Thanks so much for all the great ideas and opinions. Here is a little more info. It's actually all one piece and not a top and bottom and there were never doors on it. There is a label somewhere that says "True Grand Rapids-Cabinet Making Certified" although they advertised it as being in excellent condition it's definitely not. I like the examples that were posted and my family room has a side table and coffee table that are distressed off white (Broyhill Attic Heirloom series) but the wall behind it will be a tan color when the drywall is finished in a week or two, the floor it will sit on will be honey oak and the chairs around the table are black. My table actually matches the color of the piece now but I always have a table cloth on it these days (I've got 4 kids). I've kicked around the idea of going barn red but either black, off white, or red, I'm just not sure the formal piece will look right going rustic although some of the examples above have that same formal look and they painted up very nice. I'll try to post pictures of the surroundings tomorrow. Thanks again for the ideas and opinions.

fwiw, here's our pantry. It's not exactly what you're looking for, but maybe seeing examples of can storage is helpful. Our roll outs are rated for 100 #. Our cabinet is 36" wide but it's inset so the rollouts boxes are only about 26" wide. We have drawers in the bottom section--they are great for bagged items and pasta boxes. Our upper shelves are deep and I keep unopened boxes of cereals and crackers behind the opened boxes. Our canned items are organized so that items in the same category are grouped together...beans, soups, fruits, tomatoes, veggies. Duplicate cans are stacked on top of each other--that way I know what's in the bottom can even if I can't see the label. Cans falling off haven't been a problem. It happens rarely (maybe 6 times over 5 1/2 years), but when it does, retrieving the can isn't a problem. Only perimeter cans have fallen off--so one easy solution would be to not stack the cans around the edges of the box (or only stacking ones that seat well together.) Honeychurch's cans aren't packed in which makes reading the labels easy. If I had cans on a lower roll out I would probably have to label the tops with a Sharpie so that I could identify them when looking down on them. I would love to get into the habit of dating cans so that I would use the oldest first. Having more incentive to pick up a Sharpie would be a helpful thing for me. I love having a kitchen with a variety of storage options. Good luck!

Okay...I've finally made some progress! Here are the after and before shots: I am pretty happy with the color. I have a bit more detail work to do but I've gotten a lot of the surfaces down to bare wood because most of the reddish brown color came up with the blue. I left patches of the other colors near the bottom on the sides for interest & because that's where there is water damage & the wood is darker anyway. Two questions: That water damage gives off a mildewy smell. What can I do to get rid of that? Finishing: What do I do now? The wood is dry and very soft. I know I need to protect it. I did not strip the inside paint yet. It was too hard to do inside the house. I'll need to lay it down outside if I want to pursue it, but I was thinking I'd just repaint. Should I use oil based paint? What should I for the bare wood? I rather like the natural color and wouldn't want much sheen. Do I just hand wax it? Shellac? Polyurethane? Should I seal the rough wood on the back and bottom to help the smell? Thanks for your help! Judy

I can't help with the language (seems to me you've done just fine here anyway) but I would suggest that you get the doors painted along with the cabinet, even if you plan to remove them. And maybe pick up enough of the new hardware to add them back, just so that you can. I recently switched from a hutch with doors to a hutch without doors, and pretty promptly switched back - the dust accumulation was just over the top. Our house does seem to be a dust factory, though; maybe yours isn't. Even if you like the cabinet open, if you ever sell it, it might be good to have matching doors. Karin L