Pictures will get you better advice.

what are the cabinets now? and no, in a closed in kitchen, you don't need stainless. Before anything else, I would look at appliances with your spaces measured...try to get them in harmony , altho exactly matching is not critical. do you want an upgrade , like French door fridge, convection microwave or mwave drawer, better hood over range.....these things will take some time and line item pricing if you are doing all new appliances....then see how budget holds up and what is sensible to do. I've seen really quite older kitchens, and once a new, better set of appliances are placed, been impressed how the quirky old aspects can be a non-issue. Obviously, broken things, cracked things...like that ...have to be addressed. The slate floor, can be a backdrop to cushiony mats so don't think it has to be removed.

Thank you so much herbflavor. I'm having trouble uploading photos for some reason. Will try again now.

Obviously we're in a state of fixing things, (no outlet covers, dog bowls, barstool etc. My questions are really about flooring - to change or not or type of rug - sisal? Also, whether to paint cabinets or not, and which color appliances to purchase, knowing that the room gets very dark and I'm a "light freak". (I'll be painting walls either White Dove or Pale Oak and cabinets could be Chantilly.) My friend thinks I should leave the cabinets alone as they're maple however I dislike the combination of this color wood with the slate floor, neither of which I would've chosen. We need to fix Halogen to LED lighting and fix under cabinet lighting. I'm also not sure about the weird little shelf over current barstool. Could this space be utilised for a display cabinet or similar. Currently I use it for laptop searches while drinking morning tea!

All ideas gratefully received :)

Also, the current fridge doesn't even fit in the space and I'm having trouble finding one that does. The over stove microwave has broken and ideally for looks I would get a gas cooktop and under counter stove but Im not sure if they're as functionally good as getting a 30" gas stove??

Hi Julia, You're going to get a lot of comments about pros/cons of painting cabinets — some may be rough, so brace yourself. Here's 2 cents from someone who painted oak cabinets white four years ago while saving up the dough for my "real" renovation (including taking out a wall). I'm an experienced and careful painter who followed all the best practices for painting wood and four years later there is wear on the most used parts of some cabinets (mainly near the handles). Would I do it again? Absolutely. It got me through the waiting period not hating my kitchen.

If you're going to buy new appliances, buy them for your ultimate kitchen reno. That means, know where you want to be a few years from now.

I actually think your kitchen is quite nice and if it were mine, I'd simply replace the white appliances with stainless appliances that fit better. That would be my "interim" refresh while I looked forward to my ultimate renovation some time in the future.

Re: cooktops:

I've had both cooktops and ranges and they cook equally well. It's more a layout issue usually. Given narrow aisles in my kitchen, this time I went with a wall oven stack placed where it opens with the best clearance over a range/oven. If you're not constricted by layout, I'd go with what you love.

I’d go with any lighting improvements you can make. And then I’d consider stainless appliances. I think they would suit your kitchen better, but you would be locking yourself into those sizes if you resuse them when you remodel. I would not have done the tile backsplash on top of the granite backsplash, but since it is already done I would likely not spend the money and effort to change it.

Honestly, your kitchen looks quite nice as-is.

I’d change the counters first before doing floors, and I wouldn’t paint the cabinets. You want to get a good “return” on any changes made, and I don’t mean in a financial sense, but I mean do the change that will provide the best effect. The black counters swallow the light, and are more in your face (literally) than the floors. Painting the cabinets will be a huge undertaking and might not end up looking good. I would actually save up to buy new stainless steel appliances and install new light counters at the same time, new UCL, and then be done.

P.S. don’t be seduced by the “black stainless” appliances that will be pushed on you with enormous eagerness by salespeople and ignorant friends. Also, get a range, not separate cooktop and oven for your kitchen. Watch out for a tendency to make things more difficult than they need to be, which would be the case with separate cooktop/oven and with painting your cabinets.

If it is time to replace the appliances, stainless will look prettier than white. I like the floor and cupboards and the dark counters work fine. If I wanted to "fix" something I'd pull out the back splash which appears to be the discordant element. Do you have under cupboard lighting over the sink?

Thank you

So much lisaam, I agree completely about the backsplash however I'm stuck with it for a while. I've found these comments extremely helpful. Ill start with changing the appliances and the under cabinet lighting is being repaired next week.

The only things that don't really work in your kitchen are the white appliances, and the backsplash. If you're truly stuck with the backsplash, i would look into short term solutions like painting it or seeing if you can put anything on top of it, because it's the only thing that uncomfortably sticks out in your kitchen.