Dear Jean,
this house looks way better than the one my wife and I moved into 3 years ago. I would say the kitchen doesn't look too bad, but with some inexpensive cabinet refinishing, updating floor, changing knobs, appliances, countertop, sink, backsplash and then some lighting you could stay in a nice budget there. Obviously your kitchen renovation is where you make the most value back. Anyway, I am in the design industry so was able to renovate my kitchen fairly easily. Definitely, go with a local contractor that your trust and probably go with the one that shows up on time! Wish you the best in your endeavors and if you need tile check out my company website www.architecturalceramics.com.
Thanks for your post!
David

Something like this, or are you looking to paint your cabinets? [houzz=]

We were thinking of painting or maybr refacing them. I wanted to do antique white cabinets with a dark countertop, but with bright white appliances, i'm not sure it would work so well.

Our house had bright white appliances and warm white cabinets when we moved in. It was bad, really, really bad. The bright white made the warm white look just plain dirty. I repainted all the cabinets bright white and now it's great. But no small amount of work!

Antique white paint is a good choice for the Cabinets would be great, they resell very well. I don't know if I would go white appliances, but that is my personal opinion as the bright white and antique white would clash too much. I would do stainless. Just my opinions.

Any way to paint appliances a nice antique white to match? Wishful thinking.

You can paint appliances (I've done it), with special paint made for that purpose. But I don't know how lasting or durable the finish is. The appliances I painted (harvest gold to white) were in my elderly mother's kitchen, and they didn't get roughed up the way appliances and cabinets do in kitchens with little kids, for example.

If you want a Country French look with white appliances, you might consider painting the cabinets a pale yellow like this charming kitchen.

Instead of refacing, i would paint the cabinets antique white. You could cut out center of the doors and put mesh screening or glass inserts on them. New knobs and handles. French country is often blue/white and yellow. You could use the tile if you could find a wallpaper incorporating all three colors. Replace the countertops. Pod luck.

Michigammamom, great kitchen. Love the yellow. This is what I was thinking for the doors.

I think the tile looks nice and you could work with those colors on the cabinets. I agree with the other poster who suggested the yellow because I think it fits your French country tastes better than the green. I think the green would look nice but it would look more country, in my opinion. White would be nice but if you have dogs or kids it look dirty so fast. There are so many wonderful laminate counter options now and you wouldn't have to spend a fortune. Or how about some butcher block counters stained a nice darker color that would compliment the green and yellow tile? The only concern would be with most of the tiles yellow and the cabinets yellow what color would you paint the walls without ending up with only the 2 colors? I can't think of a color that would look nice, sorry.

Any suggestions for color combinations if I were to keep the cabinets? Also, I was thinking of replacing the tile with wainscot (spelling) and a chair rail. Opinions please.

Have you looked at photos in https://www.houzz.com/photos/french-country-kitchen-design-ideas-phbr0lbl-bl~l_42481 yet? There are many color combinations. Some are based on traditional Provencal fabric prints. If you have liked French Country as a style for a while, you probably have a few favorite pieces collected already: ceramics, furniture, tablecloth, artwork. They could act as inspiration for you. You can make a Provencal tablecloth or set of napkins into a window valence or Roman shade.
http://www.atouchofprovence.com/French-Tablecloths-Uzes-Red-Yellow-p/a1403.htm

Luckily, from American Country to French Country is not such a big leap as from American Country to International High Gloss Contemporary.

Removing the wall tile may be a piece of cake or a major pain. Check in an unobtrusive location to see if it can be removed easily or if doing so causes damage to the plaster walls. You can use a paintable wallcovering over tile, then paint. http://www.designyourwall.com/store/Embossed-Lincrusta-Paintable-wall-covering-wallpaper-c-148.html shows some designs available.

It's going to be a pretty big ordeal to convert this space to a French country look. Personally, unless you just hate those colors, I would embrace the yellow and green, which is actually a fairly timeless combo. Replacing the counters with a solid surface in a neutral white or black, painting the cabinets white/off white, and changing their hardware would be all you'd need to give it a fresh look while retaining its original charm. Your accessories and fabrics could give it a country flair, while allowing for an easy refresh in the future should your tastes change someday. There is an Ideabook today that shows a kitchen with similar colors. https://www.houzz.com/magazine/see-a-pretty-and-practical-kitchen-nook-makeover-stsetivw-vs~6646176?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u220&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery2

If the budget is tight you should be putting money where it counts, the tile is your obstacle... so reface it yourself with a kit in pure white I think your idea of painting the cabinets is good but adding antique finish won't work well because there is no detail in moldings to pick up the finish.So paint them a color from an adjoining room , maybe a light taupe will work better, in a satin finish. Then a dark counter top will look just fine. I would pull another color from your living room and use it as an accent color to make some pretty toile cafe curtains, some pretty glazed dishes would be nice if some of the upper cabinet doors where removed. Maybe a new light fixture , school house style would look nice. I replaced some counter tops myself with granite for cheap by purchasing it from a stone yard, gave them the measurements for the cuts etc ...its not as difficult as people think and was not too expensive about $400 total for two 9 foot slabs and the plywood , glue, screws... It a very cute kitchen already ,good bones just needs some lipstick...

I actually like the look of the wood cabinets and the retro tile backsplash. My only change would be a white counter top (and a double sink) in whatever material you like (tile, quartz, corian).

I swear these cabinets are everywhere! Purchased my first home just about three years ago and had same cabinets - felt like I was at camp everytime I reached for a glass. Did a lot of research regarding cabinet refacing and replacing went to all the normal DIY places HD, Lowes, a few "Cabinet shops" and was disappointed with all. Mostly expensive considering the size of my small gally kitchen - one cabinet shop straight-faced quoted $29,000.00 for nine cabinets! I laughed then walked out. At the end of it all I went with ikea cabinets - don't know if you have one in your area, but was very pleased with how everything turned out. Staff helpful, computer aided design program on premesis (and you can use at home too) and ease of availability. We purchased all of our cabinets including Laundry cabinets ~14 in all for just over $5000.00. This price also included an exhaustive list of addons including dividers for drawers, spice racks, garbage can sliders and several sheet pieces to box in the refrigerator, box in the double oven and wrap around sheeting for the island. I know and understand some contractors refuse to work with Ikea cabinets - why, I don't know? They are easy to assemble. In fact if you build one essentially all other go together the same way. If you do get lost in the directions there are literally hundreds of internet sites to help, I am not a contractor, however I am a bit mechanically inclined, so in the interest of saving thousands of dollars I assembled and placed all the cabiniets myself. Lost one cabinet base and scratched one of the drawer fronts from another cabinet - all my own fault. Simply went back to Ikea and purchased new - it was easy! They are good cabinets, all soft close doors and drawers, handle selection was vast and my friends and family like the look and functionality. We moved from door bases to all drawer bases. My humble opinion drawer bases are superior due to the fact the drawer can be pulled completely out for those items in the far back. With all the money we saved I decided to upgrade the cabinets - add a bit of character and customization. The first thing we did was to glaze the white cabinets to give them a bit of antique look - $250.00 and made the guy lunch! We purchased a few high-end cabinet handles as conversation pieces and sprinkled them (three to be exact) through the cabinets $500.00. Lastly we wrapped the upper cabinets - as well as the rest of the kitchen and great room with crown molding ~$200.00. All I can say is it was well worth the extra money and really added a rich look to them, and we still saved thousands. As a side, my neighbors purchased new cabinets about the same time we did ours for within a few hundred dollars of what we paid for ours. When we were comparing products I felt guilty to a degree at the inequality of the cabinet construction and how much more superior our cabinets were. They bought theirs from a local cabinet maker: no soft close mechanisms, plastic-stapled gussets to hold cabinets together - which I helped to repair several, all bases were door-style with middle shelf extending only half way through the cabinet. The doors for each base were small coupled with the fact their was a center divider between the doors making it virtually impossible to place large baking sheets or larger countertop appliances inside.

Olena1, have you posted a photo of the Ikea kitchen cabinets? I'm interested.

Hi Rona produce a primer that will adhere to glass so is great for shinny cabinets. If you take the time and very little money you can get exactly the finish you want. Gordon GMR Inside and out.