To me its crying out to be painted white.

Is there a second story above the kitchen? If not, look into solar tube style skylights. They do an amazing job bringing in natural light.

I meant a bigger window totally void of plants

How about sky tubes they shed lots of light, I did it my re do of my kitchen

A light grey might work well with white counters and a glass backsplash to help reflect light. I would also put clear glass pendants in place of the red to again reflect light.

Painting the cabinets white, changing the pendants & removing everything from in front of the window are great ideas.

I would also remove the doors on the peninsula. Can you access the space from the other side?

Is there room in the budget for changing the fridge?

Lyvonne

I would also remove all the stuff in the window. I would also remove the pendant lights, but I would put two larger pendant lights in the ceiling in the kitchen where those two middle "canned" lights are. That should really give you more light. You could paint the cabinets-and it is also possible to paint the tile.

In response to everyone:

The pendant lights aren't a keeper. Its just something for now. There used to be a flush mounted ceiling fixture there and a row of cabinets hanging down from the ceiling which we removed and really opened up the kitchen. The lights are a bit off of the island so we are thinking of removing them all together. We took out flourescent lighting in the kitchen and put up the canned lighting which helped alot.

I have thought about doing white/cream but my hesitation lies in the fact that
1) I will be constantly scrubbing dirty cabinet doors - I live with a husband and 4+ kids who are completely clueless when it comes to wiping things down/off. I had white cabinets in a previous house and they were a nightmare!!!!!
2) The ceiling is a cream color which I wasn't sure how it would look with the cabinets being the same color. There is no room to put a crown moulding up so it looks as if we are stuck with the small cabinet moulding.

In response to changing the refrigerator, the fridge that is there is brand new in the last 2 months - with a family our size, we need something large.

As respects the window, there is no budget to change the window (believe me my very first thought also). The kitchen faces the south side of the house which rarely receives light as our neighbor's house and trees block light. I have the plants etc in the window because I hate looking into the neighbor's house.

In asking about installing the sky tubes, we have a large finished attic above the kitchen so the sky tubes would not work either.

I absolutely love our cherry hardwood floors and now with the cabinets which were over the stove being gone, I can work in the space without being cramped and feeling closed off. My main worry is cabinet color. I am hesitant to go too light (as previously stated children & husband). I could restain darker but I'm afraid it would darken the space even more. I already have the hubby agreeing on formica solid surface countertops - specifically #656 river rock mosaic with a built in sink.

If the budget was available, I would rip everything out and start over - on the back wall where the sink and window are would be floor to ceiling cabinets, That window would be closed off and the refrigerator would be put in the center. Where the refrigerator is now, I would install a large window with the sink and the countertop where the stove is now would be moved over creating an actual island. That being said, it will not be happening for another 10-15 years as we have other more pressing remodeling needs.

i completely understand the need for a huge fridge. i feel that pain.


pickling the cabinets will lighten them, but you'll still see lots of woodgrain, so it'll help hide the dirt a bit. and you can put a nice coat of satin poly on them so that they're easier to wipe, but don't show every.little.finger mark.

You could always paint the cabinets a white to brighten up the space or an off white. I work with Architectural Metals & we fabricate anything you can possibly imagine but one of the very many things we do is back splash's & counter tops. & it would look wonderful with a dark color or light color cabinet! Its also very easy to clean! My name is Danielle if this sounds like something you might be interested it please give me a call at (602)269-1400. I hope this helps!