Painting the cabinets and walls a lighter color will completely change the look of the room. It will make it look much more open and fresh. We recently did it with our own home, rather than installing new cabinets, and the room looks completely different.

My daughter just had her cherry cabinets painted white and it is gorgeous! Changes the whole look of the kitchen and opened up the space. We’re doing it next!!

Thank you for the suggestions. We decided to paint the walls first then add new light fixtures, new drawer pulls, and a rug. We plan to leave the cabinets until a later date when we can hire it out. It already has made a huge difference. I will post a photo when finished.

Thank you for the great suggestions! you

Since it’s not a very large floor, I think installing white vinyl flooring that you can DIY will have the biggest bang for your buck. I’m not that fond of rugs in a kitchen.

Good idea. Since we are older rugs in the kitchen really are a no-no. Will look into the vinyl tile. Great idea-thanks!

My husband and I are older, too, so we had our vinyl flooring installed professionally. It honestly wasn’t that expensive, saved our knees, and was guaranteed. I know that other floor materials are more popular, but I really like the comfort of vinyl underfoot, it’s easy to keep clean, and there’s less chance of breakage if you drop something (which I did on our tile floor—a whole glass jar of pickles!). Please be sure to post photos after you make changes. Good luck!

Good idea. We are making progress - walls and ceiling painted. Now must pull out appliances and finish up. It’s already much brighter!

post an updated pic!

were you able to do some recessed lighting? honestly, that's where you need to spend the money.

Good idea. We are making progress - walls and ceiling painted. Now must pull out appliances and finish up. It’s already much brighter! Lighting coming shortly.

Here are the latest photos in our kitchen design dilemma. We painted the walls and ceiling white, changed out the hardware for elegant brushed nickel, cleared the clutter, added a track light in the ceiling and a funky pendant over the sink and two work area rugs. One thing remains - a nice Roman shade on the window over the sink. We are pleased with the result.
Your ideas and suggestions have been very helpful! Thank you!

very nice! What a difference the paint and lighting make. I bet the new fixture really gives you more light! I like the pendant too.

have you thought about doing some simple trim work around the window to give it more of a finished look? paint it white. something like they've done here

then you could do an inset roman blind

or woven wood (notice the trim work)

don't know how much privacy you need, but simple trim work and something like this (not the shelf thing) could also work. maybe more of a vintage stained glass piece?

as a suggestion, I would bring in a larger runner, or even a square jute rug

Yes, I’m planning to install a nice Roman shade. Privacy is not an issue but sun-in-the-eyes is. I also like the vintage glass idea do I will continue to search. Thank you!

Just looking around our town home and noticed that none of the windows are trimmed out - so interesting.