I think the black fireplace could look cool with the right wall color and decor, but that tan is not doing anyone any favors. The countertops look vastly different in different photos, too - do they read darker or lighter in real life? The first photo you posted makes them look like a light-ish beige with some movement, but in the others they look like they have a lot more black/dark veins with just a small amount of beige/lighter colors.

Sorry different angles make a difference. The countertops are darker sorry, yes the first picture is off. That is true, and I agree the tan NEEDS to go. It throws everything off.

Do you have any color schemes to paint those two rooms?

I would start by getting an estimate for replacing the countertops. Once they measure the kitchen, they can give you prices for new laminate or various grades of granite or other solid surfaces. Once you have a new countetop picked out, you can choose colors. Take an extra floor tile to the countertop store with you. It will save a lot of time because you can quickly identify things that go well and things that don't.

You can prime the two rooms in white primer if you are sure you want to repaint shortly. Wiping out the tan will make choosing a new color much easier. A very light gray room with white fireplace is a current trendy look, though gray is trending out in some geographical areas. YMMV.

I'd start with the beige walls going away...

then maybe a new fridge - SS (not that I really like SS, but they do seem to have those now that don't retain fingerprints). It'd really lighten up the kitchen.

and neutralizing that black door (to what?) that's to the left of the fridge. so much black!

is the whole of your backsplash the same as the light color squares at the end of the sink run in your 1st pic? If so, that is good - less busy and less to conflict with a countertop if you decide to change that.

I would replace the floor with a wood that is a little darker than the cabinets. Remove the white backsplash,and paint the walls slightly darker. You can then see how you feel.

Thanks everyone! I love all of the comments! Maybe I will start with the floor. I think i want the dinning room, kitchen, and laundry room to all have the same flooring preferably wood. I will let everyone know what I come up with!!

So i retook some picture that i believe match better with how the kitchen really is.

If this was my kitchen I would lighten the paint color to a cream or barely there beige if I kept the cabinets stained, and to cream if I painted the cabinet. If I painted, I would do a color because of the light floor. For myself, I would find a light floor with white cabinets possibly too sterile. I would do a green or blue, possibly with a gray undertone, but not plain cool gray. I don't mind the granite, but I would do a subway tile backsplash. I would repaint the black door or refinish it back to wood (if it ever was, might be MDF).

The style may not be you, but these colors could work:

I did keep my cabinets in my kitchen stained - some other in my house are painted. I used cream subway tile for the backsplash as it seemed to work better with my wood tone. Pics are in my "my pics" idea book - vintage style, so perhaps not your style.

The new pics definitely show the colors better, thank you! I personally don't think your countertops and backsplash are ugly - they're not what I would have chosen, but I think you can work with them. The main problems for me are the wall color, cabinet color (and style, but that's another ball of wax) and the stark black appliances next to all those mismatched "neutrals."

If this were my, I would be looking to paint the cabinets immediately, because I really dislike yellow-y blonde wood. That plus a change in the wall color would probably be enough for me, cosmetically speaking, and can all be done fairly inexpensively if you have time and space to do the work yourself. Even just a different paint color on the walls would help immensely. I agree with jhmarie's comment above that an actual color, like a pale blue, on the cabinets would probably work better than white or off-white (especially given their style, which could look adorably retro in a fun color). If you did go off-white with the cabinets I would do a stronger color on the walls.

Pick out your floor option first and we can work w/cabinet help after that. Have you looked into new countertops (via remnants or the pre-fabs?) Otherwise it's not bad. totally doable w/new paint colors and lighting. I like jhmaries color ideas too.

oh, and behind the stove, I'd do a totally unique and cool backsplash. Something not 'white subway' tile! That spot is so removed and by itself, it could use a little color or pizzazz. It could be something as simple as back painted glass or glass tile

After talking to my husband we decided to start with changing out the floor. We want the whole house (Aside from bathrooms and bedrooms) to have to same flooring. I think that will help everything flow a little better. Once we do that it might be easier to pick colors and look into a new countertop that we actually like. Beth H I love that idea that would make a worlds difference! Thank you everyone for the help once we finally get everything done I will upload some pictures!

