I think that your cabinets are very nice! What are your plans for the flooring? I would start there with some light colored hardwood throughout the space. To my eyes, the current white tile is going to hold your kitchen back. As much as I prefer white appliances, I think that they do not work with your cabinets.

Painting cabinets is not always the best " update' , as evidenced by the example above. Not every after is better than the before!

I would go with a lighter, neutral countertop/backsplash...and no gray anything.

Your kitchen can be so much more than the ubiquitous gray/white everything rooms that we are seeing.

grapefruit, you think this before is 'Better' than the after?? wow I think it's horrible looking.

and apparently everyone has diff opinions. The OP asked about painting, asked about blues and said she likes cooler tones as opposed to warmer tones.

I advised her that her cabs weren't in horrible shape. they look like the chinese made and cost about 3K.

I like to give people options which is why I posted the blue tones she asked about.

however, I do agree about the floor tiles.

Mia, either way, you'll prob want to change the countertops. since the pre-fab version is cost effective, why don't you do that first and see if it solves your problem? If not, you could always paint later.

You have Ikea Akurum cabinets with Adel Medium Brown fronts. Ikea sold them around 5-10 years ago. It looks owner designed because they didn't use any fillers or cover panels, that's why the exposed cabinets above the range and the sink are the wrong finish.

The first thing I would do with the cabinets is swap the sink and the dishwasher locations. Your kitchen will function much better for you if you have more counter space between your sink-fridge and getting the dishwasher out of the corner will make it easier to put dishes away in those drawers. Before poo pooing this suggestion, please get a bid. I think the cost to move that plumbing two feet would have a huge benefit.

All the cabinets are modular and easy to move around--those upper cabinets are on a rail system. Because they're easily rearranged, you should redo the flooring first so you can move out the cabinets.

Semi custom cabinet makers like Semi-Handmade sell replacement fronts for these cabinets. Here's a link to their prices https://www.semihandmade.com/collections/akurum-doors I have no idea how the price compares to hiring someone to paint. Personally, I'd try painting the fronts (not the boxes!) myself for the short term fix and know that I may eventually buy replacements.

There should have been cover panels on each side of the exhaust hood. As is, you can't add them because they'd hang over the range and be considered a fire hazard. You'd have to ask SemiHandmade how to work around that with a veneer or paint.

I would prioritize floors, plumbing, layout, new fronts, new appliances, quartz counters in that order. If you can't afford the counters right away, the Ikea as-is section is a good source for cheap temporary counters that don't have that goofy integrated backsplash.

if those are Ikea (but they also look like the Chinese stuff that flooded the market 5-8 years ago) then look to see if you can reface them. I just saw some really nice door and drawer fronts that Ikea came out with in a modern style.

can we see a pic from the other direction? if you could build out a peninsula w/a small hangover for seating, I think it would really make an impact.

to change the flooring wouldn't be that much if you're willing to do the demo.

for appliances, check out craigslist. you can find new or almost new, SS for a good price.

Beth - they are what I said they are.

Akurum was discontinued in 2015 and Ikea Sektion is totally different dimensions. That is why replacement fronts need to come from a different company. As recommended.

For inspiration, here's an example of an Adel Medium Brown kitchen getting painted and updated. https://placeofmytaste.com/paint-kitchen-cabinets/

Thank you so much for both your inputs!

We do want to change the flooring to hardwood but since we will be doing the living, dining and kitchen together, we are not quite sure when that might be. It will depend on how the improvements in the rest of the house are going.

Same for the appliances, we want to upgrade to stainless steel eventually but will have to live with these for now.

We will have to upgrade the kitchen in phases over time. The transition will be tricky though, as far as choosing a palette goes.

My thought of going with white quartz countertops was to keep our options open; whether we paint our cabinets or not. How do I tell if the cabinets are wood or laminate? The doors looked very smooth, so I wasn’t sure.

It's best to do countertops last. There's no going back on floor or plumbing or layout after the counters are in. Make things easy on yourself and do the floors first. In the meantime, replace the counters with a prefab laminate that you like, something near-white so that it relates nicely to the appliances.

https://www.ikeaddict.com/ikeapedia/en/Product/50022716/us-en/adel-door-medium-brown/Entry/

The link describes the fronts:

Frame: Solid birch, Stain, Clear acrylic lacquer

Door panel: Particleboard, Birch veneer, Stain, Clear acrylic lacquer

Mia, I just did a complete do over in my own kitchen. had the cabs painted. while they were at the shop I demo'ed the granite countertops. I also demoed the floor. painters came over and sprayed the base cabinets (just the skeleton). Because of this, I recommend you get this done before flooring. I had my countertops put on after the cabs were done, but the guys were careful not to bang up against the cabinets.

