Those are not oak cabinets. As I started reading this thread, I was starting to compose a reply -- "Am I the only one thinking those are not oak?" but then started running into a growing number of folks saying the same thing. They have a tight grain that looks like maple or possibly cherry, but the way they appear to have taken a stain makes me thing maple. Maple has a tendency to not accept stain evenly and you have some lighter and darker areas. I suspect they are not alder because that is a softer wood and I don't see any dings. They do appear to be in good shape. I'd work with them. As said above, if you have money for granite and tile floors, you have money for paint or stain. If you are willing to take the time to learn and DIY on the cabinets, you may be able to do both. You showed us a lot of the kitchen, but not two things I'd like to see -- your lighting and the cooktop. Do you have a vent hood? Does it exhaust or recirculate the air? I'm wondering if the cabinets have years of gunk built up on them. They look not only yellowed, but possibly dirty or dry. I would give them a really good cleaning for starters. You can't paint or stain until you do that anyway. Then I'd look at the lighting -- It looks like it may be adding to the yellow cast to everything. Any chance you have an older florescent fixture in the kitchen? The wood color looks better in the breakfast nook than it does in the kitchen. Changing or improving your lighting and cleaning your cabinets could make things look a lot different and neither of those should be budget busters. I would paint the walls with some color and then step back and take a look. If you want darker hardware, I'd buy new. It doesn't have to be expensive, but painting hardware is likely to be very temporary. So far, with DIY, we're looking at a few hundred dollars. I would like to remove the soffit in the kitchen itself if possible. If not, I'd paint it or give it a deep crown treatment to carry the cabinet line to the ceiling. You could also paint the ceiling crown to match the ceiling if it will not bother you that is will then be different that the rest of the house. I would not paint the window trim -- the window itself is stained wood and matches all your other windows. Once you get to that point, I would make a decision on painting, gel staining or stipping the cabinets and refinishing. Those are all things you can DIY, but paint and stripping will be time intensive -- which is why there is a lot of cost to them, especially if they need a lot of cleaning and prep work. You don't want any painter who isn't looking at good prep work because the job will not be good or last unless they do it right.

I'm enjoying churning over the challenge of your kitchen. I think I'm going through withdrawals now that our house is finishing up. This is an idea with the constraint of keeping plumbing in place and not removing walls. Here's what I did: 1) tried to get as much distance between the sink and the range as possible without moving utilities 2) Added a wall at the entrance to the family room that is the same width as the wall on the other side of the entrance; looking from the family room toward the kitchen the walls framing the opening should be equal widths. 3) Angled the island parallel with the wall with the existing laundry so it looks intentional and also create more comfortable counter seating for 3 kiddos. 4) To add storage,but not do anything that competes with the ceiling transition to the morning room, I added base cabinets to the morning room side of the kitchen proper. It's essentially a big peninsula with no seating. 5) Be mindful of Ice-Water-Stone-Fire. The mantra that has changed the way I will evaluate kitchens forevermore :-) I'm going to see if I can plug this into the IKEA planner quickly

Hi all! Thanks in advance for your thoughts! I have designed my kitchen and have until Friday to make any changes. I am extremely happy with it overall..I like the angles and I have really thought out every drawer and door and what I will put in them. I have a few things I would like to make better or explore before I make this final... 1) My main concern is the tall cabinet to the left of the sink. It will have an extended stile on it of 1 1/2" to the left (against the wall) but with the door opening into the window, and it being the main place we store our food, I worry that the kids will be banging the door against the window trim...a lot. We need a tall cabinet for food as we have no space for a walk in pantry....maybe the stile just needs to be wider..? 2) Lighting above the island...with the glass cabinet above the penninsula, pendant lighting will not work there...so looking for some suggestions on a surface type mount fixture that will work in the space...(I have some very pretty dishes I inherited that I am wanting to display and I like that in this location you will be able to see them from almost anywhere downstairs..we have a very open floor plan). 3) We will be installing laminate countertops because of budget and they come max 144"...the sink wall is a little over a foot beyond that (and I'd prefer no seem because I like the more granite looking types of colors). 4) I like where the appliances are..I don't want to move the ref to another wall (I like how it is a little hidden from the main site line. I do really like the angles, I think it really helps open the sort of "galley" feel that it has. The colors in the drawing are what they will be (or very close). I am really looking for some simple changes as I don't want to change around the whole design. Also, the pole has to stay! ..so it needs to work where it is ;-) I appreciate your comments and thank you for your time in helping me out! :-)

He asked me to look at his and let him know any changes or plants I wanted to include so I really appreciate your help and input. I like the bright and tight laurel variety and the camellias too. I’m not a fan of the mugo pines, or knockout roses. I have heard they have a disease that is really a problem. I definitely agree that the sizing and scale makes all the difference in the presentation, so thanks so much. Can’t wait to visit the nursery and see what we end up with on this project.