Here is my kitchen before I painted it in 2006, before I changed the mini blinds on the sliding door window, and before I added all three new stainless steel appliances and the stainless steel hood. These pictures also do not have the small rugs in them and some of the other decorating I tried to do.

Click each picture to view the picture bigger and to see the date stamp on it for when the picture was taken.

Here is a link that might be useful: My kitchen before any changes were made

Lynn, everything looks great! Just the appliances alone make a huge difference. I am holding off, but checking the sales and Sears Outlet all the time.

I think your cabinets are good, and you can just paint them in the future and get new hardware. There are plenty of people who have painted their oak cabinets either white/cream or else a gorgeous espresso color.

You may want to look into counters and see what you can get that's affordable: granite slab or other stone, other solid surface like quartz, granite tiles, or I even like the Wilsonart HD laminate. Your square footage probably isn't that much, so it can be quite reasonable.

The Brazilian cherry floors are beatiful!

gsciencechick, thank you so much for your uplifting post and your compliments.

I agree that the appliances really make a difference in how my kitchen looks and I am so happy I was able to make these changes. It brings a smile to my face every morning when I walk into the kitchen now.

I think you are right that I can keep the cabinets and paint them and just change the counters which do not have that much square footage so maybe I can find a good deal on something that I like. I am also liking some of the newer laminate counters that look so real.

Thanks for letting me know that you find the Brazilian Cherry floors beautiful. I just know that they are so easy to clean and I really like them also.

Your floors are beautiful. In the pictures I do not think your cabinets look that bad. If it were me I would put hardware on the cabinets and paint the walls. I think the kitchen would be charming and a nice contrast with the white counter. But that is just me. I love color.

Faith2009, your post made me feel better since I do my best to make my kitchen always look its best with the way I put accessories around the laminate sides up the wall to block the fact that the range has nothing behind it. I feel my kitchen looks nice now but in person some things still bother me about the 20 year old hollow veneered oak cabinet doors over the particle board/plywood frame that needs to be refinished or have the doors replaced with hinges that are not rusting. The doors are the type that are the half type of doors so the frame shows in between the doors which is not bad but is not as nice as many oak cabinets that were painted. I am still wondering if I can paint them and add new hinges and new door knobs or if I can change out the doors or if I have to replace the cheap cabinets that the builder put into my home that cost so much.

I also feel my kitchen needs some color but I am not sure what do do. If I paint the walls, then it will be more noticeable that the laminate counters go up the side of the walls but the gas range has no backguard.

The counter is not in bad shape for being 20 years old and made of laminate but has some chips on the sides and a few scratches on the counter that don't bother me that much. The counter is a happy bright color that I always liked until I changed my appliances.

My linoleum floors are in poor shape with deep cuts and a major rip by the sliding door from the extra locking bar that broke and keeps falling on the floor. The bar finally ripped the floor a few years ago until I hired someone to give me a new locking bar.

I have enclosed pics that I was ashamed to show but now I feel I should so the whole picture can be seen. I still feel the overall look of my kitchen has greatly improved and if I did nothing else, I am happier but I feel I must make more improvements.

I either need to stain the worn out parts of the veneered doors or paint the kitchen cabinets or replace the doors. I know at a minimum I need new hinges and door knobs and fixing the worn areas.

I did add the red rug and I was keeping a red tea pot on the range until I changed the range. I can put the red teapot back on the range. If I add a back splash behind the range, I can paint the wall above the range a color like green or red or a deeper gold depending on what I do with the floors and if I leave or change the counters.

Again, faith2009, I appreciate your compliment on my Brazilian Cherry floors and letting me know that maybe the counters are not that bad if I add some color to the walls.

Here is a link that might be useful: Worn 20 Year Old Kitchen Cabinets & Damaged 20 Year Old Linoleum Floors

Lynn,

You can have the cabinets repaired and the hinges replaced when you paint/stain them. That is really a minor fix. You can even have the warped particleboard replaced. I know because we did this under our sink.

What can I say about linoleum other that we had some in our bath that was paper thin. New linoleum could be inexpensive but tile could be relatively inexpensive, too.

Take a look at our kitchen before and after:

Here is a link that might be useful: GS's kitchen

gsciencechick, thank you for sharing the pictures of your kitchen.

I love how you tied your mosaic back splash color with the floors. I like the new area above the washer to give you more counter space.

Your kitty cat is cute on the refrigerator. I love cats and keep wanting to add one to my family but wonder if my clients could be allergic. One of these days, I will cave in since I miss their purring but I will wait until my oldest passes away who is the one who loves cats but my vets bills are high enough as it is right now.

