Love the bathroom with all the mirrors! This is probably just me, but I also really like the green tub. I would have contrasted it with crisp white walls and black accents. Love the green/white/black combo. I'm jealous!

I would go really dark brown almost black for the flooring - hand scraped not shiny. I know the whitewashed grey color is 'in' but that would wash out thee cabinets. you need contrast that enhances the oak. I am .normally a fan of painted railing but I really love your staircase the way it is. A new lightly patterned or textured carpet runner would look good.

What she said! I'm really not getting this American obsession with gray. To me, it's bland, boring and soon to be over (I hope!). But I realize this is just my opinion, please don't arrest me for speaking my mind :)

Thanks, Jhmarie, I like the photos you posted. Yes, I think I need to change the trim white. Should I paint the original oak trim to Off white, or just install new white trims while doing the flooring? I like the floor color on the 2nd photo. What is the color name? Thanks

Paint the existing trim. The quality of new stuff will not compare. Your house is great. It looks huge too? That said, you may want to move in and wait 3-6 months before making significant changes. Ex. Other than some outdated appliances and fluorescent lighting, you may want to change the kitchen island. If this is something you're considering, you'll want to remove the current island before changing the flooring (keep the island's cabinet doors in case they can be reused). I would also consider replacing the kitchen countertop to something smooth. Do you have more pics of the kitchen? I'm trying to figure out how it's laid out. Seems like you could make it much more functional without replacing the cabinets.

That is a great suggestion. We will remove the center island and save some of the doors to replace a few damaged ones in other places.

Ck into refinishing before taking out even painting floors are a possibility, not to mention area rugs. I like the white idea in the kitchen, but never could bring myself to cover beautiful wood. Seen lots with a darker stain that I like also. Remember if your kitchen is a busy one, white is not forgiving.

Tubs can be refinished 3 steps easy

They also have a finish for stainless steal on appliances

As for refinishing the tub, is it ABS chemical kind? Any suggestion on how to find a good contractor to do - decent job? Thanks

Actually, I like your whole home and agree with the warmth of the floor downstairs, I think if it aint carpet and it aint broke it should go to the bottom of the list. Same with the tub. You can often get actual new tubs at habitat stores for 500 or less, I have even seen some in classifieds before. I would not paint. had it done, gone in less that 3 years. Have not heard anything good about them in the long run. I'd say change only what you must, there are always a couple of surprises. What is a major issue today, may not be a year from now.

My son and his wife recently bought a home. They have done all the work themselves. They stained the oak cabinets and put hardware on them. They put new granite and backsplash on the counters, and they did all the tile themselves. They also took out the dropped ceiling and put recessed lighting in.

I had a house with dated oak cabinets. Sorry, but left as is, nothing is going to make them anything but dated (partly due to the style). Changing wall paint won't help a lot, but if you stay away from grays/blues, and use warmer toned colors, that can help. Painting cabinets is not for the average person - it takes a professional to do well. Regardless of the color, it will eventually not wear as well as a factory painted cabinet. However, having them professionally restained a little darker is a good option, as mjones8915 did. Are your countertops grey? If so, be careful about the stain you choose to avoid making the gray look dirty. Otherwise, leave as is - or replace with something like a white quartz.. You can update with new cabinet hardware for a change. Refacing/replacing doors works well too, but while cheaper than all new, it can be more expensive than you think. My current house has old boxes, new doors - looks fine. For the bannisters - try darker stains - wears better than paint. For trim, perfectly fine to paint if you prep well (try a liquid deglosser to avoid tons of resanding). A slightly ivory white would look best with oak in the rest of the house (e.g. BM Dove White worked well in my previous house). Stainless is fine but you pay a premium, and it is starting to trend out in Europe and some places in the US. I'd keep the white appliances for a while if you can.

I agree with the points about paint often not working well on cabinets, ones we did years ago seemed to come out fine, but we were leaving so never tested, ones I had in bath here, that i think they did right before we moved in, paint kept chipping off. Absolute mess. I did notice that it was all along the edges where you opened and closed doors. So maybe, if you want to, how about just the centers of those doors? And remember, before you go tearing out islands and stuff there are never floors underneath, so you have to do both jobs at once. I would be more likely to just redo counter, to one you like better. backsplashs need only be behind sink and stove. tile is light, wood is wood, leaves you a large range of color palettes. Also, you mentioned some bad doors, you could try to coordinate and get so many doors in a coordinating color you like and then change around to an appealing, meaningful pattern. tell us your color choices and style and could send you some mosaics and a mural or 2 for behind the stove, I found some for someone else and those 2 spots are way under 200 and this is through houzz, you might be able to get behind sink for less at big box.

