Let me start by saying that you have a nice small kitchen. There is nothing "wrong" with it.

Please let me address the backsplash first. The purpose of a backsplash is to protect the wall from water or other liquids (splatter from a pot maybe)? So unless you are getting spaghetti sauce on the wall above your stove, you don't need a backsplash.

I would try to remove some of the items from your counters. Unless the items that are decorative bring you great joy AND you have nowhere else to enjoy them, those would be the first to go. IF any of the small appliances or kitchen tools on the counter are not used regularly, I would store them elsewhere, if you have another space to keep them.

Those are the low/no cost ideas.

When budget allows, I would consider stainless appliances rather than black. The black appliances suck the light out of your space. But I wouldn't replace perfectly functioning appliances with a new one just for appearances.

It looks like you have some room next to your upper cupboard to install a couple of short shelves for pretty baskets to hide your kereg pods, sugar, etc and get those items off your counter.

i would add shelves beyond the wall cabinet ..you have unused space above the peninsula....... get a warmer wood than your ultra dark cabinetry...the change in tone could be a nice visual focus...... use of a wall light would be an option instead of the lamp on the counter. second picture shows shelving along w backsplash.

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beyond the last wall cabinet....

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Thank you all!

Great suggestions about adding open shelving on wall at end of upper cabs. Do you have under cabinet lighting? if not, that would be a definite improvement & upgrade. The lamp on counter taking up valuable space says more light is needed. About back splash - it might not matter since not much of BS can be seen with items on counter. About the 5 small appliances I count on counter. I know it’s a personal thing & says either something about how we want to view our work space or that we are very short on storage. Might be a bit of both here? Could you replace the Costco coffee pod box with a pretty cannister that would add color & take up less space? Can you find a convenient home for the 4 appliances you might not use daily? Can that convienient space hold the items stored on top of frig? In another kitchen I lived with I had storage issues. I did a deep purge of all my cabinets & removed 2 categories of stuff. 1 - stuff I hadn’t used in couple years & 2 - stuff I only used couple times a year. Category 1 was donated & category 2 went to garage shelving. Doing that gave me room to store things like my small appliances not used daily. To this day the only appliance on my counter is my small one cup at a time Keurig. My pods are in lovely cannister next to it & the box is in my pantry on floor.