I immediately thought of this post when I read your thread. It's just from a day ago or so. Look what fabulous work they did!

That said, when I first read your post I no where near expected as lovely a kitchen as I saw when I looked through your slideshow. I think painting your perimeter cabs and tweaking your island will give you a whole new look for very little money. The granite is fine and a neutral so it'll work beautifully with painted cabs.

Here is a link that might be useful: $1500 kitchen makeover thread

I'm sorry, but I don't see why you'd want to change that kitchen! Sure, its not white with soapstone (which, to tell the truth, is what I'd like too), but its an awesome kitchen.

I think the kitchen looks pretty good except for the color of the cabinets. But then I'm someone who just had their golden oak cabinets painted in black and cream, so I'm biased I guess. I think the other elements (floor, backsplash and counter) are all quite lovely. I like the hardware on the cabs too. I look forward to seeing what kind of updates you choose to make on this kitchen. Good luck!

it is a lovely kitchen... but I'd think it too dark also. with the dark floors, appliances and cabinets, and black island. are you staying with the black appliances?

I like the floor also, so I guess the thing to change is the cabinets.
is there somewhere online you can plug in one of those pics and recolor the cabinets to see how it'd look?

I do think I'd change out the pot rack for a ceiling fan if you aren't putting in a cooking fan. something to move the air around more.

I think I'd repaint the walls in a lighter (much) color first to see how that changed the look. there isn't much wall around there and it's cheap to do.

I think much in there is med dark to dark. all zones- vertical and horizontal. needs an uplift somewhere.

did you just repaint the island between pics? or did I suddenly go totally blind? time to shut down and rest the eyeballs...

I LOVE your floor! Do you know what tile line that is or where you got them?

The island *does* look black in the last picture. Not sure you want to get into repainting the room (I can see it goes down the hall and into the den), but maybe painting the island a *lighter* color (sorry if you've just painted in black) would lighten up the whole room? Your bowls show up fine, if you have room to move some of the stacks of dishes and put a few on stands in the cabinets they'd show up more. I think it's really a lovely room and I love the paint color (though maybe not with the oak, so change it if you can).

I want that floor LOL!

Whitneymac,

I agree get rid of the pot rack and put up a pendant
light. This kitchen needs more light. The undercab lighting
is nice though.

The floors are amazing and the backsplash is beautiful.
I think you should make this kitchen into what you
want. There is no doubt you could do at a fair price too.
The cabinet structure looks sound maybe just do a
color change.

Are those just shelves to the left of the refrig?
You could turn that into more cabinets if you need
room for those pots.

Normally I do not like quartz but WOW those counters
look wonderful with the backsplash.

You can dress up that island easily with a color change.
Looking forward to seeing your new changes.

~Boxerpups

Thanks for all the responses! The last photo is my photoshop attempt to see the island changed with a panel on the end and painted a soft black. (I also slightly tinted the rest of the cabs, but it was too subtle.)

The tiles are a multicolor slate- if you're in the Houston area, you can find them at Stone Quarry- I have the actual name of the tile mixture somewhere if anyone is interested.

I know the kitchen is pretty nice as it is- that's why I can't justify spending alot of money to change it into more of my style. Any thoughts on changing the cabinets to an oyster grey shade? Would that work with the black appliances?

can you photoshop that color onto the cabinets and post it?

that was tricky on the island - thought I was a goner there - lol!
the hall doesn't seem that big...and I'd end the paint change at the pillars into the family room. It just seems 'blah' to me now. I think that color would have to go anyway if you paint the cabinets. could be it'd throw it out of balance tho - with everything else being so much darker.

and you could add a full wall cabinet to the left of the fridge. a hutch / painted one could help liven up the area and give the storage for the pots. I think I'd decide on what to do with other cabinets first tho.

Don't put a ceiling fan over a gas cooktop with a downdraft -- you could mess up your cooking flame and scatter fumes before they are sucked down by the downdraft.

I do think the open shelves and glass cabinets are fought by the potrack and that the potrack is too large for the small island. I would take it down and install a light fixture or a couple of pendants (I have a good electrician if you are on the north side of Houston -- he's actually out of Conroe or Willis). You could also rearrange the items in those glass uppers to have a better visual flow.

On the island, if you want to paint it balck and dress up the blank side, consider just applying a molding to the existing side in a rectangle to compliment but not match the doors, then paint everything to match. My cherry island has that treatment on one end and I think it's fine.

If you do the island black, a black hutch where the open shelves are would give you a cleaner look and still let you have some display if you want it.

I'd also consider replacing the existing crown on that one side and replacing it with a riser and stacked crown to take it to the ceiling. I'd look at doing it all the way over and across the top of the ovens and doing something (trim, paint, bringing the backsplash up higher -- maybe a combination of different things) to make that tiny bit of wall blend into the cabinets rather than emphasizing the separation.

Thanks for the input! What's everybody's opinion on the perimeter cabinets- painted or stained a darker shade?

I think your kitchen looks quite nice and I'd not be looking to do much with it if it were mine. I like stained wood cabinets though - oyster grey would be my worst nightmare in cabintry. I'd ditch the pot rack but that's just my opinion - it's too cluttered looking for my taste. I think many people would be delighted to have your kitchen.