It's a pretty simple door style. I wouldn't think you'd have much difficulty in trying to match it, or at least come very close. 30 year old stain will be hard to match though. Since you're planning an island, if you can rearrange your current cabinets for the L and use new cabinets for the island, I think you could probably get away with it.

Did you price out Ikea cabinets?

Honestly, looking at your pictures, I'm not sure those cabinets are worth saving.

They look fine to me. New paint in a light color will really open up the kitchen.

The door style is simple and is easily matched then painted.

They can definitely be re-purposed as long as they are wood. You can paint them and change the door style for the island. people mix and match now a days that it is up to you and your style.

I don't think they look so terrible; main drawback is that they don't have the layout flexibility and conveniences with modern cabinets (like more drawers, better corner cabinets). And if you're putting new stone counters on top, you're committed to keeping them for the long haul. I think if you could find a way to make Ikea work with your budget and layout, it would really be worth it.

The question is more can YOU handle altering them to work and spray paint them. If you can’t do all of the labor, then cabinets as old as that are never worth doing anything but putting on Craig’slist for someone who can DIY.

The boxes look like they were constructed as separate, individual cabinets (likely off-site) and then attached to each other on-site. This type of construction does make it easier to re-use cabinets, in contrast to site-built cabinets that are all one piece.

Where are you planning to put the range, if you knock down the wall? I'm glad you are remodeling - the range in front of a passthrough is kind of weird.

We repurposed all of our old cabinets except for the sink base and lazy susans. Some went into our laundry room; others went into our garage. One neighbor got an upper cabinet for storage in his basement; another neighbor got both corner uppers and a little drawer stack for his garage.

We don't have Ikea in Alaska. :-( We are rural which makes it harder- everything has to be shipped on a barge from Anchorage.

I will have to look into painting those cabinets. Can they be spray painted over the stain or would I have to strip the stain? Stripping stain is horrible. Not worth it.

I would be putting the stove where the refrigerator used to be. Right now it doesn't have a vent to the outdoors, just an easily moved hood. I'm thinking the fridge will go to the far left of the sink. There's plenty of room out there.

Thanks for your positivity and input!

They can be painted but need to be sanded and primed with the right type of primer before painting. To get a durable finish means putting in the time and using the best process. There is a lot of internet and GW postings that explain what others have done.

Do you have plans for your ceiling?

It is hard from the pics to tell the distance from the top of your cabs and the ceiling, but crown molding or flat molding would look nice if you painted. But...there is some shape in the middle of the ceiling that is lower than the cab tops, is that staying?

Rantontoo, I think what you're seeing is the range hood where she's taken a photo through the pass-through

Lol...I am not going to admit how long I looked at the picture trying to figure out what it was! So...flat ceiling.

!

I would leave the cabinets alone and just replace the hardware and counter and add an island in contrasting color if there is room.

From someone who has ONLY repurposed cabinets from many different sources, Yes. That said, if they're plywood, it can be worth the effort. If they're that era's particle or fabric board, I wouldn't waste my time.

To see what you have to work with, I'd just plain wash them first. Years of dirt, grease and grime have darkened them. Then, if you choose, you could definitely paint them (read threads about adhesive primers and Cabinet Coat.) to unify them. If you wanted to keep the doors, that's fine, too. Again, WASH THEM!

I can tell you that what I can see of that door profile is pretty common, so you could match -- or not -- the style. Advice to make your island with different/newer/contrasting cabinets is a good suggestion.

I ended up keeping a bunch of furniture and cabinetry stained, rather than painting them. Once I took some Murphy's Oil Soap to them in the front yard with a hose. The decades of sludge that came off them to reveal some pretty beautiful wood was amazing. Dry 'em up quickly and all is well in the world of Christine's cabinets.

You've got too many wood tones now and not a lot of light. If you just put in a lighter counter and open up the room so it's not so dark, I too think a good cleaning is probably all your cabinets need.

Painting cabinets is a HUGE undertaking. I started painting my kitchen cabinets once and never finished. Fortunately I started with the full wall of pantry cabinets so it wasn't too much of an issue. Don't live there anymore :-)

rantontoo, I have gone back to look at that pic more than once and STILL thought there was something funny going on with the ceiling before I remembered it was the hood LOL

LOL sorry for the photo angle! The ceiling is flat, except on the wall with the window- there is a little soffit that holds the plumbing (so we don't have freeze issues).

