Yes that area looks dark in a way, but look at shades of grey to brighten up the whole room. Your hardware looks good but if needed there is a need to change the counter top and plan to stay in home then the counter needs to be changed. If the $ is not there for you right now then change the wall and trim color.

Ken

What colour do you think I could do the walls?

rocket, your wall color is actually nice w/the cabs and countertops. It plays well w/the red/yellow tones in your artwork. (more on that pic below!)

I would not do a cool gray w/your warm tones. If you must paint, you want a greige w/more tan/brown in the gray. or try a very light sage or pale blue. If you paint new colors, then new artwork would be needed. those reds/yellows/blacks go perfectly fine w/your wall color. If you do a gray or blue, not so much.

and please lower that Cinzano pic about 6-10 inches ! it's driving me mad looking at it that high! Art should be eye level. unless you guys are 7' tall, that's not eye level! lol. (the bottom of it should be level w/the bottom of the light switch). If that pic was there just for staging, then, "never mind". lmao

you might try a cream/black roman shade, or a woven wood blind, in place of that mini blind on the window. bringing in some other color/texture/print would help. (you could also paint your inner trim black, like below)

or try a roller shade or a cellular blind. tons of colors

IMO…nothing you do is going to make that countertop look better. Cabinets look fine. Spend the money on replacing counters. As Beth said, hiring to have the cabinets painted, will cost you at least what it would cost to replace the counters.

Dear heavens…that must have been one ugly rock.

What about companies that resurface bathtubs?

Does anyone know if that could be a possibility for rocketdog?

My friend had her tub and shower done and there is something like a 20 year warranty.

Judy, good idea.

rocket, you could actually do a real cement overlay, if you wanted. Ardex has it. plenty of videos on how to do it or I'm sure you could hire someone for it. You can also color the cement if you don't want the gray. (they have a black tint you can add to the cement) This would give you the more modern look you're after.

they had granite tops, took it off and put down wood. then did the ardex, with the black powder added.

http://littlegreennotebook.com/2014/08/the-mostly-done-kitchen.html/

I'm not sure if it can go over the granite, (because it's polished) but if not, you can take it out and put down a wood substrate. That's a simple DIY.

Ardex feather finish. you can go on Pinterest for all the how-to's and see how it looks. For a few hundred bucks, you could have brand new counters!

BTW non of the art work is mine, it was just what the realtor put up. I don't like it!

Thanks for all your advice, I will look into replacing the countertops.