If you lie the counters and the size and placement of the appliances, then refacing is a good option for you. Consider a "full overlay" door/drawer style to bring theses cabinets up to date. Determine if roll-outs would be an affordable add on for you, making the items in the back of the cabinetry more accessible. Consider upgrading the drawer boxes to accept under mount glides.

With the black tops, consider a pale warm gray tone. Contrast with a deeper tone on the island, and the white pantry / corner door needs to be a flat slab painted with chalkboard paint so it doesn't jump to the eye there. New hardware. Fun dimensional tile on the backsplash like a wave.

You might just paint the floor in a mid tone gray / refinish as a beige and gray driftwood - instant modern.

You may want to take the desk area out, add some pantry elements next to the refrigerator / then turn/rework the orientation and size of the island using the base / desk elements from the wall. Play around with a floor plan - the main work triangle is great and it is just these pieces that could be more functional. You can fill in with anything before you reface and they can make it match, but obviously you want to simplify and repeat for a more modern look. Consider if you can run electrical into both ends of your island before you face.

Congrats - get a bunch of quotes for refacing and check references. A good job is worth it.

You can remove some doors for open shelving and put glass into some of the upper doors to lessen the oak effect. Paint the island, change out some hardware.

We don't have more than $5000 budget total to modernize the kitchen unfortunately for now-no cash on hand after putting down. I think I will leave the floor as is until I can decide whether I want to change to tiles. Hopefully some contemporary rugs and my modern table will make it less oaky. If granite was lighter, it would have been good as I could have painted cabinets white and island dark brown stain. I am sorry I didn't understand how to paint floors or what to instruct to the person doing it. LibraDesignEye, would you mind sharing a pic to understand how to transform floors? I also need to change the microwave, need to make it vent outside . Right now it circulates the air and throws air back inside creating layers of grease on th etop cabinet. When refacing, I would like to remove that middle cabinet and get the proper hood/microwave and vent in out side. I wish I would have spent more time before putting an offer. I liked the idea of removing some doors. But again, that may require replacing the whole cabinets, right? or can I just put veneers inside as well? Sorry never thought will have to go through this.

I would remove all the doors myself do a rough sanding and have the stained a dark colour, then work on the faces of the boxes and use the same stain on those. For the boxes or cabinets facing the room get some oak veneer and stain that and adhere it to the ends the best person to do this is a finishing Carpenter. I would remove the island and go with something open and industrial so it becomes the focal point and you won't even notice the cabinets ! Change the lights and go with a modern hood fan in stainless with an industrial chimney no cabinet surround. You can do it it will be fine.

An example of the fan and an island, it's ok to do it in stages...

I would keep the wood floor. I wish I had a wood floor for my kitchen. It looks like the cabinets are in good shape as far as the wood and even the sides look like wood which means you could also restain your cabinets to a darker color so that you have a contrast with the floor. I too would do something different with the center island, either paint it or even a different complimenting stain color.

Nikki, Congrats on your home. Don't let this detail rain on your parade.

Could you possibly take a closer pic of the cabinet faces and hardware and backsplash/counters?

I only like hardwood floors in kitchens. Would not change those. We have ours stained on the med-dark side with lighter cabinets. Fairly simple to re-stain IF you want a bit more contrast and IF that works with the rest of the house.

What is the cabinet hardware? Brass/gold or silver? Using funky pulls and knobs and using silver could transform these cabinets, I think, but need to see them closer. I would live with the cabinets a bit and not make a quick decision. I've done that at several homes and have not regretted it.

I would concentrate on changing the island to make it a focal point first and bring attention to IT, rather than the periphery. We looked in to refacing at our beach house....cabinets were from early '60s. We ended up getting all new cherry cabinets instead, going directly to the cabinet manufacturer in Amish Country Pa. But these cabinets are too new to do that; it would be a waste.

Thanks everyone for suggestions. I believe refacing entire kitchen will cost arms and legs as there are more than 50 openings. So, I am convinced that best option is to go with painting the cabinets under counter top with white. Remove microwave and cabinet on top of it as it is coverered in galons of grease. Will be putting in a new hood with stainless steel for sure. Not sure what to do with remaining cabinets on the wall? I would like to look into replacing them with better cabinets, few with glass doors if cost allows, litle staggered look for visual apeal as there is no soffit. If that is coming out to be very expensive, will go with painting and replacing few doors only. Hardware will be changed to more slicker ones. Eventually want to replace the island with more functional one. There is plent of space. There are also more counter space on the way to formal dining. I think it is called butler'spantry? I am not sure. So that will need to be replaced as well. Too much work. I wish we would have looked closely before buying the house. For that much extra mone we would have got much better house probably..Oh well..next task will be to refinish flooring to make it shade darker from honey oak..like brazilian cherry or walnut kind..please let m eknow your suggestion. How much would be the cost ? Ball park for painting , changing hardware, replacing hood and change few doors?

Hi guys,

We moved and here is the new image. We got floors buffed. Added modern/contemporary furniture. change light fixures. Kitchen is more orange tone. I think it is birch. grains are not that bad but finish is horribly orange and outdated. I do like cinnamon cabinets but this is not like that. Question- final update is painting restaining cabinets. does anyone have a way where I can see kitchen with white painted cabinets and espresso island? What do you suggest? We also wood like to get glass and stainless steel hood removing microwave and cabinet from above the stove top - only if we find a better place to put microwave. Suggestions/help..goal is to convert kitchen to more contemporary looking with clean and open feeling to match rest of the house.

Consider switching out the lighting over island, perhaps do the cabinets on the island a darker stain, that seems to be popular trend these days and would be far cheaper than doing the entire kitchen. Great counters!

We just got the new red fixture for island as we are preparing the cabinets to go white ..Island I am thinking espresso and later we will get lightter granite for island.

I need to see if there is any software that can let me change the colors of cabinet to visualize before I sign contract to paint white.
And get teh glass mosaic backsplash with black, grey , beige stone and silver in it.

i know there's a pic on houzz with white cabs and expresso island. lemme see if i can find it real quick!

oh well, found these..........

your welcome!...love your floors btw! very pretty!

I tried to do some mock ups for you. The first picture is as close as I could get to a white and still see the cabinets. The others are some tans, espresso, etc. Food for thought.

fyi, you don't have to replace upper cabinets to get glass doors :) Just replace the door.
I really hope you keep the wood floor :)
check out this kitchen, similar floor to yours. The lower cabinets are a bit darker stained, the uppers are white [houzz=]

And here are my own 2 of the 4 doors I replaced and just got the frame only and bought my own glass at our local glass supplier and had them cut to fit.
[houzz=]

I'm replacing my lowers because of damage, but they will be stained wood.

interesting Kevin, wish I had the software to do that quickly :)

It depends on how your doors are made, but often you can just have the center panel removed (by a good finish carpenter) and replaced with glass. I think the kitchen is quite nice - a LOT of space. With the dark granite, I am not sure I would go white on the base cabinets. How about doing the base cabinets in a darker wood tone and then painting the wall cabinets in a white/cream? The island could match either (especially since you plan to change the countertop) or be another color completely. Since you have so many cabinets, it might look very nice to do something more open for the island, as sailorleigh suggested.

Not a perfect example, but I don't have much time right now.

Love what you did with the floors. I would take off all the hardware and paint the cabinets all white. Will look good with the contrasting countertops. Caveat that we did this and the paint needs retouching once a year and after about 5 it needs either a refacing or fresh start sanding and painting.

Nikki, can you move the microwave above the desk in that shelf? Just a thought.

I'm thinking if the microwave is moved there, then it's not in a logical place as far as the triangle of easy access. Also guessing the shelf would have to come out, because all microwaves have the light under it that is usually helpful. I tend to use mine a lot as a night light :) The shelf is nice, could be used for a nice display of pottery, or cookbooks, wine rack

well, i usually just use mine to heat up a cup of coffee....sooo i guess it depends on how much you use them.

Love your floors. Looks like a new kitchen just with that change.

Sounds like you are rushed to making a decision. Move in. Take a deep breath and give yourself some time to develop a course of action that will make you happy and stay within your budget. Sometimes it takes a while to live in a new home and get a feel for it before decorating. Good luck!

