It looks like cherry. Are you sure it’s oak? The perimeter cabinets are well done, timeless. The island is the problem. I don’t love the beadboard on the island and on the backsplash flanking the range. You should be able to replace the island panels with painted shaker skins and tile the beadboard backsplashes.

If it were me, I would have the cabinets professionally painted white.

Those don't seem to be honey oak but a beautiful cherry. What's overwhelming are the "baronial" cabinets on the stove wall. I wonder if you could remove the "baronial" cabinetry surrounding the stove install a stainless range hood.

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Or paint the just the island white and change out counter stools for something like these. Or paint existing counter chairs white and reupholstr seat cushions.

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I was ready for some tacky honey oak, but I think these are beautiful cherry cabinets. Really nice quality.

1. Paint the interior of the glass front cabinets the same color as the walls. It will lighten it up a lot.

2. Paint the island. Perhaps just the two sides with the chairs. Leave the drawer side cherry. I'd get metal bar stools. It will be nice to bring a material other than wood in to the space.

3. Part of what overwhelms the space is that the cherry goes all the way down to the countertop almost everywhere. There is no backsplash to break it up. I'd paint the bead board areas to the left and right of the range.

4. Get a runner rug for in between the sink and island. It will break up the sea of wood.

I'd love to see a before and after with these changes. They are minimal, but can make a big difference and still respect the integrity of these really nice cabinets.

A guess...............

A guess that what you want is a white kitchen.

Well.......... a VERY pricey pro job would be necessary, you will be beaten with a wet noodle here, so don't tell anyone if you do it.

But do feel free to admit it is what you want.

You have a beautiful kitchen, which you must know. My personal preference would be for a green based stone for the counters and, as others have mentioned, remove the heavy woodwork above the range to match the other side.

Looks like someone tried to "update" this house during the "gray trend". The gray doesn't really work with the warmer wood colors.

If it was mine and the kitchen was functional layout-wise, then the changes I would make are:

- get rid of the gray walls

- get rid of the beadboard

- make the island one level

- get new warmer countertops (nothing with gray!)

- get new tile for backsplash

Agree with chispa above re the gray not working with the wood. Also, I don't care for the wood paneled fridge. If the wood could be changed out I think it might help.

It depends WHO wanted the very pale gray walls. It may indeed be the op. There is gray, and yes there is gray....... but declaring ALL gray "gone" is not really true or even wise. It can feel like a very neutral atmospheric background to go with anything else in color.

We aren't seeing enough of the surrounding area, to get a feel for the op 's style: )

So I will say it: Painting wood, even cherry is not a sin. A white with the counter tops, and her wall color on the island, might make her very happy.

I don't think that gray color is pale at all! Look at it next to the white crown. On a scale of light to dark, that is definitely a medium.

My point is that even though someone might like a color and/or it might be trending, it doesn't mean that it can be successfully used in every house. This house is a perfect example of gray not working with the existing warm toned fixed elements. Just not a good complement to the wood floor, wood cabinets or tile in the hallway.

I saw that a lot when looking at existing homes in 2019 in my area of FL. People "updated" with trendy gray walls to sell the house, but the problem was that all the elements were warm, with many having Travertine floors with a pink tone. Add gray (that has some blue) to pinkish Travertine and you end up with a house that has a pink and blue nursery vibe throughout! Yuk!

Not oak. NOT honey. Modernize, reduce the trim. When your island isn't separating rooms and there's not appliance in it there's no reason for it to be two tiered that way. The turned legs embedded in the base of the island make no sense. The undermount corbels again not needed. Maybe take this opportunity to tear the entire thing out, put in a plain rectangle, paint it. The trimmed out fridge and hood over the range are all TOO MUCH. Simplify and it will add visual space to the room. The 'crown' above the cupboards is layered to give the impression of to the ceiling cabinets and yet it is not to the ceiling. It's visually confusing. Why the sink bump out? It's maybe not worth the expense to fix but someone really wanted to do da this space up just for the sake of looking 'fancy' and all it does is serve to make the kitchen feel heavy and over styled.

The cabinets are lovely. The “heaviness” of the woodwork surrounding the range and the seating sides of the island is overbearing and would be best deleted if possible. Agree, the grey walls are a mismatch with the warm wood. Unfortunately it appears that the adjoining rooms are painted the same color. Ideally, repainting one a warmer neutral would require repainting them all. A big job, but I think it’s worth it.

Did you just buy the house? : )

If you did, time is your best ally. You can make meals.....everything in there works?

Show the other spaces around the kitchen. Add a lot more pictures.. Show us what the dream kitchen would look like, to you.

Let us know if you painted? Or it was there when you moved in?

Don't mistake it as prying, it just gives everyone more complete ideas as to what you're after.

Thank you for the feedback everyone & confirming these are CHERRY cabinets! My parents just bought this house in Michigan on Lake Huron so color of the walls, furniture, etc is just what the previous owners had. They are not looking to replace any flooring or paint the cabinets. They would like to go for a neutral/coastal/modern vibe.

It is hard to figure out what to do with the kitchen since you don’t think of cherry kitchens when dealing with coastal & neutral styles. Here is the rest of the house with some inspo pics for how they would like to change the surrounding spaces. Just scratching our head on how to make all the spaces look cohesive and incorporate this cherry color into the color palette in the other spaces….
Also my mom would really like to keep the barstools and dining chairs as the previous owners had them custom made. I have advised against it as I don’t think they really look good in the space but she is adamant on making them work……

These are the listing pictures so this furniture will be replaced with something similar to the inspo pics above…

Yeah, unfortunately the custom bar stools don't match the kitchen in any way...

The house overall is pretty traditional with those windows. I actually think the house as staged in the listing photos has done a decent job to marry the warm wood with neutrals. But I don't see macrame going in there myself :)

If the bar stools and dining chairs are from a quality higher end brand, then look at having them painted and reupholstered. It won't be cheap either, but might feel less wasteful.

When I think of coastal design ... a lake in Michigan is not what comes to mind!

The only coastal in the house?

its location:)

Not going to blend that lutchen to coastal, to modern, to anything without a paint job on the cabinets. Better Better? A total re do

I guess you just ask the parents how long they plan to stay. Think of the kitchen as a good investment if they Do plan to stay?

As is….. it is nobody’s dream, not with water out the windows:)

Omg! Look at those windows and views! And that beautiful cherry woodwork! Don’t get caught up in one-word labels like “coastal,” With that quality of woodwork, don’t try to make this something it ain’t. Lean into the elegance. Keep the barstools and dining chairs. Paint all the walls (LR, DR, kitchen) a calm blue-green color like BM Quiet Moments with crisp SImply White for trim. Put down a runner between island and sink and other areas as needed to break up the flooring. Make sure LR rug is generously sized, maybe even a bit larger than in listing photos. No rattan, no macrame. Traditional to transitional is what this space is crying for. Respect it.

If you want real Coastal, you can’t go wrong with Cherry, or similar tones in Mahogany. It is all that you see on the Super Yachts. Both then and now.

But if your parents want that other “Coastal” look, they'll have to redo everything.

Painting all that Cherry would be massive and costly. imo, better to sell it - because Cherry wood is trending again. Cherry is creeping back into the forefront for kitchen cabinetry, etc. So the existing cabinetry, in tact, is valuable. So they can sell it. Then they can bring in white cabinetry from Ikea or something.