The cabinets look to be substantial and well made. Instead of painting I might suggest pickling them. Pickling will tone down the color but will still allow wood grain to show thru. This will involve stripping the cabinets down to bare wood in preparation of the final finish. Something an interior designer friend taught me to tone down granite countertops is to pick a medium color within the granite itself and use that color for the backsplash. Good luck!

Cat, the floor is a crappy peel and stick tile. It is hideous. I am not sure who chose all these mismatched counters, backsplash and flooring but it is more than cringeworthy. The hinges are also a hideous silver and too large. Nothing matches in the entire kitchen, not even the appliances! Unfortunately the cabinets will be painted to fill in the holes from the large hinges that need to be removed. It can be fixed but the kitchen is an eye sore!

Agree that would not paint the cabinets. Not sure about pickling either. A good cleaning yes. Don’t understand what ”nail on a border” means but I might paint the crown around the walls the same color as the walls but leave the crown above cabinets same as cabs. Yes to replacing entire backsplash. Are appliances working ok? If yes & leaving as is then leave counter, if not, then do replace counter, then replace, cooktop, hood, sink with stainless & undermount sink.. The wall 3 light sconce could stand to be updated too. Walls look really stark white - appliance white. Warmer white would be good.

Those hinges are really strange lol - if it were me, I would pull up that floor and see what’s under there and depending on budget either paint it and add a nice rug or put down Marmoleum. I’d be tempted to paint those cabs a nice moody green and then get a simple laminate counter (there are some nice ones out there that are very inexpensive) and then tile the backsplash (or removable wallpaper would be a simple alternative). stainless appliances would look great and there are lots of deals on Marketplace if he is patient

I think warm white walls and hits of black could be fresh with green and not too cutesy for a young man - it is a nice sized space for an older home!

I see weird hinges on the cabinets that make no sense. I honestly would just clean the cabinets and wait to do anything expensive in that space Not sure what he means by adding nail on trim. Take the fancy trim off between the upper cabinets and I would not even do the flooring until he had lived there for at least 3 months . I see hardwood on the floor next to this space so that is IMO the best choice for floor but not until he sees how that space functions and then come back for real help.Granite is far superior to any other counter material so leave that right now for sure .

The hinges on those cabinets were probably originally black and someone thought they were updating them by changing them to silver. I wouldn't usually recommend gray cabinets, but it looks like that is the only color that will work with that counter aside from white. And he obviously likes gray since that's what color he wanted to paint the walls. It will probably take some sampling to find the right shade of gray. A simple white tile backsplash would be best. Then I would keep the walls the color they are and put down a slate look gray floor. The floor should be lighter or darker than the cabinets to avoid the gray box look. Just make sure it's going to look OK with the wood floor in the next room.

Be aware that when you put down a layer of flooring on top of existing it's possible to trap your dishwasher so that it can't be removed for servicing or replacing without taking off the counters. The previous owners of our house did that, and it also happened to a friend of mine. I don't know what you want to use for flooring. It would depend on how much of a temporary solution this is. Is he going to do a complete remodel at some point?

This picture isn't exactly what I'm thinking of, but it's the closest I could find.

Deer Park Common Sense Kitchen Remodel · More Info

Thank you for all the suggestions. The floor is peel and stick and is ugly as sin. Underneath is subflooring which will be taken up and new subflooring put down.

The dishwasher will have to come out to put a new floor down, my husband realized this but thank you for the head's up.

I agree the hinges are also hideous. My son does not want to get into a new counter right now. He'd like to get he cabinets painted and put in a new floor and backsplash. He hates the hinges and he doesn't like the orange color of the cupboards with the countertop. The countertop is not his favorite either but it is granite and in decent shape.

@kandrewspa thanks for the nice picture. It gave us both an idea.

We looked at the greenish grey spots within the granite and my son liked this color because it is a greenish grey. SW Rainwashed. It warms up the granite. He is considering this for the cabinet color.

He is thinking this for backsplash

possibility for floor. Very small area.

It may change but right now these are the contenders.

I don't think he is thinking of doing a big kitchen renovation in the near future. He is happy to have a home and I think he'd like to make the kitchen decent and bright and live with it for awhile. That ugly wood piece over the sink will definitely be coming out.

As for the light that belongs in the bathroom (that is on the wall), he can either substitute another light or take it out and cap it. I shake my head at what color choices and materials were put into this kitchen. The person is either colorblind or a masochist!

The rest of the home has beautiful hardwoods that are in great shape. It really is too bad they are not beneath the kitchen floor.

I presume this will be a DIY job by your son. There are many possibilities, here is my take on your kitchen:

- Intall your shaker planks around the doors

- Pant all hinges black

- Install black pulls and knobs on the cabinets

- Install a black & white floor tile

- Install a shiny white subway tile

- I show the paint recommendations in the sketch, perhaps you can paint an accent green wall somewhere else, dining room? living room?

- Remove the wood valence and install in the window frame a natural fibre roman shade

- From the picture I see there might be room for a small island and 2 stools, the one shown is from Ikea.

Pick a cabinet specific paint like BenjMoore Advance. Watch diy YouTube vids on prep and technique.

