Yknow, IMHO, I wish we all could drop the "D" word from our vocabulary. If we love it , if its well made, if its functional - then a place can be found for it, period. In other words - your china cab is just fine, and it does look good on the side rather than viewed head on. That said of course we like our rooms freshened up now and then - but I think you can jazz it up in other ways incl choosing a new color ILOVE greens/browns/tans, but the pea soup color Im kind of tired of. (or so it looks on my monitor anyway, which has been known to be wrong.) Definitely think about going deeper richer. Dont know if Penny's or Anglo's deep dark colors are good for you but it gives you an idea at least of what deeper/richer could do for you. If all else fails maybe you could just take the living room color and just go a few steps darker/more intense with it. Let the DR be cozy and intimate complete w/ a big china cabinet - why not? The DR should relate well to the LR, and that would be one way of doing it. Minor quibble - I would think about that wall space where the china cab was - is there a third pic that could fit in there? With cabinet moved, that wall becomes very significant. Not liking just the two pics , needs to be 3 I think..... Or some other wall decor or arrangement .... minor thing, so perhaps just wait for the inspiration or right thing to come along.

When I saw the kitchen, I had an immediate different thought than I see here. Is that formica? If so, I would replace it with new formica in a different color... This is not a major job, evidently. It comes with the backsplash and everything. You just order the length you need. Grey (as in one of the photos upthread)? Navy? Black? With the teal blue chairs, one or more of these colors on a countertop would be striking.

The cabinets look to be in very good condition. I wouldnt be painting them. I would be buying accessories in some colors and maybe an area rug on the table, and get some pretty curtains, or some type of window treatment to give it a personality. Right now, it looks like a nice kitchen in a house where no one lives.

I just painted my walls in White Dove by BM. I have a subway tile backsplash in the kitchen with black grout. I'd like to paint my cabinets white and the island Navel (dark blue), but what color white should I paint my cabinets? The subway tile is a bright white and the WD if a very soft white/gray. Worried they will all clash or have too many shades of white going on. Help! :)