Selecting colors and finishes for you whole home before starting to paint and change things is the right way to go.

Yellow goes beautifully with so many colors - blues, greens, pinks, purples and is a lovely way to make your home feel warm and welcoming.

I love this yellow and white kitchen.

The best place to start is by finding pictures of rooms that you like, adding them to an idea book and looking around your home for the things that you own that you love.

That is a lot of painting for all the trim....wood is making a comeback designers kerp saying. You could paint the cabs but keep the oak trim in the rest of the house if you pick a color that goes with the yellow-orange of the oak. I used BM White Dove and it works in my house.

This might be an article worth reading:

https://www.true-design-house.com/blog/2016/3/14/bestpaint-with-honey-oak

I have been around long enough to see the paint it white and stained wood battle come and go. Georgeious wood will never be out of style. Truth be told - my heart hurts when I see beautiful wood trim painted or amazing wood wall panel (mid century ribbon stripped mahogany) pulled off and replaced with painted drywall or classic/antique solid wood furniture painted. I even saw one post where someone painted their red, geen and purple natural slate flooring (I had priced some of the purple slate for my fireplace hearth - $100/sf). On the other hand I painted the trim in my circa 1970 track home without a blink of an eye. I wouldn't dream of keeping the 1970s wood panelling either. I have no objection to your trim and cabinets being painted. It isn't solid cherry, mahogany, teak, rosewood or solid oak from the early 1900s.

You mention changing the overhead lights. I like that style as I like as much light a possible. I think canned lights are useless as they are never over where you really need them (just placed somewhere someone thought they would be good).

I would suggest you replace the plastic panels. Get clear not the "white".

Also look to see if you can paint the inside a really WHITE reflective WHITE.

It looks like there are two fixtures in there, maybe upgrade to four? consider wiring them so that you can have one, two or all on. Why power up everything for a late night snack?

Consider more also? expanding the grid area? Putting a row closer to work areas (stove)?

Don't get talked into "just" pendant lights. A kitchen is a working room and a good functioning kitchen is so much better than trendy.

Don't get me started on sinks...

A large flushmount light in the kitchen can throw some great light, but you don't have to keep the 90s big brown box. Home Depot/Lowes carry much nicer, flatter flushmounts. I replaced the big box in my last home with one that had just a bit of brushed nickle on each end.

Hey Luke - nice big layout! If it were me, I wouldn’t paint the cabinets but I would change the light on the ceiling, install your LVT and update the knobs/handles on your cabinets to brushed stainless. I think that would make a huge difference! It looks like thats a large fluorescent light. try LED lights - they give off tons of light and easier on the eyes. here’s some ideas...

LVT

Thanks everyone. So I think I'll explore replacing the light. I imagine the ceiling will have to repainted though. It appears that the installer put caulking between the frame and the ceiling.

How can I brighten the room without painting the cabinets? And if I decide to keep the oak around the entire house, I need to find flooring that compliments or camoflauges it. Also with flooring, does that tile or wood look blend well with another style? My tv room needs new flooring as well and it is next to the kitchen. It's also a step down from the kitchen.

A quality lighting store will likely have one more-knowledgeable lighting-savvy salesperson to help you develop a lighting plan for your kitchen. The box light must go, and it will be replaced by a lighting layout which more properly lights your work areas instead of the top of your head. The lighting store will have a qualified electrician to install it.
You are lucky your island isn’t attached to the floor. Try turning it the other direction to see if it works better for you.
The new luxury vinyl flooring wood-look planks really look good and are comfortable to stand on than hard tile.
Adding a backsplash may require that you remove the short built-in backsplash that matches your counters. Painting your walls in washable semi-gloss enamel paint that matches your counters may be a good temporary solution.
With kids around, you are busy busy busy, but if you try to keep the counters clear of non-essentials, you can increase your work zones.

I would definitely paint the cabinets, they look very dated. And declatte the top.

Get rid of the fluorescent mess on the ceiling put in LED under-cabinet and too-of-cabinet lighting. An evenly-lit ceiling will give a dramatically different feel to the room.

It's a warm, friendly family kitchen. Pop out both pieces of yellowed acrylic in the overhead fixture. Buy replacement pieces that are clear prism-patterned from a big box store, as suggested above. Change the flurorescent tubes to the LED tubes that are now available from amazon or big box stores. They cost a bit more than fluorescent tubes, but the light quality is much better.

If that's not a big enough improvement, return the new tubes and acrylic panels, and get a large new flush light fixture.

Another option as suggested above is to add LED panels. Some look just like skylights.

Other ways to brighten it up are to add undercabinet lighting. If you want additional zing, add overcabinet lighting. Remember that February and March are often dreary in northern climates, so that's when people really want more light.

@celerygirl, what software did you use to simulate the colors? that looks quite handy. the question I have with white cabinet is, what do I do with the rest of the baseboards, door frames, window frames, etc? Everything is oak.

Additionally, what do I do with flooring as it transitions from the kitchen to the TV room? I want something works in both rooms, blends with the cabinets, countertops, and fireplace. and again, I have oak everywhere.

I use Photoshop.

My experience with looking at painted oak cabinets at open houses, from friends' experience, and what I have read online is this - be ready for touch ups in 3 years - and you may be able to keep that up for ten years, but then get ready to replace the cabinets. You also might not be able to donate the old as chippy painted cabinets are not much wanted. If you want to paint till you can save up for new cabinets - that's fine. Many get an additional 10 years out of their cabinets by painting them - but rarely much more than that, especially if this is an active household.

