Jhmarie; yes, the kitchen is very functional, and a part of this is almost like therapeutic processing for what to do with this house!Thank you for the heads up about the book. I will have a look for that. Aprilneverends; well thank you. I am really trying to not get caught up in fads, but I think the state of the place made me focus on the yellowness of the oak. And the oakiness of the oak everywhere in that part of the house! I always really enjoyed this blue, to be honest. ha!! It contrasted nicely and I got to cackle in my husband's direction every time someone told me they loved it, too. That's the thing I guess, you never can tell. I am a bit leery of how much the kitchen will change with all of the white and off white in regards to the contrast, and had to kind of giggle at the thought of painting the walls white and the wainscoting blue. Like a role reversal. :D Fidlfreek; I appreciate you bringing me back down from the clouds with some of your suggestions. Some of your sentiments I had thought of and was considering - all white miracle method, subway tile, lighting updates. Now is the time to pull that big beast down I think - we are planning to paint the ceilings throughout the home. Curious of your thought process- the lighting fixture you linked from ikea, is that to coordinate with the current colored cabinets? Or the shape in general? Staining the cabinets darker is of course an option, I just don't want this area to feel any more boxed in, I guess. This vantage point is actually the only way in and out of the kitchen - there is also peninsula seating already to the left, FYI. I actually picked the flooring you circled in the event that I wanted to go lighter or darker with the cabinets, now or later, that there would be flexibility in the flooring color to do so. It's also more of the classic wood look than some of the on trend colors I am seeing out there. The more I think about it, the more I would like to NOT spend a lot of time painting everything white, but I definitely think I need some adjustments in here. I find it interesting that none of you have mentioned the appliances or their color - apart from the microwave, which is usually the least of the appliance worries. ;D I so appreciate your feedback and input.

First things first: make sure you can PURCHASE more of the Pergo. And then, just for fun, make sure this is the Pergo that is water RESISTANT. If it is NOT, then do not run this in the kitchen. And if you have it in a FULL bath (shower/tub) then I recommend you look at a different floor - in the next 5 years. So, now that you have established it IS the water resistant Pergo AND you can STILL PURCHASE the product, you can decide if the colour clash with your cabinets will be worth it. Traditionally grey toned wood (like the Pergo) does NOT look very happy with orange toned wood (like oak cabinets finished in an oil based finish commonly referred to as "honey oak"). This clash can be reduced by working with a DARK GRAY counter top (a counter that is SPECIFICALLY chosen to match the Pergo). So....that brings us the the next question: what is your counter top? And then we move to "When do you want to renovate the kitchen?" If you have a kitchen renovation in your future (next 7 years or less) then you will want to hold off on any further decisions. When looking at new kitchen flooring, people find out very quickly how much they want a new kitchen. And by the time they get to renovating the kitchen, they either have to rip out the flooring (because they are changing the foot print) or they feel STUCK with a floor colour that dictates their colour scheme...and thereby feel cheated in someway because their floor doesn't let them chose the kitchen of their dreams. Whew. So much to be decided. All for a floor that probably won't work with the current cabinets/counters. Of course I could be wrong...especially if you have a stunning gray soap stone counter top. That would look STUNNING with the Pergo. But first, photos of what exists...just to be sure.

I would love to see a lovely "white washed" oak looking vinyl in this space. The teal counter tops should be able to pull together the "wood" tones of the cabinets and the "soft grayish" tones of a white wash. Something like this is an example of what I'm thinking of: https://www.armstrongflooring.com/residential/en-ca/vinyl-flooring/luxury-vinyl-tile/luxe-plank-with-fastak-install/item/A6716.html If you can find the right vinyl plank, you should be able to get this to run throughout the space (including bathrooms, entrances and utility rooms). If you cannot find one that works nicely with the counters, I would suggest you leave the kitchen floor in place (it is the PERFECT match to the counters...you won't find anything better) and replace the carpets with a wood-toned vinyl. Now...just for fun, these homes are often built with "carpet" in mind. That means the subfloor (whatever it is...) if possibly the lowest of the low in terms of quality. That means it is often wavy or as far away from flat as you can get. Again, this is always the case...but it happens so often that you need to ASSUME there is a problem before you rip out the carpet. Once the carpet is gone, you will need to have the flatness and the subfloor SURFACE (the material that is sitting underneath the pad) assessed for vinyl. If you FLOAT the vinyl, then you only need to deal with "flatness". If you GLUE the vinyl then you have to deal with the type of MATERIAL as well. And that's where the headaches begin. Many times there is fibre board or luan sitting under carpet in a trailer (regardless of how well built it is). Both of these materials are "OK" underneath a floating floor, but they often have to come out if you want to glue down. And then the "flatness" has to be dealt with. Vinyl HATES wonky subfloors. And I mean HATES it. The subfloor has to be SMOOTH (vinyl telegraphs things like staples, staple holes, seams, etc. to the surface). And to get fibre board or luan smooth is a nightmare. They don't like "patch" material. Again, this could mean they need to come out and be replaced with something that can handle patch, etc. Please be prepared for some ++prep costs to deal with whatever is underneath that carpet. Whomsoever is doing the work for you will need to WALK INTO your home and pull back the carpet BEFORE they offer a quote. And the quote should include a range for the prep. It should look like $1-$4/sf for subfloor preparation (the range will depend on where you are and how expensive it is to hire local labour).

do you have a quote. this would be far too expensive relative to the age and general remaining value of the cabinets. I would consider a section to redo either paint or replace. I would not paint this entire cluster of oak cabinets all one shade of white or off white. the counters are doing no favor in reality.....but you could leave a section of this counter material somewhere and replace some........the backsplash should be replaced no matter what and the floor could be much nicer and you could complement the medium toned oak cabinetry with a new floor. so you have a pick of floor/counters/backsplash. I'd study the options and line item some pricing of doing another one or two things before I'd paint the cabs.