Interesting.
I am seeing these cabinets all over the place, to the point someone on Hometalk claimed to have watched her grandfather build them in the back yard.

I have 3 sitting in my living room from 3 different reuse centers. They're nice, solid plywood. At least the ones I've picked up are. If yours are, you might consider putting them in the basement or garage for a buffet, storage, or something. Hate to see good cabinets go to waste. Hmmm. Even looking at the pictures, could they be put on a baseboard on the opposite dining room wall, topped with granite (?) and used as a server? Storage....

If you're going 10 years with this facelift, it sounds good. I'm not a layout person. If you were going less, I wouldn't invest in granite without examining any layout changes you'd like to make.

Nice space.

I don't have an answer for the cabs (I like them in fact), but if this is your wall color right now, I would consider changing that first.

Thanks CEF! You're exactly right about the cabinets! They are an excellent quality plywood, and this played a big role in our decision to keep the cabinets for now. The upper cabinets over the peninsula certainly will not go to waste. I have an empty wall in my laundry room and that's where these cabinets will go. The laundry room is just to left of the entry door you see there, so I can store some of the bigger appliances in there still, and it won't be a far walk to get them. There's also a large pantry on the wall opposite of the sink that you can't see, and I can store a lot in there as well.

@sena01, are you referring to the red in the kitchen or the white walls everywhere else? Please elaborate for me :)

I like muted, brick reds. It might not be a brightening color, but I'm partial. :)

I agree with removing the uppers. Since this reno has a 7 to 10 year window, I would invest in replacing the door and drawer fronts. Even if paint covers well, you are still left with a very dated look.
Look at Linelle's kitchen. She had new doors and drawers that were painted off site. The boxes were left and painted in place.
There are many grades of granite. If you shop around I think you can find something affordable.
IMHO if you change out the fronts, have them painted a creamy white (your white choice can be discussed on another thread) add granite and a backsplash, you will be happy with this kitchen even longer than ten years!
It will be money well spent.

I meant the red in the kitchen. I think if you paint the kitchen a lighter color it may make a great difference. I'm not too familiar color names/terms but, .from what I see on my browser I'd say a white with a green or yellow undertone or beige can be considered.

Btw I agree with removing the peninsula uppers..

This post was edited by sena01 on Mon, Feb 17, 14 at 14:15

I had those before I remodeled. I used two of the doors on the bathroom cupboard but they're painted black. The rest of the doors are smooth side up and used as shelves in the bathroom cupboards. Cabs were home made in the 1980's. I have all that hardware somewhere.

Just Bondo the grooves and sand smooth. Then paint. Instant improvement to MCM cool instead of 70's WTH. Once the groves are gone, it's a chance to be lively with the paint colors. I can see a soft creamy yellow if the red stays. Or a lime green with turquoise walls. Or a sage green with gray walls. The transformative power of paint is your friend here!

Oh yeah, the other change that I would do would be to take down those cabs above the peninsula and build a base for them on the backside of the peninsula to attach them for storage. Then do new laminate counters with the now wider work surface. You get it opened up visually but don't lose any storage.

I did something similar with my kitchen facelift. My cabs were 1991 golden oak. I kept the boxes and got new doors and drawer fronts and everything was painted creamy white. I took down the cabs over my peninsula (they're now hung out in the garage) but I did have the soffit removed, the only place in the kitchen that had one. Are you planning to keep your soffit because you have plumbing or electrical running inside? Unless you do, why leave that ugly bump behind? Getting full ceiling height above the peninsula made the most amazing difference in my kitchen.

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

I love Live Wire Oak's idea to put the uppers on the other side of the base cabinets and make a wider peninsula!

@linelle, would you mind sharing pictures of your project? The soffit doesn't have any wiring in it -- I just wanted to make this project quick and easy. DH says it could easily be taken out and patched up, so it might actually come out. Linelle, was your cabinet frame in really good shape? (I'm assuming yes). I wanted my wood-working friend to make new cabinet doors and paint the frame to match, but he is leery of putting new, nice doors on a 30+ year old frame. I think the frame is sturdy, but it does have some cosmetic issues like veneer cracking just a bit here and there, plus you can see the seams easily. Sigh, I don't know what to do. I'd really like new doors on this frame, but I don't want to go against my friend's judgment.

And thank you everyone for the input! I am showing DH all of your responses each time I post something. You all are so helpful!

