Does your daughter own or rent the space? What color are the cabinets now? It would be a lot less work to repaint the walls rather than the cabinets, if they are decent. Here are a couple of peel and stick backsplash options that would coordinate with gray and beige.

https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/art3d-12-x-12-gel-peel-stick-mosaic-tile-dtar1337.html

https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/crystiles-12-x-12-aluminum-peel-stick-mosaic-tile-csst1050.html

I will take pictures and post this weekend I have been researchig how to put laminate over tile using leveling compound etc The cabinets r in good shape she just wants too lighten up the space Long term is major gut opening up walls so trying to just spruce it up

If this is a short term spruce up, please don’t paint the cabinets no matter how bad they look. Truly it is a massive job to get even a decent look. It would be much easier to change the wall paint and add some additional lighting for more light.

This is a picture of kitchen with laminate sample Maybe do laminate and see if lightens it up before decid on painting cabinets? Kitchen was just painted. The total gut job is probably 10 years away

You can’t install laminate over tile.

We will either put plywood over tile then laminate, Or use leveling compound to ”fill in grout” then laminate. Or rebuild countertops from scratch Still researching options. The only thing we know we definately r doing is replacing counter tops and new sink

Undercabinet lighting will help, and is great for casting light on the work surface instead of working in your own shadow.