refinish how?
you could spray paint the trim, and probably find a new cover for the light.
you could also use frosted acrylic, or fake vellum, if you can find a piece large enough.

sometimes, those lights are totally removable, so that would open some possibilities for you.

I don't know. I guess wondering if there is a way to make the trim looks more like polished chrome, probably the way it looked when it was new? the mirror is pretty heavy too, not sure if you could replace that or not? I just saw some medicine cabinets at Lowe's/Home Depot and they felt really light and the mirror part felt cheap!

They make metal cleaners that may clean it up. Can you recess it into the wall when you do the renovation? Will you be happy with an old medicine cabinet when you have a new updated bathroom?

well..that's the thing. I want to redo the bath with a retro feel anyway..so not quite sure. I just have seen some of those shows where people take things that people throw away and re-purpose or refinish them. Thought maybe this could be one of them :)

I love the little cubbies on each side. You can go to most any craft store and they have refurbishing stuff you can get - not too expensive. I like the tile. Loveland, Oh has some like that I have been thinking about getting - does it work well with decorations (a good base?)

I think it would work in a retro bathroom. See how clean you can get it and then decide. Like suggested above you could always spray paint the trim. I know what it's like to need the storage space.

Clean it with a chrome cleaner, if that doesn't make it look any better, try using a Scotchbrite pad to rough it up. "Sand" it going the long way on each strip. You'll have to rough it up for paint to stick but you may end up liking the brushed chrome look so work it like you might keep it. I had something like this but painted it bronze to match the new fixtures. You may want to paint yours, should you decide to do so, so it blends in with your new tile.

I actually don't mind the bathroom at all. The problem is the floor. It's disgusting and the floor around the toilet is sinking. We installed a brand new toilet because the previous one was leaking for months and months (didn't know it because the ceiling was plaster) so one day, the downstairs bath ceiling collapsed, so we just decided to remodel that one. All was good for a while, until we noticed a wet ring forming again on the new ceiling below. So, we have to replace the floor. It creaks really bad by the sink too. I've attached pics of our before bathroom that we remodeled because of the ceiling collapse that is below this one, and then the after.

for some reason the original bathroom didn't load, and the ones that did are sideways?? here is the pic of the original.

I would recommend removing the light above the cabinet and have a bathroom vanity light installed. The medicine cabinet is nice. An easy face lift would be to replace the mirrored frame around it and add a wood frame to give you a custom look. Good Luck!

I had that same style medicine cabinet back in the 60's when I was a teenager. It had great storage. I see the light has yellowed with age. I agree with removing the light and hanging a light fixture over the cabinet. You can reframe the cabinet and still enjoy the storage and quality of the cabinet

Thank you for the tips. One other issue is with the mirror itself. It has spot on it that look like part of the mirror is missing. So might not be able to keep it. I have found a medicine cabinet online I think that has the same depth if storage, just not the width. I just LOVE medicine cabinets!!

Have you ever seen the website Retro Renovation? It is a great resource for this.