There are two main reasons why it might be easier to hire someone. The first reason is that kitchen cabinets require a lot of work to do them right. In addition to the normal prep involved in say painting a bookshelf, one must degrease cabinets carefully to insure any grease from cooking doesn't interfere with the new paints adhesion. Also all the doors have to be removed (as well as all hinges and hardware so they don't get any paint on them). These extra steps all add up time-wise. The second reason is that it is a huge inconvenience to have your whole kitchen taken apart and unusable for the duration of the project. This can be compounded by the fact that you may be at work during the day and painting at night. This means you would only be able to paint a few hours a night, which means the loss of your kitchen for a longer time. A professional would be there all day every day until the work is done which would translate into less time with your kitchen in chaos. Any other room in the house is not that much of an inconvenience if you cannot use it, but the kitchen is really tough to have out of commission. Then there is the dust control. When you are sanding the cabinet frames you need to have good dust control so that no dust gets all over your food or pots and pans in the cabinets. (I am assuming here that you are just painting frames and doors, not the inside of the cabinets.) A pro can quickly cover the inside of the cabinets with plastic, and will have sanders that have Hepa vacuum hookups both of which will insure no dust gets where it shouldn't be. I hope that helps.

Thank you everyone for the advice! You've all given me a lot to think about. I hadn't thought of using the nook as a more functional space...what a great idea! I agree that the dark furniture with the white wall and florescent lightning is making it look so cold and harsh. I'm going to be working on the lighting first like you all suggested and then go from there. The couch and dining table are going to be replaced with warmer colored furniture after I get the lighting situated. The kitchen flooring is going to be replaced. I haven't figured out what color tile I'm going to go with yet. Any suggestions? Right now my favorite thing in the living area is the warm plank hardwood. Also, the black square is where a pellet stove was. I'm not sure if we're going to be putting one in or if we will be sealing it off. The A/C will be moved to a less conspicuous place once we get the windows replaced.

Thanks all. Beth, I chose the porcelain flooring because it's so easy to clean up. We live in SoCa and recently had terrible Santa Ana winds as we do several times each year. This floor was so easy to sweep. Our backyard has lots of brick including a patio but there, unlike our porch, I can clean it with strong hosing.

Your photo(s) didn't show up. Sometimes you have to wait for them to load. They'll go from kind of grayed out to full color and then you know you can post and have the photos show up. I recently did a primarily white bathroom, but it was a smallish hall bathroom. 4x8 white subways with white grout and white quartz niche shelves in the tub/shower. Basically everything white in the bathroom except the floor which is blue hexagons. Even the vanity is white with a white quartz top (Cambria White Cliff, which was the closest shade of white quartz that I could find to blend with Daltile's Arctic White tile). I wanted a sea of white. I even did a white shower curtain but it's a chunky waffle weave so it adds some texture. BM chantilly lace white walls and ceiling. I was doing a small hall bath though and wanted it to look clean and bright and maybe a bit bigger. And I wanted the floor to be the star since I love the shade of blue and the hex shape. But really only you know if it's going to be too much white for your taste. I admit I got a little worried about there being too much white during the process but I stuck to my all white vision throughout and am happy with the final outcome. I don't find it to be too much white, but perhaps some people might. I did add some art to a couple walls (white frames with white matting and blue subject matter) but I'm still deciding if I like having the art up or prefer just plain white walls. Here's my sea of white (without the art):