I also have a similar kitchen and painted the oak trim. This is not a long term solution but a short term one. After about three years, the areas at the sink and stove did not wear well. They need constant touch ups.

You might ask. Yes I used a special primer.

So the issue with those cabinets is well...they're super cheap. Any quick DIY fix is just that, a quick fix. It won't last long. Listen to Beth, don't put any money into this, and save up for a full redo.

The only issue is that if we do anything big to the kitchen, the numbers don't work and we can't buy the house (and we want to be able to rent it).. There are a ton of variables, but I definitely appreciate all your input!

That was a great tip w/ Craigslist.. I'll definitely check it out! Thanks!!

If you're a rental investor, I'd just leave it as is until renters ruin it to the point where you must take it out. Put back $$ out of this property's monthly rent for the job you know you'll have to do down the line. The floor doesn't look that bad. Are you trying to attract high end renters? I thought you were re-doing it for yourselves.

yea, we try to make our rentals for high end renters. Central air, granite counter tops (usually), etc.. So this would be a stretch for us, but it's in a great area and it works if we don't have to totally gut the kitchen! ha. Anyway, thanks for any advice!!

Not all cabinets that look like this are necessarily cheap. Everybody sold a cabinet like this at one point including Wood-mode and other custom companies.

If you did an entry level granite that worked with the cabinets (assuming they are in good condition) and entry level stainless appliances you might be able to make this work in some sort of "mid-century" kinda way.

nookie,,,what big city are near?

IMO this kitchen is not high end on any level and those cabinets are so dated all the paint in the world will not make them anything else.. Could you post the rest of the space maybe it would help with ideas.

I love painted cabinets but you have to be up for the "antiqued" (ie beaten up) look over time, which I don't think will work with these cabinets. I agree that playing up the mid-century feel might be best if you can't replace the cabinets now, maybe with a dark floor, dark counter, and sleeker matching appliances. Maybe even adding some orange paint above the cabinets and a more "mod" window treatment could make it seem more retro/cool until you can upgrade.

I can't see this kitchen as being high end w/o ripping everything out. Maybe pass on this property.

Take issue with the "wait until the renters ruin it until you have to take it out". I rent, and I have never ruined a home or apartment. I take good care of where I live...after all, I am living there...why would I want to tear it up just because I don't own it? Now, I have seen rentals where they are not nice and the landlord/owner did not want to do anything to make it nicer - I'm talking about moldy caulk around the tub, missing tiles, dirty walls...

Maybe a bamboo type wallpaper, or some type of colored wallpaper for a backsplash would definitely make the kitchen look better. And a vinyl wood look floor would make the cabinets pop.

The cost benefit analysis is going to be on renovating the kitchen vs. how much rent you can get. I don't think painting the oak is going to do enough if someone expects a current kitchen in their rental.

I have to disagree that all expensive houses have millennial style kitchens in them

These are all from houses for sale in the last 18 months. All in HCOLA. Most houses around $1M

What is the condition of the cabinets over-all? If good, I'd leave them as they are and put the money into all new SS appliances (slide in range) and flooring. As right off the top those 2 things are not screaming "high-end." What is the counter tops and their condition and what is the backsplash?

My kitchen has the exact same cabinets. I painted them almost 20 years ago and put handles on them. They’ve held up extremely well. I added the moulding to the soffit recently and painted it all to match the cabinets. The granite and appliances and backsplash are new last summer.

I had these cabinets; hated them! So, with advice from the folks at the local paint store, I primed and painted them and stained the wood trim. Updated the lighting and added new accessories. Held me over until I could do a full reno.

I am not sticking up for this particular style of cabinet, it was never really my favorite the first time around, even though the first time around I was in grade school and high school.

But this door was still offered by mainstream cabinet companies (and you can still get this door from some places) when I did my first kitchen in 1995.

And guess what I did in 1995: Shaker. I did maple but the other offering was white, and it was new enough in the company I chose that it was a more expensive door style and inner edge of the style and rail was beveled instead of 90-degree/true Shaker. That was an upgrade until I was ready to order and then they started the true Shaker profile in their semi custom line.

***I still like and will always like a Shaker door in the right sort of kitchen***

What is the point of this ramble? People hate the laminate and wood strip door because it was almost ubiquitous. People call it "cheap" because eventually the style trickled down to cheap cabinets that were put in builders houses and apartment buildings all over the place. People have forgotten that this door was also high-end at first.

And the same thing is going to happen to the beloved Shaker door. Every builder infill, flip, or "luxury" apartment building (every new apartment building, in other words) in my neck of the woods either has white shaker, maple shaker or dark stained slab. And granite.

So time's coming when the haters gonna hate because Shaker is ubiquitous and ubiquitous is "cheap". It's already happened to granite.

I am the renter of a condo that has these style cabinets and the owners had painted the oak trim brown. Having just the trim painted with the laminate still being the original almond color looked terrible, IMO. The kitchen was extremely dated so I did about $450 in updates that included painting cabinets (both the bases and the doors) white then topcoating with polycrylic, adding a track light, refinishing a bisque sink to change the color to white, installing a new faucet & sprayer, adding nice hardware to the cabinets, adding a peel & stick backsplash and covering almond laminate counters with a vinyl film covering featuring a light ash wood finish and ceramic tile with a pvc film covering featuring a matte "marble" finish. The counter coverings won't fool anyone into thinking they are the real thing but they also look really good and don't feel plasticky, at all. The tile floor was about the only thing not updated & it works really well with the changes. I also used appliance epoxy to paint the dishwasher & the 30 year old Kenmore range hood & both turned out great. It is quite a transformation although too soon to tell on its durability. Here are some before & after pics.

As an additional comment to my previous post, my kitchen is pretty small compared to the one you are considering so the $450 cost to update is probably not realistic for you. If I were a renter looking at your space, the thing that sticks out to me the most is the dated look of the kitchen as a whole and the stove. Painting the cabinets (not just the trim) and replacing the stove would make a big difference.

chshouse, You've done a good job to make yourself happy. I hope the owners were not trying to sell it and could not...thus...your updates will help them sell it.

shirlpp, thanks! I've been in the unit for 2 years and plan to be here long term. It isn't for sale & a year ago I asked the owners to sell it to me but they want to keep it for their retirement as it is located on an island just a few blocks from the beach. I pushed them a second time to sell & they were firm, saying that someone in their family had always regretted selling their beach property instead of keeping it in the family so they didn't want to make that mistake. Luckily, they are still young & years away from retirement so I hope to be here for awhile. I normally like to have some color on the walls but the unit is a middle unit without side windows & it is north facing so there is no direct sunlight into it and the white makes a huge difference in lightening & brightening the space. It was worth it to put some of my own money into an update. This is the view from the balcony which makes the dated interior much more bearable. :^)

is it possible to lighten/white wash/bleach the oak trim to achieve a scandi effect? The kitchen itself looks in good condition...