Also the whole house is painted this cream color so not sure where to stop/start it.

1) Add cabinet hardware.

Best wishes on your refresh!

Not a Pro.

I love @Beth H. : ideas! they are great.

If you honestly don't want to put that much $$$ into the space. I would consider changing your paint color on the walls and adding some beautiful hardware to those cabinets. That would make a big impact.

Updating your light fixture, Getting rid of all the faux plants and flowers and pairing down your accessories would be a good start. A great piece of art above the fireplace, would add a lot of life to the room. Move the mirror to another wall. She has some great pieces of glass vases. They should be highlighted.

I can't see the rest of the room to offer more advice.

I know you said she want's to update the kitchen, but this is an open space and when you update one, you need to update the adjoining room, for that feel good moment :-)

I also agree with everything Beth said. sorry but the countertop color and shape is so dated, painting the cabinets is not really going to update the kitchen.

Thank you for the suggestions. I will pass them on. Would a clear varnish be the best option? She said there is slight lightening in some parts so it’s needs to be varnished/stained.

There is a tiny bit of the beige of the flooring in the granite, so it’s not a bad combination. The cabinetry appears to be in very good condition. Replacing the flooring would be a big project. Painting or staining the cabinetry would be quite expensive. I don’t care for black appliances, but if they are in good working condition, I would keep them.
I see no drawer knobs or pulls, so you could add some nice hardware.
That leaves the backsplash and paint color for another possible update. The backsplash clashes with the wall color, and it doesn’t reach the upper cabinets. You could consider doing a new full backsplash which matches the white in the counter material. Then you could paint the walls to match the backsplash. You could also paint the island the new white color if desired.

you mean have someone come in and redo the top coat on all of the cabinets? That would be a clear coat. And the older top coat would still need to be lightly sanded so that the newer clear coat could go on evenly.

You can't just put on new stain. You have to strip everything off the wood and start over from scratch w/raw wood. A clear coat top coat won't let another stain color absorb. So that would have to be removed. Then if you just did a new stain over the old stain color, you'd get blotchy spots and uneven coloring. That's why I said staining it new is just as much work/cost as painting.

Those cabinets really would look nice painted. (professionally painted by a cabinet painter, not a house painter. a house painter will give you a lower estimate because they aren't going to do all of the prep work that a true cabinet painter would. Difference? Chipping and peeling. Prep is 75% of the work and that's why the cost is higher)

if you wanted to paint everything, get new countertops/splash and redo that island top, I'd say you'd be looking at 10K, give or take. However, she would have a beautiful, new kitchen. And I'd certainly say that if the house were to be sold, that 10K would easily be recouped in the selling cost.

Beth, exactly! She knows that the guy has to sand the cabinets, weather he varnishes or paints but I think it is a combo of quarantine and boredom and she wants to do something. I however feel that the only choices are keeping them the same or redoing other parts to allow changes.

I agree. If u go to Lowe's they can come with masks to deliver appliances.

70 is the new 60! Don’t write her off just yet!

Check out a resale store. & bring measurements & tape measure.

I don't see that as a cluttered kitchen. looks like she got a few things out to make something.

I wouldn't add anymore black into it. maybe some color and hardware. for handles be sure there's enough depth to easily get the fingers in without scraping knuckles. and no sharp edges on it.

something colorful like a cookie jar or KA mixer that brightens it up.

Thank you Tootsie! I’m facing my 70th & am in process of choosing new counters & BS for my 8 year old home! I read all of the advice and a couple of very budget friendly ideas offered so far have floated to the top for me. Nuppal, your mom has a nice home that she’s been in for 20 years. She just wants a spruce up. I homed in on several suggestions that I’d do before she spends any money. She may decide they are all that she needed! Those are that she should first clear the clutter that is on all of her surfaces - counters and tables. Gather up all the pretty glass pieces & take the mirror down over fireplace. Get rid of the silk plants. Look for a piece of art for over fireplace that’s much larger than the mirror, that has color and makes your mom smile to look at it. Add color to couch with pillows that tie in to colors in art and that add texture. Do as Thor suggested- add cabinet hardware - the jewelry for the kitchen! Paint The walls! Maybe a cream with much less yellow to warm things up. A color consultant could help you. Create a new grouping of some of those glass pieces on the fireplace mantel. When I looked at the photos that’s what struck me - that what this home needs is clutter clearing, some punches of color for warmth and to arrange the glass collection to have more impact. Just a bit of rearrangement and color!

