cute kitchen.
1. I would either take off the doors on the two cabinets on either side of the sink. And put in glass shelving and then you could put bead boarding behind glass or wallpaper or just paint.
2. Or I would turn the doors into glass doors. and keep them on.
3. Also another way to "open up" the space you could take down those two cabinets and put up open shelving. You could do oil rubbed bronze hardware or chrome. ( I love chrome) but you have to wipe it down a lot. you could change the countertop to a new grey or dark colored laminate or quartz and then backsplash it with subway. Or keep the countertop and just do those other changes. Depending on your budget. Sounds fun.

also if you can afford to change your sink and faucet that would make a big difference but I am not sure how much you want to spend or if you just want a small update. I would do a under mount sink and a cool statement faucet. :)

I really like the idea of turning those cupboards nearest the sink into shelves. That will help open it up. How about painting the wall around the window a brighter color? And adding a colorful valance?
New hardware would certainly perk it up. You need some contrast so go with an antiqued oil rubbed bronze color. Also, I would suggest for added interest, instead of all knobs on your cabinets put pulls on the drawers. Or if you are really looking for a bit of pizzazz you could do colorful glass or painted ceramic knobs.
You also seem to have a little bit of wall space next to the window for wall art, perhaps a stained glass piece?

Just paint your walls - a cheerful buttery yellow, change the countertops. I would choose carerra marble because I love the worn in look, but you might prefer a white quartz or even an ikea butcher block. Hang blue and white towels, voila.

It doesn't look like you have all that much wall to paint so I would paint the walls the color of your grout flooring ( dark gray) and add KitchenAid Tangerine counter appliances and accessories.

Thank you Margo, I'm liking that you are not saying to change the counter tops. They are perfect condition albeit older, in a nice soft peach. The dark gray walls would be nice with the peach! Leave the cabinets white? I really can't turn cabinets into shelves tho....cabinet space is critical. 2219, Love the idea of new hardware and definitely plan to get new faucets. Minty, I like the idea of glass doors on those 2 cabinets. As you can all tell, budget is tight!

Love the white cabinets! Have you ever considered stained glass for the window? This will allow you to keep the natural light in, while also keeping your privacy, and not dealing with blinds anymore! To see more pictures please visit www.scottishstainedglass.com

emeseye- yes, leave the kitchen cabinets white. With the dark grey walls everything else will pop! The peach will go well with the grey and so will the floor .)

Changing out the doors to glass will definitely help... if you can afford it, I'd either put in a new backsplash or a new counter. IMHO The white squares date the kitchen. Also, look at what other kitchens in your area have. If many have granite, you might consider the investment. Ultimately if you sold it, that would make a difference and you might as well enjoy using it while you live there. An updated counter would probably make the backsplash less dated or vice versa. not a designer so consider that my 2 cents and worth every penny!

If you have the budget, a glossy penny-tile back splash would look great with your cabinets and counters.
[houzz=]

A wonderful tile mural as a focal point. Any image, Any size
http://www.AliciaTappDesigns.com

Actually a more economic solution is to simply add colourful accessories such a bright red kettle, containers, tea towels, oven gloves. Colourful spot patterns will look amazing shown off against the plain white background. Give the window a boost too with a white and red stripe roller blind. Have attached a couple of ideas I found just browsing the web.

Your kitchen is adorable. I agree with the suggestion to add bright accessories and I'd add an indoor outdoor rug in a stripe. These can be scrubbed outside or in the bathtub, and really hold up. Check out Dash&Albert's website.

Love the ideas for paint and backsplash. It is amazing what a difference new hardware (drawer and door pulls) make. Hardware is also easy to "buy and try" - buy a bunch of different styles and see which you like best, return what you don't use!

We changed our hardware, painted our walls a sage green and added a subway tile backsplash (with light grey grout) and we love it! I tried to upload a picture... but it never works!

