For starters I would ask for your money back. His problems ( wife ) cannot translate into yours. I'm a bit confused about the color, your saying they are a "shade to dark" but calling them bright. If they are to dark you cannot lighten them. If they were to light then MAYBE you could do something, but not with any sort of confidense that the new finish will adhere to what he has already applied. There is another thread a few post down that basically has the same problem. To do it correctly , you need to start over . Strip, sand, stain, and finish. I'm happy to look at the pix for you or you can post them here.

Finally made a decision! Had a color consultant from the painting company come out and look at paint samples and tile. Decided an off-white cabinet vs white would look best based on the rest of the kitchen and house. Picked the tile we liked best and the BM Maritime White we originally picked for cabinets and walls. We'll use the same white trim I have in the rest of the house. There's enough of a contrast where it looks good and that's what I've done with the rest of the house --and consistent with the decor style. My 1926 house has a lot of nice moldings, large baseboards, and trim and we show it off!

I think you should try painting the walls a color first because I think that makes a huge impact. We are building a house in a subdivision so color choices are limited. I told our sales lady that I wanted white cabinets. She, and the other salesman, warned me that they had a blue cast to them. They kept trying to talk me into the cream but I want white. They had me go look at a house that had them with the builder’s Dover White walls. The cabinets looked blue! But I had no other options for white so decided to get them anyway hoping wall paint would help. When we went to the design center to officially pick them they didn’t look blue at all. They were the perfect white! I’ve been worried that the sample wasn’t actually the same color and they’d still be blue. Last week my sales lady got me a scrap of trim to take to pick out my granite. No blue! So, my point is, it’s the stupid wall paint that makes them look blue. So I will have to paint my walls so my cabinets look good. Here’s a kitchen we looked at (not our floor plan). The cabinets look like the color from a spray paint can. Their counters don’t help either.

We moved into our forever home last year. The kitchen and bath cabinets and layouts were the one of the things that didn't really work for us. the first thing we did was change the cabinet hardware and wall colors in the whole house. First step in making it better. We now like the kitchen layout and cabinets, they grew on us. The added expense of changing everything wasn't worth it to us. And we are okay with that. Just saying this to be another voice to live with it for awhile. Put the color you love on the wall instead of the cabinets and decorate with it. If you decide in a while you need to change the expensive things, you will have had time to figure out what works and what doesn't in its current layout. And already have the things to coordonate with it. I think the flooring and countertop would look nice with navy walls and copper accents. I would forget the sink. but it is your house. do what will make you happy. We still plan on changing the master bath/closet/laundry area of our home. But adding a garage comes before that. Priorities. Have fun making your new house your home.