I fear that quirky trim above the window is "toast," but I love it.

We did a cheapo diy change to our kitchen. No, it doesn't have a professional level paint job but we sure are happier with it. Worth the time and $$. We switched out exterior hinges like that to interior hinges off amazon. "Shaker" trim might hide the holes. We also flipped doors so the interior side faced out to hide holes we filled. If you hate the counters, you could diy replace with butcher block relatively cheaply from a box store or ikea. We finished some butcher block with tung oil from the milk company and it has held up amazingly well to liquids. Might be a bit more than you'd planned to spend, but a huge difference in "look". We are going to reuse the butcher block elsewhere in the house once we finally do a true upgrade to the kitchen.

Almost forgot..we did use the Benjamin Moore advance too. It does make a difference.

@lisedv thank you so much for putting that together, I really like what you have chosen. I will look into that color as well for the cabinets. I appreciate your ideas.

He bought this table and is waiting on delivery. It was the only one he could find that would fit in such a small space. Had to be 2' or less in width.

Thank you for all the suggestions. We will be looking into the BM Advanced paint as well. Had no idea it existed.

floor is a crappy peel and stick tile.

That is good news. Because the floor and backsplash are the worst offenders. I don't love the counter but I could absolutely live with it. And there is a single bowl sink. Another plus.

I would pull up the peel & stick and see what is underneath. Peel & stick tile is easy to remove. Warm them with a heat gun or a household iron (using a cloth between the iron & tile), working something thin like a wide drywall knife or metal cooking spatula under the edge to lift/ peel off the the underfloor.

And remove the backsplash tile.

After that, reevaluate.

That hardware was either originally black or a hammered copper color. Either one would look a lot better than the silver color does.

If the decision is to paint the cabinets, know that you must use shellac as a primer. The usual go to is Zinnser's BIN, the original version with the red label. This is a white pigmented shellac. It is THE best for stain blocking, Sands beautifully. Two coats overall with extra special attention to the knots.

Painting knotty wood is very much a challenge and generally not advised.

But, if you do paint, two other DIY friendly paint choices are PPG's Breakthrough and Cabinet Coat. I have used both and have been happy with the performance. But both are on lightly used cabinetry, not in a kitchen. (A few specks of Breakthrough have been seemingly fused to the porcelain lid of my washing machine for the last 4-5 years and survived multiple thumbnail efforts to dislodge.)

Looks like a square edge on the cabinet doors so adding thin flat stock to create a faux Shaker look as already suggested is certainly do-able. Is this what you mean by 'nail on a border'? If so, I would suggest sanding down to bare wood and relying on glue & clamps to hold the strips. Very minimal amount of pin nails and only if absolutely needed. Pin nails are tiny headless 23 gauge nails shot out of a power nailer and leave tiny holes. Not to be confused with a brad nailer (usually 18 gauge nails). Pneumatic pin nailers are very inexpensive; the cordless ones are considerably more expensive.

On a strict budget, I would suggest investing in an air compressor and going with inexpensive pneumatic tools. With even a cheap pancake compressor, you can use run nailers and some paint sprayers. I know that the Critter spray gun will work on a small pancake compressor.

Last note & totally off topic, what kind of heating? Electric or (gas) hydronic?

As someone else mentioned, even though it's a DIY and paint is not perfect, it will be a significant change to the look of the kitchen.

The small island I had suggested is 24 inches wide but I did see several drop-leaf top ones on internet should the one you bought not work out.

Have fun with your project, and it would be fun to see the result!

Love the floor, and really like the pine cabinets if they are in good shape. I'd get either stainless steel or black appliances - on a budget, change them as they fail -, and switch out the hinges and handles on the cabs to something else. May want to change the backsplash.

May want to paint the walls something light but warm.

Those hinges and pulls were originally black, or possibly coppertone.

These hinges could be a possible replacement.

https://www.rockler.com/3-8quot-inset-hinges?country=US&sid=V91040&promo=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PL&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItY396ev0-gIVErfICh0CCg7LEAQYASABEgKwfvD_BwE

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Amerock-2-Pack-Adjustable-Polished-Chrome-Self-Closing-Self-Closing-Cabinet-Hinge/1000536663?user=shopping

Honestly, this is one of those situations where everything the previous owner has done to "update" the kitchen has made it look worse instead of better.

"Dated" does not always mean terrible, and I don't understand why anyone would think that how the kitchen looks Now makes it look better than it did originally, like these kitchens below. (Except that old fashioned or original means Bad to lots of people) Dated as these may be, they look better than, or at very least don't look worse than the kitchen above.

Exciting for your son on this adventure! I think the pine cabinets are the best thing about the kitchen and would not paint them as amount of time and effort to do it is greater than how it will look. It appears to me as if previous owner “updated” without keeping the the whole picture in mind. If it were my home, would think about the following in priority order: 1. Valance over skink 2. Floor. 2.5 - lighting. 3. Wait and see what other things the house needs (because there is always something 4. Hardware (this is where I am in my out-dated kitchen) 5. Counter/backsplash . No gray paint. If the appliances need replacing - then no white / otherwise continue with what is there until they wear out. Work with what you have vs making it something it is not. Best wishes.