What are the floors in the rest of the home? Because that is your first decision. ......They are wood? Tile ?What ?

Before any and all? Address the appliances and storage, whether you NEED a double oven. Because you need a more built in solution for a microwave ( consider a drawer micro ) and you need more adequate storage, it appears.....and much less counter top clutter : )

I think you need to decide floors first, then match up paint with those and the countertop. Whether you can go cool in the kitchen and warm in the rest of the house depends on how open the kitchen is to the rest.

Will your cabinets look great painted? Appears there is some textural issues to address. I have moved my cookbooks to a bookshelf with other books, no need to clutter counter. If no room for microwave drawer you may have to go old school with micro over the stove with a vent.

That is NOT a kitchen on which to waste either 9K of fad quartz or 9K of a professional cabinet paint job. That will only make it look older and shabbier. Put on new laminate counters? Absolutely! Refresh the existing cabinet finish slightly? Sure!. That will tide you over until you have planned the full gut and redo it really needs.

Are the current floors tile or vinyl?

White or strip and re-stain. Color on cup boards is soooo individual it will impact the resale value and you will 100% sicken of it yourself long before white or wood.

I would do the whole kitchen in any color but gray. I would not simply paint those cabinets. I would find an inspiration picture and see how close you can get within your budget.

The woodgrain of your cabinets will show thru if painted. I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing. It's just something you will have to think over and decide upon. I am still a fan of white painted cabinets especially in an older homes. White has a timeless quality and seems to work well in smaller kitchens. Good luck!

I have to agree this space needs a lot more than a new counter and I hate quartz but first you need to address the lighting, then the flooring and the storage issue IMO wai until you can do this right otherwise IMO it is a waste of money. I love gray but would never choose gray for cabinets and for sure not with warm wood. This kitchen needs many things done and palnned before choosing counters or deciding if all the cabinets need is paint.

I like the existing cabinets and wood is a classic that is ’in’, again - so if it were my space, I would just do something different with the lighting. Maybe I’d paint the walls a warm white, to work better with the wood; although, the wall color you have now is ok. Those minor changes would basically be it for me

The counters also look ok to me, so I probably would not change them. But if you want new counters, something like what you have now in a formica, laminate - that general category - as already mentioned. If you love grey, and want grey cabs of course go for it. But be aware that the grey fad is over in many regions (and hopefully the white with grey veined quartz is not far behind. :) Again, though, it all comes down to personal preference, as well as your overall plans for the space.

I like the wood finish and i think it looks much better than wood grain showing through a painted finish. Gel stains were very, very popular on this site around 10 years ago. I don't know if that's gone out of style or not but it might be an option if you really hate the color of the wood. I don't see veined counters and backsplash in this kitchen, though. Maybe a solid color?

the kitchen being a galley and staying that way is not going to change all that much. I dont mind the counters and floor...whats the problem? clean everything off. you enter the space and you see the sides of all the stuff. put it away and get a new porcelain tile backsplash....formica if you have to rip the tile counter out..... clean the cabinets and put new hardware. paint the far wall at the end. get the trash can out of the visual line. get a beautiful floor mat and towels that look rich and lush. maybe a new solar shade/ something at the window. all the expensive things like painting cabinets quartz counters are needless and the space isnt really going to change for the expense. You need a "refresh"..Note cleared counters in first pic. 2nd pic they chose a backsplash of interest [you need this]......3rd pic shows option of paint to your floor tiles[yes you can]....along w gorgeous new mat/runner and bring in color on far wall along w a new shade /valance...far less costly smaller things to do and save the big bucks for either a gut of the space later or something else in the home.......

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The only comment about I can make about gel stain is that our first floor was gel stained (professionally by somebody) when the house was staged and refreshed for sale. For 8+ years the house has been undergoing a renovation from infrastructure on out and the first floor oak strip flooring was refinished this spring.

Since there is a lot going on somewhere all the time, this floor got damp cleaned almost every weekday for I dunno, 5 + years? And the cleaning clothes came up maroon, every single time. So a decade ago they gel stained the floor, and ever since we have been wiping gel stain back off.

Your cabinets are old and weren't expensive when they were first installed. It isn't necessary or appropriate to put quartz counters on them. Ever noticed the phenomenon where you replace one thing and it makes everything else look worse? There is actually some really nice looking Formica, so check that out. I don't think the cabinets would take paint well. I would be leary about even trying it. Your floor is nice and neutral. This is far from the ugliest kitchen I have ever seen on this forum.

What style is the house?

I had saved this photo for the wallpaper, but I could easily live with this kitchen color combo. I would use plain white quartz counters instead of the marble.

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Reiterating that flooring decision comes first before anything else. Flooring is a very dominant feature and its selection must come first.

Backsplash choice comes last after all your other changes are complete. Itherwise you will make a mistake on the bavksplash - guaranteed. Regardless, I advise against the Quartz backsplash. That look does not go in your kitchen. A Quartz counter may look good if you choose a plain one - not one with a lot of veins.

