Hello All, I am new to this site, but am thrilled to have a place where there are so many wonderful ideas. We are in the middle of our kitchen updating and we have decided to have our 1980's Oak cabinets painted in white. The cabinets have a 20 year old stain on them--which is a honey and the grain of the oak is very prominent. We would like to paint our cabinets in a white or (off-white color). I am redoing our kitchen countertops in cararra white marble and the backsplash in white subway tile. I really want our cabinets to look professionally done and want the oak grain to show as little as possible. (Would love for it to disappear altogether) We are not doing them ourselves, but after getting several quotes I realized that each person has a different idea and type of paint that they are going to use. I am scared to death that they will end up looking terrible or that in a few months the paint will scrape or peal. Can any of you offer suggestions of questions I should ask the painters, types of paint/primers/fillers they should use, etc.. Also, we are at a loss as to what to do with the hinges. They are currently bronze--do I replace these with white hinges to blend with the new white cabinets? Can these be painted? I plan on adding knobs and pulls (there are none now) in a brushed nickel/silver tone.. Thanks so much!

Yes, based on these latest photos, the French gray is far too dainty. I think you're looking at the paint samples in the wrong context. Any color you have there coordinates well enough with your fireplace. But the cabinets will not be placed up against the FP, will they? I think you should be looking at the samples in the kitchen with the island barnwood, wall color, counter material and flooring.

It is very hard to see colors on screens. That said, to me the far left sample looks the best. The other two seem a bit yellow on my screen and the countertop does not seem to have any yellow.

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: