Actually, I think espresso-colored cabinetry is already dated. It was a look inspired by boutique hotels, and those hotels don't even have that look anymore. Note that many of boxerpups beautiful pics don't exactly show espresso cabs, but rather simply dark wood. And I think dark wood is a different animal. Perhaps your solution is a white island. You and your husband each get your druthers, and while that mix isn't brand new or unique, I personally think it's less seen-it-a-thousand-times-on-HGTV that all espresso. However, any finish can be made more timeless with great finishes and great design. And maybe something unexpected.

Thanks, everyone, for so many more very helpful suggestions and insights! Kren, thank you for all your suggestions, you've convinced me that it makes most sense to try to preserve the kitchen's current simple look. The houses's architect did make furnishings; some of these were shown at a display that I unfortunately missed; in photos, though, the furniture appeared a bit extreme. A wooden chair, for example, had a zig-zag support structure in place of legs. The emphasis seemed to be on douglas fir and redwood, as materials. Anyway, we're not going to be purchasing furniture any time soon, but your ideas sounded great! Mlchoisser, we had considered refacing the cabs a while back. Many of the cabinet interiors were okay; but some of the drawers have taken a beating over the years. The thing is, though, we can't reface because we're also planning to push one wall back, so its cabs will be demolished. The other issue would be matching new materials with the current oak cabs. (which raises a new issue, just realized: there is oak paneling throughout the living room, very visible from the kitchen) Buehl, the dynasty doors are excellent, i agree! And the door style you selected is so great! It's just that there's something about schuler's very matte look that grabs me. There's probably no difference in the finishes, in reality, but I don't dare start looking at dynasty doors again! Laurie, your cabinets are beautiful! It's such a relief to hear of your very positive experience! Daki, this weekend I'll upload some photos. It's encouraging to hear you say rustic and mid century modern can be combined. Bluekite, thank you for posting that link! That's very helpful!

We don't have them yet, but we will be getting Cambria Edinborough. We wanted something that didn't lean towards green, or blue, or yellow, and didn't have lots of sparkle. It has texture with black and brown, and small sparks of white. Neutral but interesting. Here is a link that might be useful: Cambria Edinborough

Please please please try to overlook the OTR microwave __ I can't. I simply can not overlook it. Unless everyone in your house is, at minimum, 5 '7" tall, that is a huge huge huge safety and design defect. Per KDA standards, the microwave should never be any higher than 4" below shoulder height for the shortest person to use it. The reason is that for anyone less than 5'7", they * have to lean over the stove to reach up and into it (clothes catch fire from burners - happened to my neighbor who ended up with 6 reconstructive surgeries on her face, neck & arms) and * are lifting hot heavy things from above shoulder level (spills and burns) BTW average woman in the US is 5'4 -5'5. When we were house shopping, kept seeing all these "and it has an updated kitchen" claims. And they were all sticking the microwaves over the range as part of the "improvements" (along with the biology-lab-look stainless steel stuff) and thinking they had improved the house and the price should be up in $$$$. All I saw was a large renovation project to get the #$%@ microwave down from being level with my nose -- I'm 5'2". I simply walked away and looked at something else. If - and only if - I totally loved everything about a house, the offer would be contingent on the seller - at their cost - correcting the safety hazard of the microwave no matter how much it cost to change.