Before "doing" anything have a complete plan. Get a price on having the cabinets painted (it's quite costly for a Pro job). Are you going to want new countertops and a new backsplash?" The "plan" can be implemented in steps...but...having a complete plan before you begin will save you headaches (and heartaches and money).

Thanks for the advice! Yes, we have received quotes from pros to paint the cabinets. We're going to keep the counter tops. May need to switch the backsplash depending on how it looks.

Thank you Kariyava, great advice. Yes, we're planning for the long-term vision of where we'd like our kitchen! Wish I could do everything at once, but I'm going to be patient :-) Excited to see it all come together.

Pick a color for the floors that works with everything else and since the cabinets are changing ignore them for the next year. I would say to rip out that island before doing the floors then after you are in the space for a while decide the island shape and size.

agree about the island. Don’t know if it’s just the angle of the picture but it seems off in size. So your flooring should be fixed now

Anything looks good with white cabs. Keep your floors until you decide you want to get rid of the island (or revise it). Dark floors will not only suck the light out of the room, they also show EVERY spot of water, dust, etc. b’lieve me....been there!!

Thanks! Here are some more photos of the kitchen- @ldecor54 not sure what we want to do with the island or cabinets design... if we rip out the island that would require matching the countertops for the rest of the kitchen, and I’m not ready to make that decision just yet. We can only afford to make changes as we save more etc. also, we will rely on eating at the island because we don’t have a kitchen table yet. We’re moving from nyc so we have almost no furniture.

If we did consider switching up the island down the line, what kind of a person would help us with the design? a contractor or designer? This is all super new to me, and appreciate any advice.

We had our kitchen gutted and redone with cherry cabinets, maybe slightly lighter than yours. If you have real cherry (not cherry color stain), you may decide to keep them. Although cherry paints well (as compared to oak), painted cabinets don’t hold up as well as factory finished. The other advantage is that they don’t show the dirt!

We kept our oak floors, but had them refinished in clear water-based poly. Over time, oil based poly yellows, and that may be affecting your floors. Remember, dark floors make your space darker, as well as showing every speck of dirt.

The trend for the past ten years or so has been dark floors and white cabinets, although I sense that is changing. If you love it, go with that, but not because it’s popular!

As to the island, remove it before the floors are done, in case they don’t extend all the way under it and need to be patched. The stone countertop can be cut down if you decide to change the island.

Don’t make any kitchen choices based on not having a dining table. Go to Goodwill and pick up a table at least to tide you over.

The reason I said get rid of the island is that then the flooring can go there too and down the road you can redesign the island without worring about the floor.

Ok, thanks. I was really looking forward to having an island right away.

I agree that a different style might work better down the road; however, I haven’t even thought about this. Plus, I don’t know how soon we’ll be able to do a complete redesign as this is our first home and we’re spending a lot already.

Appreciate the advice, but I have less than a week and I don’t want to make a rash decision like this now. Hopefully we can solve for the floors around the island when the time comes.

In the meantime, if anyone has additional advice on the floor color, that would be great.

I don't have a picture, but relatives of mine recently bought a house and had all their oak floors stained jacobean.

It's a nice enough color, but it honestly shows EVERYTHING. Everyone takes their shoes off at the front door and you see footprints all over the place, especially now that the weather is nice and people go in and out onto their patio, without always putting their shoes back on first.

They have hardwood throughout the first floor and had it all restained. I think it makes the place look smaller. I personally found nothing wrong with the oak floors to begin with, but I've also had red oak floors for nearly 2 decades in my own home so I may be a bit biased.

Laura, what color temperature is the lighting in your kitchen? If it’s warm, that might be exaggerating the yellow of the floors.

Thank you @DN. I need to switch out the lights too at some point. Can't do everything at once, but excited to make this more my style.