Painting the cabinets would lighten things up a bit and take the business of the wood grain out.

Your cabinets look pretty traditional to me. I do not like the granite you selected with your cabinets. I would select the one that have creams, black,tans with a hint of rust. Every granite yd has a different name for it. I also think your flooring is a busy.

Here is an interesting article from Maria Killam to perhaps help someone else avoid your dilemma: Best countertop for stained cabinets . Maybe you need to live with it for a while, add some lighter rugs to cover up some of the tile.

Jody, I didn't select it - it was in the house already for 10 years. The flooring was super ugly, little bold-white tiles. I am guilty of the poor choice for the new floor tiles, though it works in the rest of the area. The kitchen is open to a bigger space. So my question is - paint the cabinets, or tear out the ugly countertops?

If you have the budget to get new counters, heck yes.

I have this granite in my bathroom and hate it. It's very outdated.

HI -- I do not like the granite at all. I think you would have been better off with something more plain , such as a quartz in a cream or off white ... something that will fit with the colors of the floor tiles . If that solution is not affordable , then paint the cabinets to a warm white /cream . Or you could do both too,

I was just trying to find a way to do this without replacing the countertops, which would be very expensive. I hate that granite too - it looks like it belongs in an executive bathroom from the 70s. Anyhow, I guess I need to go buy new countertops (very plain ones, at that).

If you can get a solid color Quartz, I'd go with that.

Mike, that's exactly what that granite looks like! My bathroom counter not on has this granite, but it's basically just got an apron front with no cabinetry below.

It's right out of a Hilton hotel.

i'd prefer to change counter tops as you dont like them. painting cabinets can sometimes come out not so good, and then you'd have expended the effort and still not like your counters.

they're not going anywhere, live with it for a while not because you'll like it more but til you have a clear idea what you do want to do.

I want to fix it good enough to SELL THIS HOUSE. No other goals.

If you can find a countertop that matches the floors, go with it. The floors are nice, on their own.

For homes that are selling in the neighborhood, do they have granite or something else. To be competitive, you'd need to have at least what other sellers have in their kitchens.

Mike, I too tried a few times to post a photo yesterday but could not. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong, even though I had posted successfully before.

We had our cabinets painted in our last house, and they came out very nice. Countertops cost a lot more than painting the cabinets.

If you're just doing it to sell the house, I'd live with it and let the next owner gut the darn thing.

The cabinets are older and outdated and it seems you might be slapping bandaids on this thing.

the house is 25 years old, so yeah the cabinets are super outdated. I'm thinking about trying some of the nuovo cabinet paint. I have a matching vanity I took out of the guest bathroom I can test it on. Looking at their colors, I am leaning toward trying that dark chocolate color.

Granite types are a personal choice- the buyers may want something completely different from whatever you put in.

I noticed the photo is kind of blue-ish. If you have CFL light bulbs, try changing them to "warm white" LED bulbs. If you have a big fluorescent tube fixture, consider spending a hundred dollars or two on a bright new fixture that takes several LED bulbs. You can also add undercabinet LED rope lighting that will show off the clean, empty granite countertops, not apologize for them. The flooring may also look better in different lighting. It's really quite neutral.

If you have more photos, you might try uploading them to the same location and include the new links.

This is the cabinet paint I am considering.

Picture shows very similar granite in the left panel.

The Nuvo brown paint photo is just plain depressing-looking. Light, bright, airy is what buyers look for.

Yeah - go with some kind of cream, the brown will land you right where you are right now(the same look).

How about antiquing them, like this:

I still prefer black cabinets .i

This colour is too similar to he one you already have .

more like this

SAND and paint the cabinets a light airy shade of white, that complements the floors and for goodness sakes, invest in a bit of hardware for those cabinets - will help update it immediately. And as apple-pie-order said, lights!! It's one of the cheapest solutions that many people don't think of and can make a world of difference!! (can be done $200 or less!) If you do end up changing the counter tops, go with a very neutral quartz - no maintenance and always looks elegant and clean. A neutral backsplash can also help tone down busy counter tops, but those tops are pretty bad, esp with the commercial look cabinets.

Please post some after pics too, so we can see what you decided on doing??

http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/painting/choosing-paint-colors-how-light-affects-color/

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/want-gorgeous-interior-colors-look-to-the-light-stsetivw-vs~6833335

Your cabinets are not the problem -- your cabinets actually look good.

Painting wood cabinets or furnishings that are still looking good with their wood finish is a bad idea. Anything painted inevitably needs to be repainted and looks worse as it gets that way. Painting the cabinets will only contribute to the color clash you have going.

The countertop is not particularly attractive but replacing it will not fix the horrible mismatch of floor tiles.

The only real fix is to rip out the ugly clashing flooring or, at the very least, rip out the odd multi-colored tile in the center of the floor and replace it with same tile you put on the floor next to the cabinets and under the desk chair. Personally, I'd rather have cheap butcher block vinyl or painted plywood than that mismatch of a floor. If you cannot replace it, you might see if you can find a durable paint to cover it until you can.

When you do eventually replace the countertop, seriously consider choosing one that is either a solid color or only one that has two colors, with one of those colors being a gray within the flooring.

