New Profile level appliances will take 3/4 of your budget. For the rest, up the budget to replace the counters with a lighter color, and add better lighting. An epoxy grout colorant for the floor is an easy DIY that will take away that graph paper look.

Thanks. We don't care about sticking with Profile appliances; we just want something that looks good and won't strike buyers as being cheap when we go to sell. We really like the matte white GE Café line, but will maybe go with something more affordable like LG. I appreciate the info about improving the floor.

I would suggest you update the hardware. Also remove the pot rack and convert one of the cabinets to drawers to store the pots. Beautiful room.

When are you planning to move? You said you just moved in. Whatever appliances you buy now - unless they're at the level of Subzero and Miele - will do nothing to increase resale value after they turn about 5 years old. And even if they are 1 year old, they won't move the needle much for a buyer because appliances are so easily replaced. As opposed to updated cabinetry and a good layout and good light.

Or is this house a flip?

If you are not flipping it, then just get the appliances you want for your own use. And don't get all the same brand. No brand is consistently good in all their appliances and all the features they offer and the sizes you need.

RoyHobbs beat me to it -- if you just bought the place why do you care about resale? Buy the appliances YOU want that will best suit your needs. As a buyer, I couldn't have cared less about what appliances came with the house, and frankly they're probably going to cr*p out on you anyway if your next move isn't until 8-10 years away (and maybe sooner).

Thanks, folks. I hadn't realized appliances depreciated so quickly. I know the ones we have, although ancient, are good, so if the kitchen can look more appealing without changing them, that would be ideal. We aren't planning to move soon, but this time around we want to enjoy any updates we make rather than waiting until we're about to sell to improve things. If all that money for replacing the appliances is back in the budget, do you have other recommendations? Are the maple cabinets also acceptable from a resale point of view? Should we paint them or reface them with shaker-style fronts?

If I were buying that kitchen, would want to:

1 - change layout (to sink between fridge & stove),https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2699918/looking-for-layout-help-memorize-this-first 

2 - replace flooring (extending flooring from adjacent space), and

3 - replace base cabinets with drawer base cabs (not roll-out shelves behind doors).

And if you don’t read the news or this site regularly you may not know about how difficult it is to get appliances you want sooner rather than later. There’s still a shortage of appliances. My immediate advice is to keep the working appliances now. Only replace when they break down or if you reconfigure the entire kitchen and want a very different size. Otherwise your $15k budget will be busted on appliances very shortly!

If I remember right, Blue Butterfly is one of the more bulletproof granites. With all the light you have in the kitchen, you can get away with dark counters.

Since you have an abundance of cabinets, I would get rid of the pot rack and put pendants over the island.

Congratulations on your new home!

things to consider 1. editing [removal of some] of the wall cabs 2. new floor 3. get a quote for painting cabs 4. appliance replacement of some or all based on actual need vs desire 5. only do what is needed for a functioning space and hold the funds back for a future complete remodel...... in approx 3 to 5yrs

Thanks for all these comments. It's interesting to hear such a variety of opinions. We are considering getting a SS refrigerator that has some black so that we can keep the other black appliances for now and they will somewhat blend. It's true that we have an excess of cabinets (there's a butler's pantry adjacent to kitchen), so maybe changing some to shelves would help. I agree that a pendant over the island would look great. I think painting the cabinets white, or a muted light color, would look pretty with the black granite. With the cabinets painted, we could put wood on the floor and not have it clash with the cabinets.

