Regarding your range questions, you could go for a double oven range. GE makes the one I just got. It's a slide-in with a large lower oven and a small, one rack upper oven and an electric top. But you could get something like it with a gas top also.
As for countertops, butcherblock would be really pretty.I love the look of white cabinets and wood counters. Quartz is gorgeous, but at least around here, it's pretty pricey. More so than granite. And your idea of painting the cabinets is great. We did that when we first moved into our house, and it lasted a good 10 years, needing just a couple touch-ups. Definitely takes alot of prep though.

My kitchen looks just like yours, yellow cabinets and white tile counter. Its like our builders all bought the same contractor grade kitchen special. Anyways, I am under the impression that Cambria is the most expensive brand of quartz, so if you are on a budget, you might have to compromise on getting another brand. Do you like it because it looks like marble? Caesarstone has a color call misty carrera which looks like marble too, but not the same as Torquay. I think bb counter needs more upkeep, maybe good for a segment of your countertop, but not all of it.

Hi rovo - it's going to be lovely! Questions: what's to the left of the fridge? It looks like just opposite the table there is another bank of cabs - what dimensions? A layout diagram would allow people to be more helpful, even though you aren't planning to change your layout. Also, what's your appliance budget?

Here are a few things to consider.
1.) the cab to the right of the cooktop is doorless already. If you remove it you can have a really nice slide-in 36" range in that spot with 6 burners and one large oven.
2.) if you do go for a range, and your current oven still works you can stack your oven and microwave in drywall in the cabinet run opposite the table if you can afford to lose the cab space (and hire an electrician). Or you can stack ovens where your fridge currently is (and needed electrical is) and possibly scoot your fridge elsewhere - hard to know without a diagram.
3.) Don't put butcherblock around your sink. You'll grow to hate it. Consider group A corian or laminate before you do this.
4.) speed oven over the cooktop? several also have a vent feature.
5.) painting cabs it not that hard, it's the prep. Invest in a good hand sander and lots of fine grit sandpaper, and mask ourself so you're not breathing in the dust; read up before you start. If you are going to paint anyway, you can be more creative than just white - even if it's a version of white like BM DC9 it'll be fresh and modern.

It's already a nice, functional space. Best of luck with the upgrade!

Here is a link that might be useful: M. Tex

I wonder if your budget is getting too stretched to get the countertop you want, if you aren't changing the footprint, to keep you in budget, could you do everything except change the countertop and then in a year or so, save up the rest of the money to get the countertop you would like? I don't know how handy you are with DIY, but your project might be going on for just a few weeks or several months and during that time...maybe within a few months time or a year, you would be able to have set aside the amount for the counter you want but seemed like you couldn't initially afford. Of course, you may have decided that your initial limit is your total limit and doing something a little bit down the road isn't an option, but I thought I would toss that idea out.

Thanks for the input. rocketmomkd, I have looked into the GE cafe range with double oven. Lovely, although the one I saw was around $3500 (I believe it was a duel fuel). Do you find that both ovens cook well/no hot spots or problems? Definitely a consideration, and would be an option price-wise if we went with the bb countertop. Glad to hear your cabinets were not a nightmare despite the prep work involved!

lilymila, I have to laugh because I have yet to see a kitchen in our area that didn't start out looking exactly like this. Whose brilliant idea was it to install white bathroom tile with thin white grout on a kitchen countertop?! I curse them:) Torquay definitely is the most expensive brand of quartz, from what I can tell, but I have tried to fall in love with others and failed. My small sample of Ceasarstone misty carrera looks really grey to me, but could work if I could find a price that would make it worthwhile. I'm finding that the installation is the real expense, rather than the material. So, I could save a few hundred dollars with the Caesarstone, but would not be in love with my countertop. I do agree that bb needs more tlc, though for the price I might just be willing to deal with it.

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

You are going to have trouble staying in the 10K range with quartz. You can get some granites for half the price of quartz.

I don't cook, I can't advise on the ranges and ovens!!!

Electrolux,GE,Frigidaire(Electro)and Sears(Electro) offer induction top slidein ranges. Power of gas, more responsive and do not produce added room heat. This reduces exhaust fan requirements.

