Wow, I am glad I ran across your question. I too am going to stain my cabinets, and planning on installing granite that looks very similar. I love Cherry Wood, so that is my plan. Not really dark, but not really light either. So, that is my suggestion to you as well. ;)

I guess it is the type of wood the cabinets are made from that I don't like. I don't care for the wood gain and how every door is different. I wanted to do a backsplash as well, but not sure what would go best with the granite. I think if I go darker the kitchen might look smaller that's my dilemma as well. Thanks everyone for the suggestion.

Assuming you like your counters and the fact that you don't care for the oak grain, then painting starts to make sense. The kitchen appears to be on the dark side, so going with a white or off white is your best bet. Don't forget handles, they will really help to change the look.

I think these blue cabinets look great !
https://www.houzz.com/magazine/kitchen-of-the-week-beautiful-blue-in-marthas-vineyard-stsetivw-vs~5434507

I would paint the cupboards gray

If the cabinets have a finish on them now you can either paint or glaze them.

Thanks everyone I think I will go with a ivory color and some nickel hardware. We tackle this after the new year.

I would paint. Like the shaker style of the doors but not crazy about the oak, think it is oak. Kind of dates the cabinets. Personally I like white but a cream color would be nice too with your granite. Or you could go dark if that is what you like although I have been in some kitchens that seem dark because everything is dark. My cabinets are white shaker style with dark bronze knobs. Those blue cupboards are nice too. You could do any color and if you wanted a rustic look could distress the finish.

Use decorative Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan. (Google it, then watch Utube video.) No stripping or sanding. Just wash cabinets, let them dry and paint. Clean up is easier than latex and there is no odor. After paint is dry you apply a wax (easy) and lightly hand buff to a subtle shine. You will be very happy with the results decorative paint by Annie Sloan will provide. I recommend old ochre rather than cream, which tends to get yellow as it ages. Best of luck.

Post a photo when you are done. Would like to see your choice.

Does anyone know of a free online program I can use to change the color of the cabinets. My husband is a little concerned about going with white as we have 3 dogs and 1 of them is a French mastiff. Worried about stains. Thank you for all your help.

Sherwin Williams visualizer

There are many YouTubes on it. Here are a couple:

New floor

We put in new floors now I'm torn on what color the cabinets should be, I want something to go with the granite as well. I don't really want to do white because we have a mastiff and he gets things dirty and I would be cleaning constantly. Help!!!

Hi it's me again sue2029 from above with the cream cabinets- I have 3 grandkids at the house constantly - 2-3 and 4 years old- sticky fingers- peanut butter- chocolate and jelly! A good paint any color with a finish coat of satin poly will wipe clean. I have the same gold granite with a similiar floor- dark maple. I too could not decide and went though tons of colors- grays- blues - charcoal-pewter etc- the problem is the granite "golds" with the floor "dark brown" doesn't really "blend" with many other colors- just my opinion. If you are willing to keep wood grain -staining would be a good option- but may look dark. Looking forward to seeing your results. :)

I think a cream paint or stain would look great- Now that you've darkened the floors I think you'll want lighter cabinets. The cream color would blend well with the granite and give great contrast with the floor.

Cream Paint then glaze with a very translucent brown or grey. ( use more glaze than Paint color.) A friend painted her wood cabinets bright cream but her then small boys left lots of finger prints. So she added a glaze which made it look richer and hid smudges. If you are going DIY, experiment on scraps and inside cabinets first for how much glaze to wipe off.

Golden Oak cabinets. Paint them Cream with the glaze and you will love your kitchen. It is a nice kitchen, but is very "average" and dated with those cabinets as they are now, Good luck to you. You may also consider beautiful hardware.

Why not go with a colorful vinyle covering like bright red or purple and add sleek-looking stainless steel accessories

Paint them white or gray and add some new hardware. You'll be amazed at the transformation you can accomplish without doing anything super expensive to your kitchen!

thank you everyone for the input and I will post the results as soon as we are done.

Paint is easy. Just make sure you use paint made for cabinets. Or it will chip. I like the grays. With brush nickel long pulls.

I've had white cabinets for years and am putting them in my new house now. The best way to keep paint work clean are those Mr. Clean white foam pads. Work fantastically on walls too.

I have painted cabinets in a house and loved the look so I advocate painting, it may be easier than staining? Still it will be a lot of preparation like removing hinges, doors and hardware and then sanding, painting, letting dry, sanding lightly again and painting again, sanding, and finally applying finishing coat. You have gorgeous granite counter tops so any of the medium tones from it would look beautiful as cabinet color. I would add some metal hardware knobs/pulls. Paint! it will look beautiful.

Have you thought of painting or staining the lowers darker and going lighter on the uppers?

@Kimberly Eslinger yes I have just not sure of the 2 colors to use.

Perhaps take one of the mid-tone grays found in the granite for the lowers and a nice off-white for uppers that is also found in your granite. Or maybe the mid-tone gray for all since it's not so dark... Then maybe do the peninsula bottom cabinets a nice rich dark tone to set it apart. So many options. I can understand your dilemma.

Whoops... You don't have a peninsula. Sorry about that!

Here's an example of a gray paired with a warm-colored butcher block top that reminds me of the warmth in your granite... http://houzz.com/photos/404212

Preparing these cabinets for stain means removing every spec of the existing varnish as stain will not penetrate wherever there is varnish left. If you are doing this yourself, be prepared for A LOT of work. Painting requires much less rigorous prep, although it must be said that it is still A LOT of work to do this for the average home owner. The results on this type of oak door look pretty spectacular though.

