Also, factor in some nasty-expensive new stainless appliances. Or black with black granite???

Check out rustoleumtransformations.com for a possible solution. Only takes time and elbow grease, I understand.

Hello Whitfield... I'd leave the oak alone, and, if budget allows... add crown moulding, add accent lighting above and below upper cabinets. Get your new stainless appliances (including micro-hood to replace the hood). Put some more color in the walls, perhaps bluish-green - with Ubatuba or Verde Butterfly granite - and some pop in new backsplash tile. ...new darker door-drawer pulls (leave hinges as-is). Have Fun! Mark

I like the floors and cabinets together as is...would you want to go darker or lighter with granite?

Granite color? That's a good question. I'm always partial to Black Galaxy...but thinking of something lighter for this application maybe. What do you think?

What about Golden Sun?

Play up the gold tones of the cabs.

Hi Nancy...I actually love that! That would be fabulous! I'll google it to see more pics now. Any other ideas? BTW...the wood floor looks good in the pics but it is actually a paper thin foux floater. Since this house is on a slab...I'm considering a wood plank tile...and heating it. What's your reaction to that?

I love my Santa Cecilia granite. It's neutral and would go with these cabinets. Change out hardware to brushed nickel. Stainless steel appliances don't have to be expensive, just shop around. Under cabinet lighting is a must. Try a rich beige like Macadamia Nut by Sherwin Williams

Nancy Walton’s granite suggestion with new hardware would look great.

I've seen that color on Houzz and made a note of it! I'll check out the granite you mentioned. I'm thinking about oil rubbed bronze hardware. Something kind of old world??
Thanks for your input!

A heated tile floor sounds great--for the northern climes. Where is this retirement home located? If it is in the southern part of the states, I would recommend not heating it, as the tile will help your air conditioning in the summer. I live in the southwest, and the only tile I would put heating in would be my master bath whenever I decide to re-do that floor.

I have the ORB basket knobs in my kitchen and they are great with the granite I showed you earlier. Also, the granite has a lot of feldspar in it, so there are some pink/coral tones in it, too. Lots of possibilities for paint selections.

Do you think I should carry whatever color is chosen into the living room since the space is open? Any ideas for color? In either space? I have a huge cathedral ceiling that is oddly annoying. I thought of some nice brown beams up there but I'm not sure I want to put myself through it. I already scraped the popcorn off the entire ceilings. lol.

Nancy...I just googled ORB basket knobs...I love'em! Yes that would look great! Man...you guys are good. This is such an awesome forum!!!!!!!!!

I would carrry the color throughout. Two colors worth looking at to compliment the oak:

BM November Rain…a white, but this great green undertone or SW Grecian Ivory.

This first picture is the November Rain. I love how it looks with the wooden table.

SW Sassy Green in kitchen or SW Harmonic Tan on walls through out whole rooms and Turquoise accents/ decor Tiles green golds turquoises. Go with Santa Celcia granite, no black..comes in at you and cannot see dirt.. stainless appliances get package deal. What color is that counter top bluish green.

You can create a look similar to the picture (w/o the island), if you plan to carry out the white colour from the other room.

The best thing to do with oak cabinets is burn them. But that's not always practical.

The challenge with Oak is that you can't paint them easily. They have such open pours that even painted, it still screams 'oak'. I don't think I'd try a darker stain, IMHO, as dark oak feels (to me) very 70s.

If on a budget, I may consider just replacing the top cabinets. Go with something bold to draw the focus to.

Thanks for the paint color suggestions! Is SATIN finish ok for trim and doors? Or should I go with semi gloss? A young tom-girl at Home Depot surprised me by saying she would NEVER use anything but satin on doors. lol. I never thought about it. She said something about a glare??? Any comments on that? I bought a color to try...Behr Falling Snow?? I just always try to get something that is not so white I need to wear sun glasses to look at it...ya know?

AND...i was going to use the same color on the ceiling. Should I do half chemistry of whatever color white I wind up with? Any other trim color suggestions???

The problem with painting oak cabinets is that the grain will always show, unless you don't mind a lot of work to smooth out the grain. Several years ago, I decided to paint the oak vanity in our powder room. I cleaned everything really well with TSP, rough sanded the varnish, and applied 2 coats of latex primer, sanding smooth in between coats. By the time I did the final coat of black latex (2 coats, more sanding) and 2 sprayed coats of satin varathane, the grain had disappeared entirely. This was just a small 36" vanity with 2 doors and 3 drawer fronts, and it took a week to paint, let dry, sand, repaint. I can't imagine doing this with a kitchen's worth of cabinets, but it can be done. I have friends who used the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations in a dark espresso colour, and they were very pleased with the results. They said it filled in a lot of the grain on their oak cabinets. Good luck!

Congratulations to you for surviving that paint endeavor! That's what I'm afraid of. When I was a kid my mother decided to paint her kitchen cabinets white...and bless her heart...it took that woman almost the rest of her life until finally my Dad stepped in and hired some painters to finish it. lol. They still look decent and that's been 25 years. But I've been gun-shy about painting cabs ever since that childhood scarring.

You guys that have suggested I leave the oak and work with them...have MADE MY DAY. I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to do and I think the Santa Cecelia granite...or the Golden Sun...and the ORB Basket hardware and the added crown to the cabs...will make it very sat.

Just remember to come back and post photos of what you decide to do...

I definitely will and hopefully it won't be next year! lol. I need to Git R Done!

What are the existing counters made of? If you paint the cabinets white, or and the trim surrounding the countertops white, it might not need to be replaced. I can't tell what condition it's in. Caeserstone is beautiful, but it may be just as costly, if not more, than granite, should you find it necessary to replace the countertops. If you end up replacing the cabinets, can you take them to the ceiling? There seems to be a lot of wasted space above the cabinets. If you go with white, black, cooper or stainless steal appliances would look nice.

I'm definitely planning to introduce some granite counter tops to this space. And I think I'm going to work with what of got in terms of the oak cabinets. Gonna get some jazzy oil rubbed bronze hardware. Hey...do you think dropping two pendulous light fixtures is just a ubiquitous feature nowadays? Or do you think just having the recessed lighting is ok?

A few visuals

They have some wonderful pendulum light fixtures that just screw into the recessed light box. They're not too expensive, either. The length is adjustable by winding the cord around a hook, then the cover screws up tight to the ceiling, covering up the trim ring of the recess. I used one in a previous house, easy-peasy.

Easy-peasy. I likey. Well, guess what? The folks who built this little treasure in 1992 actually installed two recessed lights exactly where I would want the bases for two pendulum lights to hang. So it really would be easy-peasy. I do have a chandelier just a few feet away, that is kind of the boss of the room at this point...but I certainly see a lot of this type of combination. So you think the two hanging lights would be good?

BTW, Nancy...your awesome! Do you have an opinion on adding beams in the main living room? If so...do you like white or brown. If white...do you like the idea of painting pale blue in between??

here are two sample pics:

You didn't answer my question about where this house is located--what part of the country? That will determine my answer...

LOL.

Sorry for the delay, Nancy...I had to grab a bite. This house is located in North Carolina at Holden Beach; however, this golf course community is on the mainland.

The climate is mild but there are a few cold months when it goes below freezing at night but usually that only happens a hand full of times.

Sounds wonderfull. Knowing that I would recommend white-washed beams--beachy.