Thank you for all of your comments and compliments... You have reminded me not to rush into changing things. The house has alot of trim work throughout, including on the dining room ceiling, dining room walls, living room, windows, entry/foyer, doorways, etc...In those areas, all the trim has been painted white, but it appears to be the same style and type as what's in the kitchen/family room. I guess I was thinking that the rest of the trim work should be white too. But, I see now that it doesn't have to match and will leave a bit of character to the family room! The wood for the built-ins do appear to be an upgrade over the kitchen cabinets. As much as I love the look of all white trim, the family room has such a warm feeling, as is, so I will probably just keep any furniture in the room light for contrast and accent with color. I will definitely not rush to change to quickly! Some of our main reasons for choosing the new home is because it was custom built, is loaded with trim work and moldings and is in an older neighborhood with lots of large trees and yards. Of course, there is also plenty of shiny brass in all of the bathrooms, door handles and foyer lighting that we will be busy replacing. And, the landscaping needs some updating from the overly manicured large bushes surrounding the front entryway of the home. I may have trouble with interior design/decor, but I am in my element with landscaping and yard work! I appreciate all the comments about the kitchen...My husband and I have done a lot of work ourselves in our current home. He does most of our home repairs too; he hates hiring out! Life has gotten extremely hectic these days, so we have less time for DIY work like the time it would take to do paint the cabinets. But, I think we can easily handle the backsplash and modifying the cabinets with beadboard on the sides, but will find someone for counters/sink and help with whatever we do to the cabinets. It sounds like if we have to hire someone to paint the cabinets, it might put us way over our current budget. While I still love my inspiration kitchen photo, I may entertain the idea of darkening the stain/refacing the existing cabinets, possibly painting the center island as one of you mentioned and updating the counters, sink and adding backsplash and other details. This would buy us time (and save us money), until we can afford to get the wood floors we want and the painting of the cabinets the way GreenDay detailed. I appreciate all the advice.

It's not dated, it's just that they(whoever they are-the previous owners?) chose wrong materials to go with these cabinets. Thus the feeling something's off. No cohesion between the styles gives that feeling of "something's off" Modern cabinets would look better with mitered countertops(even though the color itself works I believe), and the backsplash tile doesn't support this modern streamlined aesthetic of cabinets at all either. Actually the tile is the biggest offender here. Texture is wrong..they kept the color scheme in mind, but cohesiveness doesn't depend on colors only. Each material signals something to us..and how it dealt with signals something. And here every element signals different things. So I'd echo others-the cabinets are good..they're paired with wrong choices. If you're going to change the floor anyway-consider what it's going to be and then think how to make the countertops work, and definitely change the backsplash. Cabinets are just right. This is the perfect design illustration of a phrase "it's not you, it's me"))

Cool, Anglophilia. I didn't get a KD for my new kitchen because I (like you) didn't trust HD or other big boxes on doing it, and nor did I seem (as far as I know/knew) to have a KD in this area not associated with a line or so of products that I'd be forced into choosing from. Instead, I basically utilized the resources here at the Kitchen Forum to hone down some of my thought processes, and they helped me make a better kitchen than I would otherwise have created on my own. (Under counter drawers; ice, water, stone, fire; landing spot before fridge, induction range, a prep sink, even the brand of sink I went with... a few other things like the entry to the pantry...) Yes, I didn't take every bit of advice, but I certainly appreciated it all. If I knew of a reliable KD in my area who I knew up front (this is hard to determine...) wasn't promoting his or her own line, I may have considered. And again, as long as I have the choice to do certain specific elements to my own needs, after fully considering suggestions I will usually take, a KD could be very useful. EDIT: As of this date, are there things I wish I had done that I neglected? No. Well, discounting the things the GC didn't do that I requested, but I'm so done with 98% of the build (most right but ... ) that I no longer care about those little specific things... place for vertical pans... the amount of drawers vs cabs I originally specified... I gotta remain focused elsewhere.

We also purchased a custom 1990's home last year -- we are still unpacking! Our single-story house has 12' ceilings in the 'public' rooms, no crown molding, and shiny brass "gold" metal hanging lamps and accents throughout. I hated the brass and before ever spending a night in the house, I spent $2000 (on a good sale!) on chandeliers and lamps in satin nickel. Ten months later, those light fixtures are still in their boxes in the garage! Some of the "gold" is going to be too costly and fussy to replace, so now I'm thinking I only want to replace the lamps that don't suit our uses of specific rooms, and to go with maybe antique brass to blend with the polished items. That doesn't apply to your situation, except to validate the people who said wait and see! Here's what *I* see: (1) The crown molding is pressing everything down! I would paint it all the color of the wall beneath, to raise the ceilings visually. That means DON'T paint the crown molding in the all-wood library upstairs. (2) Leave the mullions/grills off the windows; don't paint the rest of the oak until you live with it some months. Adding a (3) after looking at the photos some more: Go ahead and paint the oak around the fireplace, it is that awful. Are those DOILIES??? Paint it the color of the wall and hope it disappears into it, until you find a picture somewhere of what you do want after living with it. Maybe just the marble/stone part and some big art or textile above? Oh, and if you choose to paint before moving in, in the previous house we re-did we used Benjamin Moore's Brandy Cream OC-4 on all the walls (and crown molding, and chair-rails in a couple rooms). Actually it was Sherwin Williams paint made to match OC-4, and it acted like a "full spectrum" paint, slightly changing according to the lighting... which would be wonderful with the big windows!