Okay so I was wondering if any one knew how it would turn out if I java gel stained these cabinets? I will post a picture of the color I'm talking about what the kitchen would look like with brown stain (app color not accurate but general idea) the first picture is my kitchen and the second is the java color.. my problem is will the color turn out on this type of cabinet or will it look funny because of the style?

here is another angle again color isn't quite java but general idea

staining cabinets the correct way and have them look good, is a lot harder than painting. can you sand what you have and wipe the darker gel stain over them? yes you can. will it look good? prob not. this is what usually ends up happening

To do a proper job, everything has to be removed. all hardware, all doors, etc. the frame body all has to be stripped and sanded. after the stain dries, you will have to use a top coat to protect it. at least 2-3 coats, w/fully drying in between them. I know you see the photos where you can just wipe on the gel coat, but it rarely looks good. To properly refinish wood, you should actually completely strip it down to bare wood. multiple sandings, and then apply the stain. one coat. let dry. apply a few top coats. That's how to do a proper refinishing.

this pic, notice they are applying it to raw, bare oak. this is what you need to begin with.

And honestly? Paint would look way better.

Thank you I appreciate your honesty. Do you think painting them a brown would be nice? I like some of the colors people posted before such as the green and stuff however I feel people will either love it or hate.. making it hard to sell.

when are you selling? I'd do a nice white, or creamy white. everyone likes that. no one wants brown paint on their cabinets. You could also do a warm gray.

try something from here

https://www.thecreativityexchange.com/2016/02/most-popular-cabinet-paint-colors.html?m&m

I think a warm dark gray would look good with the black appliances. Any type of white will make the appliances stand out even more.

or potentially a two color combo: dark gray on the bottom, light color on top, except in your case, I would paint the cabinet over the fridge in a dark gray as well.

BTW, your kitchen would really benefit from a counter depth fridge. And whatever you do, please remove the scalloped trim around the sink cabinet and over the opening.

I do like the warm gray and agree about that ugly scalloped trim. what undertones would I want in choosing a warm gray?

are you keeping the counters/splash/flooring? if so, take a closer shot showing counter/backsplash

Yes we plan on keeping them, I would like to change them but we are spending most of our extra money outdoors instead of indoors. Would it be smarter to let someone else tackle the project instead of only halfway "fixing" it? I just know people are not going to like the kitchen being so small and then to top it off its just an eye sore. I know this because I hated it when we bought it. Also I will get you a better picture here in a little bit and we plan on listing it for sale around May.

Speaking strictly as a buyer, I would tell you not to bother doing anything if you are only going to be in the house another 6 months. As a buyer I would rather make my own choices with regard to the cabinet color, etc., rather than living with a former owner's choices.

I agree with you biondanonima as I HATE the choices the previous people made. Maybe they planned on doing more and never got a chance too. I will talk to my husband about it and possibly just leave it be.

Sarah, you goal is to make it look somewhat nice for the buyers. yes they will know it's old, but by removing the scallop piece, replacing the hardware and giving the cabinets a fresh coat of white paint, it will appear much cleaner and a bit newer. If they plan on redoing the kitchen, then they will rip out everything, but spending a few hundred bucks to paint the cabs and get new handles will allow it to present itself nicer. your goal is to sell the house. you don't want a buyer coming in and going, "god, this kitchen is so dated and so much work and money to redo". but if it looks somewhat updated and fresh, then they could live with it until they can redo. make sense? You were going to gel stain it Java, which would be worse than leaving it alone. giving it a fresh coat of paint would be the best. you and your husband could do it yourselves in a weekend or two.

you could do a nice gray on the lowers, and a white on the uppers. paint the walls a pale gray tone and replace that light fixture w/something lighter and brighter.

you don't have to do anything else w/that space other than that.

if you were a buyer, which kitchen would you be more attracted to? (ignore the green shade,,it could be any color. just look at the overall redo)

all she did was paint it white, add a simple splash (which you already have), painted the trim and added some color and flooring (which you already have)

The key point here, if fresh and clean. and even though it's old and dated, it doesn't look like it.

Thank you Beth. I agree I think I was just starting to over think everything but I definitely see the difference which is why I wanted to paint them in the first place. I think I'm going to pull the greys from my counter top and do that for the cabinets. I like the white but my floors are so light so I think it needs some color.

