Thanks Beth,

We're really hoping to avoid painting the trim. First, there is a lot of it (plus some paneling in formal living and dining), and second my husband especially, but also I, to some extent, just really prefer wood to painted trim. It would be nice if it were something other than golden oak, but since it's not.... before we jump into painting or replacing trim, we would like to see if anyone has ideas about working with it.

you don't have to paint all of it. the kitchen window, maybe the dining room windows.

if you don't, you're going to have 3 diff types of wood in this small space.

the darker golden oak color doesn't do much for the lighter wood grains you're looking at.

As for the light maple, if you want white, then get white cabinets. at least that would look better w/the oak trim. but that light maple w/the yellowish ash floors and the golden oak trim? That's a hard NO.

if you want that wood on the left? I'd paint out the window trim at the very least.

what countertops are you doing?

you aren't keeping that backsplash, are you?

instead of maple or alder, why not look at white or red oak cabinets? would look better w/your oak trim

You could go with a slightly darker oak cabinet or colored stain oak cabinet.

On my computer, the alder has somewhat of the same undertone as your other woods.

What are your plans for the backsplash? If you are mixing woods a bit, you could do a lightly variegated or handmade subway with light tones of the different woods, it would help the eye tie everything together

If your cabinet space isn't too tight, I would consider eliminating the double cabinet to the left of your sink. It would make the space look more open and modern.

I have golden oak wood work in my house and natural ash floors. When I redid my kitchen I went with select natural cherry cabinets. They are almost 12 years old now and I still love they way they look.

Here is my before

And here are a few after pictures:

Answering questions:

We will be changing backslash.

That and countertop haven't been decided. The current quartz is a speckled white, and honestly we like it. Also like soapstone, but no decisions have been made.

Cabinet space is very tight...the pics show pretty much all of it, so we can't skip any wall cabinets. Too bad.

We looked at some white oak, but it seemed much cooler...seemed to clash worse than either of these.

Badgergal....your cherry looks really nice (to me). Nice job. I hadn't considered that.

Which leads me to another thing we're trying to keep in mind....wood color change.  That maple sample is really white now, but we know it will darken soon. Our table and chairs are maple and only seven years old, and are already much darker.

Just to think further about only painting some trim.... the first thing you see on entering the front door is the Oak stair, oak closet door, and the Oak trim around the eating are window straight ahead. Super awkward layout to enter a formal style home where your first view is of the casual family dining table with formal living and dining to left and right, but there it is. Really keeps me hesitant about painting.

GW, try looking at red oak. and don't forget, the oak can be stained. White oak isn't 'cooler', it just doesn't have that pink undertone to it like the red oak does.

I found this combo that looks pretty good. light oak floors, wood cabs and the golden oak window trim. but lets be honest. Does that golden window trim really look all that great?

I think it would have looked 10X better if it was painted white or even black. at the very least, stain it to match the cabinet tone! That yellowish color detracts from the final look, IMHO.

You mention all the other wood trim in the house and think painting only that window or few windows would be awward. However, you'll have plenty of other wood to keep it from doing so.. I could understand if you were doing an all white kitchen w/no wood at all, but you're not.

I'd look at some oak cabinet options rather than bringing in a 3rd wood species in that kitchen. to me, that would be more awkward than painting the kitchen trim.

What if you did white uppers and wood lowers? (this isn't, but just showing you how it looks w/the wood window trim)

Here are some maple cabinets mixed w/a darker red oak floor, and lighter oak window trim/crown. they went with a grayish tone island and two-tonecabs.

This oak trim is similar to yours. see the door and window color? they have lighter floors, and a darker island. I like the white cabs w/all of this though.

Your oak window trim in the kitchen, if you don't want to paint it, you could make it less golden/yellow by either stripping it and re-staining, or giving it a good sanding to get off the clear coat (if there is one) and going over it w/a toner or a gel stain. you could get a slightly darker tone to it.

This oak trim has a darker stain color. looks nice w/the wood lowers mixed in w/the dark charcoal color

two tone cabs. (you don't have to choose green) Notice these similar lighter floors, the oak trim, and similar stained oak cabinets.

Also, painting it doesn't automatically mean white. you can paint the trim any color. just depends on the overall look you want.

for example, they did this one in a dark gray. (not saying you do this since this is a diff style, just showing you an example)

dark green trim

This one they did do in the white to match the tile and wall color. I think it looks fine.

oak floors, trim and island, w/softer white perimeter cabs

oak trim, oyster gray cabinets

Showplace Lexington Oyster Gray with Espresso Maple · More Info

Darker cabs, golden oak window/door trim, navy blue and white countertop

Cherry & Blue · More Info

similar layout like yours. what do you think about the oak shelving to the left of the window?

SImply Stunning in Saline · More Info

Hope this gives you an idea of other options

BTW, dark blues/blacks/charcoals look great w/the oak

SW Naval:

I would do golden oak cabinets with an updated door style since you have a lot of golden oak in your house that you want to keep. I think the golden oak looks good with your floors.

Is it possible to get new door fronts (thinking slab) in the existing wood? I'm glad you're keeping your counters.

Why not golden oak with new cabinets? You said you didn't want painted cabinets, which would be the obvious answer. So, go with the oak. I would select a light, bright backsplash. You have room for 42" upper cabinets. That will help with both additional storage space and make things a little more luxurious. Remember, drawers are your storage friend. Put as many three-drawer stacks as you can in the space. You won't be sorry.

Are any of these better? They are from left to right rift white oak, quarter sawn oak, red oak and cherry.

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas. We will be getting as many lower drawers as possible and taller wall cabinets.

In addition to the other options I posted yesterday, I thought a few more pictures might explain why I'm so hesitant to paint the trim. Here is the view from the front door and the side of the kitchen. But maybe I'm wrong. Can we get away with painting just the kitchen window? Kitchen window and cased opening? But what about the other side of the cased opening? (Mudroom with three oak doors and trim)…..what a can of worms. Crossing my fingers one of you will tell me one of the other samples works well enough we don't need to worry about the trim.

There is only one person encouraging you to paint the trim. If you don't want to paint the trim, just ignore the advice. I personally like creamy white walls and nicely stained trim.

Your view is gorgeous.

Looking back at the pictures I posted previously, I see that they are a little dark and make the cabinets look darker than they are. Here is a better representation of their color.

Your cherry sample provides more contrast to your floors than the other samples which I think is good. Natural cherry will darken slightly and get richer looking in the first couple years. Mine are not any darker than the picture above.

While I like white woodwork/trim in many houses, I did not want it in my home. It is a big job to change it out. One of my neighbors ended up having all her trim replaced rather than sanding it down and painting over the golden oak. Another neighbor, DIYed her trim and doors from oak to white and it doesn't look the way I would want it.

Good luck with your endeavor.

GW - I built my house back in 1996 - never thought that I’d still own it this many years later - but decided to have a second home (kept this one since it’s been paid off for quite awhile). I am now renovating basically the entire house.

In any event - I currently have a mix of oak trim + white trim - and that isn’t a new decision - that’s the way I designed it originally.

So, I agree with @Beth H. : - about changing the window trim in the kitchen - or the window trim + the casing, and that it will look nice.

I even have a cased opening between my kitchen and dining room - and the kitchen has oak stained trim and the formal dining room (currently being converted to a wine room) has white painted trim (about to be changed from white to another color to match the walls - going for a moody look).

OR - you could use oak for the new cabinets vs. introducing another type of wood.

Originally, when I was buidling the house, painted white kitchen cabinets were pretty popular in new builds (at least in my area). I was worried about the kitchen looking too cold/sterile + I was pregnant with my second daughter at the time - and my mom made a comment about white painted cabinets taking a beating with kids. By this point in my life, I’d already realized that my mom‘s advice was correct 99.99% of the time. So, I went with stained oak instead to warm it up + make it durable. It’s way too much stained wood - I’m glad that I have a stainless steel refrigerator instead of a panel ready one with more stained wood!

My kitchen is fairly large (not huge - around 410 sf) - and has A LOT of oak - too much. I have six sets of stacked floor windows around the eat-in area of kitchen - that start fairly close to floor (78” window with a second window over) - and the ceiling vaults there (almost 14’ in that area) - so, it’s quite a bit of windows w/ thick stained wood casing around + between the upper and lower windows.

I also have oak floors + a fireplace in my kitchen (not in a separate hearth room - it is part of the kitchen) - and the fireplace has stained oak for mantle + the area above mantle up to the ceiling.

My renovation plan (which was reviewed by my neighbor who does interior design work) is to keep some of the wood stained (lower perimeter custom cabinets + island - especially because the stained wood has held up so well) and have painted white stacked upper cabinets to the ceiling around perimeter. So, I am a big fan of kitchens with mixed stained and painted cabinets.

I am keeping the stained wood fireplace - because it is very pretty. However, I am going to have the stained trim around all my windows painted white to match my upper stacked cabinets - along with the baseboards + door casing in the kitchen.

The window over my sink does not have any trim - it’s a deep set casement window where I have plants - and is tiled (can’t remember the name for this type of window right now - not feeling well). However, if I did have a window with stained wood trim, I think that it would look great being surrounded with the painted white stacked cabinets - and the lower stained cabinets (if I wasn’t planning on having my other window trim painted).

Anyway - long comment - sorry. The point is that people mix painted and stained trim - and I think Beth has given you some really great advice.

I have the exact same problem. Great room completely trimmed in golden oak that leads to a hall which is visible with golden oak trim and 5 golden oak doors. I have to change out the cabinets and I have been told that if I try to match the color it will look just that, as if I tried to match but failed. I too need to know what other wood color I can use. I was thinking natural oak stain or some tone of walnut but either way there is a lot of golden oak it needs to go with. And I too have a kitchen window cased in golden oak. None of the trim or doors will change. What to do????

We have the same situation except our window trim is white because we've had all the windows replaced and thought maybe some day we would change everything else to white also. That will probably never happen.

I would be fine with white cabinets and cupboards but my wife wants a wood look for the new kitchen and doesn't like white. I really don't know what to do now.