We will start with opening up the room and doing some cleaning. New hardware would definitely make a difference. I also want a bigger window and better lighting.

Any recommendations on a counter top to match? We want something durable but easy to care for, and with the cost of shipping- lightweight.

Hardware, lighting and island color recommendations also very welcome. I am not a design expert. :-/

Is the floor staying? If not, what do you plan to replace it with?

Find inspiration photos of kitchens you're drawn to, especially with dark wood cabinets if they're staying. It's a good starting point and will help you figure out what you like.

For lightweight counter material, I don't think you'll do any better than laminate. In fact, if you can get lumber from a reasonable distance, you can order sheets of laminate and put it on plywood yourself. If you're sufficiently handy, that is.

Laminate counter people no longer put it on plywood. Even the manufactures won't warranty it because of the movement. (That's what a laminate counter place told me.) He said they prefer MDF! Surprised me.

Tell me something. Are those uppers particularly high? They seem it. I'm also spoiled with my counter depth window. I would love to see you put in something that you can actually look out of! :) But that's way off your topic. Sorry.

My mistake on the plywood. Should have just said substrate. MDF does make more sense.

The flooring is brand new so it's staying. It's the laminate wood-look stuff which works great with dogs and a baby. Luckily the last owner had a few extra boxes we can use for when we take down those walls.

townlakecakes:

You make good points, but you may be misplacing motive.

I make my living providing cost-effectiveness. Some folks have lots of time and little money. They can have at it. What many of us here try to do is walk the line between keeping people from wasting their time and waiting a bit for a better value. It isn't always black and white.

I just got a cancellation on removing a burn from a Corian sink. I've done this job many times, but after scheduling, she called and said her husband wants to shop for new tops. He may feel the money he'd spend with me may make a better down payment on new. When he gets his numbers, I might look like a better value again, I may not.

I'm not even going to tell you how long it took to clean, sand and paint my cabinets in a kitchen about your size. It's a long, tedious, stressful job. Scrubbing down with TSP inside and out, sanding, removing all the doors, priming inside and out, painting inside and out, painting the doors, sealing everything, cleaning and reattaching the hardware. I did all this myself, so it may not take as long if you have help, but if you try to rush it, it will turn out horrible.

Go for it. I've done my kitchen twice. Second time was to get the color more right, the paint itself was in decent shape after 8 years? Took me much longer to research colors and paint type than actually do the job! First doors and hardware get removed. Go outside with a bucket of TSP enriched water and a scrub brush then rinse well and place so the doors and drawers dry fast. Then take sandpaper to them so the primer can get a grip. Wipe down twice to get the dust off and prime. Sand the primer, dust and put on 2 coats of your chosen color. Granted I only have 20 doors and drawers to deal with but it takes an afternoon per job and when I had the energy and time I'd go work in the house. Do the messy stuff outside. I found the messiest job was sanding the frames in the house and the most tedious to be rehanging the dratted doors. July 19-August 11, 2016 deciding on what paint and colors, August 11 hardware off, August 19 doors rehung and much of that time was spent waiting for paint to dry. I used tack strips to elevate the back side of the doors so I could paint the fronts and cut the wait by 1/2 day or so. I used the time paint was curing enough to handle to paint the rest of the living area one wall at a time. You KNOW how doing one little thing balloons into doing everything. I did all the work but didn't do any housework or cooking those days.

I'd paint the cabinets and put in laminate. After reading here for over a year I'm not thrilled with quartz, marble and granite. I would want a smooth surface rather than tile. Laminate and maybe butcherblock on a separate area away from water is how I'd go. My ideal counter is stainless steel though. That is light weight but finicky to fabricate. I've seen DIY videos and tutorials but way outside my comfort zone!

Can you draw out the room as-is with the dimensions of each cabinet? We can probably work together to rearrange them into the best possible layout.

Also, are you removing the wall with the red x?

What is through the pass through (red arrow) and what do you plan for that wall?

I'm so glad I asked. Thank you all so much! I could certainly draw up a sketch with exact measurements of everything, but probably won't have time until Thanksgiving break. It's a busy time of year for us.

Here is a *rough* drawing of the house as I picture it looking after the update-

Before: I want to remove the wall where the oven goes as well. Across from it is a playroom/pantry. Thinking of putting in big French doors to that room.

After: