Melissa, thank you for the info on the baseboards. I also have a Keurig, Nepresso, and tea kettle. Simple is my life's motto! I tore out so much unnecessary stuff - wood paneling, wet bar, chair rails, styrofoam moulding (lol), popcorn ceilings, 3 different types of flooring, random interior windows and extra doors that served no purpose. Here are some before and after just to highlight many of the changes. Before: random interior windows in entrance foyer with blinds - which made no sense to me. I did keep the glass part of the windows- I would like to use them in the future for another project. After: windows gone. Before: view from inside wetbar with windows, former water heater closet, ugly light, and door to den. After: windows, door, light and closet gone. Before: wetbar. After: wetbar gone and this room will now be my office Before: bench wall dividing dining room and living room. After: bench wall, paneling, moulding, chair rail, carpet, and paneling gone! Don't mind that chandelier - it is next to go after I decide on a dining room table.

forget staining them. as mentioned above, it's actually more work than painting. you have to get them down to raw wood again before applying a new stain. (if you want it to look good) If you were thinking about doing a darker stain, you could do what they've done here to resemble a dark stain. General Finishes Dark Chocolate paint, and 2 coats of their clear coat. (you still have to sand and prime prior to painting) this is from a poster here on Houzz who shared this. right now, your backsplash, tile flooring and countertop are at odds. It's very busy with those 3, and all the other stuff you have going on in there. you have a lot of knick-knacks, plaids, stripes, tile pattern on the floor, granite movement, mosaic tile movement, etc. they really compete with one another. I'd remove the backsplash and that 4" granite piece up the back. Remove everything on top of the cabinets. Pare down half of what you have everywhere else. Paint your cabinets and get new hardware. I'd paint out the trim and baseboards to white, but that's me. on these first few pics, notice how these owners dealt w/the small space above the cabinets by have boxes built to fill in above it. If you're painting, this is easily done. Before/After. paint color is Shoji White with glaze, and Annonymous on the island the one above, and this one, show how removing old tile and the 4" granite piece up the back, make a big difference in look. you could always do a nicer crown molding on the tops of your cabs. look how nice it looks w/the white cabinets, darker wall color, and no stuff collecting dust on top! Maria Kilim before/after. she painted all the oak trim/baseboards, windows, etc. If you want to paint, hire a pro Cabinet Painter, not house painter. ask them how they prep the cabs and how they plan on painting. It's a ton of work to do and cost is going to reflect that. If someone gives you an estimate of 2-3k to do yours, don't fall for it. Read this if you want to know just how much work it takes to get professional looking painted cabinets. https://www.evolutionofstyleblog.com/how-to-paint-your-kitchen-cabinets-like

SW 7028 incredible white. It’s a soothing white - I didn’t want stark. I went against designer idea to match the crown molding / trim to cabinet color. I wanted variance-cabinets to be their own thing- glad I listened to my gut because it’s a ton of cabinets to not like-it’s really a great color- looks great with the satin bronze hardware.

Looking at these as possible cabinet colors. Are these too dark? Will it be enough contrast from my gauntlet gray walls? 1 Popular Gray 2 Repose Gray (too green?l 3 On the Rocks 4 Big Chill 5 Grayish