I had posted for help on how to change kitchen cabinets: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6254280/please-show-me-your-lighter-cherry-cabinet-kitchens-slightly-orange

Got great advice, which in the end I took away that I didn't need to change the cabinets and likely needed to do less than I thought to turn it around. Actually, it was mostly an introduction to "warm" colors and balancing with cool that I had never heard of, and made all of the difference.

Here's before and after.

BEFORE:

Mid-way:

AFTER:

Paint was Sherwin-Williams Ryegrass. At first I was scared of it, but in the end I adore this color with my red floors/cabinets. I had intended to do the overhang of the kitchen over the cabinets as well, but only left it like this because I ran out of time to paint it all. In the end I think it turned out ok with the two-toned. Impossible to get a picture of the full kitchen, unfortunately. The windows are awful and cloudy, but we couldn't replace them yet so we used the vinyl film to mask them until November when we get new windows (then will go to either blinds or curtains - haven't figured out which).

Any further suggestions appreciated, but mostly just thanks to this online community for the help. In the end, it was just the quartz countertop/backsplash and paint color was all that I did. And I went from despising this kitchen and wanting to renovate the entire thing at enormous expense, to being in love with my kitchen and wanting to spend time there.