For painting trim, use a de-glosser if glossy, then 2 coats of a good primer - I like Zinsser 123. Then 2 coats of whatever color you like. I use a latex acrylic enamel paint. I have a very white white trim. I have oak cabinets that I have been refinishing - almost done! I am very pleased with how they are coming out, but I kept them mid tone. A good refinisher can do the doors that need it and match the present finish - that is what my mother had done.

My kitchen is much smaller and I have probably half the cabinets you have:) My house actually dates from the 70's - dark stained pine trim, cracked hollow core doors and old vinyl floors when we bought it. I painted the dark trim white and we replaced the doors with paneled ones and slowly put down hardwood floors and tiled the bathrooms. I refinished some cabinets, painted some and replaced others. Old kitchen cabinets were painted white and put in the laundry. We started this work 25 years ago. The "new" kitchen cabinets are 18 years old - so "dated" to some people - but the reality is that this idea of "dated" expensive home surfaces is unsustainable as only the rich can afford to remodel every 12 to 15 years as trends and marketers and HGTV attempt to tell us what to like. The rest of us have college funds and 401K plans that come before a 40K kitchen remodel - and sadly, many don't have the college fund or 401K either.

So, to keep from the "remodeling trend following" treadmill, think about what styles you like regardless of trends. Also consider what is timeless as opposed to trendy. Here are some things you can think about - but it depends on your style - and mine is a bit cottage. You can remove the center panel in some doors and replace with glass (clear, frosted, leaded, etc). Remove the entire desk area - perhaps replace with a hutch, possibly antique - I use furniture rather than have lots of cabinets. Retrofit a cabinet with spice boxes and or plate rail (I am in the middle of this project myself). Remove an upper cabinet and replace with a small area of open shelving - possibly more for display than storage, or for frequently used dishes. Replace the range vent hood with a wood hood or stainless T hood - if you change the range to stainless too. I am also doing this - changing to a wood hood, painted white but with oak trim.

Notice how the pretty white kitchens are not just white - they have glass paneled doors and other decorative elements, like a plate rail or wine rack or pretty shelf. Simply painting the cabinets will replace too much wood with too much white. Whether the cabinets stay oak or get painted, design elements will need to be added to get your style.

If the oak is not in bad shape, try living with it for a while especially since you do not mind it and put your money toward the countertops and the large light box and new flooring.

These kitchens might not look like yours, but they contain design elements you can think about for your cabinets.

Thank you so much, Jhmarie. That is a great idea to keep some cabinets for open display instead of all storage. That will definitely add more design elements to it! Yes, I plan to change all to stainless steel appliances and change the ranging hood. Now my biggest problem ate the following two (1) should I change the red new flooring or not? Although I don't like it, I do feel guilty for completely break it. If I do break it, what color should I pick for the overall flooring to go well with the oak throughout? (2) the color of the cabinet. The quote for refacing is over $18000 for kitchen cabinets. Do you think painting it white will last long? Or it will easily chip in the future after encountering water?

We had the same kind of light fixture in our kitchen and changing just that to a chandelier changed the whole look.

Also we gel stained our oak cabinets and love them but I don't have before the staining I didn't think to take a picture until after we took down the florescent light box!

It is not necessary to have the upper and lower floors match. We have a more formal hardwood floor downstairs and a more informal color upstairs. So go with what you want upstairs and then replace the downstairs later.

Two wrongs don't make a right! Fix the floors now with something you like and pick away at the rest. Redoing floors is the worst once you are moved in! Moving everything, dust, smell, can't walk on varnish for a day. I think you'll enjoy everything else you do more if you have a floor that you like!

I had the same oak cabinets and beams across the ceiling and almost the same stone fireplace except it has a beautiful oak mantle with side panels and an oak spindle banister going downstairs. My plan is open, so everything shows at once. I had the ceiling, beams and all trim painted white but left the fireplace trim and banister and cabinets alone. It came out beautiful and the room seemed to lighten up considerably. All the walls were painted a very pale sage green which turned into a neutral background. It gave me that updated look I wanted at minimal cost.

I am not sure why everyone thinks that oak cabinets are so outdated. They are still sold and used in new homes everyday. Believe it or not, not everyone wants the contemporary look. I happen to like the comfortable feeling of oak. Just not so much.

Without any disrespect for all the great comments, you may want to bring in a design professional for a 1-2 hour consultation.