Okay linelle, I just spent the past 10 minutes searching for your kitchen reveal and didn't have any luck. If you did a reveal, would you mind posting your link? Pleeeease? :)

I have painted veneered cabs before. Mine were dark stained maple veneered slab cabinets, and with paint I created the look of Shaker doors in cream and beige. It was really cute. It's totally do-able, and totally worth it if the cabs are structurally fine. Definitely choose a sandable, paintable filler for that groove.

My guess is that you have stick cabinetry.

Once you pull down those peninsula uppers, equivalent to about half of your kitchen storage, you won't be able to re-use them. And their doors will not be the right size for "new" lower cabs either. You have that "corner" upper cabinet that's going to be difficult to deal with and may result in the loss of the wall uppers as well.

If you want to refresh things a little, by all means paint. If you're going to start dismantling cabinets, consider replacing them altogether and you will benefit from increased functionality in drawers and a better layout. You can do this inexpensively with Ikea boxes and custom doors.

The Kitchens forum can be a dangerous place. Before you make your decision, really think about what you want from your efforts, and how much effort (and money) you're willing to put in. Good Luck!!

No Before pic, but this was the After.

Thank you EAM44! I really appreciate your advice.

WE painted our cherry veneer 20 year old cabinets in our old house. We also replaced appliances, counter, backsplash, fixtures and found the old floor. I think you are on the right track removing the overhang, but also removing the soffit will make a huge differnce. Do it if there is nothing in it that is too difficult to relocate. If you do not replace doors, definitely fill in the groove and sand flat. You also be able to add glass to a few uppers to really make an impact.

The fun thing about painting old cabinets is that you are not destroying anything and making an improvement. You could try different colors. We pained ours about every 3 years, first white, blue, then yellow. I wanted to try gray but we sold the house.
We also cut out some of the uppers for glass, but ended up cheaping out and using wire. We also used Soapstone remnants, since we did not want to tear out anything too great because we wanted to eventually replace cabinets (moved first). We were able to them for $2500.
Before:

LCaroline12, my post at 15:41 has a link to my reveal at the bottom with plenty of photos. If that doesn't work for you, I can post a couple of the removed uppers/soffit.

I had similar cabs over the peninsula - previous owner had taken down and we put them against the back of the peninsula with a framework to set them on, to get them up off the floor (brick pavers).

Mine did not reach the top of the peninsula but I used the same tile for the top as for my backsplash - the breakfast nook is where the cabs opened up so handy for seldom used dishes (holiday stuff).

Your kitchen looks like the tract houses in Bowie, MD, which are only 2 styles, one of them Cape Cods. One of the first Levitt communities.

In my never-ending search for decent cabinetry, I've taken a few of those soffit/peninsula cabinets myself. The come out in great shape, all one unit. You gotta get the molding off first. On the ceiling was just where it'd been nailed. Nothing like framework, thank goodness. Their kitchen was so much nicer!

I figger you got nuttin' to lose!

I would try to use one or 2 of those upper cabinets on the wall next to the window, where the corner unit is now. Hopefully it will save some of that storage space you're losing.

And I LOVE the yellow that ratrem did.

I think maybe my original (still there sadly) master bathroom cabinets have a similar door style and the previous owners painted them white. I think they look ok. Probably better than they did with the original color or stain. (Had some similar dark oak ones in the laundry room, though I've removed them now. But the bathroom cabinets look to be yellow underneath, so I'm not certain whether they were originally stained or not.) I think some updated hardware (maybe brushed nickel) would go a long way with your cabinets.

Also, if you do remove the peninsula cabinets, you should really see if you can remove the soffit over the peninsula area. I can certainly understand not removing the soffit all around, but if there's nothing inside, you could probably easily remove just that section so you have a fully open peninsula from the counter to the ceiling.

I had those painted white! Well, similar--mine had raised molding on them and yours look like grooves, but the design was the same shape. Mine were from the '30s and were avocado green before I painted them.

They looked fabulous.

Are you sure you can lose the storage over the peninsula?

I'd see if my woodworking friend could help me mount a big slightly obscure glass (seeded or ribbed or something artsy) "window" or windows into the back of the peninsula cabinet (and it probably is just one big box) and cut the front of the peninsula doors out to hold glass...paint it all...or cut some holes for new doors on the back side and just buy some doors with glass for that side. They wouldn't have to match being on the outside...something to let light through while keeping the cabinet.

Actually, I'd paint it and let it be because painting cabinets is exhausting and I bet it would look wonderful just painted.

Sorry about flash...