Next question - The windows are wood and are dark like the cabs. Do I need to paint them? Painting those muntins sounds like a terrible job.

Painting the cabs will be the tough job. Painting windows is easy. You do have to take them out of the frames, though, so that you don't paint them in. Easy to do once you figure out how they go in and out of the frames.

Take them out, if the wood has a sealant on it, sand them good to get the sealant off (otherwise, the paint won't stay on), paint with a coat of primer, then a couple of thin coats of paint. Once the paint is dry, just take a razor blade and scrape the paint that is on the glass right off. VERY easy.

The sanding of varnished wood - your cans and windows, is the tough part. Speak to the folks at your paint store and ask them if there is a product you can use to help make that task easier or is just sanding is the best thing to do.

Grout: is that the actual color of the grout? You can try bleach. Test a tiny spot in an area that is not visible and see how it comes out. Otherwise, buy some cheapo rug on Craigslist and put it down. I love rugs in kitchens!

Absolutely paint the muntins! It's really not that difficult, especially if they're removable. And if you can't remove them, just mask around them to paint. Also, if any paint makes its way onto the glass, you can just scrape it off.

And yes, you CAN lighten the grout—by removing it and re-grouting, which is actually what I'm doing in my guest bath this weekend!

What colors are in the table top? That looks to be formica as well....

As for the cabinet paint prep, there's a product called Liquid Sandpaper. Check it out! I bought it to make the job of painting an ugly (but very good quality) oak bedroom set MUCH easier.

Annie the table is Formica. It has a red spaghetti top and black hairpin legs. I have a small red vinyl bench on the one side of the table and these three greenish gold glittery vinyl chairs with black metal legs. It's a weird combo but actually works kind of. We have a family of five and this setup is the only way I've been able to get all of us at the same table in the kitchen. But I'm not married to it if there was something that wither better.

Samantha I was considering using liquid sandpaper. Glad to hear it worked for you. Did you sand with sandpaper between coats?

I love the green above but my heart wants to pay tribute to the vintage 50's vibe with a light blue or pale Aqua with some curtains and other fun pink accents. Do you see your navy LR from the kitchen? If so I think some pink will look fabulous.

I think you should play up that boomerang counter top. It is wonderful!! Paint the cabinets gray, darker than your walls. You already have some red accents with your table. If you go with aqua or yellow, at the end of the day, the countertop might look like the thing that didn't get replaced. It needs to be intentional. The style of the kitchen in the link is wrong, but I think the colors are spot on.

[houzz=https://www.houzz.com/photos/fulham-traditional-kitchen-traditional-kitchen-london-phvw-vp~15949567]

I like the idea of a medium gray cabinet too--- the counter top is so light that I think some contrast would be nice! I would paint the window muntins the same white color as the window trim... tedious, but not hard. I would add bright color- red, pink, or yellow, etc in towels, window treatment etc.

you could also use a grout colorant to go over the dark grout-- I used that in a house years ago and it's pretty effective. very tedious to apply to a large space, but bonds/lasts fairly well...

Thanks for the ideas! Gray was my original plan but I need some colour in here. I had also thought of Aqua with red accents. This is hard!

Great kitchen!! I love your house. My first thought was yellow, although I really like the pale aqua idea with pinkish/reddish accents.

I grew up in a neighborhood with homes built in the fifties. My Mom's kitchen cabinets were aqua Youngstown (metal) with yellow walls and a few red accents on canisters and other accessories.
That being said, I think yellow cabinets would look great with your table and chairs. As for the counters, I think with your gray walls, they'll look fine.

After seeing your boomerang formica and retro chairs and table, I agree that a light aqua would be great. I would even keep the scalloped valances over the windows. Check out this kitchen from the Retro Ranch Revamp blog.

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I was planning on keeping the scallops. There's a little stick built corner cabinet in the dining room that has the scallop too.

I really like your cabinets, I would just add lighting and not paint them but I understand the desire for a change. Also maybe recolor the grout on the floor tile a lighter grey, that will brighten the room.

Okay now I'm convinced that aqua is the colour and I need to find some red lucite or Bakelite knobs. Where does one find that?

Gray would not enhance the vintage look. The MCM I grew up in was robin's egg blue. Your kitchen is currently so dark due to the cabinets. What ever color you choose should be a light shade. Light would look better with the counter imo. I know you don't want white but this color is just very light yellow: BM Linen Sand 2151-60 It is not letting me post a link of the color. Did you consider upper cabs and lower cabs in different colors?
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I would consider two different colours. What would you put with the linen sand?

How about these: http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/products/boomerang-drawer-pull-4-in/items/c7715-4-in-pc

I like this with Linen Sand.

BM Crystal Blue

I vote grey cabinets, remove the scallop cut out over window. Teal backsplash. I have rain washed in my laundry room and it's strong, maybe too strong for large area.

Maybe this will give you some color inspiration....

I love the warmth the deep parchment color adds to the scheme....

Here are a few more pics of retro inspired aqua/red kitchens. I like the walls painted in a lighter aqua. I'm also linking to a blog showing traditional wood cabinets painted aqua. Ebay is probably the best place for vintage cabinet hardware.

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Sure you can change the grout. Here's the tool... Then you have to replace with new grout.

Yes, grout *can* be painted. Here's a link to a product, along with colors available. My best friend and I painted her dark brown grout a light tan color, time consuming, but what a difference it can make. That would be a good start for your kitchen redo.

http://www.groutshields.com/index.php/information-area/color-charts.html

Louislinus, I am glad that you are keeping the retro feel of your kitchen. I agree with the suggestion that you buy some sample paints and paint them on large poster board to see how they work with your Formica counters. I love that last picture with the pale aqua and cream cabinet combination and think that would look great in your kitchen. Please let us know how you proceed and we would love to see the "after" pics!

Diane

I like the idea of cream cabinets, it would brighten up the kitchen so much, and white/cream kitchens always work no matter if its retro, country or modern. Its a neutral that works with most style kitchens. Pale blues with cream would look lovely and in keeping with a retro-ish feel. I don't particularly care for the stronger shades of aquas and reds, although they do look retro, its a bit too much color for me, but that's just my personal taste. I would keep the scalloped valance, it just seems like it belongs in a retro kitchen. Painting cabinets is a good amount of work though. Removing grout is even worse, it can be done with the right tools but you have to be careful not to chip the tiles in the process. I'd either give them a good cleaning (Oxyclean works great on grout) or use a grout colorant, Aqua mix makes a good one so I'm told.

Thanks all! Teeda I do like the two tone cabs in that picture you posted (the cream and aqua.) I love the open cabinet look on the top, but we are not tidy enough for that. Do you think it works as nicely with cabinet doors on top?

Annie that's a great inspiration pic! I agree that the cream gives it a warmth that it's missing. My kitchen feels cold. Maybe I should paint the grey walls cream?

I think it would like fine without open cabinets--in fact I don't really care for the open cabinets in that particular photo. Perhaps somewhere down the line you might consider replacing the smaller cabinet doors that flank the window on the right to glass front doors. I think that would look fabulous!

Oh!! That's a great compromise and doable. There are so many cabinets in a smallish space I feel like I need to break up the wall of cabinets.

Open cabinets in a kitchen? they're beautiful, but I think very unpractical. Between the dust and grease…ugh. Keeping them and their contents clean would be a nightmare.

Btw, I love the chairs!

I think it depends on how retro you want to go. You could paint the walls the parchment and go with a pale aqua for the cabinetry and use the red only as an accent...

I don't want it to look like a time warp and I generally don't like decorating that is so derivative. I want it to be vintage " "feeling" like the rest of my house with personal and modern touches. I was hoping the Marimekkoesque window treatments would keep it from being a total throwback.

That was sort of a stupid thing to say because ALL decorating is derivative of something that came before it. What I meant is that I don't want it to be a replica.

Right now your main colors are gray, green, red, white, and black from your picture frames and table legs. That's 5 colors, which is plenty from which to pull your palette. If it was my room, I'd leave the valances, first off. They're cute! I'd paint the lowers a darker gray, the uppers a lighter gray, the walls a white to keep it bright, and do glass doors on either side of the window, with items stored in there that are red, green, black, etc. If that isn't colorful enough, then maybe red lowers and white uppers. The walls could stay gray.

Have fun! : )

Your kitchen has great windows, unusually large for a K of that era, and two exposures. Nice.

Personally I would take the grey from the boomerangs and use that, maybe in a glossier finish so it doesn't feel too dull to you. I think if you do the red/aqua retro thing to hard, it may not flow well with the rest of your home. I Might also reupholster the K chairs to lighten them up.

I'm sorry I don't have photoshop so can't do anything but a poor rendition, but this might help you see how it would look with light blue cabinets, parchment color ceiling and a window treatment instead of the scalloped valance. It certainly would look brighter.

So yesterday I found a gray Formica vintage table at Restore for $35 and then I found these chairs in CL for $25. I haven't bought them but how cute wouldn they be with aqua cabinets??!! I so shouldn't spend anymore money.

Love them! Go for it, then swear just paint and a valance for the window after that.

Are you bothered by the fact that the legs on the chairs and table are different colours?

Regarding grout-painting. In a kitchen remodel I did recently, the tile guy used the wrong color grout....kind of brown while the tile is ivory. I tried the grout colorant, and painted--and painstaking is the word for it--a large section. I finally just bit the bullet and called another guy to take out the old and re-grout with ivory grout. The difference is colossal--loving hands at home versus professional and correct work.. If you are planning a total kitchen re-do in the near future, use the paint...but if you need to live with the tile for some years, spend the money to re-grout your tile.

Doesn't bother me, but I'm Thrifty Yankee and not hugely matchy-poo. But you can always spray paint the frames of the chairs silver.

Maybe you can sell the spaghetti top table and recoup the cost of the new one?

Did you see My3dogs' kitchen cabinets in the window treatment thread?

Thanks, CindyMac,

That was a surprise seeing my kitchen here. :-) The color is SW 'Softened Green'. It looks very different in various light conditions.

Here's a good article I just found on it. http://www.thriftydecorchick.com/2015/05/softened-green-in-bedroom.html

When I saw your kitchen I snagged the photo and put it up against the OP's countertop and it looked like a good match.

Btw, I really like the color you chose and that beautiful window!

I think you should pass on the table and the chairs. They are nice but that table is larger than the one you have and your kitchen looks smallish. Something better will come along.

Good call Emmarene. I thought the same thing. i always jump too quick and u really should wait until I get further into the project. I do think I want to replace the table and chairs. I love the size of the table but not so much the pattern.