I'm so with you on the Cambria. I know it's the most expensive one, but to me once you see all of Cambria's gorgeous colors all the other quartz seems so cheap and blah! In other brands I was lucky to find one I liked. In Cambria I fell in love with like 6 of them!

We are trying to cut elsewhere to get Cambria, but are tempted to save money and get granite...

As far as the cabs go, I've seen mentioned taking doors to a place to get them sprayed and then you could DIY the frames, etc in place. Just addressing your thoughts about durability. Now, I and quite a few others on here have painted our own cabs... it's a lot of work but with good paint (I used BM oil based for our kitchen cabs) they hold up very well.

The idea of doing your counter a bit later so you can get what you really like might have merit....

Or, what about laminate with a good sized section of butcherblock?

If the runs of cabs are staying as is,I'd opt for a 2 finish kitchen.You like white painted?-do that on uppers or lowers and get a darker stain or paint or something else on the other part. Check some granite that has at least moderate pattern-that works with your finishes and maybe some metallic. Go for the range and hood[have to check venting]---that will break up at least the one run of cabinets.It appears to be a shortened height backsplash-is it less than 18 in? Or an optical illusion is occurring because the cabinet heavy tops dominate the walls[not sure]...For this reason,I would consider the granite tiles for your counter because they can be placed in at backsplash also which will help balance out the look with some pattern:helps with the visuals. Silestone also has matching tiles,called MURO I think, for the backsplash, in many of their patterns[it's like solid surface].This can all work out well....no longer so boring.

Prep is key to painting.

Here is a summary of how we did ours:

Take the doors and hardware off.

Lightly sand, (we used a mouse sander) this will not get rid of grain.

Wash dust and the grime that was on there off with TSP

Rinse

Dry thoroughly

Use Pore-o-pac woodfiller (used an oil based version since the paint was going to be oil based), a brushable wood filler. According to directions, you can thin it with mineral spirits (?), so mix some with min spirits in a larger empty gallon paint bucket from Lowes. This stuff brushes on, you smooth it with a squeege, let it dry completely, then sand. Repeat until you feel it is filling in the grain. 2-3 coats per door. Cabinet frames took 1-2 coats. We did not do the back of the doors.

Prime with oil based primer. (Ben Moore)

sand, this is using very fine sand paper, you aren't trying to remove anything, but just give the next coat something to grab onto. I actually used some 3M product that was not cheap but it was very flexible sand paper, looked like waffle, it was purple and worked like a rag.)

Painted with Ben Moore Satin Impervo. First we tried to spray them. I didn't like the way the finish was turning out. Went to a roll on and brush out method. Lay them flat to dry, the paint is self leveling. Let dry completely, which could mean days. I did 2 coats on the back and 3 on the front (I think). I did the backs first. Again, sand in between with that "sandpaper rag"--I'm not sure it is even still available.

**Of course you need to use a tacky cloth after each time you sand to get up all the dust.**

I also experimented with the process on a small door that was not going to be re-used during the process.

There was no grain visible. The paint held up fabulously. It cleaned up very nicely. It was smooth to the touch, not sticky like some water based paints can be.

If you do send the cabinets out to be done by somebody else, ask to see their work. I had seen cabinets that were done by a professional, and quite frankly they looked like the cabinets you are fearing.

Ikea has butcher block counters at a great price.

I won't bore everyone with photos from my last kitchen. But if you look at the link from Cote de Texas below, you can see photos of it before and after.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Yes, you can paint cabinets successfully.

This isn't a home that I see a faux Edwardian scullery as being an appropriate look to aspire to for your kitchen. It has strong MCM/contemporary lines and needs a kitchen that works with that, not fights with it. Look at sixtyohno's kitchen if you want to see inspiration for a kitchen that would look perfectly at home with those clerestory windows.

If this were my kitchen, I'd look at replacing the doors with flat slab doors. There are tons of door makers out there, and you could probably do that for less than 5K. A natural maple, or natural cherry, or even a high gloss white lacquer would work. I'd do laminate for the counters in order to get the appliances I wanted. Laminate can always be upgraded later, but it's an entirely appropriate material choice here and would work well. And it would leave you room in your budget to address your appliance needs from a scratch and dent store or Craigslist. If you chose white gloss cabinets,keeping your white appliances would even work here to put a little more money into the cabinet doors, and then later on, you could do the stainless swap in you wanted to.

