I like the slab sample door you have, but what I’m reading is that you don’t, and you now want to paint, is that correct?

If you decide to paint, you might consider sticking with the nature-neutrals. Think greens that range from light sage to deep pine, blues that range from sky to lake, yellows and rusts that bring to mind tanned leather or autumn leaves.

Ikea has a light European Oak Vedhamn cabinet made in Hungary.

With medium‑oak floors, go for cabinet colors that create a soft contrast rather than competing with the wood. Think muted sage green, dusty blue, or warm grays for the base cabinets, paired with crisp off‑white or cream for uppers or accents. These tones harmonize with wood’s warmth without overwhelming it. Also, choose cabinets with minimal grain or a smooth finish so that the floor stays the visual anchor, while the cabinetry supports the contemporary look without clashing.

I’d go with black cabinets and you’ll really connect the spaces and enhance the flooring. Be sure to add sleek hardware and lighting as well.

What don't you like about the cabinet color you have now? Nothing wrong with white. I would have already ripped out that backsplash and looked for something much better.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/nickebo-drawer-front-matte-anthracite-20537887/

I agree with Chispa, Change out the backsplash. Coordinating wood apcan be tricky, especially white oak.

What I hear is that you want your current cabinets resurfaced with slab doors for a more modern look. You are not interested in painted. But the samples given by your contractor will not look good with your flooring. Is this correct?

The biggest problem to address first is that you are selecting your cabinets through your contractor. Stop that train right now. You have a world of slab cabinet door choices available to you in various prices from various vendors but are letting your contractor dictate who you will get your fronts from.

Yes, it is hard to find the right wood tone cabinet to go with your flooring, but I am convinced it can be done if you don't limit yourself to your contractor's vendor.

One issue with a small kitchen is that all wood plus wood floors can really overwhelm even if you find the right wood. While I am not usually a fan of two toned cabinets, in certain circumstances they might make sense. Take your living room cabinet for example. The lower wood works with the upper part being white.

Are you open to your kitchen having wood slab on the bottom and white slab on top?

I'm a fan of walnut with your tone of flooring because it is such a contrast and doesn't lean orange or pink. However, it is a slight departure from the look of your living room.

Have you explored pics online of your tone flooring, small kitchens, slab lowers, and white slab uppers?

What you have, looks way better than what you want. The only thing that needs to be changed is about 2-4K for a backsplash. Not 50K of too many changes.

Darker wood floors might work.

Here’s some sites you may want to check out

This color may be too close to your flooring:

I would get a new backsplash. And, I would do the kitchen cabinets to mimic the cabinet under the TV-- i.e., paint the boxes of the cabinets the same color as the living room cabinet box (I am assuming they are the same color as the walls, or maybe a shade lighter). And then get slab doors for the kitchen cabinets of the same wood and finish as the living room doors. But no need to make them herringbone; that would be too busy. Just get a wood that matches whatever wood and finish the living room cabinet is. The slab door you show in your samples might work, but you need to really make sure that whatever you get matches the living room cabinet.

I think black would be a mistake; the area is too small for such a dark color -- depressing.

Thank you all for your input. It’s really helped to clear my vision even though I really need an inspiration picture to keep my focus. I’m leaning toward what I think nester44 is laying out. That is, white cabinets that don’t compete with the wood floor but with some compatible light wood cabinet doors/features that aren’t sitting right next to the floor for comparison. Something like this picture. If anybody sees some pictures that embody this white contemporary cabinets with light wood highlight, I’d love to see them.

None of the samples are flat panel so why start there with a shop thta has those smaples. IMO if possible match the floors totally or do black if it can work with good lighting. Regaedless that backsplash has to go and maybe that i all you need .

@janetlammens Post pics of all four walls of your kitchen so we can see the cabinets you are working with. Please clarify - Do you intend to keep the same cabinet boxes in the same locations and you want to have slab doors added and the sides refaced?

What you like about @nester44's picture is usually only common with a modern double stacked upper where you can nestle a different cabinet tone within an upper. If you show us the rest of your kitchen, maybe we can find ways to work in some wood tones that are not next to your floor.

Get wood in on the counters. Or All white cabinets, white counters, and wood island countertop, or just a wood top on the far counter to the left of your window. You would have more ability to custom stain your counter to closely match your floors.

Scandinavian Modern Cottage Kitchen · More Info

Mieszkanie na Krzykach · More Info

Or wall white cabinets and stools that echo your living room furniture - all wood similar to the floor, or upholstery similar to your living room. The stools are your first impression of the kitchen.

I doubt you want to replace your kitchen window, but I wonder if there is a way to clad the frame in wood so that the bones of the room read more closely to those of the living room sliders.

I realize that looking at my pictures that, with the exception of the ugly backsplash the kitchen doesn’t look bad per se . The bones are good, it just doesn’t present a more sophisticated look we want as one enters our condo. After 50 years together in every type of housing, this condo is our last hurrah before we’re moved to a nursing home so we want it to feel like how we want our lives now. Not a lot of maintenance, simple, clean, bright, and welcoming. (BTW, I’ve had black cabinets and a black countertop in previous kitchens and they were a pain to keep nice looking.)

Here’s detail about what we were going to do. We planned to keep the same cabinet boxes in the same locations. We were going to remove the panel under the sink and lower the 2 cabinets on either side of the upper sink area so all the cabinets are the same height, top and bottom and mount them so there’s little space between the doors. We’re also changing out the doors under the espresso machine and to the left of the range to drawers and modify the cabinets over the microwave and tall pantry doors so they extend to the ceiling. All these were to be light wood slab doors with white backsplash tile. The quartzite and window is new so no plans on replacing them but could change out the window casing to a wood tone.

Educating me about my doors not being the double stacked doors was an eye opener and explains why I couldn’t find examples that would work for me. (Insert forehead slap here.)

Have I mentioned how much I appreciate everyone’s help? You’re all a godsend to us wanna be designers.

I’d go with something that creates balance rather than competing with your floor. Since you want a Scandinavian feel, a light, neutral cabinet color works best. If natural wood options are clashing with your oak, consider painted cabinetry in a warm white, soft beige, or even a very light greige. Those tones will complement the floor without fighting with the grain, while still keeping things bright and contemporary.

If you want contrast and definition, a muted gray-green or taupe can also look stunning with medium oak, especially paired with a clean white tile backsplash. Flat-panel doors in these tones will give you that streamlined Scandinavian look without the risk of wood-on-wood feeling too busy.

One more thought: you could mix finishes—lighter cabinets for the uppers (to keep it airy) and a slightly deeper tone for the lowers, which can ground the space against the oak flooring. This layered approach often works well in open-concept condos where the kitchen flows directly into the living area.

I live in a coop apartment where the kitchen is your first view when you walk in. We too wanted the room to have a very similar feel to the rest of the apartment so the space flowed and felt cohesive.

Your drawer and cabinet changes make sense if I am understanding them correctly.

Do you store muc in the 12” cabinets? Could you do without them entirely?

I’d make the kitchen all white slab cabinets. The two moments of wood I’d so are this:

The three sides of the island in wood. See if you can get nice slab or real wood stained to match you floor, not just crappy cabinet veneer. Make it look and feel like furniture.

The space above the sink. Use the same wood as kn the island. Instead of just shelves, insert a box that has a back, sides, and shelves made of wood. It will read slightly closer to the kind of look you are going for with the double level of uppers that use wood and white. Obviously not an exact copy, but a cousin of that look. I will try to find a pic as I’m not describing this well.

Of course new backsplash will make a huge difference too.

I’d frame your black pics in wood too.

This is a really lovely kitchen. I like the flow in and out of it.

You are concerned about oak flooring fighting with your wood. I think you’ll find that it doesn’t. Your floors will disappear into the background once your cabinets are veneered in wood, because the cabinetry will dominate the space.

Taking Mark’s and Kendra’s advice and focusing on my Scandi-inspired kitchen as shown in the first pic, which of these 2 samples cabinet samples should I choose for my cabinets. Both are maple with subtle grain but the smaller one looks a little pink to me. Which should I choose and should I also do the island in the same wood? (BTW, I looked at samples of taupe, warm white, and charcoal as some of you suggested but I don’t think the kitchen would have that sophisticated furniture feel I’m looking for since the kitchen is really part of my entryway.)

I still think it's best to match the kitchen cabinet wood doors and drawer fronts with the wood doors of the living room cabinet (plain slab doors, not herringbone), using the same wood species and stain/finish. I would also use a touch-to-open latch on drawers and cabinets so that there are no knobs or handles (Blum LegraBox). It's a much cleaner, simpler look for the cabinets in a smallish kitchen such as yours and gives a nice "furniture look" to the kitchen. And I still like the idea of the painted cabinet boxes as in the living room. The island can have wood and paint depending on the design -- waterfall edge? drawers or cabinets in the island base?

Oak is a WARM brown - use WARM tones in the rest of the kitchen. NO BLACK, NO GREY!!! UGH!

And skip the "clean" lines w/o knobs/handles - they make a kitchen too cold and uninviting - a kitchen should be warm and inviting.

Paint the black island ASAP!!! Be sure all colors you chose are warm tones.

Note that the bar stools are very uncomfortable to sit on with no place for feet. If you plan to have people sitting there for long enough to have a meal or hang out, make the island on one side (or the whole thing) table height. Tall islands are not useful. Also need a lower surface (table height) for a baking center for average height women. Tables in the middle of kitchens are very functional and should never have been stopped being there - I guess when galley kitchens came in there was not space for them.

Get rid of the hideous round light thing in the living room, the black chairs in dining area, and all the black - make the place warm and inviting which means NO black!!! UGH! And if the floors are plastic laminate fake wood, replace with real wood.

I don't see the point of spending money on cabinetry when you said what you have functions well. They are cohesive with the space as is. What doesn't work is the back splash. You need a continuous solid surface. No grout lines distracting from the calm. If you move forward with new cupboards, I would look for a contrast so given the samples you offered the lightest. You may as well remove the stools from the island. Unless you are a hibachi restaurant no one will care to sit near a cook top, ish.

Such good advice already -

its a nice bright space, if it were me I’d change the backsplash to something a bit more organic/interesting, add a bamboo blind to the window (outside mount, mounted above the window so as not to cut any light), get warmer/more interesting/lux counter stools, upgrade the cabinet hardware and replace the 4 black framed pieces with a larger splurge piece of art with all the money I am saving :)

Change the backsplash and door handles.

Cabinets are expensive, have your floors resanded and stain a dark finish. It may take three coats of stain to get the desire look, but it will be worth it.

Over white

Leave the cabinets white and stain the floors.

Dark wood floors show every bit of dust and are a nightmare to maintain unless you want your Roomba running 24/7.

the original author stated the paint is showing wear on her cabinets, Scandi is the look she is going for so the floors are perfect. A designer I once watched said every room needs a little black for grounding. Hopefully you can find the right wood for your cabinets, I'm not a fan of wood cabinets and wood floors where all I see is an expanse of the same wood from top to bottom, so if I lived there uppers would be white, chosen to go with the backsplash. Lovely space and set your mind that it is your forever home, not every senior ends up in a nursing home. Please put hardware on the cabinets, my cabinets do not have hardware, and they all show wear in places I touch to open them, (they are oak)

I think the palest maple can work for this kitchen. A Shaker door in maple is beautiful and simple.
Removing the backsplash might make it easier to visualize. The island paint color can be decided later, but covering it with a sheet might help with envisioning a change there too.

I’m assuming the floor color stays as is and making it darker is not in the plan. Is that right?

Here is a maple kitchen with wood floors. It’s pretty!

The biggest issue that you will have is that all of the refacing companies will cost you as much, or more, than just redoing all the exisiting cabinets. Because they can charge that much, they do. Refacing is never ever a wise use of funds. Replacement is always the better route. Always. You get to tweak the layout, and make the function better.

I have done 4 kitchens - two were a complete remodel and two were refaced. Either option works. If you like your layout and have well made cabinets, refacing is a good option. (Door fronted cabinets can be changed to lower drawers, which I’ve done in my current kitchen.)

Once you want to move stuff (like sinks, ovens, etc) you are doing a new kitchen with new cabinetry. How well does this layout work for you?