Housegal200, Thank you for those suggestions! It does make sense and looks so pretty. I was concerned that there would be too much going on.

Although the cabinets are in good condition they are not new and the wear is basically on the bottom ones. I’m not sure if restaining them will work or be a big job.

I cant seem to get the true color of the walls in my photos, so the attached sample is more like it. More green than blue.

Another idea is to paint all cabinets white and the island the wall color.

You don't have a lot of cabinets. Do you have the budget to send out the base cabinet doors for refinishing? Your blue green paint color is so intense, that adding more of it, even in a paler shade might be overwhelming. (The photos you show are only small sections of kitchens. You have a huge space with that color--very different.) The wood cabinet finish, floors, and trim are very nice. I was just trying to show a possible alternative to pull it all together. Good luck with your project.

P.S. If you're doing white uppers and new countertops, see how they look with the wood lowers before deciding on the lower cabinets. Bottom cabinets do tend to get streaky from drips, so white cabinets can be a problem as much as wood lowers. I do think wood lower cabinets as shown in the photos will link together your floors and trim that will be very harmonious. Send the lower cabinet doors out for refinishing if you decide to go that route.

I think with your wood floors staying as is. Which are remarkably beautiful!! I’d paint the cabs. The uppers maybe not. Because of that slightly dated arch I’d either replace the doors or remove completely if you don’t need the storage. I just loveeee your inspiration pics. The thing is you won’t want bold kitchen bold living room in such close proximity. Pick one. I say paint all walls white. And go bold with the kitchen. Take it slow. Start with one project and complete it before starting the next to avoid being too overwhelmed. This space has SOOO much potential. It’s amazing. The vault is such a bonus!!! I’m excited to see the change.

If you are going to paint the cabinets yourself, do it with a good paint for cabinets - like Benjamin Moore Advanced cabinet paint. And do it right. Sand existing, primer, sand, do 1st coat, sand, and final coat. Use a sprayer on the doors if possible. There are several good articles in Houzz about painting cabinets. Do it right and you’ll get a professional finish. You might want to consider getting new doors and drawer fronts also, if you want a different, updated style.

i just redid my kitchen cabinets. Rent a sprayer! I regret I did so much sanding etc and bought pricy paint then didn't spend the money on the sprayer. I flipped my cabinet doors so the 'inside" that looked shaker was facing out instead of the old arched raised panel. I would try to visually heighten your kitchen. Paint that transition white in the ceiling. White countertops alone will be an amazing transformation. Lighten the upper walls/cabinets to white. Stop and live with it. Decide if you want to do more to the bottom wood. I'd also start pulling back on the strong green color so the spaces aren't so abrupt in the change. Maybe paint the wall with the windows/slider white so it blends more with the kitchen? Doing it a little slower and living with the incremental changes really helped us to feel confident and troubleshoot choices along the way. We also put up peel and stick wallpaper for a backsplash so we can live with the color scheme a bit before we commit to something more permanent.

Thank you for all the comments. All good ideas and lots to think about.

We will not be painting the cabinets ourselves. I hesitate to change out the doors because although they are maple they have never yellowed as the floor did. I’m afraid that they will not match after time.

I like the idea of reversing the doors but the inside of the top doors still have a slight arch. I don’t know if it would be worth it. Also what do you do about the mark where the hinge is?

Hello Elaine, I just had our kitchen cabinets refinished from Maple to SW Highly Reflective White in Milesi 2k HKR 114. I had two potential candidates to select from. I did not know anything about the two refinishers. So, in order to prevent a potential disaster, (which I did), I took one door to the first guy, he brought it back and it was absolutely horrible, The other person showed me samples of her work, told me the product she would be using, and the complete process from start to finish. Of course, I chose her and could not be happier. My point, make sure you vet your cabinet refinisher, good luck with your project.

The maple refinishing needn't match exactly, just harmonize. Bring plenty of photos, though. Seriously, do your soffit painting (white), countertops, top cabinets in white since you plan that anyway. See how the maple cabinets and island look with the white, hopefully like the photos I posted. If so, then find a good refinisher just for the bottom doors. If you still want blue, then go the direction you want. You seem to have a lot of art on the walls and print sofa. You can get your color with art work instead of having the cabinets do that job. Good luck.

