Oh yeah, dilute it. It doesn't take but a drop or two. I hesitate to say that it will be safe on all painted surfaces, because that has more to do with the paint quality and how it was applied than it does the cleaning products used. If you have factory finished painted cabinets, then it will be fine. A microfiber cloth is the other magic ingredient. If you are having issues with grease in your kitchen anywhere other than around your immediate cooktop, the first thing to do is to address your venting. It's not adequate.

Okay. Update on removing countertop(s). We took the first (of 2) countertops off. Abbisgram, you were correct, and there were only a few screws attaching the top. All came out easily except one which was impossible to get to without disassembling the whole cabinet, so we got out the sawzall and took care of that one. Decided for several reasons not to special order countertops. We bought a sheet of 3/4" plywood (4x8), had it cut in half lengthwise, and that will do all the new countertops. Got the first one on and will need to put the tiles and edging on. Regarding the comment from the guy at Lowes: He was correct in the sense that the cabinet was very flimsy; however, it didn't 'fall apart'. The front (where the doors are attached) is pretty standard, however the sides of the cabinet are 1/8" (at most) luan, and there is no back piece at all, just a 1x2 strip fastened to the bottom of the (old) countertop, then screwed to the wall. Thankfully, the shelf inside the cabinet seemed to help keep it all together til we got the new top on it. Once the new plywood was on though, it is as sturdy as it was before ... lol. Not sure if I mentioned that this is not our full-time home, it's a mobile home that we purchased in a resort town, so we are not there to work on it every day. Hoping to go back next week and remove/replace the 2nd countertop, then cover them. Bottom line is that it wasn't nearly as scary as the Lowe's guy made it sound. And thanks, abbisgram, for the encouragement. :) As a side note, the finished countertops will end up costing under $100 for approx. 13-14 feet of countertops. I'm not the best at taking pictures, but will try to post some when we finish. This post was edited by danandcarol on Sat, Sep 27, 14 at 22:44

Thank you. I agree. We tried to simulate paint colors on Ben Moore website and didn't like how the greys looked with the cabinets. We are leaning toward BM golden straw for the entire first floor to go with the floors and cabinets. Will it be too yellow? And for the granite we looked at Tanami( recently found out it's also called giallo ornamental). It looks creamy with brown specks on it. Would love to hear comments on these selections. Hard to visualize everything but hoping it will all come together in the end.

I would go for a solid gray, I think, lighter than your floors. also, switch location of dishwasher and sink -- you need a landing spot for hot pans next to the stove, as well as prep space between sink and stove.