Kiko, okay, I can see that consistency is very important to you.

Since you're hiring someone to paint them, you're already aware of the cost involved. Getting new paint-grade maple doors is far less expensive than I'd imagined, about 25% of what painting them cost. But if you like the doors as-is, then you should keep them.

Sigh, I agree with all these comments (funky, unique, too busy, quirky-bad, quirky-good), LOL. Here's the inside of the doors which I actually like better (the profile is more squared off instead of raised). But I really wouldn't be able to take seeing the old outside inside my cabinets every time I opened them. I don't even like how new cabinets are "two toned" like wood/ wood look inside and stained or painted wood outside. I think in the absolute I would prefer new doors but it seems wasteful (more from a resource standpoint than money). I also worry that new doors aren't going to give us that "hot" kitchen look I drool over because it's still a 1988 kitchen with a raised C-shaped peninsula etc.... Maybe I should just let the kitchen be?? Confused!

Linelle, love your kitchen update! We don't have a Dacora dealer in DFW though.

Kiko, I got my Decora doors through my KD. She works with other lines, but tried to get me something within my budget. BTW, I never thought I could afford a KD. She didn't charge a fee, but did get a cut of whatever I ordered from her. My cost was still well within my modest budget.

rtwilliams, I have thought about adding something to the top of the cabinets to get rid of the space between the cabinets and the ceiling but we have that crazy vaulted ceiling. Our uppers are currently about 45 inches high. There's about 15 inches above the cabinets on the exterior/fridge wall and about 8 feet above the cabinets/pantry on the cooktop oven wall. Can you take cabinets all the way up to a vaulted ceiling? I can't seem to find any pictures like that online.

Linelle, how did you find your kitchen designer?

I am kind of digging those cabinets. I feel like when you have a unique design feature like this, you have to really commit to it to make it sing. I think that the tumbled stone/ceramic backsplash doesn't really go with them. The cabinets could look really glamorous with some new sleek (brass, maybe?) hardware and a less-rustic looking backsplash. How is the style in the rest of the house? Does the house lean modern, rustic, traditional? I am seeing some great late 70's early 80's glam in these, but I know that is not everyone's cup of tea! They could even go a bit MCM with the right finishes...

I don't dislike them, but I do think they're kind of busy for the size of the space. Regardless, I agree with the previous poster who suggested replacing the backsplash and hardware.

I don't think going all the way up with a vaulted ceiling is a good idea. I think what makes them seem unbalanced is that they have a small crown trim on top.

I think your raised peninsula looks nice. I am sure in your perfect ideal kitchen it would not be what you would pick but it really is nicely done. From the pictures in your picasa album I can tell you have good design style and I love the modern style you have going on in your other furniture and art.

I have the huge empty walls above my 42 inch cabinets and I don't care for it in my home but it is not something I will be changing. In a perfect world I would add beams or drop it to 10 foot flat ceiling.

I have a vault in most of the rooms in this house is that how your home is? When we do the remodel to our master bath, I will be dropping the ceiling to a 10 foot flat ceiling in the bathroom.

Here is my kitchen/great room space:

This post was edited by rtwilliams on Wed, Nov 5, 14 at 14:13

Kiko, I found my KD at a kitchen and bath design shop. I had thought going that route was out of my league, but one day I stopped in and she was nice and interested in my project. She was a great fit for me. She's moved to another shop and I went to her for help with my guest bath remodel. I would look for kitchen/bath design stores in your area, stop in and find out how their fees work. Mine did not charge a set fee for my project, nor did I feel gouged because she got a cut of what I paid.

I might be wrong but doesn't/didn't someone else have cabinets like this but not painted? Name starts with an M or ma? Might have been a galley kitchen. They did some minor updates I think.

Edited to add: This is the kitchen I was thinking of, maybe not exactly the same but the same idea.

Here is a link that might be useful: marit8a's kitchen

This post was edited by debrak2008 on Wed, Nov 5, 14 at 19:07

Well, darn, I just priced out ONE door at Barker and it would be $105. So guesstimating 77 doors would be $8,000 plus I' d still need to get the boxes painted and new hinges PLUS 43 drawer fronts. This might get up to $20,000 fast just for cabinets in the whole house, right? Maybe I should just focus on the kitchen (42 doors and 19 drawers)? But the door style is so distinctive I think it would be odd to leave the funky cabinetry in the bathrooms. Our house is just a one story.

