I really like the green with your cabinets and your plates and shelves are wonderful. It makes sense to paint the limestone and it seems logical to use cream from the countertop at first, but if you do that, will it clash with the white trim, and or with the floors? I’d instead try more of a light greyish tone from your counter. It will look better with the floors, counters, and cabinets, probably with the sage too.

I’d hold off on new formica. Their faux marbles really are not good.

I like the kitchen. & your lovely decor. I might paint only the tile trim (in black) to repeat the black wood holding the plates. The radiator might be good in black too. https://www.houzz.com/photos/highbury-house-eclectic-living-room-london-phvw-vp~112534973

seriously for the volume of counter areas Id go look at the stone yards . You might even find remnants to insert . not costly. the floor will allow quite a few stones to look good .... it would be nice to get real stone ..there are some lighter granites..see what you can find. I'd paint the green walls a very pale blue or a white w cool undertones for a fresher lighter look before Id paint all that real stone....leaning into the beautiful window trim and white side door w trim that look really classic and good. Changing wall color for low cost and DIY can give nice results .

You have an adorable beach house. I love those sweet dishes. I think it is great idea to paint the limestone, it will transform your space. Finding the right color is key. I am not sure I like the green... But if you love it, I suggest you carefully study some colors to see the right one to go with your floors and your counter. I think your floors run a bit more cool than the current floors. It can be difficult to see on a monitor. I may be reading this wrong.

I wonder??? You may not need to replace the counters when you repaint the limestone and walls. My instinct says paint the walls and the limestone the same color. The texture on the bottom will be nice while keeping it simple with one color.

Here are some various colors that come to my mind that could work with your counters and sweet cabinets. But I am not sure with your floors.

But,,,

If you love the green paint on your walls maybe the idea of going to get a few reminants of UbaTuba might work for you. That is a green granite that is often on the inexpensive side but could work with your current green walls.

So much to consider.

Looking forward to seeing your space continue as it's sweet beach get away.

~Boxerpal

Check out Klenk for the paint if that is truly the way you want to proceed IMO rip out the backsplash and other tile patch the drywall and leave the 3 " piece of counter .I see no real reason for a counter replacement . A wall color change maybe that works for the rest of the place .

What is the color palette in the rest of the house?

If you are planning a full blown reno in a few years I agree with you on keeping costs to a minimum.

Looks like those are plaster walls, not drywall. I would not attempt to remove the tile. It may come off easily, but it also could be really well stuck and cause a lot of damage to the plaster and either way you would need to match the texture on the rest of the wall. Not an easy cosmetic fix.

I don't usually like painted backsplash, but this looks like it has plenty of tooth and will hold the paint. I would paint the tile to match the walls or possibly do one shade darker on the tile. You may need to play with it some to know. The texture of the tile can make paint look lighter or darker than it does on a flat surface. Darker colors hide texture better than lighter colors.

I would not do marble or marble look. Too cool, too modern, too fancy for this kitchen. A solid color will look better with the texture of the backsplash and the cabinets. You don't have much countertop and Formica/laminate is inexpensive to replace. I think it will give you a lot of bang for the buck.

The floors just need to have the grout recolored. You can DIY over a weekend. Match the grout to the tile so you don't notice the lines.

Picking the perfect paint color(s) and countertop color that work with the rest of your home and the flooring and the trim is something I can't answer without knowing about the rest of the home.

I like the BM wish that Boxerpal posted. Also, have you considered painting the tile the same green as the walls?

"I'm not a pro but I would consider removing the tile entirely and just doing new drywall and paint to match your existing pretty sage, especially since your counters have the 4" backsplash"

^^ Ditto.

I too live in a beach house. We had horrible tile which we ripped down and replaced with white vinyl tongue and groove bead board. You can also put the beadboard directly over the tile. If you want to be more authentic you can use wood tongue and groove, but honestly the vinyl looks just as good. You can also buy sheets of wood with tongue and groove look which look very authentic specially after you paint them. Honestly the whole look is very beachy and cottagey.

I find those black floating shelves harsh and disruptive...would love to see them painted white or offwhite or even the wall color, or replaced with wood.

Despite the odd tile, your kitchen has charm!

Thanks for all the suggestions! I appreciate some of the different ideas. I had not thought about the black shelves being a harsh, but now that is was mentioned I can see that. I am open to replacing them or painting them white. I think I need to figure out the wall/tile color first then take that on second.

I am totally open to painting the walls and getting rid of the sage green. I am planning on painting the limestone backsplash the same color of what ever the wall color will be. I am very open to any suggestions for color. The green is limited to the kitchen and the room you can see off the kitchen. The dining room and stairway is SW accessible beige. I am drawn to blues and greens in general. The cabinets are staying for a good while so I want to make sure that the wall color complements them.

I don’t think I am up to the task of removing the backsplash simply because the walls are plaster and lath, not drywall. To make it a bit more complicated, the walls are pretty heavily textured plaster.

