Are the cabinets wood? What material are the countertops?

Wow, that's a lot of yellow/peach/brown. Glad you're painting the walls. We'd need more info about the cabs to weigh in on that.

It seems the prior owner got "matchy matchy" and "more is more". Everyone is gonna look like they have jaundice...

Is that a fake brick on the fireplace? Paint it. It's adding to the excessive yellow.

I bet if you replaced the countertop, there won't be a big expanse of yellow in the foreground, and your cabinets will calm down.

First thing that needs to be done is The lighting in the kitchen ceiling fluorescent is it very kind and very outdated

I like the wood, so I would not personally paint it. I would go light on countertop and dark on hardware, and possibly consult with a pro regarding lighting. I would also change what looks like yellow wall paint, to warm white or another neutral - changing that paint, alone, would make a significant difference.

I would get rid of the yellow paint and put in new countertops and then evaluate if painting the cabinets is needed. Sometimes just a good cleaning will do the trick.

The island is odd and the bar stools look like plastic. It also closes off the kitchen. Any option to make an island there instead?

I would rather live with it for now and see how I like the layout (I can tell you, I would not like it, based on what I see). Then, in a year or two (or when I could afford it), I'd plan for a full remodel. I wouldn't want to waste my time and/or money on something that is probably going to need to be redone. I would, however, remove the seat directly behind the cooktop, for safety reasons, especially if you have children.

For now, see what painting the walls and change the lighting; then see how it all looks.

Unless something is functionally unlivable, you should always wait to see how it is once you live with it/in it.

I’d $200 DIY paint the walls and start planning the 70K gut redo that it needs to fix that terrible layout.

I agree some new paint on the walls and be done . In 3 months you will know if that kitchen functions for you IMO the worst thing is that riduclous two tiered island where all sots of stuff will fall off the top tier.. I have no idea of what space the fireplace is in so once you decide you want to redo the space post pictures of the surrounding spaces and a to scale floor plan

Paint the Cabinets Grey Owl. Remove that Island and paint the walls.

I recommend contacting your local Tech with a kitchen design program and find a talented but mentored student to help you redesign that kitchen. I think $70G is extreme, $30G should do it if you gut the space and leave the floors if you like them. Looks like a wonderful open space with fabulous potential!

agree on waiting. Maybe update lighting and paint walls for now. I would change counters and island eventually.

Paint the walls and fireplace and live with it for awhile, as others have said. I'd also at least check out what it would take to get rid fo the fluorescent lighting, though I'd be hesitant to spend too much now when a full re-do may well be in the future.

I revise my opinion to "do what CW shows." That looks SO MUCH better.

Thanks so much everyone. I truly appreciate all your replies. CW, I love the colors you chose! A few mentioned painting the fireplace. I would rather do that than demo it. Its reallly large but I kind of like the retro feel of it. I agree it probably needs painted. Any recommendations as to what color?

Oh leave the fireplace brick in its natural state. It's a good looking brick and an original feature. Paint the walls and focus on probs with the property first.

I think the fireplace is cool and has a mcm vibe. I would not paint it. Once you paint the walls and add your furniture, it will look even better.

The light has to be changed first. Everything will look better. And it’s a relatively small expense. Spend money on countertops and hardware, and paint cabinets. You can have a beautiful kitchen for
Under 10k is a gut job is not in the budget. I always do lighting first. It’s a great space. Perfect family friends hangout.

I would get rid of that island in a hearbeat. That cooktop there is just dangerous. The seating is awful too. Save up and do it right. Once. Don't try to piecemeal it. It took me 5 years to save.

I just finished a middle of the road kitchen remodel. Kitchen Aid appliances. Kraftmaid cabinets. Silestone Counters. But we took a load bearing wall down, and the floors went through the laundry, half bath, and back hall. I spent 80K. The expense that made me the happiest was hiring my Kitchen Designer. She made everything work the way it was supposed to.

if you want to paint the fireplace stone, then do a white. I love this one and it's similar stone like yours

Personally I would remove the stone on the upper half because I think it looks weird. shouldn't be that hard to DIY. just patch the drywall afterwards.

on these vintage FP's, they have a vertical tongue and groove above the mantel. this was also common back in the 60's

i like the black too

as for your kitchen, the very first thing I would do is get rid of those florescent lights and replace w/canned lights. nothing of any good ever comes w/florescent! horrible the way it casts yellow/green hues on everything

when it comes time to redo the kitchen, consider closing off the left half of those sliding doors so you can have more counter/cabinet space. Then you could bring out a peninsula if you like. or you could move the stove top to the new portion of the counter you created by closing off that section of the door. Lot's of options.

you could redo the island like CW has shown you. right now it looks like counter in diner.

I so would not paint that fireplace.

Erin, the FP stone isn't anything special. it's very specific colors. very earth, terra cotta, type of colors. If you want to use those tones, then leave it as is. I think they're rather ugly, but that's just my opinion.

There is a product called Romabio. natural mineral pain used for stone. you can use it and if you don't like it, wash it off within 72 hours.

once you paint the walls, paint the stone, and get a rather large rug to cover the majority of that tile, you'll have a nice clean white pallet to build upon.

paint walls first and see how you like fireplace after a few months....when i moved in my house i hated the brick on fireplace and the wood beams in great room ceiling [this was 20 years ago when wood beams weren't 'hip']...my MIL convinced me to wait before painting them and we had lots of other projects to do in meantime. 20 years later, they are some of my favorite features in this house.

I would paint the cabinets white
Or a soft calming blue color

The wood of the cabinets is interesting. Are they in pretty good shape? I would just clean them well for now. I agree that dark hardware would look much better, also.

Change the lighting, and paint the walls a white or off white, something that pairs well with both the cabinets and the fireplace stone (and tile floor). There may even be a very pale, warm, blue or green that would work, but I would not go with any gray, or anything that is obviously yellow, beige or tan!

The third thing you could do, is to look into having the counters refinished, unless you make plans to redo the whole kitchen(recommended). I have seen photos where an epoxy finish really looks good and they are claimed to be very durable. I read it can be DIY but it seems that you need to be really comfortable with the tools and techniques.

You may find that the fireplace and cabinets look much better once they are framed with the right wall color. Live with them for a while once the previous steps have been taken, before you do any more painting.

Hi, thought I’d post a quick update since everyone helped me so much. We ended up removing the lowered ceiling and gutted the kitchen. We kept the same layout. Still need to do floors, backsplash etc. It’s not as fancy as many of the fabulous kitchens on here but we are way happier with it. Thanks again for all of your help!

So much better! I always appreciate it when a poster comes back to show us the results of their effort!

And kitchens don't have to be as fancy to be great spaces!

Thanks and you were right about the fireplace looking better with the right wall color! It looks way better now that we painted over the yellow and replaced the oak trim. I’m so glad we didn’t paint it

I'm so glad you're happier with the decision of replacing the kitchen. I really didn't like the old island but to do anything with just it didn't make sense. Getting rid of the dropped ceiling must make the space feel so much roomier. Nice Job.