I think the biggest improvement to update the kitchen (and bang for your buck) would be a new backsplash. I would leave the cabinets and countertops the same. Do not just add more tile on top of the existing backsplash but start over with all one tile.

You can use a gel stain over the current cabs without sanding them down to bare wood. Does require some skill but not as hard as painting them. Poly then goes over top of the gel stain. I did this to a mantel and it was stunning.

Open windows!

Susan, that's incorrect. Gel stain over a previous clear coat is not what you want on your kitchen cabinets. It won't penetrate.

even applying gel stain over a PREVIOUS stain, won't get you professional looking results. It will be blotchy at best.

Poly isn't the best choice for kitchen cabinets which expand and contract on a daily basis. Poly is very hard. It will crack over time.

You need to use more of a varnish type finish on cabinets for the top coat. Varnish has the ability to 'stretch' when the wood expands/contracts, and won't end up cracking.

doing a wood mantle is night and day from doing from doing ALL of these oak cabinets in a kitchen.

And lets face it, this isn't a DIY job. I don't know if you've ever refinished cabinets, but it's one heck of a job. I've done it numerous times and I'll never do it again.

Please do not paint the cabinets. There is more wood like them in adjoining part of the great room and that combination is a part of the charm of the place.

If you change the kitchen floor, perhaps the floor in the entire great room could be changed -- plank flooring rather than tile might be worth considering.

See if you can figure out a way to minimize "clutter".

I have the same paper towel holder and have an "S" hook hanging from the bottom of a cabinet holding it by that center piece over which the paper towel roll slides. No longer requires two hands to get a paper towel (or have the thing pull over).

Had a similar wood knife block but now put my knives in a drawer. (Donated the block to Habitat for Humanity when I downsized.)

You might find small shelves for any spices or S&P & sugar bowl and a magnetic knife holder for hanging inside a cabinet door or on even on the wall above the backsplash.

What looks like bottles and sprays may be easier to remove from the cabinets as needed if they're in a container or "drawer" that could be pulled out from the bottom of a base cabinet.

https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=drawer+for+behind+door+in+base+cabinet&client=firefox-b-1-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiE4rrz_rTqAhVDYTUKHY00BGIQsAR6BAgEEAE&biw=1366&bih=654#imgrc=oi5g0oBJnQnevM 

Colorful heavy metal trivets can be both useful and decorative hanging on a wall between backsplash and overhead cabinets.

You could add stainless steel over/behind the stove top for that back splash but paint the rest of the wall between countertop and overhead cabinets.

After those changes, find a few different kinds of hardware (some colorful) that you like and see if any appeal to your mom -- but your mom needs to make the final decision.

Good luck with your project. Do post after pics.

Thank you, this is not a diy job, my mom has painters coming over to paint outside, redo baseboards and doors. Then she was going to get a cabinet guy to varnish the cabinets. If it’s more then a clear varnish, I will post pictures but that might be what she will be doing.

Just to update: my mom had the cabinets sanded and varnished. It’s a slightly darker color. She’s happy with it, just wanted them cleaned up.

Now she is going to put handles/knobs on them. I am thinking black would tie everything together and to do knobs for cabs and handles for the drawers.

Updated.

I’ll try to do a sidebyside.

First is before and second is after.

Well, she's easy to satisfy!

Cupboards look very nice. Now I would like to see less things sitting out. With all the nice storage she should be able to put some things out of sight. Cooker, silver pot, things on the island, paper towels, etc. Than if she does not want to change the back splash, I would paint above the tile a pretty color and use that color for pillows in the living room. Under cabinet lighting would be nice also. We all have a tendency to put things (magnets) on our refrigerator. I have to watch that in myself also.

Yes for black knobs tie in the black more