Rovo- I don't have the Cafe, I have the GE Profile and it's not dual fuel, it's all electric. I believe ours was about $2300 maybe. I've found no hot spots. It cooks very evenly. As an example, yesterday I baked two loaves of banana bread in the top oven, came out perfectly. And for the first time ever I put three cookie sheets in at the same time, bottom oven, and the cookies were perfect. We don't cook meat, so I can't say how that would work, but for baking both ovens are excellent.

Wow, thank you all for your thoughtful comments! I'll try to give you better information to work with here without boring you to tears...

I should have mentioned that the 10k budget does not include the flooring, which I've already set aside, but has to cover all of the cooking appliances and countertops. I started this journey desperately wanting new countertops since I spend my life cleaning grout to no avail. I hadn't considered doing the appliances first and waiting on the countertops, but will give that some serious thought.

I do already have an estimate for Cambria Torquay for $4900,tax and a decent ss sink included. If we do the countertop demo ourselves, and pay in cash, we could shave off an additional $700. I did look into some laminates and corian, but was shocked to discover that they are not significantly less expensive once you factor installation in, so I ruled them out. As for granite...It's the standard in our area, but the lower priced groups just don't sing to me. I've seen beautiful white quartzites, but can't find them anywhere around here and have been told that they are far more expensive, so it comes back to Cambria vs butcherblock. The Cambria would eat up half of the kitchen budget, but if I shopped wisely for the cooking appliances, might be doable. BB from Ikea would not be as durable, but significantly cheaper if I can get somebody to cut it for a reasonable price.

EAM44, to the left of the fridge (as you look into the kitchen from the nook/family room) is a bank of 4 cabs about 8 feet tall by 4 feet wide, where I currently store pantry items and small appliances. Attached to that, flanking the nook, is an integrated desk and upper cabs about 6 feet long. Wish I could throw a diagram up here, but I am hopeless in that area. Here is a bad shot that I just took:

I Have thought of removing the wall oven and putting it with a speed oven or micro in those perimeter cabs, and then mofifying the cabinet under the cooktop to hold appliances. Of course, this would require a 2 stage reface to restock the funds, but definitely worth consideration.

herbflavor, you are right! I never realized how many cabinets this small space has, and how top heavy they make it look. I like your idea of doing two paint colors to break it up a bit. Thinking white on top, and perhaps something like BM edgecomb grey on the bottoms and perimeter/pantry cabs. The backsplash is indeed a bit shortened ~17'. I envision white subway tile for the bs, although we'd have to see what that looks like with the countertop choice. No butcherblock around the sink, even if waterloxed? I do worry that with the mounds of wet dishes I seem to constantly generate, that I will quickly hate bb., but I've read here that people don't seem to have problems.

Looking into induction ranges, dan188! beekeperswife, your kitchen is one of my inspiration kitchens, never a bore. Thanks for the painting instructions. I feel confident that I could do it reasonably well.

I'll stop rambling now :) Thanks to all.

How many square ft of counter space you have? I think the you best bet is to sand and paint the cabinets. You would be surprised how expensive changing the door can be. My impression is that just changing the door is not less expensive than going with new cheap cabinets like Ikea.

rocketmomkd, glad to hear that the GE Profile bakes evenly. I do a ton of gluten and allergen free baking, and my current oven (also a GE profile) has terrible hot and cold spots, so I had ruled GE out as a brand. This could be due to the its advanced age, and I could really use a reasonably priced 30" double oven to rid myself of the countertop toaster oven, so I'll bring GE back into the ring of contenders.

Thank you hollysprings for grounding me in reality. Yes, my natural inclination is to fight this contemporary kitchen and try to force it into being something it's not. I do adore the "Edwardian scullery" look :), but point well taken: respect the space as is. I took a look at sixtyohno's kitchen and it is striking. The flat front cabinet doors would certainly work, yet I am hoping to paint the existing cabs in a modern color pallet and find a countertop that won't fight that. I'm going to revisit the laminate options out there and keep reminding myself to strike a balance between my ideal farm house kitchen (which would never work here) and making the one I have look appropriate and warm.

lilymila, I have approximately 53 square feet of countertop. As with the cabs, lots for such a small space. Sigh.

