Painting your cabinets would be a mistake. They are very nice as is.

I second the recommendation of plain white Corian, or plain cream, which is what I have. Corian is amazing, beautiful, and brings out the beauty of the nearby wood. Not sure about the monetary savings, though. I think my Corian was more expensive than that quartz.

Corian in the basic colors (such as Glacier White) is usually quite reasonable. It's only when you get into the "fancy" patterns that it comes up to the cost of quartz. I would not spend the money on quartz for this kitchen.

We will definitely look into Corian. Because we have a lower square footage, it seems the price difference is not much. I understand what you are saying since it’s not a high end kitchen, but we still want to end up with something we like. The quartz we’re looking at is $59/ sq ft including installation which seems to be reasonable? But again, new to this.

I think Corian would look best with your cabinets, but I honestly love Glacier White Corian and really dislike faux marble quartz. And usually I might suggest Carrara marble, which is a great value, but I don't think gray will be your friend. Plus, I concur with others who say painting cabinets is not ideal. I like your cabinets as they are.

I think after you put the backsplash in you will love your cabinets all over again. Nice color.

I think while you are at all I would remove that one little piece of moulding under the cabinet closest to the sink. I would switch the placement of the sink with the dishwasher. Doing this would give you two things....a view while washing dishes and more consecutive countertop space to meal prep. I am redoing my own kitchen and I went with quartz. I can't wait to have it installed. Best of luck.

To be honest, I find that using white with all the red tones in your cabinets (based on the first two pictures) is a little strange. I prefer black.

great point @Yesica Jure about switching the sink and the DW and also about removing the curvy moulding - good eye! question for @Becca: at the end of the counter run, where there's currently an angled corner, is it possible to square that off, or is there not enough walkway space? if there's room, maybe square it off so you have more space next to the (new location of) the sink. :)

Since your question is primarily about countertops, I say go with quartz--but more of a plain white rather than gray accents, which wouldn't flatter the cabinets. I think quartz would look much more high-end than Corian--and if it's comparable in price, since you need so little, just go for it. It'll look beautiful. As for cabinets: we have the same issue with our cabinets matching the floor and I hem and haw over painting them too, but if I had the chance and the time, I would do it in a heartbeat. Our granite countertops are black, so my cabinet color choices are more limited. Since your countertops will be white, you have a lot of color options to choose from. BUT, I would get the backsplash in first before deciding whether or not to paint the cabinets. I'm sure whatever you do will look great.

In natural light, your cabinets and flooring are not as red as they look with the overhead lighting. I have corian and i hate it because it scratches badly. You could go with granite for less and get a creamy granite. You could do the gray/white quartz, but I am thinking the cream would be prettier. There is no problem with the quartz you're thinking of with your cabinets and floors. For your backsplash, choose a simple off-white subway tile--there's not a lot of wall there, so don't get a busy, trendy pattern, and then you can decide about painting the cabinets. Since it looks like your other woodwork is also natural stain, not painted, I think an off-white color for the cabinets would be your best choice.

If it were me, I'd want to lighten up the kitchen a bit. I'd choose a cream or ivory solid (or almost solid) color, either corian or quartz or even laminate. I don't care for the gray in your kitchen. Here's some images, but these aren't perfect, but at least it shows that the lighter countertop brightens things up.

Thank you for the comments! I personally hate the curvy piece of wood there and don’t know why they were made like that (I guess to you can lean your head over the sink), but we’re not sure what to do if we remove it- just leave them still asymmetrical, or put a floating shelf underneath level with the adjacent cabinet. There are also lights wired under the cabinets which would be more visible if we remove it.
I love the idea of switching the layout- I will have to see how easy this would be. Can the lower cabinet under the sink be moved relatively easily without moving plumbing?
I also like the idea of more of an ivory countertop.
I think I included some pics in another post because this accidentally got posted twice, but our original inspiration was the pictures below, trying to utilize our current cabinets and go for something like these

And, unfortunately we can’t square off the counters on side or it will be a tight squeeze between the corner and a wall that leads to the basement door (i already am hitting my laundry basket off the wall adjacent to the counters sometimes as it is now)

I have cabinets of a similar wood tone (as best as can tell on a monitor) and I went with LG Viatera White Pearl which looks busy on the 4 x 4 sample but not when one steps back - so it is very helpful to see a large piece of countertop and take a door with you when looking.

My kitchen - also not high end but also wanted to enjoy the space:

https://www.houzz.com/hznb/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~110720042

This is my wood kitchens idea book:

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

When you do the backsplash either remove the microwave, tile behind and then put it back up or reserve enough tile to fill in the space if you should ever change from an over the range microwave to a hood. I could not use your microwave easily because I am short:)

Your layout does have some issues, so I would look at the possibility of moving some things. It may be that the layout is the best for the small space.

Jhmarie, thank you so much for sharing! Your kitchen looks beautiful, and I love your wood kitchen board!!

I agree that Corian would be a good choice; they have many options that have a bit of beige in them, which i think would have more life and warmth than plain white with your cabinets, and you can get an integrated sink. I love mine!

Commenting to say we decided on the original countertops in question. This is obviously a minor kitchen update and not an overhaul, but I am happy with how they turned out. We ultimately didn’t want to go for a cream or too warm of a countertop. We ordered new cabinet pulls and willing to take advice on backsplash. We are thinking plain white subway but a variation on it could be nice and I also like the idea of a shade of blue. Thank you!

Look great! Glad you didn't do corian, to me it looks like plastic... About backsplash, one on last picture will be perfect.

Thank you!! That is one of our favorites right now. I wish I had a solution for the weird cut out on the cabinet closest to the sink but can’t come up with a good solution apart from getting rid of it, but we need the storage

I am back to post an update. It is obviously a minor update but we’re happy with the end result! Thank you everyone.

A fantastic update - it looks so bright and lovely! Well done! And thanks for coming back to share the final result

Very pretty! I love the white subway tile. Your kitchen is cheerful now :)

Love it. Love your wood floors, the countertop and the classic subway tile!