It's red oak. If it's a rental, then it depends on your market whether you want to replace it or not. Those cabinets look like they need replacing with some current cabinets. I suggest Ikea. You'd need to replace the counters too. It's such a small kitchen, the expense should not be too high. But if your rental market is hot, and apartments are easy to rent out, then leave it alone. I don't suggest you paint the cabinets, since the oak's strong grain will show through which won't look great. Also, the paint will chip over time, and look worse than if you'd left the cabinets alone.

take a door off and clean it... see what remans of any stain and any top coat. Youd want to know what you are working with before plans to do anything with them. It varies so much with old cabinets.

Give them a good cleaning with a light soulution of TSP.

As someone keen on sustainability, I actually wouldn't rip out perfectly good solid wood cabinets and replace with them with some junk from Ikea that will break within five years. I'd be tempted to change out the pulls. As someone else mentioned, I'd clean the cabinets up really well, inside and out, then rub them down with some lemon oil then some beeswax. Once the wood is clean and gleaming, the wood will look crisper against the white of the walls. Replacing the countertops is a good idea, especially if they're original and likely have some scratches and chips at this point. Since you've got black coming in from your appliances and it's a small space, something like a black soapstone or granite might make it a bit more upgraded-looking, and give you a consistent run of black across your work surface, which I think would look better than a hodgepodge of tones. A small change that might also help, would be to switch out the blinds for something like a crisp new Roman shade or even a roller shade that will disappear from view and allow more light in.

Hi all, I posted a picture of the nextdoor neighbors unit because I wanted to know what the wood was and theirs was unpainted (my unit has a terrible paint job and I am trying to figure out what the wood is made of in case I decide to repaint or strip or just replace). I am posting pics of the whole room (in my actual unit) and would love ideas that are somewhat economical but keeping with the open style of the unit. Also the stove is vented through the top cabinet/microwave. I really appreciate everyones ideas and love this platform to exchange them.

Too bad -- I love the mint color! I would think that trying to strip and repaint those would be a huge chore, and if the doors are 1970s plywood, which I also suspect, they might crumble before they clean up. I want to suggest a galley kitchen approach, but not sure that it would be easy with the cutout facing the windows. Still, new cabinets will offer you some good options.

Sounds like you can do the work. More vids on YouTube you should look at.

dan1888 That is exactly the video and paint I would use! I used that on my mantle and inside my front door in my current house and it is awesome!

They also look like plywood to me, maybe fir/hemlock and probably look better painted than stained. I, too, like your mint! I think the style of the cabinets and painted the same color as the walls (above) gives you a much more cohesive, built-in, custom look than if those were wood color. Would they have to be stripped to repaint?

Yes, the neighbor’s wood cabinets look much better. At least to me, they do. And wood is back.

It looks like they painted the cabinets in a pale mint green color, and did the walls the same.

Someone might like it - you never know. But to me, I agree, it looks ghastly.

The most economical ”fix”, imo, would be to paint the walls in a light taupe type of color - picking up on what looks like the current countertop color, somewhat. NOT GREY. A very light taupe. And i would change out the hardware to black. If you are replacing any appliances, go black - or white - but not stainless. Black light fxtures. If you change the countertop - consider wood/butcher block. Tenants might beat it up - but it is easy and inexpensive to replace - and imo would give you the best look with the existing cabinets that you have. Would bring some warmth and life to the place, and would be current - because wood is back.

ETA: I now notice that your existing hardware is black - so that is good! A few pics, to show some of ideas i mentioned; similar colored cabinets, with wood/butcher block countertops, etc.

Olychick I may be able to sand (or get my husband to do it) . It doesn’t show up in the pics but whoever painted them was very sloppy and they have a lot of brushstrokes and paint where it should not be like inside of the cabinets and drawers. I like the color too so it may be easy to sand and repaint the same color with a better paint. I have heard that Goof Off will remove paint on bare wood for the messy painting pieces but have never tried it. I really hate a messy paint job.

if its a rental, you need todo the math first. what is range of rental market in area. the green certainly looks cleaner and neater, thats your competition. they are going to get more than you for rent. if its a lower rent area, give them a good clean with tsp and and paint, clean it up enough to present well.

I've been watching few furniture flippers on FB and youtube and there are some really slick products these days used to strip paint from wood, many of them non-toxic. If you decide to strip, I would look into those. It looks pretty straight forward and painless. I like these two; you may have to watch several videos to learn about the products as they don't use the same ones each time or always mention them in each video. https://www.youtube.com/@TranscendFurnitureGallery

https://www.youtube.com/c/KatieScottSALVAGEDbykscott

@jane the green is the poster's kitchen, the wood is her neighbors'.

Jane I definately agree with you on the doing my math! The rental market is pretty hot here (overpriced college town) and it rents quickly but I still want make it some place I would want to live but spending as little as possible :)

Olychick..same here! I have been watching those on youtube. I just have to tell myself I can do it!!

Freedomplace1 I LOVE those cabinets they look awesome! Also the tiles!

Acm I really love the galley kitchen setup..I only wish the ceilings weren’t so high in the middle then I could use that lovely stove vent.

I mean, you could probably put the sink and DW on the open side and then put an electric stove in front of the windows with no vent. Depends on the fridge -- every inch counts in this kitchen!