You've got 2 backsplashes on the same walls. Remove both the one that matches the counter and the white tiles. Paint the whole kitchen including where the backsplash was in a gloss enamel. A color like sage green, a meduim gray or a soft buttery yellow would be good.

Change the hardware knobs to black iron or stainless.

Leave the doors intact.

I love the low cost fixes. Which is paint and decorative features. I always start there and see what is needed after and then splurge.

leelee, no I've got only the 4 x 4 white tile backsplash. I really don't want to replace it tho.

Love your cute kitchen. Do you like red? (Or you could use any other color) Floor mat in front of the sink like someone already mentioned. Put a picture or vertical group of pictures to the left of the window. The other pics below are some other accent ideas. Also a valance over the window would look nice. If you wanted to spend more money, maybe new door knobs/pulls.

try again

OOh, it worked.... so this is a pic of our kitchen, dark hardware, white cabinets, sage green wall paint, white subway tile with grey grout...

Mansfield3-your dark hardware was exactly what I was thinking of. And you have a red tea kettle, too! ;-)

With the tone of the countertop, I am loving the idea of tangerine walls and aaccessories.

It looks like part of the counter surface goes up the wall behind the sink and maybe the stove, too.

If you do decide to replace the backsplash--Please get rid of that part of the counter. It will ruin the look of any backsplash.

Backsplash should go all the way down the wall to the flat horizontal counter. Counter shouldn't travel up the wall.

I think our hardware was either from Lowes or Home Depot. Like you, we try to do as much as we can.

Another surprisingly good source for hardware it overstock.com. They sell in "contractors" packs (packs of 12 or 24), but if you are doing a whole kitchen that is usually not a problem. I found they were about 40% cheaper then Lowe's.

How about a splash of blue with our Sky Blue glass tile. We would love to help you with your project in any way so please feel free to contact us!

I have the same cabinets in my kitchen but also 30 boxes of 1930-1950's green depression glass that i would like to finally use. The green is a vivid lime tone brilliant apple/bright grass color - and i have a lot of antique purple bottles and hand embroidered floral linens I picked up over the last 30 years.

I also have gunstock wood porcelain tile on the kitchen floor and would like to get a new laminate countertop, paint the cupboards and all the walls. I am thinking painting the now dingy white cabinets a soft white (? Bistro White Valspar), installing the Formica 180 counters in Calcutta Marble or White Carrara, but don't have a clue for the walls and how the heck to tie in my vivid green glass, etc. I have searched and searched for images and can't find any pics for reference. The kitchen also flows into the dining and living room which are medium tone wood floors too. I have my grandmother's 1930 dark walnut formal dining room set in the dining room too.

I am nervous about the counters though - the marble and carrara seem to have a blue tone to them so....should i use something different - maybe the Corian Antarctica white? I'm lost for sure (sigh).

Does anybody have any ideas how i can pull this off and tie everything in? I sure needs some artistic and creative ideas!!!

If you want to use the apple green on the backsplash, and you now have white cabinets, dark walnut is a great match. Darker wood tones, chocolate, apple green and white work great together. If you can afford white quartz - they have some terrific choices that I would use before the grayer carrera - corian antartica sounds great too. I would look for a clean white like bm simply white instead of going too warm - consider chocolate walls (usually there isn't a lot of wall space in a kitchen) so that the green becomes the mid tone in the room. Add green and white kitchen linens . . watch for / crate and barrel may have a great kiwi green enameled dutch oven or teapot - steer away from the grays and blues altogether. Buy white crockery to put utensils on so it will pop against the green splash. .. .It will be sort of masculine and sharp . . .

In the dining room, if you have great natural light - paint the walls and trim the same simply white - your walnut dining set will provide the light dark contrast in reverse to the kitchen, and you can consider a grellow (yellow/green) rug with a white graphic repeat, use white dishware but buy a set of green bowls. . . .

Look for lighting that plays off the dark wood - modern shapes in dark bronze tones.

Sounds wonderful! Thank you so much! Very creative and inspiring!!!