If you do paint, your granite dictates that you go with cream or some other colour that comes from the granite, like a greeny-gray, but definitely NOT white. The oak wood grain will still be visible because it is so open, so if you decide to do an antiquing glaze, be careful not to inadvertently accentuate the oak grain.

Re: a back splash. Your granite counter top has enough personality already that adding anything that calls attention to itself on the back splash so going with an plain cream coloured tile would do the trick. The shape of the tile is somewhat dependent on the overall design statement of the rest of your house. A subway tile is classic, but your house looks a bit more contemporary, so perhaps going with a larger format subway tile like 4" x 8" or even 4" x 16" would be just the right amount of modern twist on an old classic.

The other thing that would make a huge difference to the look and feel of your kitchen is lighting. It isn't an inexpensive budget item to convert that flourescent cove fixture above the cabinets, but under-cabinet lighting task lighting with a central fixture overhead for general lighting would create a totally different look and feel.

@Elizabeth Minish Design I do hate the lighting only issue is I have very high ceilings in the kitchen, I want to remove the lighting and shelf above the cabinets completely but my husband thinks we can't put lighting in the ceiling because it's so high up. Any suggestions what we could do?

It's hard to see from your photos exactly how high the ceiling is and how your existing lighting actually works, so if you include a couple of additional photos, I could give you a better idea. That said, no matter what you do, adding under-cabinet lighting would get you some light right where you need it and would bring the focus down to human level.

I will take some more photos when I get home and we have installed under cabinet lighting since I took this photo.

Here the photos of how high the ceiling is and also the cabinet with the floor. Not a good match

Paint them! There is no other option!!!! :P

And I mean spray paint them!!!! Brushes are illegal!!

Sherwin Williams antique white i would paint it! Actually I did paint my cabinets that color I like it better than stain because stain is usually gummy and you can scratch it right off I would definetly paint them

Hi I took a pic of my cream color cabinets- with the dark floor and the gold granite countertop similiar to yours. Here's a suggestion that may help- look for a Habitate Restore near you. They sell cabinet doors and cabinets - find one that closely matches what you have and use it as a "sample" meaning clean it -( I like Dawn) - sand it down - nice and smooth then take a foam brush and paint with small sample size of paint. Hold it up against what you have and see what you think. If you don't like it - repaint over it -sand a bit in between -this will help you "see" the color and the overall look. Once that decision gets made you can hire someone to spray paint or do as a DIY. Good luck!

PS the restore sells cabinet doors for $5.00 so cheap way to do a "sample"

I agree, I would try some different types of hardware first. Painting and staining is doable, but very labor intensive. I would play around with your options first. If that doesn't work... I would go with painting them of staining. White cabinets would look great. Good luck:)

From your pictures I notice there isn't a lot of natural light. Have you considered undermount lights?

Warm white paint and good hardware. Hire a good painter unless you have endless amounts of spare time. That is really pretty granite and a creamy white cabinet would really let it shine.

You might consider replacing the doors and drawer fronts and re facing the cabinets, if your going to stain, it's usually more cost effective than sanding all the old pigment out of everything, and the new door style would make a lot of difference. more than likely the panels in the doors are 1/4 inch plywood which you won't be able to re finish. even if you paint, new doors such as raised panel for example would make a lot of difference and would allow you to get a lot more dimension to the cabinets if you did a glaze or distress. a little contrast in colors would make the room look bigger.

Here is the other half of my kitchen. My husband and I were talking last night and I was thinking of having him move the cabinets up the wall a bit as the microwave is to close to the stove.

I have the same oak cabinets, and by the looks of it similar flooring and counters. I found that a cream back-splash really tied all the colours together. I find all the wood tones and counters seem too monochromatic for me, and I suggest instead of staining or painting the cupboards, paint the walls a more lively (but not gold) colour.
Have fun!

Thanks for the additional photos. It looks like the florescent cove light fixture is attached to some sort of bulk head that projects past the face of the upper cabinets. This could be used to mount recessed pot lights that would wash the face of the cabinets and the front of the counter top not being lit by the under cabinet lighting.

If you are contemplating raising the cabinets, you would have to remove this lighting system anyway. However, a word about raising your cabinets. A standard distance between the counter top and the upper cabinet is 18". In Canada, lower cabinets are standard at 36". That puts the bottom shelf of the upper cabinet at 54". If you are not above average in height, you may find the new height inconvenient to reach.

You might consider just moving the micro-wave cabinet up and creating a bump-up on that cabinet only, however your microwave issue is one of my pet peeves. If you move the microwave and its cabinet up so it creates enough headroom and so one can see the back burners of the range, it will be too high to operate safely. I am always worried about lifting hot liquids from the microwave at the height shown, let alone raising it up further. That would be a pretty nasty scald on one's upper chest.

Annie Sloan is a craft paint and I would not use it on cabinets. Painting cabinets is a difficult and very labor intensive job to do correctly. Oak cabinets will show cracks with wood movement.

Try General Finishes milk paint. There isn't an easier to apply paint on the market. I would apply a clear over it though. You can roll or brush and it will look sprayed.

There is nothing wrong with using a good brush to paint your cabinets. Use a roller for the center panels to avoid brush marks. If you use the right paint and use Floetrol and a little water to thin you will be surprised at how well they turn out. Also you can easily touch them up.

If you have never sprayed latex based paints doing it in your kitchen is not a place to practice. Huge overspray and learning curve. Remember the pics you see on here are from 10 feet away and not showing the unfinished details that come with refinished cabinets.

I 2nd milk paint and I love general finishes. I've used both milk and BM advance, and I'll be using advance + BIN primer to paint the rest of my cabinets.