If you do the floors first, you'll have to live with them covered w/heavy rosin paper and then plastic while they spray.

As for countertops, I mentioned pre-fab since they will save you a few thousand.

Ditto for craigslist. look on there for a SS dishwasher and stove. and fridge. When we redid our rental property, I got all brand new appliances off of there for a song. some were floor models, the oven had a dent on the side that you could never see.

If you're doing hardwood throughout the house, I'm sure whatever you pick will go with whatever color you choose.

The link bens listed to show a before/after for your cabinets is really nice

Another option is butcher block. Floor and Decor has butcher block countertops for a good price.

if I owned this property I would be looking for a stainless appliance package. the stainless French door fridge would be a huge and probably number one improvement if I were to take residence here. the white fridge shown looks undersized and even so, lacks clearance at all. Do some measuring after you browse a standard French door fridge as they vary from 29 to 30 or even 31 inches and allow even a bit of space on the right. I would pull out the bottom cabinets on sink wall , probably reverse the sink and dishwasher position and probably end up with a smaller cab between dishwasher and fridge....you could get an open shelf base cab there if you cant source the same door. The wall cabs above and around fridge would get the same juggling to get the new fridge situated. If you can't rearrange what you have on the walls then take one or two down and use open shelving . With a wood table and chairs, mats on the floor and stainless appliances the white tile floor and existing cabinets would be something i'd probably leave as is. A light fixture over the small table , new counter and backsplash would breathe new life as far as aesthetics.

Thank you so much for the great ideas Beth, bens and herbflavor! I feel like I have some direction now. I think replacing the countertop and backsplash will be the first order and I’ll look into stainless steel packages. Is it a bad idea to get a top freezer Stainless steel refrigerator that fits into the existing space? I feel like moving cabinets around will be more work than we can take on right now.

Also thank you so much for helping me figure out the cabinets. I was able to find many more kitchen ideas based on medium-brown Adel ikea doors. One project I came across had dual tone brown and white cabinets.

https://www.houzz.com/hznb/photos/northwest-dc-townhouse-transitional-kitchen-dc-metro-phvw-vp~9086575

What are your thoughts on something like this? Or will this look dated fairly quickly?

someone will have to address that tight fridge spot. If you want to leave it just don't spend hugely on a new model. You can probably find apartment sized stainless unit. May not be French doors. Top freezer, traditional...can be found rather inexpensively if that's what you want.

I'm following b/c I have the same Ikea cabinets & am just a little sad they look like cheap Chinese stuff -- lol. I don't love them (previous owners put them in) but I will say, they take a beating & still look great & function well 10+ years later. If budget is a concern I'd keep the cabinets (without painting), and update the floor, counter, back-splash & paint.

Paula - I had Adel White cabinets in our last house for about 7 years and they looked brand new when we sold--and that was after using them hard. They're great cabinets, but I agree that the stain is dated and are basically the opposite of all the greyed out tones available today.

I agree with whomever said to do the floors first. If that floor goes under the cabinets, then you will either need to cut the floor along the cabinets and leave the flooring in place under the cabinets or you'll need to remove the cabinets to remove the floor. If you need to remove the cabinets to remove the floor then you will likely be breaking the countertops and back splash.

It should be easy to check if the flooring is underneath the cabinets as the IKEA toe kicks are fairly easy to pop on and off. Then decide how you want the floor removal to be done. If you cut the flooring and leave it under the cabinets then you have 2 options. Make sure your flooring is of the same height that you put in and you can hide it behind the toe kicks, or you add the flooring up to the toe kicks and add shoe molding along the floor and toe kick.

If you decide to keep the current configuration of cabinets and cut the floor if it runs underneath then you can switch the counter and backsplash. But make this decision first before you switch the counters and backsplash.

I think I would look at a quote to get it painted, but also look at semi-handmade and their akurum sized doors. It should be a fairly easy swap to switch the hinges and put new doors on. The toe kick might be the harder part of you're not handy as you'll need to cut it to the correct length to put it on. Should be easy on their website with the above link to price it out as well.

The cabinets look great and show far less dirt and grime than white cabinets do. We are planning to use the new IKEA Sextion version of this door (Grimslov brown - they recently changed to a darker brown vs their previous reddish brown).

That being said, I'd focus on a nice white quartz countertop, backsplash, wall paint, flooring and appliances first. You can get replacement doors for the Akrum system so I'd let that be my last ditch effort.