The kitchen floor is a tile that to me is an unattractive yellowish beige tile, photo attached of the tile. My dream is to long term pull up that tile and bring in hardwood. We have great hardwood floors in the rest of the house and if I am lucky, they are still underneath the current floor.

I would love to get new countertops, but the wall with the range kills me. I can’t stand that it has that corner cabinet. I would love to get rid of that down the road and just have a straight run of cabinets and range. The drawer can’t open fully as it hits the side of the range 😣
But @rebunky has a point, maybe check out some stone yards and see if I can find a decent price on scrap stone.

For three hundred bucks you could change that skinny cabinet next to the range, to a pull out for baking sheets or shelves/organizer from Rev A Shelf.

I'd paint both the tile and the walls, choosing a light color that matches the floor.

If you like the countertops then keep it you could go with a creamy white or some other white color you're going to take the floor out to? You know this is going to be quite costly might cost 30 grand specially if you're removing the cabinets you could paint the cabinets

@acm thank you for the image with the wall and backsplash painted the same color, it really helps to visualize it! I think that is heading in the right direction. I am going to take the suggestion of @Boxerpal and start with some the of the colors they suggested and see what some samples look like. If anyone has some other color suggestions, I would be interested.

@happyleg- we are not going to be touching the floors for a while, just dreaming out loud :)

glad that was helpful. I'm not sure my Photoshopping landed on the right color exactly, but I agree that painting it all a light shade like that will freshen things up. good luck!

If you have not had the floors professionally cleaned lately, they may lighten up and change color a bit when that is done. Then you can paint the grout to match the very clean tiles. The floor will look new and fresh. Here are some randomly selected before and after photos

https://chetscleaning.com/photos-videos/photos/stone-tile-grout-cleaning-gallery/

A new backsplash is fairly inexpensive. You can get a quote when you pick your new countertop and then decide if it's worth it for the five or seven years before your planned major redo.

Since your walls are plaster and lath, do not remove the tile. That's more of a gut job task than a cosmetic update. Especially since the upper part of the wall is already textured plaster. You would want to either drywall everything smooth, or match the textured plaster on the bottom half of the walls where the tile was. I agree with the suggestions of paint the whole in one light color, and the mockup given is nice.

I would also save your flooring replacement for a more gut job task. Yes, you might find something good under it. But you very well might not and need to do a different floor replacement. Do clean the beejeebers out of it. Maybe recolor the grout if you want to. And also prepare for the cost of it. If there is something good under there, it's still gonna cost a bit to remove the tile and refurbish the floor- and whatever you need to do about the toe kicks on you cabinetry.

Grout renew for your floor grout will change your life. Pick a color that will blend in so your tiles are what you see, not just the grout lines. I like apple pie’s idea of professionally cleaning the tile but I did that and it made no difference to my grout. For $20 you will have a floor you can live with before your major reno.

@Jeanne Cardwell- thank you for that real world experience with the grout renew. Did you seal the grout renew afterwards? Has it held up well since then? I am off to google grout renew and fingers crossed that it does change my life :)

I did grout renew in my kitchen a year ago and it magically updated everything! I did not seal, and it's held up....had to retouch just one spot, and I think it was not done thoroughly the first time.

I would use grout renew on both your floor and backsplash. Love the idea of painting the border backsplash tiles black.

I did grout renew throughout my home in California and didn't have any issues except the area in front of the stove in the kitchen where I had to do it again. I don't think we got all the residual grease off the tiles when we cleaned the grout before applying the grout renew. Once it was re-done all the grout remained clean and nice for the next 3 years before I moved.

I also used grout renew in my current home where the grout in the foyer had gotten discolored over the years. It has been 4 years since I applied the grout renew and have had no issues.

Grout renew doesn't need sealed, it contains a sealant.

It's a nice kitchen but doesn't exactly have a beach vibe. If you can removed the backsplash would advise you to do that. If not, your idea of painting will probably work well especially since the tile seems to have a somewhat rough surface. Might suggest that you go with a mostly white color scheme including painting cabinets.

@Jennifer Hogan and @S J thanks for giving a real world experience about grout renew. That fact that you both had good experience with it holding up after several years is really encouraging. I am actually excited to try it on our floors! I will be down there this weekend to try to find a good color match for the tile after thoroughly cleaning them.

@Norwood Architects- you are totally right, that the kitchen doesn't have a beachy vibe. It feels somewhat Tuscan to me. I just picked the green color as I felt it would work with the cabinets, the bossy backsplash tile, and the countertops. We rented out the house for several years, and it was good enough during that time. But now that we are spending more time down there, I am ready to do some work on it, to have it feel more in line with the rest of the house.

For paint colors (as others have suggested) I would also focus on something that is a good match with the floors (especially since the tiled wall meets the floors). Look at Sherwin Williams Creamy, Ivory Lace and Shoji White.

Didn’t need to use as sealer as Jennifer stated above. It takes a bit of work but is easy and very satisfying. Post pics please!

update with photos

The changes look very good. The grout renewal on the floor tile makes the tile look clean and fresh.