is your refrigerator not repairable? If not then a black or stainless new fridge. Repaint the walls, not the cabinets, a more suitable colour, have say a Benjamin Moore in home colour consultant help select colour if you are unsure. Have Coit or other home service company clean your floor grout. Unpack, relax and get used to your new home for a while. Don't start removing cabinets, i've seldom-NEVER-heard someone wishing they had less kitchen storage. Relax, an on trend kitchen today likely will not be on trend in 5-10 years nor appeal to a resale buyer then. $15,000 won't get you you very far for a kitchen renovation and the return on investment for home renovations is quite often very small and if a resale buyer guts your renovation that expense might be said to have been wasted. You have a durable stone/ceramic/porcelain tile kitchen floor, it won't be damaged when the ice maker line, dishwasher, or kitchen sink plumbing leaks as a wood floor would be. You also won't have to worry if a new kitchen wood floor can match up exactly to your living/family room wood floors. Please get settled for a year or two in your new home that you liked enough to buy and then decide if you want to change something to your taste and not for some potential future buyer whose taste will be different from the other future buyers.

You mentioned LG appliances. If you search here, you will find they are not well reviewed.

Replace only the broken appliance. Take down the pot rack and the bank of cabinets to the right of the stove. Paint only the back and sides of the island a color from your accessories. Live with it for a bit and then decide what works and what doesn’t. Embarking on a remodel now is asking for frustration.

As a "not even a day" improvement, try grout paint. It sounds silly, but you can use it to recolor and coat the grout lines only. It will not only hide the past stains, but the floor will become cleanable for years. I might shop around for a paint color for the kitchen walls only that went with the light gray but complimented the cabinets a little better. Overall, the tile seems to clash with the cabinet color.

Another choice would be to put a floating floor over the tile. Some of the LVP stuff is really nice looking AND inexpensive. The floor guys would be in & out in a day.

Just me, but I don't think I would change out the appliance colors without also changing the counters. White isn't going to go with the counter any better. But I might change the hardware on the cabinets to black.

I feel for you. When we bought this house, every appliance broke within 3 months - except for the steam furnace. And the kitchen was so bad, that I itched to remodel it right away. Which we did and it was the worst mistake ever. It was better than what had been in the house, but not nearly what we have now. ALWAYS live within your house for a while - at least a year - before planning a remodel.

With that budget, I'd replace all the appliances (and not in black) - not for resale value, but for utility (induction range, Bosch dishwasher) and to lighten the overall look - and I'd restain (or paint) the cabinets to get rid of the orange colour. That's about it for your budget. I can see other remodelling things I might want to do, but those are more expensive things for another day (and another budget).

If you're going to keep the hanging pots over the island, move some of them so it doesn't look so crowded and noisy.

Just get a frig off craigslist or marketplace for $100 to free, and if you can't find a black one a rattle can of black spray paint will do the job. Then paint the cabinets (DIY) and call it quits for now. Save the money and add to the remodel fund over the next couple of years to gut the entire kitchen because those floors need to go for sure.

Is that a butler pantry to the left of the first picture with a formal dinning room on the other side? There are so many possibilities you can do in few years with more money, so save up for a gut that would add value and appeal. Pull down and sell that pot hanger and put the money into the remodel fund.

You just moved in, so you need time to get to know the kitchen (what works and what doesn't).

Since you need to replace the refrigerator, replace it with what you want to go with as the rest of the appliances die. Stainless is a neutral now, so that means if you want stainless, go ahead and get a stainless refrigerator, even though everything else is black. You don't need to do a half-and-half fridge so it will "blend".

I would not paint the cabinets now. What if you decide you hate the way the kitchen works in six months and want to rip out the cabinets to totally change up the floor plan? You will be bummed that you spent all that work on the cabinets.

Actually the only thing wrong/dated with the cabinets is that the upper have a little bit of arch. You also don't appear to have a lot of lower drawers. (It is very popular on Houzz to have almost all lower cabinets as drawers.) But that is a function thing that you will learn as you get to know the kitchen.

Agree with above - don't rush into anything if you just moved in - other than getting a new fridge if the one you have doesn't work. Also agree the cabinets are pretty classic and I'm wondering if they're as orange as they look if they're maple. In any case I'd never paint them if they're in good condition. Popular as white cabinets have been for so long they are bound to become the next "dated" thing in kitchen cabinetry. I wouldn't rush into the expense of installing drawers if the cabinets work for you. If they don't I'd look into installing a few pullouts or other functional inserts where needed. I did that in my current house - very inexpensive. Agree also that the pot rack should go and be replaced with pendant lighting over the island. More interesting counter stools would also add some visual interest.

Thanks for the comments. The fridge needs a new compressor and it probably isn't worth repairing, since it‘s 20 years old. The cabinets are a pretty rosy maple, not orange like they look in photos, and they’re in great condition. They do have functional inserts already. The floor color is too close to the cabinets and look like a dingy version of the cabinet color, so maybe that’s worth changing soon. The butler’s pantry has the same upper cabinets, but with windows. Maybe it would be worth switching some of the kitchen cabinets for the windowed ones to break things up a bit? Any chance the arch pattern on the cabinet will come back into style?

Wall paper is starting to come back in style and mid Century modern is still hot so yes, they're is a chance for arches.........maybe 2050? ,

Shucks!

I would do 4 things with $15k:

1. Replace all appliances (can be done with Samsung on sale for about $7k - there are major sales 4 times a year).
2. Replace all hardware with sophisticated pulls in black ($300-$500 if you order in bulk)
3. Replace granite on the island only with white quartz ($2k)
4. Professionally refinish the island cabinetry with navy or dark color you love (do not DIY this step - $1k) the island will stand out and change the look of your entire kitchen.
   Total refresh - 10,5k give or take. It can definitely be done for that if you shop around.
   Bonus item - get counter stools from Crate and Barrel - I recommend their basque line made from mango wood - it will tie in well with your maple cabinets and make your island look like it belongs in a magazine ($2k unless you have an outlet nearby).

Oh, and definitely remove the pot rack, add 2 pendant lights (large glass globes usually work great) and replace the light over the breakfast table.

Yes, the light over the breakfast table is awful (the table and rug left with the former owners). I like idea of navy and white for the island. We live near the water and those colors area very popular here. Thanks for the suggestions.

Everyone wants the pot rack gone but I love it. I hate the light over the table though—it’s so puny.

I’d only do what pleases myself for living in it. Chances are if you’re there more than 3 years whatever you do will seem dated to someone younger looking to buy. Most important is that everything works properly.

I’d get an appliance package, paint walls and island, get new table light, and throw down a couple of awesome rugs, one at table, one at strip, and decorate. For myself.

Worse than dated is badly flipped. Chances are if someone finds a room dated they’ll start dreaming of updating the entire thing themselves, meaning they’ll throw it all out and do a full renovation in their own taste.

pot racks I took a rather large one down. I dont miss it. what I did for a bit of time [a year or more] as I thought about it was slowly reduce the things i hooked up there. I found other spots and lightened the load. then I hung baskets for a while ..... then I started to really want it out. I got comments how removing it improved and lightened the overall feel. I look at the semi circle ones that mount at a wall as a better option...I have space for it but havent acquired such. the pots found their dutiful spots in drawers/behind cabinets .

Love the thought of lightening the load, and besides there are plenty of cabinets the pots could go into. We did just purchase a nice set of stainless appliances, taking advantage of rebates and bundle pricing, and hope to find people who could use the original appliances that still work. Definitely new lighting over the table and island will help, something to make the grout look better, and I like the idea of a rug in the dining area. I think we could stop there and be happy :)

I’ve always felt that doing /getting simple little things, e.g. nice looking new appliances, or door pulls, or lighting changes, etc., can improve and make the room look great, until you’re ready to remodel, if at all. Even little touches, a new pot on the stovetop, artwork, or whatever, is an inexpensive way to begin to dress up an existing room.

I agree with letting yourself live there for a while before doing any major remodeling. Your thoughts and observations can change—you may find you don’t need what you thought, or you may need more, the house you remembered viewing prior to closing on it ends up being ‘different’ now that you’re in it, etc.