That’s a terrible flooring choice even if you didn’t have those cabinets. Uniform stripey and an off color is very obviously a bad fake wood. Pick something else.

I agree that the flooring is not a good choice. There is nothing contemporary about that flooring. You need something lighter and more uniform in feel.

I'm a bit confused about how far you want to go with fixing up the kitchen.

Are you planning on painting the cabinets yourself? If not, a good job will cost you around $5000. Painting them yourselves is not an easy job but doable. However if you want them to last, make sure you read up on what's truly involved. It's lots of sanding and then spraying.

I don't mind your cabinets. I mind the spindly things holding up the uppers. Ditch those.

Is it a good choice to carry the vinyl planks in a different choice of planks through the kitchen from the front room or should it be different flooring like tiles or something? its not an open concept but you can see the kitchen flooring through the doorway from the front room.

A nice oak look flooring in a medium tone usually is the best choice for most situations in an older home. It looks like something that would have realistically been installed when the home was new.

I’m not understanding the level of renovation scope that you are planning for the kitchen? A 10K professional high quality paint job? On those older cabinets? (NO way!) Or a DIY job that takes an extended time frame to do? Again, on those 1970’s cabinets? What is your end goal? A temporary tide you over until you gut it and redo it completely in a few years? Or is this remodel the gut it and redo it completely one? Because there is a much better kitchen and layout to be had if this is the gut renovation.

What about using the same flooring as in the other areas?

You're fortunate in that your cabinet doors are fairly timeless (as much as anything is). They're a classic raised-panel - which is much more versatile than, say, arch-top raised panel doors. You could swap hardware and other decor to change the style of the whole room. I would not paint them - I'd get new hardware (and carefully fill the old holes from the center-mount pulls). I'd also remove the uppers between kitchen and dining area, and if needed, add open shelves on the wall next to the peninsula (I don't prefer open shelves and would re-use one of the cabinets if possible).

If you have a larger budget and scope in mind, then that's a different story.

I wouldn't paint those cabinet doors. Hopping in to second the opinion of continuing the same flooring from the other rooms through the kitchen.

Same flooring throughout

Live-wire-oak, could you please tell me what your re-do floor plan for the kitchen would look like.

Also if I keep the same cupboards what color should the handles be and what style would look the nicest. Should the light fixtures be changed to match the color of the handles? I have stainless steel appliances.

If you remove the uppers over peninsula you will also have to budget to replace the counter tops as they will be damaged or aged from the supports.

I agree that the flooring choose is very busy and doesn't work for the home.

Find a natural red oak flooring 2-3" planks.

Remove the hardware and fill the holes and replace with brushed nickel hardware installed on the rail.

change flooring and gel stain the cabinets in like java and switch pulls / handles....makes a huge difference. search general finishes on here and you'll see the results. I stained mine in 2008 and changed pulls handles countertops lighting and appliances...made a huge difference. still look great.

I've taken the flooring back and have brought home 3 new samples. They are vinyl planks again as I'd like to stick with this company because it was a good price and it's very good flooring. Are any of these a good choice? I'm showing pics with kitchen cupboards and with living room furniture.

Sorry 4 new samples

You need to match the flooring in all the spaces . IMo those cabinets are really not worth painting and yes to removing the hanging ones but in order to do that you would need to redo the kitchen to get back the storage you lose.New cabinets will also give you much better useful storage but it really depends on your budget . If you deside to redo the kitchen then I would wait to get flooring until youhave a design for the new kitchen

I probably won't be re-doing the kitchen cupboards as my budget won't allow for it. My house is a handyman's special and the kitchen floor and bathrooms are in bad shape I paid for the flooring when it was on sale months back because it was suggested to me to replace at least the kitchen flooring and bathrooms. The laminate boards that have been up for about 18 yrs has swollen at some seams in each room because of dogs. So I decided to replace all of it to give it flow through the upstairs. I made a bad choice on the flooring the first choice because I figured I was going to paint the cupboards an off white. The store has allowed me to change out the flooring to a different choice of color of the same manufacturers vinyl planks. (Which is actually a very good vinyl plank as it's free of toxins and is 3/8" thick with a good backing attached on each board) I had planned on doing the whole upstairs except bathrooms in this in hopes of increasing the value of the house. I will be trying to sell the house once the market picks up. (Not sure when that will happen.) There is a lot of work that needs to be done in that house. So I need to make a choice of one that will look good through out with everything.

Painting oak yourself can be a bit of a bear, because you need to fill the grain. I like Trish's idea to use a gel stain to change the tone. Which might also better help hide the holes from the hardware.
So, I might try darkening those a little (don't go super dark espresso, but you could change the tone a bit with a gel stain), new hardware, and THEN see what flooring looks best.

Are you also thinking about replacing the countertops? While a lot of the folks here will start the quartz push, that's out of a lot of budgets. But laminates have gotten a lot more impressive lately, especially if you have the edges treated in such a way that you don't see the edge lines.

Sometimes, it's not worth pouring heaping wodges of money into a kitchen if the neighborhood is mostly starter homes, etc. You can still update this space.

I don't think there is anyway to take this kitchen contemporary WITHOUT gutting it. It is possible to freshen it up.

It looks like your house is mostly warmer shades. Maybe look at some of the warmer tones of stone-look laminates here:
https://www.formica.com/en-us/products/lamhome/colors#sort=%40lightness%20descending%3B%40hue%20ascending&cf:Style=[Stone]

The new edge treatments make them look very nice:
https://www.formica.com/en-us/campaigns/idealedge-decorative-edging

I'm not sure you should remove the cabinets over the peninsula, just because that's a HUGE amount of storage to use. Nor do I think you can just remove the supports - since they don't look like they are affixed anywhere else!

Were it MY kitchen, I'd be on the phone or surfing Etsy to find someone who would turn me something I like better. (OK, were it REALLY me, I'd be bugging Dad, but still...)

Look for shops like this one, convo the owner, and see what they can do for you:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WoodGoodLV?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=637044617

You might want to have a handyman/carpenter do the actual replacment, because I think there will need to be some temporary supports slid under there to hold them while the old ones are changed out. And staining them to match the cabinets (or nearly so) is likely to be tricksy, but can be done.

Anywho, those are my thoughts on it.

Thanks for your thoughts, I appreciate them and feel they're valid. Your right I don't have a lot of money. I'm trying to put lipstick on a pig. Lol, as it is right now I'd lose $150,000. Market value on it. So I have to be careful about how much I put into it to get out of it.

Be not afraid to hit your local Habitat for Humanity Restore for bargains. You might find somebody pulled out a kitchen full of countertops leaving enough material for yours if you can find somebody to do the install. (I have, on multiple occasions, found Fisher and Paykel drawer dishwashers that were pulled out of high end kitchens being remodeled for the latest "look".) All sorts of goodies to be had there, if you're willing to be a bit patient. Also don't be afraid to drive a bit and hit other nearby locations if there are any.

Great idea, thanks

Janice, what is your total budget for updating the space? Out of that budget, how much will installing new flooring run? Have you shown all the options for the vinyl plank you're considering?

I gel stained my cabinets for the cost of the stain. super easy. Flooring I would go with the one that is mixed more grey/brown than the rest. One is too brown one is too grey and one is super light. Best of luck.

Don’t do a gray floor. The gray fad will end soon, hopefully. Gray floors are hard to work with.
A fairly even-toned medium brown floor works best with everything.