Sarah that's fine. maybe do a warmer, darker gray for the lowers? what do you think about the two tone look?

Love love love it! I think that will help keep things even. I really like the first picture tones. My husband likes it too so I think that's what were going to do.

great! here are some medium gray colors you could try. get a few small samples, bring them home, and try them on the lower doors.

Kendall charcoal, chelsea gray and amherst, would closest to that first pic.

when you're finished, don't forget some new hardware. if you get them before you paint, you can fill and patch the existing holes, paint over them, and be able to use any new size you want. get the handles this time. buy in a contractors pack and save money.

When or if you paint the walls, I would consider a very good quality washable flat/matte or as low sheen as possible. The sheen the previous owner did is not doing the walls any favours.

Thank you Bette, I totally agree. Also, the moment we bought the house I told my husband I wish they went lighter with the wall paint color, it just gets uglier as the day turns to night. I really do not want to have to repaint the whole house but if i paint the kitchen cabinets, I need to change the wall color as well. You should see what a horrible job they did on painting the bathroom/laundry cabinets, there are streaks and drips everywhere and the exterior paint job just makes me want to cry, extremely frustrating.

Oh Sarah. Keep an eye on comparable homes for sale in your neighbourhood. Ideally find a current listing that shows what you hope to sell in May. In the end, you want to make sure you do not over improve the home and not make a profit for your sweat and expense. It's expensive to move, factor in lawyer fees, real estate commission and other expenses for this house and your next etc. In my neighbourhood for example, a bungalow that has not been updated since new built in the 1960's sells for not much less than a home that has been updated. It makes me sick, since mine is updated! But one storey homes are selling hot for retiree buyers. Sellers that do not update are making huge profits!

Thank you Bette, that's what we have been doing. I live in a relatively small town that is growing faster than it can accommodate, yet, houses still do sit as this one did for almost a year before we bought it and now we see why. This is out first house and although it has good bones we overlooked some things. I feel everything is overpriced here, but that is probably true for most places. Also, our homes are the same way as there are multiple homes that still have the old wood paneled walls, but still sell for 50 to 100k more than new more updated homes; do not understand that logic. However, we do not plan on making any major purchase updating, we just want to make things appear nicer so that it hopefully does not sit for a long time. We want to fix the horrible paint jobs inside the home, touch up the exterior paint as it is too expensive to redo, and paint the kitchen cabinets. Therefore, we will mostly have "sweat" invested, which is a lot, but I can say I do enjoy the experience and having something to do.

Good plan Sarah. We've only had two houses, both needed work but we could see the good bones underneath. That's the key. Who knows, maybe you'll stay longer than you think. Take lots of before and after photos for your listing. We put a photo binder on the table to show realtors and potential buyers while we were selling our first house.

I'm loving this look. what shade of cream does the wall color look most like?

or should I pull the lightest color from the counter top would it match okay with grey cabinets?

Sherwin Williams Alabaster

Would I need to do a different sheen throughout the house, or would a satin sheen work in every room?

eggshell or matte for walls is better. i like alabaster for the cabs. satin or semi gloss is best for those.

Okay so we are waiting on a Chelsea grey to come in because my husband thinks river reflection (which I love) is too light and we both think amherst gray and charcoal gray might be too dark so hopefully Chelsea will do the trick. However now I am finding my dilemma.. I think white walls seem really white maybe I'm just not use to it but I have the alabaster on the top right side and it seems really bright and on the left i have linen white but I don't know if that works either. I'm looking for something that doesn't contrast with all the beige and that will work in my dinning room as well. Therefore would a classic gray work with Chelsea gray? One other scheme I have coming in is thunderous and ivory lace by sherwin Williams but the ivory lace appears more of a tan grey to me...? Also one extremely important thing to keep in mind is that while my kitchen and dinning room sit south I have trees that shade everything so I don't have the best natural light. If classic grey won't work what will, I realize Beth said to do a pale grey but what exact color?

Have you scrapped the idea of replacing the floors? Are you going to replace the backsplash? IMO the Linen White on the left looks much better with your existing floors and backsplash, but if you are changing those then you have a whole new equation. As far as the cabs go, my favorite of your current choices is the middle grey, but again, if the flooring is changing, everything is changing.

