love those cabinets - especially if they're actual wood :) definately need proper hardware, though - new handles would change the look as much as painting them, really. if you're planning on living in the house forever and ever and passing it on down to your children? bite the bullet, and strip the cabinets, boil the hinges clean, and start fresh. if you're planning on living here for 20 years, and then retiring somewhere when the kids are out of college, and they don't think of this home as their castle? I'd take the doors off, clean up the hinges, sand everything smooth, find nice pulls and such (hinges are hinges, most of the time, and replacing them gets you in to drilling yet more holes in things more often than not) paint the inside something stunning, consider NOT replacing the doors on those lower cabinets (I like open shelves for my serving pieces and everyday dishes) and by that time, you should have a better idea of what specifically you want to do with the kitchen, and can paint them something appropriate - and like Laur said, topcoat the dickens out of them

Jesst, the colors are pretty light throughout the house. I thought about keeping it light in the kitchen, not that there's that much wall space in the atcual kitchen area, but in the eat in, there's a bit more - but this brick/rust color red keeps coming back in to play on the virtual painting site I went to - in the kitchen next to the cabinets, it looks good, not sure how it would go over in the eat in area though... Karin, thanks so much for your post - glad you were able to sleep on your reply and not have it keep you up at night - that's what's happening to me. Too much to think about, really. I honestly don't know the difference between paneling or t&g. Someone told me it could be either maple or birch, personally I wouldn't know the difference, but I am trying to learn. Why this house - many reasons, price, location, layout. As for the interior, I see a lot of potential, but prior to posting on this site, I saw the potential of painting it, at least the kitchen, not so much the den. The wood in the den is nice, don't get me wrong, I do like it, and as I've mentioned elsewhere, to me, it's warm and inviting (with the right kind of furniture, not the crap the people have in there now) and it reminds me of my Grandparents cottage in upstate NY where I'd spend summers as a kid (they had it for over 50yrs) What I don't like is that plate rail at the top, and I can't come up with any solutions on what to do with it - THAT bothers me a LOT. It's a dust collector in my eyes, not a plate rail or shelf. As you mentioned: "I can see two things wrong with how it presently looks: one is that no one who's previously owned it has ever been able to think of anything that goes with wood" That's what I'm afraid of with me, and which is why I'm here looking for ideas. I'm going to be only the 3rd owner, and as you can see from the pics, the current owners (CO) haven't done squat, nor do they have squat. I'm not really a blue or green person, I've always been scared of color and usually go with beiges, though I was convinced to venture in to golden yellows in my daughters room and loved it. Don't get me wrong, I love color, and admire many homes I've looked at with the colors they've used, it's just me, being afraid of what to pick and how it will look and the possibility of me hating it (and second guessing myself along the way) I hate making a mistake and wasting money. As I mentioned to Jesst, the virtual website I tried out with cabinets similar to the color in the kitchen, I liked this brick rusty red color on the walls - very unlike me, but would definitely think about putting that color in there. If I had to pick between a blue and green, it would be green, but otherwise, I'd be gearing more towards the golds, yellow, beiges, tans, etc. The house was painted not too long ago and I probably wouldn't change the colors in there, with the exception of the YELLOW that's screaming out. I'm just very surprised I can't find more info on what I'm looking for out there. It seems people just aren't keeping (and showing) their paneled rooms - only their painted paneled rooms. I've looked on TOH website and others, nothing really to mention. But not to worry, I won't be delving in to the den right away after closing, kitchen will be top priority. The only thing I know I'll be wanting to do in there is rip that chair rail out (when I find a suitable replacement idea) and somehow make that built in have a pullout for a laptop computer so we can use it as a desk. Thanks again!!!!

timber I saw that! That's what sort of got me going - then I saw this pic on the Schoolhouse site. One of the kitchens in the Willow entry are the same backless stools in gray, in Martha's kitchen. :-) I LOVE the Giannetti design ones - but I think they might be too much, plus they're WAY out of the budget. Those lyon stools with backs are only $70 each!!!! Palimpsest, maybe you're just telling me what I want to hear, but thank you for your input. :-) I really value your opinion on here. (not that I don't value others, of course!) Aww timber thanks for asking about kitty. This is the first really warm day we've had, so she and I are sunning on the deck, which she loves. :-) She isn't looking too hot (has a cancerous bone tumor growing on her jaw, poor baby) but she seems pain free and happy. she scared me earlier in the week when we got some blood, but it seems to have stopped. I think it's b/c her upper teeth were poking her lower gum, which is pretty deformed now. So sad. Yes!! The sink got installed, everything turned out OK. DH is at the house now, likes the island as is (I assume you saw that post) so it's staying. Whew, one less thing to worry about. :-) I am still waiting for him to send me pics. *tap* *tap* *tap* I should have just posted this pic to begin with - GC still has to do filler piece between sink and cabinet doors. (among other things LOL.)

Art - Love your kitchen - very pretty - wish you did have the before pics I agree w/others - a runner extending the length of that area would work best. This isn't a great pic & the color is showing kind of red when it is more orange - this is in front of my sink - posting because I see hints of orange/terra cotta in your kit it would bring them out - It's a wool kilim runner - flat weave reversible - resists staining looks the same as it did 3 yrs ago when I first got it Did a little searching for you http://www.rugstudio.com/index.asp?pageaction=viewprod&ProdID=21836&dc=nt http://www.lightinguniverse.com/products/view.aspx?family=290712&af=527 http://www.marlamallett.com/runners-2.htm http://www.rugstudio.com/index.asp?pageaction=viewprod&ProdID=21836&dc=pg good luck!