Getting floors buffed and stained to the natural look changed a lot. Plus changing the light fixres and hardware did 50% of the jobs. We are going with company that only paints kitchen cabinet. They specialize in that and they showed the final product is like factory direct door. I would have loved to get cabinets stained darker but with black granite, there is not much contrast. Plus painting cabiets cost is almost 4-5 thousand less than replacing granite in kitchen. I love maple wood and would have gone with some natural toffee kind of color on maple. However, this is birch. grains are not as bad as oak. But they are still there. We saw samples from the comany where they put polyeurathene and then stain the cabinets. Somehow, that looked too artificial. They would not do sample door until we pay advance and sign a contract. so will be not beable to try out different stain until that is done. Poeple love our kitchen and the look but may be that is just not my style. I guess I just need to wait, think think think..I would love to take microwave out and put hood. not only for look but for efficiency purposes as I love to cook and need proper exhaust.. but so far have not found a good space for microwave. Shelf by the fridge will be converted to wine rack and wine glass holder when we paint. It's solid wood cabinets..very good quality and assembled and stained in the house itself. So, most of the contractors are reluctant to cut the microwave cabinet. So, really need to be sure before changing anything as there is not much room for oops..Thanks everyone for comments/suggestions.

My daughter put a draw microwave in her island to make room for her hood vent. It worked out really well. I think buffing the floors and putting in furniture did a lot to change the room. Looks good!

We put our microwave in the island, behind two doors. It's not seen unless we're using it. Not a big deal to us as we use it for heating up coffee and popping corn. I like the way it makes the room look cleaner.

Hello everyone, it's been a while. Checking back in. Got kitchen painted white. Looks beautiful. Now the last two changes - counter tops and backsplash. Current conter top is ubatba. does not look too bad with black bt I have a little sting against green and brown in it. We have hose more beige, brown, blue, steel, grey with lot of colorful accent.
Thinking of white quartz for island. thinking about replacing black granite for perimeter with other black like antique black or something with pattern so easier to keep clean looking. Or change everything to white quartz.

fantastic transformation!

looks great! thanks for showing us!

Nikki. WOW!, It doesn't even look like the same kitchen. My knee jerk reaction to changing to white quartz is that it could be too much white (you know, like the painting of the polar bear in a blizzard, LOL). You might want to look at some granite/quartz that have some of the beige, brown, gray tones you mentioned. We used Colonial Gold Granite in our remodel which has some of the colors you mentioned. There are many others that would probably meet your requirements.

Fantastic transformation Nikki - I like your idea of white quartz for the island, and black granite on the rest of the kitchen counters - very graphic and modern - You should post the before and afters on the "before and after" page!

Sure Michelle, I once the counters and backsplash are done, I will post in before and after. Everyone on this post suggested things that made us think and be creative. I thank you al fro the way it has turned out. Kevin, My husband does not like creamy counter tops else I loved Delicatus juparano for island. Honestly, we both love quartzite but can't afford now. This house ate up wayyyy too much money after moving in. House showed well but not maintained and so we spent a lot in correcting basics first. First floor is almost done. Still need to change bathroom and laundryroom cabinets. But I believe, i will try to do it by myself in a year or two as a DIY. Learnt that proper sanding in between finishes is the key. The reno company may have done sanding 3-4 times to get the smooth factory look. I am not sure about maintenance on absolute black or black galaxy. But will go with something black for perimeter and quartz with marble look for island. Backsplash - drawing design on paper - will post it later after adding colors.

beautiful transformation. I like that you chose the corner cabinet door to make a glass door. I had plans to do that, but our corner is too large and a better use for lazy suzan's for food pantry. I see you bought a valance over the window, nice touch. Also like the colorful glass vases for decor, nice touch :) I just finished spray painting my upper doors this weekend and a couple other lower cabinets that are now painted. Already ripped out one lower cabinet that is by itself and put the replacement, just have to wait for the money for countertops. I don't mind the dark counters you have with the white, it's a nice contrast

You might also want to consider LED under cabinet lighting to bring it an updated look. We have several to choose from and would be glad to spend some time working with you to get just what you need.

A+

We already got LEDs installed under cabinets. We also got LED with remote and dimmer for new display area. where vases are.

Huge transformation, looks great. Where did you get the valance?

Hi all,

Checking in after few years. Phewwww..Finally done with kitchen.

From the first picture I posted:

1. we sanded and buffed down floors to remove golden.
2. changed lights on island and dining table.
3. Added 4 more recessed lights.
4. Removed microwave on top of the stove.
5. Removed old backsplash.
6. Painted cabinets white, island java brown.
7. Added shelf in island to put my glass vases.
8. Added bridge on top of window, added stainless steel hood, replaced few wood doors with glass.
9. Replaced granite on the counter with quartz.
10. The part loved the most - backsplash. it was unique warerjet cut design we got installed.
11. Final step: changed the color from bittersweet stem to Agreeable grey..

Life is sweet and good :-)

Different stages of the updates:

More pics: