Good advice. I didn't think to list we don't want old paint,etc, but luckily our contractor got rid of all that stuff for us. We bought the HHI place fully furnished and stocked. I immediately donated many decorative items and 18 (!) silk flower arrangements to a thrift store and bought a new mattress for the master BR. I didn't change any of the furniture until, literally, after the dust settled from the reno. Since then I've had the thrift store pick up old furniture just before I have the new things delivered. The last thing I need to replace in the LR are the end tables. We're still using the old stuff in the bedrooms. I'd like new master BR furniture so that will be what I'll focus on while I'm also searching for end tables. I've been adding better cookware but the other household goods are fine and I don't need to change any of that. There is a cute corner cabinet that I like, and have held onto, but there just isn't an appropriate place for it (right now it's in a bedroom). I even considered moving it to my regular house but I don't have the right spot for it there either. I'll give it away when I have the thrift store truck here for the end tables and coffee table.

I have your house, built the same year in the Northeast. I agree that we have a lot more leeway with this type of house and have taken such liberties twice in remodeling the house. Mine was an aluminum clad faux/ode to the 1700's. It was built on a budget by the previous owners with very dark stained trim & luan doors and really cheap dark cabinets with those paper laminate sides, dark wall to wall carpeting with a dining room and bedroom that had beat up dark pine flooring. It was dark. But, in spite of the fake materials, probably did a good job of reflecting how depressing life could be 200 years earlier! (Please also remember the first rule of Garden Web - just about anything that the previous owners did is horrible.) Then (brace yourselves), we did pretty much the same remodel/facelift in the early 90s with washed oak cabinets - but no arches! We didn't know it was trendy - at the time everyone we knew with newer construction had the light/medium oak cabinets with arches. It was a soft light contemporary finish on a traditional style cabinet that fit in with new white painted windows doors and trim and overall softer colors in the house without being a jarring transition from the traditionalized exterior. With a wall opened to the small never used formal dining room and new doorways to the dead end living room and family rooms, it was now light and bright and would have shown very well if we had decided to move within the next few years. Even twenty years later and dated, my kitchen still felt comfortable. (There should be a second rule of Garden Web - everything dates, so if the house style doesn't point in a direction and you're planning to be there for a while don't just remodel for "looks". Think about if you feel comfortable in the space. If your only reaction is WOW, you'll probably get tired of it. So in 20 years when everyone's dissing (wink) your white kitchen you'll say "I don't care, because it still feels good and flows with the house".) Sorry this is so long! Anyway we're remodeling again. (Facelifted cabinets are looking worn and appliances needed to be replaced.) I didn't have a style in mind, but started with a quartzite/slate to finally reface the unattractive original faked used brick family room fireplace that extends into the kitchen. The "feel" of that pushed me towards medium stained maple and green cabinets for the new kitchen - which is (I guess) a hat tip to craftsman without trying to be authentic. A modest redecorating plan will help the new look flow through the house. So, the house has gone from an unauthentic period colonial, to an unauthentic contemporized colonial, to what will probably eventually be a slightly different style unauthentic contemporized colonial. I wouldn't have put either of my kitchens in my Grandparents true 1785 colonial. They wouldn't look or feel right there!

Thanks. Some good news today. The cabinet maker came back with a new delivery date. (spare you the details). They phoned while I was out looking at granite and marble. I saw a slab of gold calcutta.(I know, I said I was not going with marble but still weighing the options) I thought that the grey color read green. And it looked better with a creamier white as opposed to a soft white. I will start a new thread asking about that. So here I am with another major decision and time ticking. Just let my remodel be an example of why one shouldn't rush!

Vastly better, although I think the hood and cabs should be the same height. The window looks 100% better without those two narrow cabs flanking it, too. BTW, I would swap the fridge and the tall pantry cabinet so that your fridge doesn't open into that wall (and so the pantry cabinet isn't between your fridge and your landing space for prep items).