Our kitchen designer said that more people have been ordering custom oak cabinets, because they are getting tired of the painted look. Interesting.

Maybe just change a few kitchen doors to glass and place white dishes inside to up-date the look.

You have a big, beautiful, open space in your new home...with a lot of updating needed. I get detailed in my comments so I will keep it simple. You need to take out the red laminate. This is a big cost and a big job but one you will regret if you leave. Imagine trying to work paints around that floor color!? Go with a beautiful med/bit dark wood. Paint cupboards white. Then you can leave tiled counter until you can afford that change. For now you need to do some basic big changes (floor) and paint, paint, paint. Do not paint the beams!!! That whole staircase can be updated too. In our second (builder grade) home, with all OAK, I painted the stairwell rungs white and the banister black. Soooo much better. I would remove carpet and paint risers and stain treads to match new floor. Your home will be stunning in the end, however, it will take many years. Hit the floor and the cupboards first! this will make a huge impact. I will stop now!

Start by getting rid of red laminate floor. I'd replace with hardwood oak flooring throughout. In the kitchen start by getting rid of the center light fixture. Replace with recessed lights. Also replace countertops. What's the condition of the oak cabinets? I might leave them alone if they are in good shape. Just update pulls. If you do decide to paint the cabinets BM Dove White is good, also Behr Swiss Coffee is another soft white that works well. I painted my 90s oak kitchen cabinets with Behr Swiss Coffee because we were already using that color on all the trim and doors throughout our house. I love the color!

Good luck! The house looks like a gem!

I just noticed your other photos of the kitchen. I think you should focus on the floors downstairs and do the kitchen. Get rid of the very tiny island and I would cut off the end of that island that curves around. The desk is a nice idea but it looks like it cuts into the kitchen. I LOVE an island! If you cut out those two things you would have room for an island running the length of your kitchen. (?) Get with a designer/architect on that on and have it done right. With floors and kitchen off on the right foot, everything else will not bother you as much and you can attack with DIY, on your own time and budget. This is a time for professional help. And you can still have the cabinets painted--by a professional, where it will hold up (if a concern).

You could always do a white tint on the wood in areas that you feel like it's too much. You can either get a white tinted varnish or do a wipe-off when a layer of white paint is partially dry. That way it would lighten things up and you could still enjoy the wood grain.

Here's an example of painted white railings, black painted handrail, and wooden steps. This house was from My Next Home, which was on the Parade of Homes in Eau Claire, WI.

Just a few suggestions:

1. Re-floor with the product of your choice. Check into just covering the laminate.

2. Paint walls to work with your lifestyle and possessions. My current neutral wall faves are SW7036 and BM1577 for main living and BM1562 for MBR.

3. Paint trim BM OC-17 semi. The crown and base bring down the ceilings. Keep/refinish wood ceiling in eating area off kitchen. All other ceilings white-white to add volume.

4. Total kitchen remodel. Re-light. Refinish cabinets. Remove island. Quartz counters. New floors.

5. Replace MBA counters with quartz product with integral sinks. Tear out the step up tub. Replace with free-standing. Frame the mirrors. Don't be afraid to paper the bath. It's making a come-back.

Best of luck!

Nothing will change the fact that the oak cabs are oak cabs and painting does not turn out well. Builders use them because they are the cheapest and they appeal to a lot of people. But, paint all the trim white. It will make a difference. I’ve done a lot of homes with the oak cabs and it depends on which part of the country you are in as to their popularity but painting the trim always works. (Especially the crown molding, window/door trim and baseboards) Change out the square fluorescent light fixture. Solid surface counters. If you change cabinets, do it in the bathroom. Try painting a soft white. If you aren’t happy with that, refacing is an option that isn’t too expensive. Do NOT try to resurface your tub or sinks. It is an awful product that yellows, holds dirt, can’t be cleaned with normal cleaning products and eventually chips off. I’ve seen pro jobs and even theirs eventually break down. Forget any kind of stainless steel “look” product made to paint over appliances. Again, it does not work, does not look right, does not hold up, is not worth the cost. I just purchased a new extra deep soaker tub for 519.00 off Amazon for a bathroom project and 2 sinks for 128.00 each. All were Kohler products. Don’t worry about wall color. That should come LAST. You can have a color custom mixed and paint is cheap. IF the floor is driving you crazy, maybe change that. But, start with trim painting, changing fixtures and countertops. You may also consider refacing the fronts of what faces the living room or painting it. There is just too much wood going on.

