Congratulations on your new home--how exciting! : )

We are a family blessed with seven children, and we made the mistake of painting our cabs white a few years ago. Now, some paints are better than others, but... I would not recommend going with white. With an active family, it is extremely difficult to keep looking nice. So our farmhouse white kitchen shows a ton of farmhouse dirt to go with it. ; ) It does not wipe down like a nice hard, sprayed finish, and it shows every drip, every swipe, everything. It also wears off along the edges. If you like the worn farmhouse look, or you are ready to wipe down the kitchen after every muddy child comes in for a drink, or like touching up your cabs with a paintbrush regularly, go for it!

Someone on here compared paint and wood this way: On painted surfaces, you see just the surface, so if there is any flaw, you notice it. With wood, you see through the surface to the wood. So if there are flaws on the surface, you see past these to the grain. Or something like that. DH is in a lot of people's homes doing repairs and remodeling. He says the ones that have wood doors look cleaner than the ones with white doors. The white doors show it all.

Honestly, I think the cupboards look pretty nice. What in particular is bothering you the most? The color of the wood, the style, the backsplash...?

My guess is that you can make it read farmhouse with some decorative accents without having to go to the effort (or maintenance nightmare) of painting or staining the cabinets.

Welcome aboard!

Neither of us like the color of the cabinets and we feel like the kitchen doesn't match the rest of the house.

Here is the front of the house so you can get the overall feel.. it has hardwood floors on the main floor and stairs, a lovely porch and an amazing deck out back.

Your cabinets look like ones I had once--but you don't have pink Corian so they don't look so bad. And they look good from here. The layout looks pretty decent as well.

I'd let the cabinets be. Maybe replace the hardware with something black. Redo the backsplash--it's cool but kinda you know. Is that tile? Would it be possible to put beadboard (white!) over the backsplash?

Or, if you're up to it, gel stain the bottoms and paint the upper cabinets white. Or paint the bottoms green. Yes. You will be touching them up every once in a while.

A darker color that white would work to minimize the inevitable dings. Maybe barn red? Or a dark turquoise? Forest green bottoms and cream tops? There is a lot of opportunity to personalize with paint, and those are a great base to start.

But make no mistake that painting cabinets is WORK! The prep work takes time and a lot of it if you want to do the job right and minimize any future chips and dings. Start by cleaning everything well with TSP and rinse. Then scuff sand everything well followed by two coats of a shellac based primer. That seals in any grease that might have escaped the washing, and grips the wood tight and will grip the top paint in turn. For the top coat, choose any good brand of latex enamel. I happen to like Behr's new premium Ultra line or almost any Benjamin Moore. You'll spend a couple of hundred on the supplies here and about a month doing the prep and painting if you have to do it after work. But it will make a HUGE difference in how you feel about the kitchen, and it will get you through until that total gut job can happen. But, do NOT make the mistake of putting any type of stone counters on what you've got there. Not with a more extensive remodel in your future. It will be wasting your money.

I would paint the cabinets gray, to coordinate with the counters which look like corian to me, and wrap the peninsula in beadboard with trim. I would suggest getting the doors professionally sprayed. You could paint the frames yourself. Another option would be to gel stain the cabinets but wipe off the stain, to get rid of the pink. If you have a vanity to practice on, it would be best to start there.

I found a picture of pickled cabinets that were glazed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Umber glaze over pickled oak

Congratulations on your new home! What a beautiful place.

I had pickled oak cabinets in my previous home and painted them until we were able to do a full remodel. It made a huge difference! Paint and some new hardware will do wonders. I've gotta say that I LOVE that umber glaze picture that gmp3 posted. That would make a massive difference.

Good luck! Take lots and lots of pictures!!!