The "more like this" photo shows what looks like glazed painted cabinets. In my area, glazing has passed its peak in popularity. In your area, YMMV.

Between the "more like this", and the antiquing, I'd go with the "more like this". The antiquing is beautiful, but does not work in this scenario - IMO.

Suzeball - it's all the same tile. I didn't notice how blue it looks in the photo there - that's my camera. It's all the same tile, they call it Navona Terra.

[https://www.houzz.com/products/glazed-navona-terra-sample-prvw-vr~24614593[(https://www.houzz.com/products/glazed-navona-terra-sample-prvw-vr~24614593)

The lights were off, and I used my flash. I am not really photo competant, I'll try again.

If you put a piece of white paper in the photo, the camera may show colors better.

If I had to choose I would replace the countertops. I like your cabinets.

When I look at your photo, I see varying shades of brown with tones that are all very similar, with little or no contrast. Best to have dark cabinets and light floors and countertops or vice versa.
The cabinets look in good shape. I would place your countertop with a light bright quartz and if possible a new floor.
Also painting the walls something other than beige will help.

suezbell, I just read what you said above, and looked at the price of the tile that Mike posted...........so, you are right - for 99cents a tile, it can be ripped up, and replaced. Then he'd only need to add hardware to the cabinets.

I didn't see the counters before, but now that I saw them, yes please change the counters, also would be nice to antique the cabinets.

Why don't you guys just recommend I bulldoze the house, and build a new one, that would be only like $500,000 right? Seriously, I need a cheap/ez solution, which pulling out both the counters and tile is not. That tile is on the whole first level of a 3,200sf house. I think painting cabinets and replacing counters is A LOT LESS MONEY.

In any case, I am just going to paint the cabinets, and make it work, I am not going to completely remodel this house. If I need to replace the counters, I can even do that for a lot less than yanking up all the tile.

SandyC - sorry about the colors. The wall in the kitchen is cinnamon.

I would just paint the cabinets ,you seem to have invested a lot of money in the kitchen already ,painting can easily be re done , only change the cabinet hardware if you think it necessary.

Since we can't see your entire kitchen, sorry we have no idea what you are dealing with. I merely meant to replace the tile in the kitchen, geeze. Painting cabinets is a very labor intensive job and unless you have done it before, I Would suggest having them professionally done. You don't want to turn off potential buyers by a less than professional job. On the other hand, replacing your counters would make a huge difference and I don't see why you think that would be so expensive.How much countertop do you have?

Mike - Please paint and change the hardware on the cabinets, it should look good.........Good Luck.

Mike: do you have more photos?

Mike- I hope your improvements help the overall aesthetic of the kitchen. I remember when we tried to give our kitchen a "facelift". Wound up doing a full gut!

But then again, we're staying her for awhile.

Best of luck with your renovations. Please update so we can see!

You can paint the cabinets but it's not going to change the fact that your countertops and flooring clash. It may make it worse. Especially because the white glazed cabinets will clash with your tile, leaving a whole other set of problems. Consult a designer if you need to.

Before investing any more money in a house you plan to sell, you should talk to a realtor and find out what buyers in your area are looking for/expect.

definitely do not antique the cabinets...it will just add an additional busyness to the kitchen. painting a dark color like back or expresso would act more neutral. if you check around maybe you could find an end lot of granite at a discount. if you replace the counter tops..go light neutral. but just painting cabinets and adding new hardware go cabinets could make a big difference. perhaps a large neutral rug on the center floor could help.

Mike, I have tried to post a pic of our kitchen with the painted cabinets but, have not been able to, ((so I am going to change my profile pic and replaced it with the previous house kitchen)) which used to be oak (ugh), but we had them painted some shade of off white, when we had the interior of our house painted (same painters). It would have been nice to antique them, if we were going to stay. They turned out really nice, and they really lightened things up a great deal.

Mike. I would try some different choices in granite and sile and Caesar stone. Bring some samples home and see what ties together with the cabinets and floors. Something quiet might look nice.

PAINT THE CABINETS DARK ESPRESSO ... if you can't take out the counters or the floors

I looked up your tile, and it's much prettier than your photo. (No offense, my photos never seem to show colors properly, either.) I don't think your cabinets totally clash with the tile but the busy countertop would make me unhappy. Take a spare tile, a cabinet door from that vanity you removed, and a few photos taken in daylight with all the blinds open, and visit a kitchen design studio. See what you get for suggestions. I think a simple quartz or solid surface in a pale shade will work, but can't tell from your photos. Do you have a lot of countertop to replace?

Some of our local tile suppliers have a designer on staff to help you with color selections. Many independent designers will help with selecting just a few items like this (countertop and paint color for the room) for a very small fee. Look around for sales on countertops, pick a few things you can afford, and get some advice this time around.

We are painting the cabinets right now. We chose the nuova cocoa couture, and it looks sooo much better. We also have some sample hardware we are going to test with. I'll post pics when we have the same section done as the existing photos. The counters are unfortunately what they are, but the flooring is an improvement, and it works well with the painted cabinets. Our next investment will be NEUTRAL countertops. As somebody else mentioned, the flooring is nicer than it shows in my lousy photos.