SHAKER Unfinished Cabinet Doors (inset panel)
[quantity:1][WIDTH:18.25][HEIGHT:43][size verification:the door HEIGHT is between 30" and 48" (1 ip tall)][drill hinge cup:custom dimension from top and bottom (2 cups) (describe in "notes" field)][hinge side:N/A- rectangular door allows left or right side hinge][wood type:Paint Grade: frame= alder, panel= mdf (recommended)][finish options:DOVER WHITE varnish (2 coats primer + 2 coats paint)][frame widths:3 1/2" Stiles x 3 1/2" Rails]

rtwilliams, love your house! Good question about the ceilings. Just the kitchen/family room and living room have straight cathedral ceilings; great room is 16 feet high and living room 14 feet high. Everything else varies. 9 feet flat ceilings in entry hall, front/backs halls, powder room, Jack/Jill bath, laundry and master bath WC. 9.5 feet angled tray ceilings in two bedrooms. 10.5 feet flat ceiling in entry hall. 11 foot angled tray in one bedroom and 9 foot double tray with angled sides in master bedroom. Our master bath ceiling is 11.5 feet high flat ( but the shower is only 7 feet high!!). Dining room is 13 feet high double tray ceiling. And we have a guest bath that has just an 8 foot high ceiling. How high is your master bath ceiling now? Decorating "high volume" spaces is challenging!

deborak2008, no that definitely looks like our door style! Is she in DFW? Did she do a "final reveal" I wonder. We have a friend who has the same cabinets and has just finished updating her kitchen. Maybe when dh and I see it we can decide which way we want to go.

Not sure what style our house is??? Even the outside looks funky! Funky Old Chicago brick, funky concrete tile roof, funky stone quoins on corner. So would this style of house need a particular type of kitchen? Or it doesn't matter with a 1988 home?
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2niu1s5&s=8#.VFvN7mK9KSM

Our front door also has a " funky rectangles" theme

And Our French doors have a "funky rectangle" theme too! I actually picked these out a couple of years ago because I thought they went well with the rest of the rectangles!

The rest of the interior doors look like this

This post was edited by kiko on Thu, Nov 6, 14 at 14:58

Marti8a is still around. Attached is a current thread she has on the decor forum. You could click on her name you may be able to email her. If that doesn't work, post in her current thread. I don't know what DFW is so can't answer that.

Here is a link that might be useful: marti8a decor forum thread

You can still order this doorstyle from Scherr's.

I think it's a riff on Victorian paneling. There are houses here from the late 19th century with that alternating panel on wainscoting.

kiko - I laugh because when we bought our house it had a definite square obsession going on! Love your interior doors. They just took it one step too far on the kitchen cabinets. Would you like to see my squares??

Edit to add: I love your exterior and all the other doors! How cool to have all the detail going on.

This post was edited by rtwilliams on Thu, Nov 6, 14 at 18:32

kiko, I love your doors. I would flip them around.

I'd replace the cabinet doors, but I'd leave the other doors.

I think your exterior is beautiful, and will allow for anything you love in your kitchen

I LOVE the interior of the doors, I would be figuring out how to turn them inside out as well. Maybe they put them up backwards to start with......

kiko, I really like your house! I would call it bungalowish.

Here's another view of the same cabinets, freshly stained.

Here is a link that might be useful: Another shot of Marti8a's kitchen

If budget is a consideration and the layout is fine, I'd keep the cabinets. I think they are fine. Just paint them whatever color suits you. People pay a lot of money for painted kitchens. New hardware, new pulls, countertop, backsplash and appliances, you are in business.

I would replace the doors. There is no way I would put any money at all into what you currently have, not even for paint. The drawer fronts are nice, maybe you can keep them and just replace the doors?

Kiko, my replacement doors and end panels are full-overlay shaker, paint-grade maple with MDF inserts. I just checked the invoice from my KD and they were billed at $48 each. Some are small, e.g., little doors above range hood and fridge, while others are large pantry doors and end panels. I have all slab drawer fronts, also paint-grade maple and they were $10 each. Everything my final price and it included whatever my KD got in the deal.

So, quite a difference between Barker and Decora.

The doors have a certain charm. They also represent a distinct commitment in taste. If they are not to your taste then I would not put any more money into them and I would pick something that you really liked.

I recently priced out doors for my kitchen cabinets (uppers are 39" tall) and they averaged about half of your quote, but they were paint ready and unfinished. Your quote looks like it includes the cost of the Dover White factory finish, which does add quite a bit to the cost.

I like the inside of your doors more than the outside, if you can turn them around. Otherwise, I think changing out the doors could look really good. That's what we decided to do in our kitchen. I'm just worried about getting the measurements right since we're going from partial to full overlay.

Can you reverse them as someone else suggested? If not, and the the center is just an inset, why couldn't you just have a new backing made and have bead board put over it? You could also have someone jigsaw out the center part if it's not removable.

Your kitchen looks fairly updated, although the countertop and tile doesn't seem to be the best match~change the tile since it's cheaper and leave the countertop.

I wouldn't say your cute little home is 'funky', although it seems someone had a love affair w/rectangles!

Omigosh, there's a word for your kitchen and it is: UNIQUE! It sounds like all the cabinetry is quality material. Please stop toying with all these ideas of turning them around, replacing, etc., etc.. If it's in your budget to contract repainting them, why not pay to have them stripped first. The wood may be gorgeous under all that paint and you may decide to stain instead of paint. All I can say is, if you take those doors off and put trendy shaker style doors on, you'll just have an ordinary kitchen, like most of America. There's a big plus to being different!

I think this totally comes down to your preference but I agree the poster above who said:

I love your doors. Yep, they are funky - but in a way that says "Hey, I'm unique and special", and not in a way that says "Whoever designed me was on drugs, and I'm best appreciated by other people on drugs"

Your cabinets are cool in an aging vintage/funky way that will only get cooler as the house ages IMHO. Any cabinet faces you replace them with will date faster and look uncool sooner. I'd keep 'em but that's just me and we kept our 1939 cabinets so I guess I'm in the preserve camp in general.

Thank you so much for the input and comments. It's a huge help in thinking about this. OK, I have thought about my cabinet conundrum a little more. I also sat down with dh to talk about it some more. I showed him two Shaker door kitchens from linelle and one other kitchen (can't remember who now .... replaced a newer brown wood kitchen with more period appropriate new doors in white shaker). He was amazed at the transformation (I think he was having trouble picturing the idea of new doors ... because he doesn't spend his spare time looking at kitchen pictures ).

We also looked at the link of marti8a's cabinets like ours but refinished darker. Although that is a nice look (and do-able for our cabinets because our doors are solid oak, nice quality), we want more contrast and our floors are staying the current dark oak and the countertops are staying the current mid-gray granite. So dark stain is out.

What about the kind of crazy idea of having the cabinets refinished in a "wire brushed oak in a driftwood gray"? Like this link
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/a3/4c/02/a34c0291127f2bcf86180f5a0f579c56.jpg
OMG, that wood finish is gorgeous!!!!!! I know our doors and cabinet boxes are oak. Could we have that fabulous gray finish?? I would do that in a heartbeat!

Barring that, I am leaning towards painting the cabinets a white inside and out, replacing the painted-over hinges, and swapping out the pulls and backsplash. My main reasoning is this: my FIRST gripe about our cabinets is that the prior owner painted over the hinges. Every time I open a cabinet I think "Ugh, those (now scraped off) hinges look awful". My SECOND gripe about our cabinets is the ten year old paint job has some chips. My THIRD gripe is the color, which is more tan than the gray/white I would prefer now. So none of my first 3 complaints about my cabinets have to do with the door style, right?

Edited to add clickable link below

Here is a link that might be useful:

This post was edited by kiko on Sun, Nov 9, 14 at 9:02

We had paint all over our hinges as well. I actually liked the color of the cabinets but I did repaint them (the same color) because like your cabinets, the paint job was worn and in my case, a little shoddy. I also had paint on the hinges and my mom and I and took every hinge (there were over 100) and stripped them of paint before reattaching them. A HUGE amount of work (thank goodness from my mom, who likes to help) but they look So Much Better.

ChristyMcK, is your kitchen all done? I couldn't find a link to it. I do, luckily, know for a fact that all of our hinges are yucky 80's brass. Wouldn't that be awful if I stripped them to just find out they were unusable???

LOVE those doors, they are unique and go well with the rest of the space in your house. Don't buy into the cookie cutter mentality when you have a house with a unique personality! If you like these doors, work WITH them! I'd keep them in a heartbeat, but of course it's your space so YOU should love it!

That said, a few points to consider. These doors would look mind-blowing in a brushed weathered oak COLOR! But I think given the other elements in our house, the huge movementy chunky granite/counter, the rustic weathered grainy floor, etc., a wood-grainy brushed oak finish would be overload. The weathered oak grain would fight with the floor wood grain and the lines of the door panels and all that chunky blotchy movement of the counters, and just be too, too much visually. Your feature is the panels, not the wood grain, on the doors.

How about a compromise: Put a beautiful soft weathered grey color paint on them, and possibly a very subtle weathered glazing. Choose a grey that has a bit of warmth, but just a bit, to pick up some of the creamy taupy tones elsewhere and the warmth of your floor, rather than a cool grey.

One thing nobody's mentioned is that the panels are the focus on these doors. Therefore, I'd pick a hardware that is as invisible as possible. The painted hinges actually are doing you a favor, blending with the doors. Imagine that complex visual of your doors now with pops of hardware also competing for attention. Better to have hardware that is not asking for attention.

So imagine a warm weathered grey with very subtle glazing, hardware that is blending with this, possibly an antiqued nickel or something like that that blends into the cabinets mostly.

Also, the backsplash just has to go. The squares fight with the rectangular panels of the doors. I'd almost do a backsplash that is not shapes, such as painted or beadboard, so you don't get this competition of shapes in your backsplash versus the panels on the doors. Most tiles you put there are going to compete with the panels, unless you do something like a penny tile mosaic that just has nothing to do with rectilinear shapes. Just MHO.

This post was edited by beautybutdebtfree on Sun, Nov 9, 14 at 9:56

beautybutdebtfree, I think you may be right about that. We do have a lot of busy elements in our kitchen already. I was thinking that a subway tile would echo the doors and look better. Actually, I thought it was really our only option. Do you think gray painted cabinets would be better than a white?

Keep them, with a color you like, and new hardware. Unless the hinges clean up to something interesting too. I'm not smart enough to notice if a cabinet in a bathroom matches those in a kitchen(??)

Right now white is the hot thing going. So to paint them white, you look like you are trying to do the present fad on on old cabinets. White gets dirty and sometimes yellows and any scuffs or scratches or chips show very easily on white.

A carefully chosen weathered color will take away the starkness of white, add a designer element, soften the lines of the cabinets (With white the contrast between white and lines/shadows is like black and white, so more harsh than if you have the same shapes in a quiet color, which a weathered color would be. In other words, imagine you had a pure white sculpture and shone a bright light on it. The light is brighter on the bright spots, the shadows are more harsh because they are contrasted against bright white. Now take the same sculpture in a weathered color and shine light on it. The contrast between the soft weathered color and the shadows is softer, less harsh. Especially if you have in between tones, such as a subtle glazing, on the surfaces.).

Personally, I would not do ANY type of rectilinear shaped tile in the backsplash area. It will ALWAYS visually compete with your panels, and not in a complementary way. You need "white space" in the backsplash area - something without shapes defined, expecially anything rectilinear (square or rectangle). You also don't need anything attention grabbing there. You need quiet there, whatever it is. You might be able to get away with tile if you use a very small one such as mosaic. And if it's mosaic and rectangles, I'd orient them long axis up and down, the same as your cabinet panel rectangles. The difference in shape SIZE between your cabinet panels and your SMALL tile might work. But any rectangles that compete with your panels is going to rob you of a really great design element. Don't dilute the door panels by competing with them on the backsplash, IMHO. Subway is the LAST tile I'd choose there! It DIRECTLY competes with the door panels rectangles, has a different spacing, is usually laid in the horizontal long axis - everything about that is wrong, to go with the door panels. If you use any tile at all it should be less than 2 inch size, so the shapes are not seen from a distance. Matte finish, so you aren't bouncing shine off your beautiful counters around. And grout the same color as the tile. But I don't think tile is a great choice, first. Just something very, very visually quiet in that backsplash space.

Here's sorta a finish I had in mind, in terms of quiet weathered color and subtle glazing. Note that with this glazing technique they have NOT allowed it to accumulate in the cracks, making MORE pronounced lines. They only used it to lightly texture the color and add a bit of dimension. The color is not quite right; you'd need to pick up a little bit of mauve undertone to pull together the red tones in your taupy paint and red/brown wood floor and slightly mauve-y splotched granite. You could even use your exact wall paint formulation on them, and then put a very subtle charcoal glaze over:

Photo credit: http://bella-tucker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/grey-cabinet-finish-1024x681.jpg

This post was edited by beautybutdebtfree on Sun, Nov 9, 14 at 13:26

It's not yet done. We are waiting on the backsplash so I haven't posted it. Here's a picture just after one of the main rounds of painting. I repainted the interiors which were a red to the navy blue. The red was from 1967 and was sloughing everything it touched. The exterior cabinet color which I call 'lemon chiffon cake' is Ambertique by Pratt & Lambert. It's cream enough to hide some dirt which is great because I'm a messy cook.

It would SUCK to clean all the hardware only not to use it. I'd definitely make that decision ahead of time. Lately I've been seeing some nice two-toned kitchens (dark bottom such as grey, navy, even black and light uppers such as white). I've even see brass coming back so look at lots of kitchens before you decide.

And here's a picture before painting. It's hard to tell a difference in photos but it's not in person!

I like the idea of keeping the cabinets and painting them gray. Lighter on the upper and darker on the lower. Definitely change out the hardware.

Can you hang the doors inside out?

Change the doors. They look like photo collages without the photos.

nosoccermom, although we do like the interior much better I don't think we would reverse them. They have a big "double bevel" (not sure the correct cabinet term?) all around the edge as do the drawers. I think it would look a bit "low rent" because the current "face" is clearly the front of the doors and the drawers all have that same "double bevel" around the edge. We aren't doing this DIY so would that be a lot of money to achieve a DIY look, LOL?

I lived in a condo with the same exact doors and jambs as you. I painted my kitchen cabinets white and refaced with white doors similar to yours. They reflect the look of all the other woodwork in your house. I had a small kitchen, so all the doors were not that expensive, since I kept the boxes. However, I did make them full size with hidden hinges, which definitely cleaned up the look.

I also added a beautiful stepped molding at the top of the cabinets and added strings of LED rope lighting behind it. It was gorgeous at night.

How big a deal would it be to strip the doors? I think a weathered gray oak finish would look great, kind of like Feisty's quest for the grayish finish. Also, have you abandoned the idea of some glass inserts? It would provide some relief from all that pattern.

Here is a link that might be useful: thread on gray-stained oak.

Is anyone else worried that grey-stained oak will be the "pickled oak" of the 2010's? Just me?

If it were me, I would stick to paint or "wood" stain, but I am a scaredy cat like that :-).

Could be, but I don't think it's as big a deal to "fix" it as the pickled oak.

JMHO, but I think if you keep your current doors, the weathered grey stained oak finish would be a bit too busy, with everything else going on in the kitchen.

You said that you LIKE the doors, but would not PICK them CURRENTLY if you were starting from scratch. To me, that answers your question. I would change the doors, to the ever classic timeless shaker style that you like. I do not think you will regret it. Of course if money is an issue, then just paint.

I would not worry about the rest of the house cabinets being the same, at least not for now. You could change them over time.

This post was edited by Caya26 on Tue, Nov 11, 14 at 0:10

Kiko, I don't know if you got my last email. These cabinets are fairly common where I live so not a big turn off to buyers as they will see them often if they are looking at custom homes built in the 1970s-1980s. I just came across one today while browsing homes for sale. This one looks completely original and shows a detail that really bugged me about this cabinet builder - the cabinet that housed the double oven. I also had a pantry the same height and noticed you had something that height. They may not be a problem for tall people, but I couldn't get to the cabinets over them. I changed that with our remodel.

I talked to my friend who had the same cabinets, thought I might get a picture of them painted for you. But she painted some, disliked the way they looked painted, mainly because the dust showed up so much more than when they were stained, and she replaced them with plain doors.

Oh, and here's another with similar doors, not quite as funky as ours. These are painted and might give you an idea of what yours would look like gray.

I really like the doors. Nice to see something original and not cookie-cutter, like everything else out there. I would definately keep them.

I love the idea of painting them gray. I was going to suggest the knobs that look like crystals and then saw that they are in one of the pics that someone posted above. I think that would look great with a simple backsplash!

Leave the cabinets, they look fine. REPLACE the funky backsplash. Tiles should be a much smaller scale, like little mosaic glass tiles, gray and beige to tie the walls and cabinets together. That's it. Cheap beautiful fix.