We have been remodeling our daughter’s kitchen. Between dent and ding stores and refurbished appliances, we were able to install all stainless appliances (five burner gas range, OTR microwave, dishwasher, and fridge) for less than $1,000. You might keep your eyes open for deals.

i like honey oak cabinet. They are warm and cheerful and take abuse well.

I suggest you wait for a bit. Doing renovations right when you move in isn't usually good. You may find there's something about the layout that really bugs you, so putting new countertops in locks you into the layout. Wait at least six months before doing anything.

Congrats on the new house. This kitchen is huge. If the laminate counters are in good shape, you'd be better off waiting until you can really make changes that reflect your style. Architectural Digest is not on their way to photograph the space, so why rush into expensive changes?

I would start with just painting the walls, then wait until you have lived there for awhile to see what direction you want to go.

This blog post suggests colors to go with oak, so maybe that is a starting point for choosing a wall color.

http://www.true-design-house.com/blog/2016/3/14/bestpaint-with-honey-oak

Here is discussion about honey oak cabinets, hope this help.https://www.houzz.com/discussions/how-do-i-downplay-honey-oak-cabinets-on-a-budget-dsvw-vd~1016783

I agree to wait a little bit. I will say your layout is pretty good except the sink and range are a little close together. We often say to wait a bit because sometimes time will show a problem that needs a bigger fix. If that happens, it is best to wait, save and do the bigger fix. A bigger fix is often caused by more worn then expected cabinetry or a poor layout.

I think your cabinets might be maple - it is hard to tell on a picture, but oak cabinets have more grain. The one change I would make sooner then later is to remove the over the range microwave and get a dedicated vent - works better, looks better and opens up the cooking space. However, if it works for you, that is OK - I mainly dislike them because I am short and hate lifting things up to cook. You have lots of counter space and I would get a countertop micro.

You are correct - warm tone woods and cool grays do not bring out the best in each other. If you want a gray, look for one with a green undertone.

I have a "wood kitchens" idea book with both refreshed older cabinets and newer kitchens. You might get some ideas:

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/75202366/list/wood-kitchens

I have white appliances with my wood cabinets and I like them just fine. My own kitchen is oak - you can see the wood grain:

https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~110720042

Nice kitchen. Lot of good space there.

Another vote for wait.

I agree. Wait.

I agree with all the others above. Wait until you experience the kitchen & then see what changes you need to make. If you're happy with the flow, then think about more permanent changes. For now, the worst offender is the wall paint color. People insist on painting walls trendy grays when most of those colors clearly don't go with warm woods like yours. It will take some research to come up with the correct greiges or whites. Remove the microwave. I'm a semi-professional cook. I dislike those above a stovetop. It looks congested in that area, cuts down on cooking space & the microwave gets incredible greasy. Look on Houzz to find kitchens with white appliances. They can be so attractive you might not want to change to stainless steel. I also don't like those built in desks in the kitchen. I rarely see a household where that area becomes nothing but a catch-all & now I think they can look dated. I'd do something in its place. You can get ideas on Houzz for that too...something free standing? A coffee bar? Drink station? Small bench with cute pillows.....

The more I look at your kitchen, the more I worry the space between sink and range is a little tight. Consider removing the upper cabinets to the right of the window and switching sink base cabinet and dishwasher. If possible, put in a bigger window - though that could wait. Your sink would face a wall, but your prep space would have a window. Eventually a larger window could be put in.

With all the storage in this kitchen, I might take down most of the uppers on the sink wall and put in a vent over the range. If you eventually switch to stainless, you could do a pretty stainless vent. You can also do a white vent or get an unfinished wood hood in either maple or oak and stain it to match. Thant can be done, but it is a little more pricey then a standard vent. Reduced uppers and more windows is what I am seeing a lot in newer kitchens.

This is why we all say wait awhile. You need to have the correct layout before you spend lots of $$ on countertops.

Julie: Sorry you don't like the professional and experienced advice you received. You indicated that you will ignore all this. Your loss (both financial and design-wise) Since this appears to be your first and only post, I suggest you take a deep breath and ponder what all these posters have suggested and why you are totally resistant to the possibility that there might be a bit of good advice here. I'm sure the big box stores will have designers that will give you what you want which is "I'm right and I'm going to change things NOW!!!! Be sure to stomp your foot at the same time. It's for emphasis.

The first thing I would change, is the floors. The diagonal pattern makes me dizzy and the size looks dated to me. Find a granite that has some light tones and also warm wood tones in it for the counters. The quartz sample posted above is pretty too.

Julie, if you aren’t willing to hear advice, this really isn’t the right place for you. You don’t seem to even have acknowledged the basis for what people are saying to you. Heck, you didn’t even acknowledge the paint color suggestions you got, which is something you specifically asked for. Good luck finding an echo chamber.

Honey oak is orange, and there's only so far you can go in toning it down. DON'T use blue; blue is the complement of orange and just makes orange look oranger. The colors colors I've seen work best with it are black, white, and green. Black and white don't give the orange anything to fight with. Green I think works because we are used to seeing green and wood in nature, so our brains (my brain, anyway) sees the combo and thinks, "Oh, that makes sense." Back in the 90s, when builders installed a LOT of honey oak, they often paired it with beiges and other warm neutrals. How can you go wrong with neutrals, right? Hah! The result was often a mish-mash of clashing neutrals that didn't really work together.

We used to do a series of threads called Design Around This, where folks create and share mood boards on a chosen theme. One of the topics we did was "Keeping the Golden Oak." At one point most of the photos had disappeared (the thread was before Houzz took over and started hosting photos; the photos on the thread were third-party hosted and suffered from changes in policies from the third parties), but at least for now many if not all the photos seem to be back (fingers crossed).

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/design-around-9-keeping-the-golden-oak-dsvw-vd~2706140

You might look into gel staining the cabinets to change the tone of the wood, with the caveat that it looks like you have a lot of cabinets and it could be a big project. I don't think it would be any harder than painting would have been. I haven't done gel staining, but a number of posters here have done so successfully. A search of the site should turn up some of those threads. If that's something you might do, definitely stain the cabinets before changing the counter, etc. Or better yet, choose a stain that works with the existing counter and floor so you don't have to change anything else.

Congratulations on the new house!

I agree that the cabinets look like maple, not oak. That’s great news - less orange and less grain. You also have a good neutral floor and good lighting. To modernize things I agree that stainless appliances would help, as would getting rid of the large trim pieces over the windows and putting up a nice white roman shades, a creamy wall paint, and a cream paint on the island would go a LONG way. You could investigate getting new upper doors without arches, that’s also dating things. If you wanted to get fancy putting in a chandelier or pendants over the island would dress things up a bit.