How is the lighting in your kitchen? It might be far easier to improve the lighting than to tackle painting cabinets or a full-blown kitchen renovation. Other than the curved detail on the upper cabinet doors, the cabinets look fine, just dark.

Better lighting (?), a lighter paint color, and a different backsplash might make enough impact for you. A lighter countertop would also brighten things up.

If your heart is set on a more extensive renovation, you'll need to set a realistic budget. Cabinet painting done right is expensive (the number that gets tossed around is $7 to $9K and up). If you want to change the countertop, you should definitely look at making it all one level (see what works for your lifestyle).

If you are not happy with the layout of the kitchen, painting cabinets is a waste of money.

Thanks for your suggestions! We've already upgraded the lighting to flush LEDs, I think that's about as good as it gets. I know for sure we are going to redo the counters and backsplash, I've hated those since we bought the house 6 years ago :) The cabinet color, changing the wood flooring back to tile (whoever thought putting wood in the kichen (me) was a good idea, was wrong) & lowering the bar top are all ideas we're tossing around. I don't mind spending the money if it's something that will pay off in the long run and not just be a "trend".

Hard to tell from the photos you posted but I'm guessing your layout could be vastly improved given the angled pantry and sink, etc. I wouldn't lock in the cabinet layout with an expensive new countertop at this point. Post a measured floorplan and you'll get plenty of good advice.

good lighting includes both ambient and more important task lighting. 450 lumens on the work surface without shadows from your body will brighten correctly your work zones no matter what color you choose. Your photos give the impression of good ambient lighting. I'd also vote for a measured drawing.

Thank you both for the suggestions. I would love to change the layout and make it flow better but I think the weird pie shaped "landing" above/around the sink area is structural and limits what we can do. I'd welcome any suggestions you all have. I'm attaching the rough floorplan and pic from the living room showing the structural columns and overhang.

this is so crazy, I feel like I was reading my own thoughts, questions and concerns! We just bought a Taj Mahal slab as well and trying to figure out what to do with our cabinets. Currently they are an ugly yellow oak, besides that they are not bad. I would prefer my cabinets to extend to ceiling but we’ll get there one day. We also have the exact same

doors as you, my trim, crown and doors are more of an off white color as well. I did decide to cut down the hopper on our island to make it all counter height. Id love to know what you end up doing on your cabinets And backsplash.

Floorplan is helpful, but we also need to know how wide your aisles are currently (they look tight around the island?). Here's a quick idea (may not be feasible depending on aisle width) - it might look a little odd to leave that arch hanging but it would give you seating and remove the current barrier island. With the new opening to the LR, you could possibly close off that doorway next to the fridge (where does it go?) and/or partially close the opening between kitchen and breakfast (could be used for pantry space, etc. if necessary).

I squared off the angled pantry but I was guessing at the measurements. You could leave the angle as-is with this layout, but the overall appliance arrangement can probably be improved by eliminating that angle (depending on those exact measurements).

Or a similar idea with an island instead of peninsula, with the sink and DW moved to the perimeter: