room.

You really do have a nice space here and the layout seems good for the size. I like some of the posts above and think that they have good suggestions.

I might paint the upper half of the wall in the dining area a creamy white, along with the upper soffit above the cabinets. It would make it look more like beadboard. I agree with everyone about the floor--invest a part of your budget to take this out! But the pine cabinets might be able to stay. A good scrub and some new hardware might be perfect. The counters might look better if they were darker like in the Atticlink.

I really don't think you will need a fortune to transform this kitchen. It's got so many good basic features--along with your stainless DW and range.

OMG, that was my exact kitchen, except the counters were teal green instead of red!! We are in the process of remodelling ours too, but we did a total gut job. I also updated a kitchen in a previous home (a Victorian home that had been updated in the 50s), and we did that one on more of a strict budget, and probably did what you are looking to do here.

I would paint all the cabinets a bright white, make sure to prime them, or the knots will show. Replace all the hardware, hinges and pulls, can be expensive, but look around on the internet, sometimes you can find deals.

Rip off the wood panelling and put up new drywall if you are handy and have done this before, if not, you can paint it a light color and it could still look very nice, we had painted over faux wood paneling in my Victorian home, and it actually looked neat, and at least yours would be actual wood rather than faux. I agree that you should keep the molding above the window, it goes with the feel of that type of kitchen.

We ripped off the old counters and just replaced it with newer, more modern laminate, you need to have a router to do it yourself, but it really isn't that difficult, the hardest part was removing the old stuff.

Since we were making kinda a country looking kitchen we went with wainscotting as the backsplash painted white, it looked nice and clean. We had a darker laminate counter to balance all the white out and black hardware on them as well.

Of course update the light, I actually like those lights, but TGIFridays ruined them for me! But you could go with a chrome and it would look more modern and fresh, or matchy to whatever hardware you get for the cabs.

As for flooring, we went with a peel and stick laminate tile, simple, easy to do yourself and you can find ones that look almost like tile now. You can also do a pergo (wood laminate) floor, which is relatively easy to install, but if you have hardwood in other parts of the house this stands out.

Let us know what you decide to do!

Hi karenb124, You've gotten lots of great suggestions so far from GW members. You don't say that you want a 1950s vibe in your kitchen, so I won't steer you in the direction. But if you like the metal edged counters, IKEA sells similar metal edged formica (inexpensive). If you keep some of the pine, soap-stone or slate look formica counters might be a good option. I'm not normally a fan of black appliances, but if you keep some of the pine, black appliances might coordinate better than stainless. For me the floor is the biggest design problem in your existing kitchen. I'd put my money into replacing it and coordinate the color and feel of the floor with whatever you pick for your counters.

If it were my kitchen I'd consider keep some of the original pine paneling. I actually like the pine wall panels in the breakfast area. They might look striking set off against cream painted upper cabinets; you might keep the pine on the lower cabinets for a two-tone kitchen pine and cream kitchen. Medallion kitchen cabinets website has one example of a two-toned kitchen that could be an inspiration (click on the "Park Place" kitchen): http://www.medallioncabinetry.com/CabinetDetail.aspx?productID=117
Oil rubbed bronze or black iron fittings and fixtures might look nice with that combo. It will still read "country" if that is a look that you like.

One other question, is the soffit something you need to keep for duct-work, etc.? If the soffit can go I'd get rid of it and install inexpensive white painted upper cabinets to the ceiling. If you can afford new ones you'll save yourself the trouble of painting. But in one way or another I'd find a way to get rid of the pine on the soffit -- either paint it white or remove.

I'm pretty confident that karenb124 can't pull the soffits down without destroying the cabinets. Mine were site-built in 1956 - I think hers are too.

You guys are amazing! Thank you for all the suggestions. The countertops are completely destroyed and must be replaced. I want to steer away from the original look. I would love granite countertops but could be expensive, any suggestions for a less expensive but granite look material? Maybe a tile backsplash? I am leaving the soffits and paneling up because I have a fear of pulling them down and starting the snowball effect, thus the thought of painting or refinishing. Will keep you posted on progress.