If your counter tops are in good condition, leave them alone, remove the 4" bs, and choose a cute bs tile (see below). If not, choose another laminate or the A category of solid surface in plain white, black or grey. As for the light fixture, remove it and use the wiring to install under cabinet led tape lights (there are several threads on these) under all your uppers, so you'll have under cabinet lights instead of that peculiar wall mounted thing. Check to see whether the manufacturer of your microhood makes a replacement door in stainless steel. They often do, and Sears is a great place to get them. Otherwise, just replace the microhood with a stainless undercabinet vent hood and move the microwave to the pantry closet. What happened to your round end shelves - did you remove them on purpose? If so, you could add new white cabinets along that wall. You could choose (I'm guessing) 2@ 24" wide x 24" deep bases with counter and one 24" wide x 12" deep upper, or keep bases 12" deep (i.e. use upper cabs for base cabs) depending on your space. I can't tell what's going on near the fridge wall, but from your earlier post it looks like your "pantry" cabinet is 24" deep and the uppers are all fridge height, and the closet doesn't open completely. Now's the time to fix this issue. Post more images and we can give you options. If you are keeping dark trim because the rest of the house has the same dark trim, then at least lighten up the walls and don't choose a paint with yellow undertones. The following are tile/paint combos that could work for you. Tiles are less than $5/sf This post was edited by EAM44 on Tue, Mar 5, 13 at 10:55

Most cities have relatively complicated wording to explain when a permit is required, so I will give you my simple explanation. If you are just replacing one electric item with a similar item (replace a receptacle with a GFCI, put a new light fixture in the bathroom to replace an existing fixture, etc.), then most cities do not require a permit. If you need to run new wiring or install new junction boxes or receptacle boxes in a wall or ceiling, most cities want you to pull a permit. If you hire a licensed electrician to make some minor wiring changes, you may decide its not worth it to pull a permit. The key point is that the person doing the work is qualified to do the work. However, I have also found that its not really that hard to pull a homeowner permit if you are willing to spend an hour down at the city hall and pay a fee. Many folks on this forum will tell you that the electrician should pull the permit (which is correct), but that will usually cost you more. You will be paying someone from the electrician's company to go to city hall to submit the permit, and then again to wait for the inspector. In my case I have sometimes pulled the permit for minor work, but the documentation I submitted included the license of the contractor doing the work. Bruce

They sell can to pendant conversions. I got mine from Ballard Designs. You remove the trim piece and screw it into the socket. Adjust the cord length and tighten the plate against the ceiling. I think it was maybe 5 mins to install them. Here is a link to one of them but they have all different shade choices. https://www.ballarddesigns.com/can-light-adapter-glass-bell-pendant/lighting/all-lighting/426819

I think your kitchen is pretty! I sometimes like to up the cozy factor and keep things dark when there isnt a lot of natural light. you could keeping the cabinets black, replacing some with glass doors, or even consider going with a color more saturated backsplash. Is it that the chrome gray black and white scheme feels a little cold to you? I wouldnt do different hardware on the different colors, I’d stick to the same and think about brass perhaps? I have unlaquered in my kitchen and it deepens to a dull darker color that is warm and not overpowering. For the pendants it depends if you want modern or more traditional? You could do brass for those as well! do you want them to be glass because you need the extra light in there or are you ok with solid options with just a downlight? helps to find inspiration pictures