You do have a decent layout, though I agree, consider changing the island direction. If you ever do a new kitchen, consider a peninsula as that usually works better in a U shaped kitchen unless it is quite large. An island works best with a L shaped kitchen.

You may want to look at refacing the cabinets and buying new doors since you do have a good layout. If you can afford it, basic hardwood floors throughout the main level is a timeless look and a forever floor. You can do a white kitchen and keep the oak trim if you want - or you can do new stained doors in a more timeless style - like a craftsman door.

If you decide to paint the trim, you can keep the cabinets stained, or not as you choose, but if you have wood paneled doors (not hollow core) I would not paint those. They have more value than white pained doors and are much easier to upkeep.

Wood doors with white trim:

Should you decide not to paint, here is a wood kitchens idea book with both newer and older, refreshed wood kitchens:

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/75202366/list/wood-kitchens

This is a wood and white idea book for adding white kitchen or trim:

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/59566423/list/wood-and-white

First things, first. Warning: I'm a work-with-the-oak person. Paint the walls of all the areas a creamy white, not the oak. What's dating your house is the chair rail and blue paint, mish mash of colors that break up what's a single space, dining set that doesn't work with the rooms since you have a nice bay there.

--Remove all stuff from tops of cabinets--zero anything on top. That visual clutter can be seen all the way from your living room, which is probably why you're unhappy with the space.

--Do a big purge in all the cabinets so you can move stuff from countertops to inside cabinets. Once the countertops and cabinet tops are fairly cleared off, then consider the cosmetics. Check out Rev-a-Shelf drawerss for inside cabinets for garbage cans, extra storage. Remove paper towels to under the sink.

--Move your electric oven (or is it a microwave) to the corner on the refrigerator side so it doesn't take up so much visual space.. It's so bulky and shouldn't be near the sink in any case. Create a small coffee station with everything on a tray.

--Get a great looking light fixture and under cabinet lighting. These will change everything.

Here are some possibilities, white uppers, keep the bottom in oak.

Paint your island white:

If you need a junior table for your little one, adapt this idea. Paint it white also:

--Forget about yellow since you have an open space. Here are some ways to make the entire space flow from kitchen, dining, living room--everything a creamy white that works with the floor and fireplace you have. Get a pale shade of a creamy white from fireplace stone. Paint the walls below the chair rail white as well. The blue only adds to visual clutter. Creamy white that works with your fireplace and your cabinets will really open your space, which is all one. If you need color, add it in art work, sofa pillows,

--Get a round oak table for your bay area and you'll have much more space and it will work with your kitchen cabinets as well as your railings. Everything should echo throughout the open space.

Art work for over fireplace, dining room wall, and staircase that echo your wood trim and blues and golden tones. Personal photos can be in hallways and bedrooms. A few large pieces in the colors you like will connect your three spaces.

She ^ said what I was thinking!

As already mentioned, a lot of de-cluttering and organzing some storage solutions will do so much to improve your space. The heavy grain in oak usually shows through paint, so be sure you can live with that look if it happens. A unified paint color throughout will help tremendously. If you love yellow, it does make things cheery; try to find one that will look good in both spaces. You could stain the FP brick or whitewash it if necessary.

Wow, y'all are amazing. This has helped tremendously. Lots to think about now. Last question: my current vinyl flooring is peeling really badly. I'm interested in some vinyl planking. Any thoughts on colors?

The ceiling light is what's depressing in your kitchen . That would , in my opinion HAVE to go first . Paint the ceiling and walls white , then take another look . You could stain the cabinets black ..one would still see the grain of the wood ...which is beautiful ..but it would give it new look .
As others have said ...think about What YOU like in other kitchens ..after you have replaced the old fashioned ceiling feature ...look at HOUZZ kitchen ideas ..l

Are you looking to add wood look vinyl planks to the whole area including living area? Or just where you have vinyl floors now? I've read some other posts on this, and I think the trick is to get some samples and make sure it coordinates/compliments with your current wood on cabinets and trim.

One thing you haven't mentioned is budget. If you can afford to replace flooring throughtout the area, that is ideal.

When shopping for LVT you want to get something with a good wear layer that is not going to need replaced in a few years.

I just bought LVT for my whole home (2000 sf home) and even with a lot of price comparison and shopping materials alone are $8k, but that was a $3k savings over the highest estimate for the same floor/same space.

The same flooring can be available in different stores at different prices and with different names.

CAA Limited owns Carpet One, Pro Source, Flooring America and The Floor Trader. They all have the same flooring, but even 2 Carpet One stores can have 2 different prices.

The lowest price store also had some amazing options for the DIY customer. They deliver the flooring, will have a professional installer come to your home for $85 and give you one hour of instruction. You take over and if you need assistance you can buy another hour. They also rent the equipment needed for install.

If you are going to replace the flooring throughout with a single flooring, you want to buy it all at once. If you choose to keep carpet in the livingroom and just replace the rest you don't have to buy the carpet until you are ready.

I decided to do all of my floors in the LVT, but I toyed with the idea of carpet in my livingroom and carpet in my bedrooms. These are perfectly acceptable options. Not everything needs to be done in the same flooring. Everything does need to work together.

Carpet is a great way to bring color into your space.

As for colors, the best advice I can give is hold off on the paint color until you decide what is happening in the space.

Step 1 - decide what will stay and what will go - Flooring, Countertops, Cabinets (Painted or Oak), trim (Painted or Oak). Furnishings (do you have a newer sofa that has to stay for the next 5-8 years?).

Step 2 - select the big items that will be replaced. Pick your flooring, countertop, backspash . . .

Step 3 - Pick your paint color.