I painted the oak cabinets in our first kitchen. I cleaned them, sanded them, primed them, sanded them, painted them, sanded them, and painted them. Held up pretty well, though I did have a couple of chips over the course of about three years. But you could still see the oak grain through the paint job, which was okay with me. If you want no oak grain to show through you'll need a couple of extra steps in there, I think--filler? It is a lot of work. We were young and broke and didn't have kids yet. So it was worth it to me then.

IIRC, Nikki had mentioned on the previous thread that she might eventually give cooking demonstrations on the island, so I believe buehl put the DW in that location to keep it out of the island prep zone--one could turn and load to the open DW, without the risk of tripping over the door if it was directly behind. I would leave the prep sink on the left side, as you face the island, but you could move the MW drawer over to match the offset of the ovens on the right, which would leave more room between the table and island. It would also push the sink a few inches closer to the cooktop, and you wouldn't need the clipped corner. I generally like clipped/diagonal corners, but I think the island should be symmetrical.

The new lighting could effect the wall color and the color of the wood - so definitely do that first. Do some research into the lasting effects of gel stain - I've heard both good things and bad things. Here are just some unasked for thoughts- if I was working with this kitchen on a budget, I would possibly remove the upper trim piece and the small wood piece over the windows. I might remove the entire cabinet to the left of the farthest left window and replace with some shelves. I would remove the over the range microwave, which being short I could not even use, and replace with a stand alone vent. You could do a stainless vent for a more modern look. It is more expensive, but you could stain an unfinished wood hood with insert for a more farmhouse look. You have so much lower storage I actually would be tempted to remove all of the upper cabinetry - especially if there is a pantry cabinet - I was wondering where the fridge is - is there a pantry cabinet next to it? As far a curtains - I do like the softness and color window treatments add, though tis is a person style choice. This vent is a little larger than you would want: Less uppers - pretty window treatment: Rustic shelves: If you like a bit of country / farmhouse, beadboard makes an inexpensive backsplash and works well with shelves - rather than tiling, which might possibly need to be redone if you got new counters down the road. This is my basement kitchenette - done very economically with some of my original cabinets (refinished), shelving and beadboard - though in this case I used the beadboard wallpaper to save money - might replace with the real thing in time: https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~65270573 My main kitchen is also oak and in my "my pics" idea book - if you want some possible ideas for counters/ backsplash / farm sink - but it is done in a vintage style.

d f , your kitchen looks great ! I think it's silly to say you can't put warm colors and cool colors together. d f's kitchen proves that you can, and it can look good. Why limit yourself and what you can do ? I think most people assume that gray is always cool, but there are also warm grays. I don't try to be trendy as a rule, and I use what I like. I had gray walls before it became a trend, and will have them after it's outdated. I'm not going to paint my oak cabinets white just because that's the trend right now. Also, some of us like a warm look in our homes, as opposed to a cool gray and white look.