Yes we have, we don't have to funds to tackle the floor issue. This does make it hard when trying to work with everything, especially because I would change everything. Backsplash is a possibility, if everything doesn't tie together very well. I also thought of maybe painting the backsplash white as I heard you can paint tile backsplash... not sure how that will turn out though. That's also what I thought as well, I feel the white is to far off the beige which is why I was hoping Chelsea gray with classic gray/april shower walls would work. I don't have those samples in yet. Also all of the greys are darker than they appear with this picture.

In that case, and given that you are trying to choose something that will flow nicely into the beige in other rooms, I would look at greys or "greige" colors that have a warmer undertone. On my monitor, the paler grey on the left looks warmer, while the other two seem to have a cooler, bluer undertone. It's really hard to tell on a computer monitor, though. Looking at that chart of different greys that Beth H posted upthread, I would be looking at Kendall Charcoal, Chelsea Grey or even Galveston Grey - those lean warmer on my monitor.

I also think that with the black appliances, a medium tone will help soften the contrast between the stark black and the lighter walls. I agree with your DH that the lightest grey in your photo is probably too light to do this, although I do like its warmer undertone.

Thank you, I think that is why I like that one too, but I do agree it's a little light. The one in the middle is Amherst and the right is the Charcoal (in person there both too dark). I'm getting a Chelsea Gray sample and I will add Galveston Gray to my order. The thunderous has a green tint to it that I find pretty. Between the three I will let you know what I pick. What do you think about the wall colors below:

Thunderous Cabinet:

Here is DOVE WING for wall?

Revere Pewter: I like this one it seems warm but how would it look with those grays?
April ShowersClassic Gray

I like Thunderous as a color, but it looks quite dark on my monitor. You'd definitely want to get a big swatch of that to see how it looks in the space.

Also, IMO it's going to be harder to get the cabinet color right than the wall color, so I would concentrate on choosing that first, then looking at wall color.

OP, I hope you aren't trying to choose the color based on the monitor colors. You need to get out a board and paint it with the sample to see it in your light in the space. What works on the monitor may not work in your space IRL.

Also, was this always a fix and flip or did you intend to stay awhile? I say that because you are selling your first home in less than a year and it is difficult to make a profit with the transaction fees of buying and selling in less than a year unless you purchased for a very low price. I am suggesting that you be very cautious with your selections if the intent is to wow the future buyer into paying substantially more for the house you purchased a few months ago. Keep accurate records because the new appraiser for the new buyers lender may want to see the rehab figures. JME.

Edit: The kitchen appliances really stick out like sore thumbs and that might be one of the best returns on your money - replace the appliances with appropriately sized and SS appliances. Have the Refrigerator look built in rather than a huge mass popping out of its space. These types of changes are relatively inexpensive along with removing the scallop trim piece and painting the walls. I'm not sure you will get your money back on painting the cabinets, depends on your comps for the neighborhood and your original purchase price.

Denita, thank you for your input as i agree with your statement. I'm not buying a color based on the internet, just paint samples as I know they look different in person. I have a picture of my kitchen with swatches on them above. Our plan was never to buy a house and then move a year later; however, life events change and my husband received a job offer 8 hours from here; which is why were trying to fix minor things in the house so that it (hopefully) does not sit for awhile as it did before we bought the home. The bones of the house are great; however, their are a lot of cosmetic issues that almost kept us from purchasing. In addition, we did purchase the house for a portion less than appraisal because of these issues (problems we can fix just take time) and we have someone who is painting our kitchen free so it will only cost us the paint. We would love to "wow" people but without updating other things we know this will not happen, just trying to turn something dated into something not so dated and paint goes a long way if done right.

Makes sense. Congrats on the new job offer! I'm a Realtor and have seen what life can throw at you both personally and professionally. Making strategic fixes does work. Not like HGTV says, but in the right market with the right choices, you can break even (maybe, depending on fees to sell and fees to buy). Hopefully the new job offer has a relocation benefit for you and your husband. It is tough to make a profit in less than a year, but you have the experience of what turned you off. I would weigh the cost and benefit to painting the cabinets - and get in touch with your Realtor to see what the difference is in neighborhood comps. S/he will be able to show you what a refurbished kitchen would yield in your neighborhood.