I think it's a shame too.

It's beautiful as is, once you paint them the harmony in the room is lost

Third vote to ignore your realtor.

Your real estate agent is a doing not only you, but the potential future buyer, a disservice by suggesting that you paint these cabinets. I’d never pay a premium for site-painted cabinets.

the white looks horrible..especially the tall piece between the windows.

Those are too nice of cabinets to paint. I say that as someone who has painted cabinets. The new owner can decide if they want to do redo anything. I don't care for the mock up picture either and I can't imagine someone turning down what looks to be a very nice kitchen as is.

NO NO NO NO NO PAINTING!!!

Ok, got that off my chest, feeling better now. :)

Please don't paint those cabinets, let the buyer decide what they'd like to do. Don't take away the opportunity to own that kitchen as is, it's lovely.

It’s not that white doesn’t look good (I personally love white kitchens and am not opposed to painting wood — even antiques!), it’s that the quality of the finish will most likely suck, and will start chipping/peeling in no time. Now if these were circa 1987, country-kitchen, orange-y oak cabs with partial-overlay, cathedral doors, then that’d be a different story! If the agent is itching to spend $5-$10k of your hard-earned money to make the kitchen more “current,” how about replacing the sink with an apron-front model, and getting an awesome new faucet — maybe even add a prep sink in the island? At least those are some changes that make the kitchen better!

I would get a new realtor before I'd paint those cabinets. The mock-up picture confirms it. If a buyer wants them painted, offer a credit so they can pick the color.

These are too nice to mess with them. I agree they're lovely. Tell your realtor wood stain is making a comeback, if she's so much into "current" vs "beautiful and appropriate to the house" . Ah, and add that sage green is the new gray. And I'm not joking by the way.

Plenty of buyers will be able to appreciate your very nice cabinets. The mockup confirms why you shouldn't listen to her/him.

Fire your realtor. Those are gorgeous cabinets and they look way worse white. Surely there are buyers in your area that haven't been completely brainwashed by HGTV.

I have some some family friends who put their mid seven figure high-end house on the market, and their realtor told them to paint the cabinets to make the kitchen "current". Cabinets were solid mahogany and exquisitely crafted. They balked, of course, and did not paint the cabinets. House still sold just fine.

During our house hunt, we encountered a huge old foursquare with its orignal interior finishes and stained glass. We met the owner, who candidly told us he'd fired his previous two agents because they kept telling him to ruin his house by painting all the trim white and the walls gray. House would have looked cheap and terrible if he'd listened to them. Sometimes realtors have super bad advice.

Hopefully you haven't signed a contract with that realtor, if not yet, I'd look for a new one. What I would do, is this: add runners along the cabinets, to visually separate the wood floor from the wooden cabinets. That will make your cabinetry look even better. Plus, what A Foster says above, improve the shape of your island. But that's it. Nothing else is needed.

(And that from a person who always had and always will have white kitchen cabinetry.)

The gray-blue wall color is just wrong with the olive green back splash.

I can tell you for the last 4 months the number of inquiries about which white for cabinets has plummeted in my inbox.

What's hot is which white or off-white will work with my wood tone cabinets.

My advice is if you're going to invest any $$ get rid of the olive green back splash.

It will cost a FRACTION of what it's going to take to paint all those cabinets. Seriously, to paint those cabinets is going to take thousands of dollars and weeks - not days.

You can have the back splash done in a couple days for maybe $1200 to $2000. Choose a plain, off white tile. Shape doesn't matter can be a brick, diamond, arabesque, etc. as long as it's plain and a light, airy, creamy off-white - make sure it works with the counter top.

Choose the back splash tile first.

Take a tile to the paint store and tell them you need a color to match the tile.

Repaint the kitchen in the same light, airy, creamy off-white.

The existing white trim will be fine as is.

The window treatments will be fine as is.

The island is fine as is - have a feeling the perspective in skewed due to the angle of the photo and I bet it's not nearly as weird IRL.

I agree with the other posters here. I would look into changing the backsplash to something lighter (more in the white/cream color) and changing the counter as well if you want to spend big bucks. If you changed the counter I'd look for a lighter granite or quartz material (I would love to see Taj Mahal quartzite here, but doubt you would recoup that on resale).

The cabinets are lovely as is. Buyers in my area would see that, I hope buyers in your area see that, too!

I wouldn't even change the backsplash - it's not the backsplash du jour, but it's still nice and in good condition. Changing it is also a subjective move that preaumes to make design choices for the buyer and may or may not pay off.

The only thing I'd think about doing is painting the kitchen walls a nice bone white (like Lori said). Will look good with both the wood cabinets and the backsplash, and will be super easy for a buyer to paint over if they want some other color. And way cheaper for you.

Also, white walls will give the house distinction. There's a drinking game you can play with your local real estate listings - find houses with not-gray walls. You'll be stone cold sober by the end. Basically, if you have not-gray walls and wood cabinets, buyers will remember your house as the one with the pretty cabinets and not-gray walls rather than "third house we saw today, but I'm mixing it up with house #2 because they both had gray walls and white cabinets".

The cabinets are gorgeous. I'm with the others that said I would fire your realtor before I sunk thousands into painting those beautiful cabinets. When we were house hunting if I had seen this kitchen I would have been beyond thrilled. Paint the walls and change the backsplash as others have also said - I'm not even sure you have to change the backsplash, but if you feel like you have to do something, that is what I would do.

I'm not even sure you have to change the backsplash, but if you feel like you have to do something, that is what I would do.

Exactly. People will either love that green or they're gonna hate it - there will be no in between.

I would just do the painting that queenvictorian suggests. Cover that grey (?) with a soft white and be done. If you want to spend some money (lol), change the top of the island to a rectangle. I wouldn't do anything else. While I don't love the backsplash tiles, I do like the green, and that's easy enough for a new owner to change if they want. It's really a beautiful kitchen as-is.

If I was a buyer I would be suspicious of the durability of a new paint job on previously finished cabinets. I see painted over previously finished cabinets as a way to extend the life of the cabinets while saving up for a new kitchen - buys time but they usually require touch ups, and 5 to 10 years down the road can look a little sad.

If some of the cabinets are showing wear, see if you can get a refinisher to touch up those areas. My mother and sister did that - cabinets look great several years later and it was not costly like a total paint job.

This is my wood kitchens idea book. It has both new and older, refreshed kitchens if you feel the need to refresh at all.

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

If I bought your house the only change I would make to the kitchen would be a cream subway tile backslash - if that would work with the counters. I would not see the green as deal breaker because changing out a backsplash is not super expensive. You might not want to bother with it since a buyer can do that without breaking the bank.

OMG, your realtor is an idiot. The cabinets are really, really nice. Some people will like the backsplash (I do) and olthers won't, but that is so easy to change. Ditto what all the others said about paint and the major reasons not to do it.

Any realtor, that told me I had to paint those gorgeous cabinets, would be fired instantly. Thats ridiculous. If your buyers want them painted, let them paint them themselves,but, chances are, they will think they are gorgeous the way they are. I like painted cabinets, and think there is a time, they need repainting, but, yours certainly dont. Please do not listen to that realtor.