I don't know about that particular company, but we are in the process of stripping/sanding/restaining our kitchen cabinets. It's not an easy process at all. In your case, especially since you want to go darker and because the cabs are maple (which doesn't stain well), I'd look at doing a gel stain. There's quite a few people here and on Home Decorating that have done this.

How easy the sink is depends upon how it was installed. If it's installed with clips it may be fairly easy. Otherwise it will mean removing at least part of the counters.

kailuamom-- I certainly do remember you and felt badly that you had to leave your spankin' brand new kitchen. I'm sorry to hear of your medical issues but very glad to know you've been treated well! What a lucky break, huh? Next to that, the draw of a new kitchen pales. I rarely check in here as we had to give up our plan for the time being, but like to visit once in awhile and I'm glad I did tonight. I happen to think your kitchen is quite pretty, but I guess when you've "had" a very nice one for which you got to choose everything, you might not feel things are up to par. Sorry that I can't make any suggestions-- I just wanted to say welcome back, and I'm glad you are well again!

Thanks so much! I really like my kitchen too - however the finish on the cabs is horrendous and damaged and the groutlines on the island make me crazy.

Yeah the health stuff really puts everything in perspective! Sorry to hear that you had to put your kitchen on hold. I'm sure the extra time will only help you create a better plan!

I went to a granite yard today - I'm thinking that I might like Costa Esmeralda on the island, and leave Uba Tuba tiles on the perimeter.

Welcome back kailuamom and I am glad to hear that things worked out well in the end. I really like your kitchen but understand about grout lines. I stained birch cabinets many years ago and it is a lot of work. You might want to ask a lot of questions of the company, particularly about how they are going to get the maple to stain nicely and somewhat evenly. It can be done.

Hi - I like your kitchen too. Not sure where the fridge is-- across from the island? Have you thought about replacing any of the upper cabs with a glass insert? I haven't done it, but from what I've read, it's a DIY project.

I had never heard of N-Hance -that is pretty cool. I actually may contact them for an estimate on the wood floors in my home. I'm sure that they could give you references if you called? It's probably worth a free estimate to find out how much it would cost.

Wow, you've had a long journey and I wish you all the best.

Costa Esmeralda is my most favorite granite but... I love your backsplash and I'm uncertain costa "goes" with it or your floor. That kind of thing is hard to figure out from a photo.

I know nothing of Nhance, but one of their sample photos showed something very paint-like and I'd ask after it if you want to open up a wider range of cabinet color options.

Thanks all!

The floor has almost the same colors as the CE (I'm worried it may be too close, but no match?)

N-Hance is a franchise owned by Home Depot - They are coming out tomorrow. I don't have the desire to buy new cabs, so I am hopeful this will be a good solution to buy me some time before we do a full kitchen.

The fridge is across from the island. I will probably redo that wall of cabs when I do another built in in the family room.

I like a contemporary style - however have the raised panel cabs, so will stay more traditional. I'm thinking of beadboarding the island (where the wood veneer actually has screws pointing through (from the bad install of roll out shelves - grrr). That will work, right?

I used a gel stain to darken my honey oak cabinets in the bathrooms. It took about 5 or 6 coats on each door to change them to a more medium oak color. It was a lot of work and I had only 6 doors. I think the color of your cabinets look very nice the way they are. Is there a way to freshen the finish without changing it? I think knobs would look good.

Hi Happyladi -

The picture shows the cabs looking much better than they are. I have terrible water damage to the finish, yellowing and grey where the finish has worn. Because the overall condition is still good, I am hesitant to make much of a change, we'll see what they say tomorrow. However, I need to cover the nastyness, I figured that dark would cover. I realize that maple is tough though...Paint sure would be easier - but no go for DH, he just hates painted wood. I will go take a couple of shots to see if I can show what I'm up against.

I won't be doing any of the work myself, I will leave it to someone who does this for a living! I don't mind painting a wall, but I have a lot of cabs!

Hi, what did they say? Are you going to go with n-hance?

I will probably go with N-Hance. They provided two quotes, one to restore with current color: $1600, the second to change color $5600. While I would LOVE to change the color, $5600 isn't in the cards.

I will probably just;
do the restore
get a slab of Uba Tuba on the island
replace my faucet
add knobs & pulls

Eventually, I will build out the frig wall and replace with stainless appliances- but not until mine wear out.

Yikes that's a lot of money.

Many people have had much more success than happyladi doing the gel stain thing. I've linked a thread below which discusses it in case you're interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: The thread

IS DH against all painted cabs or just white ones? I was going to suggest a light dove gray color. Gray is such a great neutral and lends itself to contemporary as well as traditional. I think CE would look awesome. Keep searching craigslist. There are showrooms and granite yards going out of business unfortunately but therefor deals to be had if your diligent about searching. I really like your flooring and the backsplash looks great. No doubt... you'll turn this into a kitchen you'll love.

Thanks for the link.

DH travels for a living, I work full time and have two kids - there is no way I am up for such a project. I'm not terribly handy, so things take me longer than most. I think I need to be ready to just pay the money! I can live with the $1600. For $5600, I'm thinking about replacement! (Although I bet I would spend more like 20k+, we have a lot of cabinets!)

remodelfla - DH is against any non wood looking painted finish. So, no white, no color. Thanks for the idea.

To answer your lighting question, you can get a kit to adapt a recessed can fixture to support a surface-mount (or pendant) fixture. They are a little pricey, but effective. The finished installation looks best (IMO) when the new fixture completely covers the ceiling opening.