Looks like a useful piece. My mother hated oak and had an oak piece refinished and stained a light walnut color. Wouldn't try staining it myself though, but you might be more daring than I.

I would totally paint it an accent color! Make it look deliberate :)

I don't mind that piece and it isn't obviously out of place when I look at the pictures. Although that may be different in real life.

If you want to continue using it as a bar I'd consider having a piece of marble or some other stone (could be quartz as well) so that it deliberately looks different.

You could consider painting it if the idea of sanding it and trying to refinish it is more than you bargain for. It could be painted almost any colour. My own preference especially since you mention your new appliances will be dark coloured, would be to make it a dark colour - charcoal or something along those lines and then make the top something that is or looks like soapstone. Maybe you need to think about whether you need it to blend in with your planned new counter, or whether you want it to be deliberately different. If you want it to blend then have a piece of the new counter cut to fit it and paint the wood a coordinating colour.

I think a pretty accent color is the way to go! Good luck.

I would do exactly what Nancy suggested. Remove the wall cabinet and reuse both cabinets elsewhere. Replace with a nice primitive pantry or jelly cupboard.

IMO, that oak cabinet is too similar in styling to the kitchen cabinets to ever really 'work' in the room. It is a great useful cabinet so I would put it in service somewhere else in the house.

If you are going to paint the cabinet, you should give it a sanding for sure and a coat of primer. I'm no expert on paints but I know many people like the Chalk paints and milk paints. You might look into those products to see what appeals to you. One brand that seems popular is Annie Sloan paint.

Or drop by your paint store - I find Benjamin Moore dealers to be very helpful, and they can advise on paint that would be appropriate for your needs.

Attaching a stone top....hmmmm that's a good question. If you aren't terribly in love with the cabinet itself then have the stone shop advise on some type of construction adhesive that will work to hold it permanently in place. Otherwise if you want it to be removable, I think I'd put some non-slip type feet (those little rubber feet things, or silicon sticky tab thingies so that things don't slip around) on the bottom and just set it on top of the cabinet.

If the upper cabinet doesn't really work for you.....you could get stone shelves cut to match the top you choose and have it be completely different from the rest of the kitchen. Brackets like this could hold a slab of stone and look really beautiful. They come in other finishes too.

Have a look at that site for some more inspiration photos of those and similar brackets.

No chalk paint for hard-working cabinets.

Expect to strip any finish, then sand, clean with TSP, sand some more, prime, and paint. Will want all the pieces taken apart, and ideal would to be spray on the final paint, but brush + roller can work out. I'd go bright like a medium red or an apple green...

Not sure if this helps you visualize. (I'm in the camp that would never have noticed this cabinet mismatch...)

If you go the paint route, Clean them very well. Sand them very well. Prime them with a good quality bonding primer, and paint them with paint that is for cabinets. Be aware, you have to wait a bit between paint coats, the can will tell you how many hours, and it also takes a while before it will be fully cured.