I would have had the same problem with a painted cabinet vs. stained cabinet choice since I seem to like both styles equally. My decision was made by what would fit best with our house. It's an old farmhouse which seems to tilt the favor toward white painted cabinets BUT all the trim in the house and doors is naturally aged dark wood. We also have a step back cupboard in our eating area that I love (it was the first piece of furniture DH and I bought after buying our house...at the Brimfield flea market) and I used that as my inspiration. I love the dark stained cabinets we ended up with but I must say that I sometimes have painted-cabinet envy (and I know I would have wood-cabinet envy if we ended up with painted.) We have a traditional kitchen and I have modern-kitchen envy much of the time but luckily that was a decision the house screamed out at us. We've lived in this house for 20 years and I know that I will have to be satisfied with our choice for a very long time (we hope to be in this house forever and I can't imagine doing a total redo of the kitchen again.) If I truly felt 50/50 about 2 choices I would look at differences in price and maintenance as the tie breaker. Luckily the choice I was leaning toward was the less expensive choice so that swayed me even further. This is all written to agree with most of what's been said above. There is no right or wrong answer here. How much you like your kitchen will more likely depend on the nuts and bolts of what you do---choosing a cabinet style, decoration, backsplash, being simple or ornate. A maple kitchen with white appliances/dark counters or a white kitchen can both be very appealing. As far as making the kitchen feel bigger, think about bringing the cabinets to the ceiling. That made a huge difference in our kitchen. I think the light maple vs white choice is similar enough that neither will make a real difference.

Ahh... I will tell you how I learned that from her--I did a telephone consultation with her! Somewhere on GW I did a little review of my call with her and I could try to find the link but basically here is the part that relates, I think, to your question: My kitchen cabinets are creamy off-white painted. The main rooms in my house are a light warm-gray color. I believe she would call it almost a green-grey but to me it just looks light grey. :-) So because of those two factors, the trim throughout the house is a warmer white, maybe even an off-white. I was using Sherwin Williams colors but if you want I can check the color names I used. So my bathrooms have standard white toilets, sinks, and tiles, and one of them has white beadboard. The off-white creamy trim throughout the rest of the house would have looked "off" in the bathrooms against all that pure white. Yes, I know the toilets are not the exact same white as the sinks are not the exact same white as the tiles, but they're all pretty darn close. So for the bathroom trim Maria told me to go with a different Sherwin Williams color, I forgot which one but it was definitely a brighter, more "white" white than the trim for the rest of the house. There's no doubt that was the right decision. The creamy off-white trim would have looked terrible had it been taken through into the bathrooms. I do remember the color she specified for my bathroom walls: it's Sherwin Williams Tidewater. Look that up on google images--it's nice against pure white. It would be nice against a creamy off-white too, but anyway. I have to say I totally recommend Maria Killam and I love her blog. I wish I'd found her before I redid the kitchen because I probably wouldn't have ended up with the creamy cabinets, for this reason -- they limit the ability to have pure white trim throughout the main living areas. Anyway. That's my very long explanation for saying you should have the bathrooms "internally consistent" and I hope it made sense and was of some bit of use to you! I did conclude my "report" about my call with her by saying I would recommend her consultation service, so if you're willing to invest $500, she can definitely give you some ideas and specific color names.

jck910, we'd like to keep the countertops, but are open to any other ideas. herbflavor, to answer your question, what bugs me is quite a lot, even beyond the existing palette. I never liked the off white color and I was the one who picked it! I wanted it to come out lighter. It's actually even a dingier beige color in real life compared to what the photo captures. I never liked it against the stark white backsplash. Sophie Wheeler, yup, the cabinets are from the early 90s, and they definitely look like it. I wish I could hide the hinges, but it isn't an option because the lip behind the door is too small. Any chance these cabinets will come back into fashion in the next 10 years?! I know, probably not. In an attempt to hide the original dry wall orange peeled soffit, we covered it with moulding in hopes it would look like it was a part of the cabinets. But, needless-to-say, it's looks awkward and is too top heavy. Our 14 foot ceilings are awesome, however, the decor up top looks cluttered, and no decor looks too plain. Another complaint is that there is very limited pantry space. We really appreciate all of your creative ideas to help this space improve!

I'm not sure white would neccessarily make it better, I think the current stain works well as a transition between wall color and tile color. (I'd prefer either much warmer tone for wall color, or something more intense..because of the tiles. But the current paint doesn't look bad, and if you love it-I think it's important for it to continue to work nicely, and I think stain does the job in connecting these two). It also provides nice contrast with the current countertop. Would be harder to get this contrast with white paint. So I'd rather restore it I guess. Having said that-the mirror looks pretty traditional, which I love, but you might not, and the lights are more contemporary-leaning..so if you want to downplay this traditional look, I think white paint will help with that. So it depends. I think it's overall a nice bathroom, and whatever direction you decide to take-with nice accessories, both will work. No, you wouldn't be able to go back to stain after you paint, not from what I know at least. I also agree with eld about longevity of stained vs painted..painted has to be babied more, in general. Even though if you paint yourself you can always touch it up.