Prioritize what should be done now and what can wait. It
is difficult to sand floors while you are living in a house, easy to paint.
Hold off on paining the wood, try to find wall paint that will coordinate with
the oak.

Sherwin-Williams
Chrysanthemum goes great with warm wood tones. It is bold, but you will
get a lot of compliments. If you don't want it on all the walls, maybe
accent walls with lighter colors from the same strip. It will look great with
your stone fireplace. Here is a photo: https://www.houzz.com/photos/horse-country-traditional-kitchen-louisville-phvw-vp~1636710

Living with a pink
bathtub for 25 years taught me that it is better to work with it than against
it. Find a wallpaper that contains the same shade of green as your tub as well
as another color(s) you like more ( peach, pink, blue, etc) that you can use
for towels and shower curtains. Something like Brewster Home Fashions Kitchen
and Bath Resource II Butterfly Lily Pad Trail Wallpaper. http://www.wayfair.com/Brewster-Home-Fashions-Kitchen-and-Bath-Resource-II-Butterfly-Lily-Pad-Trail-Wallpaper-402-45108-BZH4400.html

Don't paint over the oak, at least not yet. Live with the house for a while and then decide. Once you paint over you can't really go back. And you might be really glad you waited.

I have a 1990 home with lots of oak throughout. My kitchen is almost a replica of yours. I painted the living areas a very pale golden yellow. Be sure there are NO green undertones. I love the yellow, it goes great with the oak and casts a warm glow. I couldn't be happier with the color. I am interested if you plan on changing the kitchen lighting box. I have that too and can't decide if I love it or hate it.

Our house was much like yours - oak cabinets in kitchen and baths, oak trim and doors throughout except in front rooms (foyer, living and dining rooms white,) partial oak staircase (treads & hand rails oak, risers, balusters & trim white). We replaced the flooring throughout the whole house with hardwood, only keeping tile in the kitchen, baths and laundry. We picked an Asian walnut wood the the first floor (loved the darker, more interesting, dramatic look of the sample) and natural finish Brazilian cherry wood for the second floor (more uniform in the grain and color complemented the oak) We learned a HUGH lesson in this process. We wish we had kept the wood tones the same as the oak. The natural Brazilian cherry looks great but the Asian walnut doesn't work well with the oak staircase. We thought to walnut would work well since the sample looked nice with it. However the walnut's tone is too different (too orange) and the grain too patterned when compared to the oak. Now I have an oak staircase that I need to somehow change to work better with both woods, walnut and cherry. Not sure how to do this. So based on my experience, I suggest you select oak floors to match your current staircase or choose a wood the same color/undertone as oak with a fairly uniform grain. I wish we had consulted a good designer to help with the selection or just when with all natural cherry and forgot about adding "drama". A designer may have known that the walnut sample didn't reflect walnut's true tone. Definitely do the floors before you move in. Trying to fit almost a whole house of stuff in the kitchen while the work was done was a pain.

We also painted all the oak trim white Behr Swiss Coffee (1812) which I love - both the color and the paint (Behr Premium Plus).

Our kitchen is painted Benjamin Moore Stone House 1039. Looks great with the oak.

Good luck with your decision.

Thank you, Latteluvr. I am thinking of this color. Oak pattern. Is it too light?

It would be great for Houzz to do several articles dealing with ingenious solutions to the scourge of 1990's honey Oak. There are millions of houses out there with this look and millions of us who are sick of it.

Shulii it looks like a good medium tone. Bring it home and look at it in different rooms and different lighting/time of day. That will help you to know if it's right. I would add, based on my expensive lesson learned, even if the sample looks perfect, take a good look at the wood before installation. Our wood needed to acclimate to the house's temp and humidity for several days before installation. I had my doubts about the walnut at that time but thought it would be ok. I should have paid the restocking fee and selected something else!

A natural to medium tone oak hardwood floor will look very nice with both the oak or painted cabinets and is a more timeless floor. I like your choice:) One thing to keep in mind is if the one you pick can be refinished. If you have an active family, and you want this to be a forever floor, then get one that can be refinished. It would be great to do before you move in, except that if you do some work on the island in the kitchen or make any other changes to the kitchen footprint, you will want to do that first. You may be keeping the tile in the kitchen, but if you paint, you will want to bring the warmth of wood back into that space and a wood floor looks lovely in a white kitchen. It will not overwhelm a wood kitchen if the cabinetry is not excessive. My own kitchen has a traditional oak floor.