Thanks for sharing that you painted your cabinets and replaced the hinges and put new knobs on them. Thanks for sharing that I can even replace the warped particleboard since you did these things.

My linoleum floor can't be repaired and that I feel I should replace as soon as I figure out what I am doing with the rest of the kitchen and my busy season passes by so more funds are available. I am leaning back towards tile but wish I had a handy husband or boyfriend to help me do the floor since I am willing to do it but I am afraid to cut the tile. I watched how the tile guy did the floor and I feel I could do a good job IF I had someone who knew how to cut the tile since I am afraid of saws. I am going to have to pay someone and find someone who knows what they are doing and who cleans the tile when the job is done so I am not scrubbing it for 4 hours the next day to get the white stuff off of it since I used Spectralock.

What are your counters that look so nice?

Did you and your handsome husband just get married? You both make a cute couple and look so in love.

Again, I thank you for sharing.

Tiling is not hard! it can be physically demanding, but no, not particularly hard if you don't try something super fancy. I took a class at Lowe's. They will even cut the tiles if you mark them, and, of course, if you bought them there. So, you don't need to buy a tile saw.

The granite is blue pearl. It is considered a pricier granite, but all the granite plus washer cabinet buildup and plumbing reconnection cost us $3K. But we are in NC, so NJ may be more expensive. The blue pearl also looked best with the blue floor tiles (already here when DH bought the house), so trying to match that was a bit challenging.

We have a guy from our homeowner's board who did the hidden hinges for us and neither of us are that handy. They look great, but really the exposed hinges are period correct, so not sure I really did the right thing.

Thanks! We are married 3 years and very happy.

Thank you gsciencechick for the information on Lowe's even willing to cut the tiles for me if I mark them since that could be an option for me after my busy season since there is a tile another member liked that is reasonably priced and special order that I would like to buy a few pieces as a sample to see if it would look nice in my kitchen.

The blue pearl granite you used that includes the washer cabinet buildup and the plumbing connection sounds reasonable but you are right that you live in a more reasonable cost State of NC. I will have to look into this.

I love hidden hinges and that is what I want if possible if not I will live with new hinges that are seen.

Congratulations on three happy years of marriage! I am happy for you. I hope one day to meet my soul-mate or someone that I would want to spend the rest of my life together with and who would love fixing up our home together. Of course if he is handy, that would help.

I thought you were going with the NXR...??

pete_p_ny,

I preferred the NXR Gas Range but chose the GE Café Gas Range for the self-cleaning feature. If the NXR had self-cleaning there would have been no contest since I feel the NXR is better in a lot of ways with all 4 burners being of high BTU with a simmer on each and no electronic controls to break down with stainless steel sides. I just really dislike cleaning so the self-cleaning won me over.

Lynn, I met DH when I just turned 40, so there is hope out there! I had resolved myself to being single career woman.

gsciencechick, Thanks for letting me know that you met DH when you just turned 40 so there is hope out there for me also.

Your kitchen looks great! I am moving into a 60's ranch where everything needs replacing. Starting over at 46 is a challenge with a lack of funds etc. Thank goodness for paint! I slapped it on the cabinets, changed the hardware and am eyeing the linoleum as the next surface! I won't even mention the mud room that reaked of dirty smelly old dog. Totally seeped into the concrete floor. I will replace the appliances one at a time with the DW and washer first to conserve water and save the septic. Thanks for the inspiration.

resalesally, I am so glad my kitchen's changes that I made inspired you. This has made my day since this is what the forums on GW are all about is that we help one another and give ideas and feedback, share our happiness and sorrows and inspire one another.

Please take pictures of before and after and when you are ready to share, we would love to see the changes. I just wish I took more pictures of the before so you can really see what a difference the appliances made in my kitchen and the walls being painted.

I do not like the look of the range, the NXR would have looked much better. Just my opinion, so do not take personally. I do not like the GE Cafe range look, for its high price, it looks like all the other cheaper ranges out there.

mrsr, I would have preferred the NXR since I loved everything about it and loved the way it looked but I really felt I needed the self-clean feature. They both were the same price after my discount on the GE Cafe Gas Range and I kept looking inside my old gas range on how dirty it was and how I could not get it to be clean and that is how I made my final decision.

I prefer honesty so I appreciate your opinion. If anyone has the time to clean, I know the NXR is a great deal for the quality.

In person, the GE Cafe Range really is pretty since I love the knobs and the stainless steel handles and color go well with my LG Refrigerator. But I am sure I would have said the same thing about the NXR which I feel is an exceptional value.