WAIT! Do not get countertop on there yet. Your fridge spacing is very tight. See if you can buy a fridge that will fit first. There's not many fridges that will fit there.

Since you do not like cabinets & fridge is tight. New cabinets later to get more room for fridge & get a better layout. There's not that many cabinets so it would not cost too much. If doing floors do it all. Live with it now until you can get it done correctly.

Example this new fridge could not open either way.

Other fridges where door could not open fully& drawers could not be pulled out.

You could pull fridge door hinges past wall or cut back wall, but that is not ideal.

artist is right. that's exactly what we had to do with our new fridge (which was much smaller than the old fridge! Couldn't believe the left door wouldn't open even half way). we had a wall exactly like the one she pictured. cut it back 6 inches.

Thank you!! That’s some great advice. I hadn’t even been thinking about the refrigerator fitting in the space. It looks like I’ll definitely need to measure that space first.

I forgot to mention I am in Toronto. So unfortunately Semi Handmade doors are out since they don’t ship to Canada. Based on all the great advice on this thread, it looks like refrigerator and countertops might be the first steps. I guess I can’t replace the counters till we make space for the refrigerator.

I definitely don’t think we will be replacing the cabinets completely or significantly changing the kitchen layout here. This is a starter home that we will probably outgrow in a few years, so I am not sure if I can justify the cost of a complete rehaul.

If I were to do this without redesigning the layout completely; i.e. just remove the cabinets above and around the fridge or replace with open shelving as @herbkitchen suggested, what kind of costs would I be looking at?

This is what I have so far in the order of priorities:

1. Create space for a new refrigerator

2. Countertops and backsplash

3. Paint walls and replace lighting

4. Flooring (without replacing under cabinets)

5. Replace / paint cabinet doors if needed

Does this order make sense?

If you swap the dishwasher and the sink, losing the 12" base, you'll have a better layout and room for a nice fridge. Again, don't disregard moving the sink until you get a bid. I think it's a worthwhile consideration.

Hi, Mia,

That's a much better plan.

Patient pays when it comes to remodels. A total plan in order will save a lot of $ when done in right order.

If it were me this would be my goal. To get a nice kitchen I can enjoy which will still look nice later when I sell it. The best time to remodel a kitchen to get the most return on the $ is 5-7 years before selling. The reason why, is a kitchen remodel just before resale rarely gets their investment back in full. So, years used & enjoyed needs to be calculated in the value. Get quality materials that will still look nice & up to date several years later. An out dated kitchen will get lower offers.

Look on Zillow or houses similar to yours in your neighborhood with photos of kitchens & make an excel sheet of houses that sold with out dated kitchens & houses that sold with new kitchens. Subtract that number will help show how much a kitchen remodel will return on investment. Then get quotes for doing a total remodel. Subtract that number from investment return to see how much it will cost for getting a kitchen you enjoy now.

How to get kitchen remodel quotes.

Get a contractor or 2 to quote the job.

Get a quote to act like your own GC with following steps.

Shop around for new appliances that will all match. Get specs & manuals. The fridge spacing will probably have to be adjusted before it will fit. So, wait until you have a plan for the cabinet adjustment. This will help you with next step. Do not buy until you have a future cabinet layout plan. Next step..

measures the walls cabinets are on & get 3-4 quote on cabinets. RTA (Ready to assemble) cabinets with wood of solid MDF doors, IKEA, & 2 local cabinet companies & 1 custom cabinet company. Avoid thermafoil. You want to be able to paint or touch up later when staging for resale.

Get countertop quotes.

Get floor quotes.

Whatever you want to do.

Install quotes for all.

Find out exactly how much everything will cost to weigh out the options & compare your kitchen sale info you researched on.

You may find out you can afford to do it.

Or you may find out to wait a year or so you can do it.

Information is power & will help you save $ in the long run.

I definitely would not put new counters on cabinets you really do not like. Counters are $$$. If you must get new counters now, then formica to save up for better cabinets that deserve $$$ counters on them.

I truly think your kitchen looks fine enough for now to get through until you can get what you truly want, not just part of you want.

Hope that helps you may the best decision for you & your $. Would be extra awesome if you find out you can get your new kitchen sooner than later:)

sounds like it might be best for someone to come out and help you plan which project to do first. You wouldn't want to/need to redo work because you didn't think about the timing and how one project would influence the next. Feel free to reach out if there is anything we could help with.

Remodeling Home Advisors

Phone: 818-514-5262