If you're planning to keep the green color, I would paint all the cabinets white, and also use a simple white backsplash. Your linear tile is way too busy, outdated, and won't look right with your new countertops. Look again at your second inspiration photo, which basically just reverses the cabinet and wall color.

Our cabinets were so old, the hinges were just screwed onto the doors-not sunk into a big hole cut into the door. If your are the screw on type like ours, ypu can fill the little holes with wood putty and then sand everything smooth. They did not show up at all after our paint job.

Ignore that there is no trim yet.

Of all the horridness of the paint job, old hinges holes showing is not one of the problems. These are super beat up 1978 lowers. The more recent uppers we salvaged painted much better.

Wow! They look amazing! Still not sure mine are worth the trouble because they are still arched on the inside.

Just trying to get through a few years until we do something permanent. Here is where we started. Yikes! Your starting point is so much better. It will he amazing.

I love your blue green living area but having that color on the kitchen cabinets is too much. Use your inspiration photos as your guide - do all white cabinets and countertops but save the blue green for the island. Paint the kitchen walls white (and not any trim - leave the wood trim alone). Then you will get help here choosing a backsplash. Not the one you posted. It’s too busy. (Maybe a soft green or blue glass tile? Maybe a soft patterned tile with the blue in it? Too soon to guess.). Please follow the advice of @101stretired and vet your painter as suggested. This is a terrific project and will change the whole space for the better.

RedRyder, I love your ideas. We don’t want to paint the lowers the color the wall is now. We were thinking of a very light green color but I’m not sure how it would look with the wall color of the family room. I don’t like too many different elements going on. I do love color though and want to keep the wall color in the family room at least. I hope I can be happy with white.

As your kitchen and family room are continuous you have to continue the wall color, you could paint white but leave the wall around the fireplace and then use your green on the bottom cabinets. Maybe leave your top ones alone. Your light wood looks so nice together with the matching chairs!

The wood window trim is nice too unless of course you need to patch damaged spots

Elaine - I think that a two toned kitchen with white uppers/stained lowers + island would be BEAUTIFUL! But I am biased since that’s exactly what I’m planning to do with mine! I think that choosing the white/stain combo will stay in “style” - boldly painted cabinets (while beautiful) may not. Then again, it’s your kitchen - and you’re not purchasing new cabinets - your paining existing ones. If you are planning on having them professionally painted - it is a big expense (especially if done correctly).

Initially, I was going to do exactly what kj did above - reverse my raised panel doors - so the shaker side would face out. The issue was that I had arched cathedral upper doors. I was told that I could have the upper area “trimmed” in order to have it match the lower rail. It’s a five piece door - so the center panel isn’t attached to the frame. You could do the same thing with yours - except it’s easier because you just have a slight arch. My cathedral rails were going to need to be trimmed along the edges, but also needed some extra width added along the very top of the arch - otherwise, the upper rail would be smaller than the lower one. All of the foregoing would be possible since I was painting my uppers white.

It looks like your hinges may be similar to mine as well. That creates an issue because a larger area needs to be filled in vs. simply filling in screw holes as in the example above. It can be done - it’s just extra work. The problem for me is that I wanted to have stained lowers - you can’t “patch” that area up easily (and have it look nice). Also, I have visible hinges and wanted to replace them with concealed ones - another issues created because of the way they attach to the face frame - this would need to also be filled in prior to painting/staining (again, difficult to make look nice with stain).

After thinking about all of the work = $$ needed in order to reuse my current doors (plus, with some health issues I’ve been experiencing, it would be difficult for me to DIY any of this), I decided to replace all of them instead. Also, I have partial overlay doors - by replacing them I will now have full overlay. Additionally, I now only need to have my lower cabinets stripped/sanded - much less work for someone vs. adding all of the lower doors (I actually sanded one lower door just to see how difficult it would be for someone - it‘s not much fun with all the grooves along the raised panel and along the edges).

I still feel a little “guilty” about replacing SO MANY solid wood doors - which are all in great condition - but it just doesn’t make sense to try to save them. I am thinking about how I can use them for some other project - maybe have cabinets boxes added to garage and reuse some of these doors??)

Thank you, Dee. You hit the nail on the head! I love the wall color. I also like the wood. I like the idea of two toned cabinets and I’m seeing a lot of cabinets in our wall color, so I like that, too. Trying to see how it all could work without being too much.

I think we are going to work in stages. First we will replace the counters and backsplash. We are looking at Cambria Dovestone or something like that. We may continue it as the backsplash as there isn’t too much backsplash visible.

Then depending how it looks paint uppers white, leave bottoms wood and leave walls alone, or (I like your idea.). Paint wall white and leave fireplace wall the same color and paint the lowers that color and leave the uppers wood or paint white. The lowers are the ones that need painting so that would work out great.

I think I have to see how the counters look to decide on the next phase.

dmac, You are right that the strong two toned color is not for everyone and we possibly could sell in the near future. I like the white/wood combo because it is a little unique without being too trendy. I’m not sure if we do that we would have to refinish the lowers. I’m concerned that the refinishing will not match the others.

This door is the worst one, but it‘s on the island facing the sink so it isn’t too noticeable. All things that need to be addressed.

Thank you for your input

For me, I would paint the ceiling!

Normally I don’t care for natural wood cabinets but in this case I think they look just right with your unique countertop. But yes to a light stone or tile backsplash

The only changes I’d make beyond painting the ceiling and backsplash would be new ceiling fans that are less domineering and one prettier in the living room, and to make the tablet of the dinette very dark (but leave the chairs alone)

But that’s it!

I'd never paint over those beautiful maple surfaces, but those counter tops should definitely be replaced with a white quartz and install a white backsplash of your choice to lighten the dark blue. Do this before you make further changes and re-evaluate. In the meantime, look again at the color of your chairs. You might want to consider painting them white to blend with the counters and backsplash. Again, live with this a while before you do anything further. There is no reason to do everything at once.

It’s is not clear to me if you plan to keep all your living room decor (I haven’t read all the comments), but I’d like to make a few suggestions if you are

Switch to burgundy and plum pillows on the multi-colored sofas, and get similarly colored throws, one for the beige chair and one to replace the white throw now on the sofa.

Get a gray and green toned stripey pillow for the deep wine-y arm chair, and angle that chair so it more faces toward the kitchen, pulling it a bit further into the room. I think it would look better if you had a dark-shade lamp back there, rather than one with a light colored shade. This is very inexpensive and flexible

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Switch the places of the artwork that is over the mantle with the longer vertical artwork that is on the wall to the left of the guitars. Replace the object on the right of the mantle with a round shaped object.

Get a table lamp with a large round base and beige shade for the white end table that is next to the sofa against the wall.

As I mentioned before I would get a different light fixture. If you must have a ceiling fan, this might be fab

Minka Aire Xtreme 72 in. Indoor Brushed Nickel Ceiling Fan with Remote · More Info

My two cents: Either replace the soffit with cabinets or paint it white. White uppers, wood lowers. A fairly simple countertop without a lot of movement and backsplash of the same stone. The white will reflect the fireplace and lighten the kitchen, which looks dark to me now. BTW- your home is lovely.

Elaine: Probably the smartest thing to do is one thing at a time. Changing the countertop and backsplash to Cambria is the first one. That alone might make you love your kitchen cabinets again. If not, step two would be to reassess what to paint (uppers and lowers?) and what color. If you choose to keep the wood, you can find out about fixing/ refinishing the ones one the bottom that are more beat up. But your countertop choice is great and may be a huge change that makes you rethink all of this.

Paint all cabinets white including soffit, paint island in your blue color, use the backsplash tile as shown, white quartz counter-tops, brushed nickel hardware. Paint chairs white for sure and leave table as is.

Thank you to all who have taken the time to comment with great ideas and things we will definitely consider. It is so nice to have a forum like this to get advice before such a major renovation.

I agree with taking one step at a time. This is my recommendation: Leave the upper & lower cupboards as they are for now and definitely change the counters to white quartz. Paint the living room and kitchen walls white leaving only the wall around the fireplace in the existing green colour, this will make your white fireplace pop. Leave your table and chairs as they are, they will tie in to the fireplace wall. You may want to leave your backsplash colour as is, it will tie in to your kitchen table & chairs plus the fireplace wall. If you do want a tile backsplash, pick a medium sized white tile that has interest - example: hexagon shape. I believe these steps will make a huge difference with minimum cost. More changes can easily be made at a later date, but live with it for a while.

Get rid of the green. Try white walls throughout and see if you like your cabinets better.

if you do paint the cabinets white, go with a wood countertop: adds warmth and is less expensive than other counters. Sounds like you’re trying to make due with cabinets you don’t love so don’t spend $1000’s for your kitchen compromise. Also, I love the wood counters! Easy to keep up and never go out of style. They biodegrade when laid to rest in a landfill - or can be used for firewood. In my humble opinion they are prettier than any rock surface.

get the same ceiling fans in both rooms: preferably with incandescent bulbs and pull strings so they can be wired to switches with dimmer/speed controls there (last I checked remote operated fans/lights cant be wired into the walls). I’m tired of the clutter of remotes! ensure the blades are an odd number (3, 5 etc - looks better).

ive gotta hunch if ya just did that much you’d feel happy with your lighter and brighter home. Oh, also, paint the fireplace another color. Could be your first light green you considered for your lowers (and could paint your island that color too as balance between the two spaces. If so the woof counter would still go good with the painted island).

I’ve used Ben Moore’s “Chantilly Lace“ for the white in my last two homes - it’s bright without being too blue or too yellow. Did my cabinets, walls, ceiling and trim in it. Good luck!

The walls are closing in with that dark color in such a long room and it also brings the ceiling down visually. I would go much lighter on the walls; soft white or if you want color try a shade little lighter than the color of the lower cabinet in your first sample photo. White on the cabinets with the island in your current wall color would work. Soffits should be the same as the white cabinets. The gable should be the same as the ceiling unless the wall colors are very light, you don't want that feature to stand out, it cuts the room. You could also paint the fireplace the color of the island, a little of that dark color goes a long way, even just a few throw pillows in your dark shade is enough to make it stand out. If you decide to keep the wall color you have then definitely paint the woodwork. White counters and backsplash works with all these possibilities. Don't be afraid of empty walls, you need some or things get too busy. The 2 square pictures by the window are too small. Around the lower half of the family room there are no bare spaces at all, it feels very crowded, you need to remove a few things to open up the room. Also remove a few pillows and one or two throws from the room. Push the tv to the back edge of the cabinet. I would start paring things down before doing anything else. It will look empty to you at first so live with it a week or two to let yourself adjust. With each item you remove the room will start to feel more open & spacious. A large, mostly solid color area rug would help anchor the furniture. They can be very expensive, especially in the very large sizes. You can buy a large remnant carpet and have the edges bound in the exact size to fit your room at a much more reasonable price. Good luck, I think you can have a very beautiful space with a few adjustments.

I would change the paint to a much lighter color. We have maple cabinets as well and they really pop with our azurite granite counter. It has blues and taupes in it.

Hi! I just wanted to see if you ended up selecting Cambria Dovestone. If so, how do you like it? Thanks!

We have completely changed our plan as I found an inspiration kitchen that I love. We are starting to get qotes for a complete kitchen remodel, removing the soffit, new cabinets and counter tops, and changing out the lighting. I would like to get as close as we can to the photo.

The only other consideration we are discussing is how long we intend to stay in this house. We built it 26 years ago. It is a 2 story colonial and my husband would like one story. I am happy here. We realize that we must at least change the laminate counters to sell if

we do end up moving.

Ahhh, okay. Well, that inspiration photo is beautiful! Love it!

Your inspiration photo is great, so I think you're safe going ahead with the remodel. If you stay, you get to enjoy the new kitchen, and if you decide to sell later, that kitchen will appeal to almost everyone and you'll get a much better price for the home.

Wow. That’s a great looking inspiration photo! Keep us posted. What are you doing with the great room - are you keeping it the same teal color?

It depends how the kitchen comes out whether we keep the great room as is. If I can pull the teal into the kitchen with accessories it will stay but I have a feeling it will look better white.