If the red laminate floor is a floating floor, you may be able to disassemble it and donate it to the ReStore Habitat for Humanity Store - almost every area has one. They might even come and get it and remove it for you - but not if glued down. I am glad you are concerned about wasting building material. I hate it when home improvement shows show people sledge-hammering away at older but still usable cabinets.

It is a good idea to consider painting laundry room or bathroom cabinets first, live with it a year and see how you like it. My old kitchen cabinets were painted white and moved to my laundry room. I like them in the laundry, but it did help me to decide to keep the kitchen wood and refinish instead of paint. Many years ago I painted the large vanity in the main upstairs bath white, and while the paint held up well, I just didn't like it. It looked dirty quickly with the kids making messes. I was going to replace it but it was too expensive so I stripped and refinished it - much better - and it has held up better then the painted cabinets in a different bathroom. However, touching up paint is no great bother either.

Definitely not a Houzz style photo, but shows my flooring with wood cabinets.

Upstairs - just a bit darker to blend with the pine stairs. Also shows the wood with white on doors and stairs.

Thanks, Jhmarie, it seems that your flooring has a red tone to it, too. Right?

After you refinish your cabinets, how did they perform in terms of water resisting?

The upstairs flooring is a Bruce prefinished "Gunstock" solid hardwood. I used prefinished upstairs because of the impossibility of moving furniture totally out for an onsite finish. I went darker than downstairs to better blend with the stair treads. I took the carpet off the stairs and finished them - but like most homes of my era, they were pine treads in rough shape and I had to use a darker mid tone stain to cover the damaged areas. The upstairs wood is the 2 1/4 size to match the downstairs. Downstairs is natural oak finished onsite about 10 years ago. Money is tight and with 450 square feet to do I looked for a decent floor at a good price. The stairs land on the main level on a tile floor in the entry and not onto the lighter hardwood, so the two different colors are not right on top of each other.

The flooring both up and down has different color tones depending on time of day and light. I am not concerned about "orange" or "yellow" looking floors because those are undertones in wood and never till this particular time in history have I ever heard people complain about it:)

The cabinets are only now just being refinished - I am on the last one. I used a spar urethane exterior grade because that is the most water resistance. The picture above is a before picture, but as cabinets are much the same color, here is a before and after. It is hard to see on the picture but there is wear around the knobs and some discoloration. The worst wear was on the cabinets under the sink and drawers - I don't have any before pics of those. Cabinet with the stove hood will be removed when I get the new hood ready and last cabinet will get done hopefully this week. Total update will not be finished till next summer with new countertops and backsplash.

Before:

After - slightly lighter and grain is slightly more prominent, but not to the point of being annoying. I used a gel stain to decrease absorption into the grain.

I remembered this morning that I refinished the main upstairs bathroom cabinets about 15 years ago with a spar urethane - probably oil based back then. It has held up amazingly well through 4 kids. The cabinet is from the 70's and was originally very dark. The bathroom "update" was about 15 years ago so not up to date by by todays standards:)

Only one short comment about the green tub. If you HATE it, there are companies that make custom acrylic liners, in any color you choose, that are a reasonable cost. We had that done to our old cast iron tub 15 years ago and it still looks like a new tub. Another avenue to consider.

Leave the laminate floor, paint trim white, darken the beams. The tub can be glazed white.

fnstf, what company did you use to use the acrylic liners? do you use it a lot after putting in acrylic liner? Thanks.

Re: flooring, with rugs and furniture you might minimize its impact and can put off replacing it for a time, while you tackle other projects. For me the much bigger issue is the oak. It's one of those things that not only dates the house, but it was not an interesting or particularly beautiful choice, even in its heyday. A good paint shop can make all those cabinets look soooo much better -- off white with a grey glaze (just a touch!), perhaps. Get rid of, or paint, all the oak baseboards/trim. It's just overwhelming everything in the house.

Your kitchen almost mimics my own. We built our home in 2000. We are on 2 acres, built a really cute rancher style home. At the time, I was very much into a country style home (and collection of cow ornaments). My kids, who are now 25 and 21 think we are outdated!!!!!!!! I went to Home Depot and bought new knobs and handles (darker, but still with a subtle copper finish). The kids came home and said that my kitchen has been transformed. (The cows are all gone now!!)

Just do it! Get rid of the laminate!! I saw this photo - thought of your kitchen. It's from a blog Designed w/ Carla Aston. The kitchen was all oak originally. Might inspire you. She has some good ideas.

Yes, all red laminates are gone!

Yay! Go Shulii! :-)