So you are not talking about the faces having two colors, right? You are planning to leave the outsides natural and stain the insides darker? No reason you can't do that, but it may make the insides seem smaller, like a dark cave. But it would look fine, if that's what you want to do. Sorry...no pictures for you. My cabinets are the opposite....stained dark outside and left natural with clear poly inside. Most cabinets are lighter inside than they are outside, for some reason.

all I would do for now would be add top moulding and a backsplash, change to more updated hardware. generic brown in that condition for the age would be a gift. they look like maple and so often the slight darker stains on maple are really blotchy, look poor. You have a good transitional door style, and cabinets that are holding up....do some other things.

Hi everyone! It's great to get input from the Houzz community. My husband was active duty AF for 27 years and we're finally making this house our own. Thanks so much for the great feedback particularly from @damiarain and @caligirl5. Also, I am working with a KD. I’m so grateful that you both took time to give in-depth suggestions and actually provide a revised layout. In response to your suggestions: - Fridge - Damiarain, IMO, Moving the fridge to the wall proposed on the end of the counter would make it stick out too much and the sides would show whereas one side is hidden by the stub wall now. We considered removing the stub wall but it’s pretty involved so we opted to take down the pantry only. Furthermore, as shown in the 1st and 2nd pics, the great room is across from the kitchen and I personally prefer the look of cabinets on that wall complemented by a new staircase and not a fridge protruding out. Also, the space isn’t very wide in the entryway and an open fridge would definitely block someone’s path into the kitchen from the great room if placed in the end. It might work in the center of the wall, however. - Damiarain, you said, “have upper cabinets only on either the wall next to the pantry or next to the fridge.” What would I do with the entire open space where the fridge presently is…that’s losing 83” on the fridge wall? Besides, I need the extra storage for all the stuff I've gathered at our various assignments. - I understand your suggestion about moving the range and it’s valid. The wall is 154” and we’re cutting down the width of the new pantry to 31” whereas the current pantry opening is 44 ½”. I’ll have to talk to my KD about the lack of sufficient prep space on the left. You’d think that would be a major consideration in presenting her design. However, I am installing a counter level bar which will give me lots of space to the left of the sink (above the dishwasher) yet it doesn’t resolve the issue of someone washing dishes and another cooking on the range. I don’t know what the answer is but there has to be one. - Good point about leaving breathing room around the hood and going with more drawers whenever possible. - @caligirl5…I have the sample block for antique white but it doen’t work well for my house. We live in Florida and have lots of windows so I need a more contemporary look although I don’t want bright white. I’m now thinking gray may be the answer since all the other whites may clash with my bright white crown molding. - Sorry about the dimensions and thanks for your recommended layout. I have a thing about storage and have lots of dishes/glasses so I don’t know about getting rid of the cabinets on the fridge wall entirely and putting. Furthermore, as stated previously, I’m concerned that a large full depth fridge on that wall may really be in the way vs. being tucked where it is now. - A previous design had the microwave across from the range in a drawer pretty much where the cooktop is now. I opted to put the microwave in the pantry and put large drawers there instead. I've attached pics of a new design keeping the same footprint with ceiling height cabinets and a picture of the torn down stair taken from my great room. I will definitely give all of your recommendations more consideration and I’m really thankful for the help.

Okay I see you guys are talking about plywood up charge that some cabinet makers charge. I’m not totally sold on paint finish idea. I feel Cream/White would look awkward, I wish I could see some example where others have pulled this off successfully. Other than White would coordinate with Maple Hazelnut? Green Design - Why would I need 240 volt line? For oven microwave? The ones I’ve seen work fine on 120 volt line. I will try to post kitchen layout later so you know the whole picture. I’m almost giving up on this project and may be just buy Microwave cart. The reason this all got started was that we replaced over range microwave with range hood so there is no place for microwave to go. Also lost the cabinet above the microwave to range hood venting. We bought a mid size countertop microwave which is temporarily sitting on a wood side table. Which is not how we want it but it works for now. Don’t want to use up granite countertop space for microwave. We also have a side board where I could put the microwave but we need that space for other things. I’ve seen some decorative open hanging shelves that I can put on the empty wall and place microwave on the shelf but I don’t like the aesthetic of that idea. Also saw some 48” kitchen pantries that have microwave slot on top. But it only fits compact microwave. At least need to fit mid size countertop microwave. So again my head is exploding - what to do, how to do?