How can anybody say that these cabinets were cheap when they were put in? 3/8" partial overlay was a very common door style in the middle of the last century. Wood-Mode still makes a couple partial overlay doorstyles, and Wood-Mode is no cheap cabinet.

The first house I grew up in had 3/8" partial overly cabinets that were bottom of the barrel: stick built on the wall, raw plywood interiors, no drawer runners. The house my parents built had 3/8" partial overlay cabinets and the kitchen cabinets were expensive. Lots of custom features, made to fit the kitchen exactly, no fillers. You can't judge a 50 year old cabinet just because of a common door style. Nor can you really tell structural integrity in this case from a photo.

Note that the OP says a major remodel is not going to happen,however, she is getting new floors, new countertops, a new backsplash and painting the cabinets. That is the entire kitchen save the appliances. And not cheap. Is OP thinking about knocking down walls and opening up the floorplan?

“Is OP thinking about knocking down walls and opening up the floorplan?”

@ShadyWillowFarm - the OP was crystal clear that the footprint and the cabinet layout are not changing from what is there now.

The OP is only saying a major remodel is not happening NOW. But why spend a lot of money on what she calls an “update” when the entire kitchen is being “updated?” It will still be expensive and still be a mess for a while. If OP wants to eventually do a bigger renovation, why replace every surface now? Not my house, not my money.

a compromise could be found w less expensive counters and an interesting backsplash. save money for a great undermount sink and faucet w the shape/ height/ features to your liking. the better sinks/faucets are quite expensive.....this one is solid surface and a subtle but great backsplash. hold off painting cabs then. you might not need to.

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It may be harder than you think to repaint these cabinets. I would suggest looking into refacing since your boxes are probably good wood and getting new doors will give you a better look overall. To counterbalance the cost of refacing, go with a less expensive countertop. Backsplash will be last, as has been said.

My guess is the refacing job will be about $5k but I don’t see the whole room. Your paint job will be a couple of thousand if professionally done, so change the doors instead.

If you plan a full renovation in the future, do none of this and save your money. If this IS you major renovation call a couple of refacing companies,and get estimates.

HU-75579692 I have a galley kitchen, which was done 15 yrs ago and needs repair.

IMO Light cabinets are the way to go to brighten up your kitchen. Not dark wood or paint. Have you thought of refacing the fronts - shaker style?

Here is the look I am going for - I just need help myself in knowing what paint and quartz go together that Don't Clash

Floor options: gray or black slate or hardwood (like examples above from herbflavor would be my choices to start with.
Are the countertops already purchased? Reason I ask is bc if they are not, I think you could make the space feel a little more open with open shelving at the back of the kitchen.
Microwave could go above double
Oven and those cabinets on the end could turn into shelves, same for the side by the sink: (obviously not a good choice if you’re lacking space and really use them). But that with the new counters/ backsplash could look very chic.
Have a painter make sure those cabinets can be painted, and have your counter sample with you when looking at paint samples. Can paint samples on poster board and then compare with the countertop in natural light, artificial light, and different times of day. Light uppers and dark bottoms are also another way to break up the space, but since the appliances aren’t all the same I might be hesitant to make more colors.
Gray and white quartz goes with many many colors, if that’s the route you choose! It also goes with that wood heehee

Choices are personal. If you WANT to paint the cabinets then do so. Maybe a warm greige color Would work. Or consider a darker stain. Gel stain could work here as well. I agree that you might look into a nice formica countertop. So many lovely options available now, even marble and stone look. Go check them out. You might find something different that catches your eye. A backsplash could be just painted wall or opt for something budget friendly like wood or even your countertop material continued. For the floor I think that a LVT would be good. You could opt for tiles or planks depending on what the flooring is like in the rest of your home. Also consider putting the microwave in one of your cabinets, either lower or upper. You could keep the doors to hide it when not in use or remove them to create an open shelf for microwave and displays. You can update this kitchen on a budget. Good luck!

Update: we ultimately decided to tear out the cabinets and have new ones built. Turned out to be such a great decision, since we were able to reconfigure and remove a few upper cabinets and replace the lower cabinets with drawers. The floor is Forbo Marmoleum, which seems really nice. We still need to replace the window, but I’m so happy with how it turned out.

Beautiful!! What is the floor?

Oh duh, never mind!😆

congrats. good hard working space now. galleys are such work horses. it looks great.

Looks great. It was so smart to bite the bullet and install the drawers!

Yes, we are thankful every day that we decided to put in new cabinets. Refacing or repainting would have just covered up the issues we already had. I’m grateful for all the advice I found here about hardware, color selection, etc. It was so helpful!

Getting drawers was worth the remodel. Looks gorgeous and I’m sure it functions better than the old kitchen. Great job!

Looks great! I can't tell whether you have the quartz counter as a backsplash behind the stove, but it looks like you do. Just wanted to say you may need a stainless steel guard so it doesn't scorch if that's what you've got there. Enjoy your lovely new kitchen!