Why is it all husbands think that wood should never be painted?

Is the issue just more light? Besides painting white, another thing to look into is Solatube skylights. I have five in my home. Really helps. Another thing is painting the ceiling in a glossy paint to bounce light around.

Are you looking for a style change? What direction do you want to go? Budget?

Thanks for your opinion. The chair rail runs around the room off the kitchen and into the next with big bold wrap around corners. We would have to remove all the chair rail in both rooms and down hall in order to do that. It's an idea though. He likes the oak, but I'm adamant I need a brighter kitchen and he's ok with that. First step is to paint the cabinets and then someday replace the formica counters. 8)

It's a first floor kitchen so no possibility of sky lights. The kitchen is small and with the dark woods and not much natural light it seems dreary no matter what time of day. No real budget right now (we have a mutliply disabled little boy that takes all our free cash) so that was why I thought painting the cabinets would be a good start for updating and brightening the space. I replaced hardware last year from the nasty 80's brass we had going on and the black knobs we have now would look good with the lighter painted cabinets. The cabinets are in great shape, I'm just not sure what to do about white cabinets with all the dark wood trim everywhere. And the dark windowed door leads to my laundry/mud room.

And this is how the two spaces look off from the kitchen. Where the desk is used to be the dining room but my family of 7 is too big for this small space with one in a wheelchair so we moved out table to the addition that was added on before we bought the place.

I have heard great things on Houzz by folks using Rustoleum Kitchen transformations ( a paint kit for cabinets). It is at Home Depot and Lowes.


Wallpaper can also add a lot of brightness to a kitchen.

Maybe it's just me, but I like light and bright, so I'd paint all that wood molding white and change the paint color on the lower part of the walls to a lighter color. That in itself may help the kitchen feel brighter.

On my monitor your walls look light green - is that right? Easy change would be to paint walls and ceiling and the door at the end of the kitchen a nice creamy white. Than the oak color won't seem to dominate so much.
The dark molding around the ceiling needs to be painted out too, just the same color as the walls, My son-in-law painted their ceiling fan white and it looks so good - lightens everything - why? I don't know. The new luminous glass tile back splashes really brighten up a room - they reflect the light and are no where near the cost of new cabinets or counter tops.

I think the molding more than the cabinets is making the space heavy. If it isn't a Victorian era home, I'd remove it. Behr has a line of bright whites; a green or blue tone would go well with the cabinets and molding.

You have a lovely home, but I understand the issues you have. I have a white kitchen and love it, but if it had solid oak cabinets I'd be thrilled and would not paint them. I believe the problem is the crown molding and the chair rail. The dark CM is pulling the ceiling down and then the dark CR is cutting the walls in half. I would either remove it all or paint the CM white, along with the ceiling, and remove the CR. You could then paint the walls one colour and it wouldn't seem so oppressive. Another option would be to replace the oak CM with a gyprock product, which is what we would use in Australia, as it gives a finished look to have some kind of molding where the wall meets the ceiling. If you do choose to remove the oak trim, you could very easily find a buyer for such a quality product and that would pay for the new paint. That's a win, win, as far as I see it :-)

I agree paint the chair rail,crown mouldings and all trim white even the walls it they are not already white, it is hard to tell in the photo! and what about the entrance door? at the end of the room thats not oak is it? Paint it white as well I think you would find this would make a lot of difference ! And maybe a bit more lighting!

I think the same person built my house:-) I am in the same boat as you,solid oak cabinets,dark oak baseboard,trim,doors&a limited budget.I understand your dilemma completely.We have considered painting out our trim, but where do you stop,as it flows from room to room,then up the stairs?At first, I was going to undertake the huge task of doing the entire house, but I have since decided that right now it is just too much work.What we ended up deciding is to actually go a little darker on the cabinets.(I know, I know, but hear me out)I cleaned the cabinets w/TSP, then used a degreaser/deglosser on them.No sanding needed!I used General Finishes Gel Stain&Gel Top Coat.(2parts Java color to 1 part Georgian Cherry)It gave them a nice warm expresso color without being too black.We have picked out a light colored laminate countertop by WilsonArt.Light (white/tan/grey)mosaic backsplash tiles, and a very light grey color for the walls.Also new brushed nickel cabinet hardware.I am almost done refinishing the cabinets&i love how they are coming out.I am also going to stain the door&window trim the same color a cabinets.I did a lot of researching&looking thru pics on houzz&in design magazines.The contrast between the dark and light really brightens the kitchen, I think even more so than going all light.Also, it gives a much more modern look.
What I have is very similar to yours.A medium oak color,medium wall color,medium color countertop.I think all the mid-tone colors is what makes it look dreary/drab.
Good luck with whatever you decide!I would love to see how it turns out!

This is for down the road when it is time for a more major redo: you could expand the kitchen into the entire area. Move the peninsula to the end of the wall where the sofa is, or put the frig into that spot with no peninsula.

Or if peninsula moved down, put frig across on wall where hanging plant is. Then stove (which doesn't have much of a landing spot for hot pots) could be moved into spot now occupied by frig.



Now back to now: kind of liking jced213's suggestions. More color and more contrast, with a different fan might do it.

Hey jced213 Do you by any chance have any pictures? I wouldn't mind going with a darker cabinet color if it gave the room some richer tones. All the monotone wood is so drabby. Your idea sounds great. I thought about painting the molding and then when I started looking around, there was no where to stop short of doing the whole house.

My 2 cents...

Keep looking at pics on here, Pinterest and anywhere you can to see if you can find a look you like with your current cabinets. Painting the cabinets must be done right to last and it's a lot of work if done correctly. So, it'd be easier to keep them the current color. But if you can't find the look you like, definitely paint them. It's your home, so make it look the way you like it.

In regards to your dark trim, instead of painting all the cabinets, you could just paint the uppers white. Search two tone kitchens and you'll see lots of examples of mixing cabinet colors. I've attached an example. This way the trim will match some of the cabinets, but you will still lighten the kitchen by painting the uppers.

Also, you might consider undercabinet lighting. It would lighten up your kitchen as well and there are many reasonable DIY systems out there now.

Good Luck.

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