Thanks again, gurus. Happy to get your feedback.

Lily,

The main thing I honed onto in your original post was that your kids are young and have multiple allergies. I am allergic to nuts and peanuts and do a lot of scratch cooking...but not a lot of scratch baking. Maybe once a week max. But I do have friends with all kinds of allergies.

The question I have for you: Do your kids have gluten intolerance (or similar) and if so are you doing a lot of scratch baking? If so, I'm guessing you have a lot of different kinds of flours, extras like xanthan gum to help the doughs work better, and a need for some serious rolling and kneading space.

If my hunch is correct, your first order of business is to get out all of your stuff out of the cupboard where you can see it. If possible, get an organized friend to help you do this. Try to visualize using your space the most efficiently that you can. Place your alternative baking foods and mixing bowls near where you prep them. Ignore that the seldom-used ice cream maker goes on X shelf because that's the tall shelf. Focus on how you should use your kitchen in an ideal world.

Next, are your shelves movable in your cabinets, or are they fixed to one height? If they are a fixed height, then you probably are better off getting different cabinets that support how you use your space rather than fighting it.

I don't have a big kitchen either but wise storage has made my life very different. Good luck!

good call, colorfast. My preschool aged kids have multiple food allergies, (including nuts, gluten, dairy, soy, egg, and multiple others), so I have found it easier to cook and bake everything from scratch. I also grind some of my own flours, so I like the idea of storing all of those items in one space. Currently, I store these items all over the kitchen, but could easily devote one entire area to my allergen free baking. Never thought about putting the grinder, flours and extenders, mixing bowls, etc. in one spot. The beauty of this cabinet heavy kitchen is that, well, I have tons of cabinet space :) Thanks!

Awesome, this is the time to think through how you use your kitchen.

If your cabinets are sound, and you can make the shelves adjust in height to fit your items well, I wouldn't get new cabs, just new doors. Always hard to tell from a pic but yours look like sturdy.

Also, see if you can get some inserts to maximize the space--Revashelf etc., for things like some dividers for cookie sheets or spice racks. I believe you can get new doors only from a number of places, if you decide not to paint.

I am going to say something you will not like. You are going to hate me. I am in my early fifties and was where you are now back in the day when my children were young. I have around 25 years of diy experience now. My budget was not large then and I was impatient for something nicer. Because my budget was small lots of things that would have made my life better in the kitchen like pullouts and lots of drawers and a better counter surface and the list goes on was sacrificed due to the immediate budget. I was smart enough though to realize if I did have tons of money that my house was not the sort to go high end. Still, after basically painting, redoing the floor and a less liked countertop I ended up sacrificing some good improvements after lots of DIY work. Well ,after the newness of improved color wore off I had big regrets about the whole thing. I wish I would have waited.
If you wait until you can add an additional $5,500 to $7,500 and do diy you could pretty much have most all you want within reason. I did my whole kitchen with all new all wood cabinetry for eighteen grand; I did reuse three appliances but did buy a new kitchen aid French door frig. I have beautiful granite countertops, and some very useful drawer banks. Granted my kitchen is not huge but my point is that you could keep the uppers and paint but get new lowers in Conestoga Craftsman RTA's with pull outs and drawers with a factory finish. Then buy new counters of your choice, and a fab range with at least six burners.
I say wait until you can toss in a few more coins because it will be worth it!!!

jterrilyn-I want to hate you, but just can't, you make far too much sense:) I knew I would get some honest feedback here, so thank you. It's nice to hear the perspective of someone who has done both the hasty facelift and the dream reno within moderate budgets.

Having lived with this kitchen for 10 years already, waiting a bit longer and saving up a bit more certainly won't kill me. Who knows, maybe by then tile counters will be back in fashion. Until then, I think I'll be learning about cabinet inserts and adding those to my wish list. Thanks,