You have a beautiful kitchen. What is the problem you are trying to solve?

I would like to lighten the cabinets. I just don't know what color to paint them.

Cabinets look to be in really good shape. Perhaps save up to update the floor and backsplash, and add some cute knobs to the cabinets. Possibly paint only the island.

Thank you. The cabinets are in great shape. What color would you paint the island?

Are you sure you want to paint? I would not rush to paint them, They are great quality oak. You said you want light.. How about new lighting.. Have an electrician come and put inside, under, over and around lighting to make it bright bright bright.

Could you hire someone to strip the stain and go as light as possible. Maybe even lighten them. You might discover that natural wood is the trend these days. Once you paint those cabs you can never go back to wood. It can't hurt to try this first and see if you like it.

Stripped oak to natural color post from 2022 Houzz

updating oak without painting by In Between Chaos

I didnt't think to do that. The lighter oak is beautiful!

I would choose a light taupe color like SW Taupe of the Morning... light, but not stark.

yes, great sturdy cabinets, all the more reason to paint them.

This is one of the colors I was leaning toward!

The walls are weird. The builder chose this color and it looks greige, sage, and/or tan depending upon how the light it’s it.

I would not waste one dime on painting or having them painted They are totally dated and IMO work best with the floor. Unless you want a complete redo just leave as is . I think this si not a new build so what do you refer to the builder any choices made when the home was built are not important. I hate textured walls but that seems to be a thing in many places in the US You do realize that having cabinets painted by a pro costs almost as much as new and IMO DIY cabinet pinting never looks good and those cabinets will be a real PITA to get right . My advice save the money and time and wait until you can do a new kitchen . I do not think any taupe is going to work with that floor BTW.

The builder built the home in 2016, the couple who paid for the build could not afford it after making so many changes to the plan. I purchased it as a new property which is why I referred to the builder. Thank you, the last thing I want to do is decrease the value aftter the resent appraisal of over $700,000.

Your walls make me wonder what area your house is located. I remember when I was being aggressively recruited by a law firm in Denver, and I spent a weekend looking at houses - it seemed like most of the houses in the suburbs surrounding Denver had walls like yours. They seemed very unusual to me - I’ve always lived places where flat walls were typical (even in apartments in college).

I never would have guessed that your home was built in 2015 (based upon the style of the cabinets). I am renovating my kitchen and cannot wait to get rid of my cathedral doors - and mine are only single cathedrals (on the top of the door) + only the upper cabinets (the lowers are just regular raised panel doors - not cathedral). My cabinets are high quality oak - and were custom built. I’ve had quite a few contractors (+ two designers) tell me that I should only replace the doors - and concentrate my money on my new countertops/backsplash/hood/extending pantry/refinishing floors + renovating my powder room + laundry room.

I think that would be a good option for you also. It would be much easier to lighten the stain of your cabinets if you only had to strip the boxes (and started with new wood doors in a less dated style).

I know that there are people on Houzz who will post that replacing the doors is almost the same cost as buying new cabinets. Well, I’ve done quite a bit of research in this area since being told by professionals how well built my cabinets are (vs. many of the cabinets being sold these days). The cost for new doors is not even close to what it would cost me to have new custom cabinets made for my kitchen (I like not having a bunch of little filler strips used - except where needed for doors/drawers/appliances to operate correctly).

I haven’t decided what I will do until after I post my layout here on Houzz - if I decide I need to make major changes to my layout, then I will just have to spend the $$$ for new custom cabinets.

It would be helpful if you would post more photos of your kitchen + add a scaled drawing of the layout. It seems like there isn’t enough aisle space around your island - it would be a shame to spend $$ having your cabinets professionally painted if the kitchen doesn’t function well.

Hi Tammy. I like boxerpal’s suggestion of refinishing the cabinets to their natural oak color. As well, I’d use a non-shiny paint for your walls. Most paint companies make very washable paint - I love Benjamin Moore’s. It would help hide the highly textured walls (which I’ve had). Your kitchen overall is made with darker materials and short of replacing everything, it’ll be tough to lighten it up. That said - I’m not suggesting you replace anything! You have lovely cabinets and sturdy granite and it coordinates well.

Painting oak is tough - the grain in the wood is really hard to get rid of, and shows thru paint. Thus I don't think your cabinets will turn out the way you envision. And, with the darker floor and countertop you won't achieve the lightness you want.

I'd leave the cabinets, and focus on lightening up other areas of the kitchen. "Stain" the grout in your flooring to match the lighter color in the tile - paint the walls the same tone. Add/change lighting. Take everything off the counters that you don't use daily. Add stainless/brushed chrome cabinet hardware and change faucet to match hardware.