apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

okay. glad to hear the wallpaper is dealt with.
it seems to me that the cabinets and floor tiles clash a bit. I dont think the cabinets are too bad by themselves, but the floor ruins it.

Wow, talk about a blank canvas!

Are you keeping the finish on the cabinets the same?

If so, you don't really have too much to paint- I think you could go pretty bold with a color. A medium mossy green would be gorgeous against that warm wood color... and it wouldn't be overwhelming because of the white backsplashes.

How about the floor? Want to make any changes there?

One think I would suggest is utilizing that funny built-in light fixture over the island. That would be a great place for a hanging pot rack.

This is a fun big kitchen to work with, and I think you could get a lot of great suggestions from readers if you provided us with a little more background. What colors will be prevalent in the rest of the house? What kind of pulls did you choose? Any dishes you want to display and match?

The light above the island might as well have a "Demo Me" sign on it. Depending on your budget, either new cabinet fronts or new floor tile would be a big improvement.

I would take cues from some of your favorite foods and go with colors you love. You don't want to go too neutral-brown with the cabinets.
Also, that weird light box thing over your island is sort of strange looking. I would take that whole thing out and put in a more modern pendant light. Very nice kitchen to start from, though!

Phew, glad to hear the wallpaper is gone!

I think painting the crown molding white would be cheap but have good impact. I know it's always a big debate between the women vs. men to paint the trim .... blah blah blah... but yeah, you should paint it. And the baseboard too if it makes sense in the scheme of the house.

I'd say change the light fixture, but that might be super messy and you might not want to tackle that right away.

It's a big lovely kitchen, congratulations!

WOW. I'm always so amazed by the decorating "skills" of the previous tenants of homes! I myself also just purchased (thanks to declining market values) but what I have saved in a low purchase price is going towards serious renovations!

For whatever reason that contrasting molding up by the ceiling, stained to match the cabinets is REALLY bothering me. I would consider either having it removed or painting them white so as not to disrupt the flow and openess of your kitchen.

Purchasing all new cabinets would be costly, so perhaps you compromise and change the floor tiles instead or install a natural looking pergo. Ikea has a great options for $1.15 a square foot- also v. easy to DIY install.

White - white - white!

Delikatissen

It would be nice to know what parameters you have on the project. How much do you have to spend (roughly)? Are you looking for a total redo or just cosmetic improvements? Also, what's on the other side of the kitchen? A breakfast nook? A family room? It would really be helpful if you would include a picture of the upgrades you've made thus far.

Off the top of my head, other than wallpaper, I would say to install the microwave above the stove, remove the light box and install new lighting and/or pot rack above the island as shockthebourgeois suggested. I like the contrast of the brown cabinets and white tile, so consider changing the floor tiles, probably to white.

Does that microwave hold magical powers? I hope so. It's enormous!

Personally, I think painting the cabinets would give the place a much fresher, cleaner feel. In their current stain, even with new pulls, I don't think the finish looks modern (but I may be wrong, lighting and seeing them in person may be totally different). In any case, I have seen traditional cabinets look uber modern by painting the lower cabs a slightly different color than the upper cabs. This also serves to "lighten" (weight-wise, not light-wise) the feeling of the room. So many upper cabs can make the room feel imposing, blocky or weighted down. I can email you some example photos if you like. You can contact me at emily b wyatt at gmail.

How about that mimosa color? Or a tamer yellow.

Yeah, that light over the island, see if you can have that box taken out and rewired flush? A nice chandelier of some sort?

Nice kitchen - Congrats!

I agree that the box above the center island needs to come down - whether it's a skylight or a light fixture. I'd also consider changing the yellow countertop on that center island to something else - perhaps butcherblock or a dark-toned ceramic or stone tile?

I'd leave the wood cabinets and crown mouldings - I like them and they appear to be in good condition. Since they're essentially brown and the floors are beige - I'd consider a nice tomato red paintjob for your walls and red Le Crueset cookware, a red tea kettle, potholders, etc.

There's a nice collection of hand-painted French dishware in the Williams Sonoma catalog right now - I'd consider them or some Blue and White plates for your table and walls. You might even find some vintage blue and white Delft plates or tiles that would look great hung up on that soffit against the red.

Nice big kitchen with a window over the sink. That is my ideal set up. Something about washing dishes and daydreaming out the window...

The crown molding - it probably would look better painted white.

I think the cabinets are lovely as is. A pale olive green might look good with the wood and the floor tile. I think a dark wall color will make the backsplash and counter appear even more starkly white.

I would wait until after you paint the wall before deciding whether to paint the crown molding.

It's really a huge and wonderful kitchen. Congratulations on your new home!

looks like an efficient kitchen arrangement! i think it depends on the color palettes you choose for the rest of your home. if we're just looking at the kitchen, i think it would be nice to keep it white for high contrast between the dark wood and walls. then throw in bright colored kitchen accessories. :)

Don't paint the cabinets - they're lovely!
The main problem I see with your color scheme is the disconnect between the Cream-y warm floors and the White white white backsplash. Which do you prefer?
If you like the white, I would suggest a cool, medium blue on the walls and change the white floors to highlight the warmth of the cabinets.
If you prefer the creamy beige tiles, then you need to dial down the brightness of the backsplash and do... something? I don't know what color I would do, those tiles are too jarring for me.

- Remove or minimize soffit above upper cabinets, it's too heavy looking and unnecessary.
- Remove box light above island and replace with either one medium sized, or two small pendants. If that is a light fixture (and not a skylight) it should be really really easy to replace, you will just have some minor drywall repair work.
- It's difficult to tell from the photos what color/material your counters are (which I'm assuming are going to stay), but it looks like the floor tile is beige while the backsplash is white. Choose one to keep, and replace the other - probably the backsplash will the cheaper of the two to replace. A backsplash with different tone tiles that pick up on the color of the floor and countertops would work well.
- Install above the range microwave/exhaust.

Good luck and congrats on the new house!

Just feel confident that anything you do will be an improvement. I agree a fun green would look nice with your cabinets.
I would consider replacing the floor, depending on the age of your house you might get lucky when you rip it up and find hardwood floors. If not I'd go for some tiles to match the backsplash.

With that much space, I'd get rid of the kitchen island and put in a table and chairs. And I'd swap out the ceiling light, as others have mentioned.

With the wallpaper gone, the only other real issue is that the beige floor looks dingy in a room with white subway tiles. If you can't afford to replace it, I suggest a rug (which would be easier to put in if the island were gone.

If you're really adventureous, I suggest removing the backsplash tiles. The stark white tiles are a bit much. Oh and the ceiling light needs to go. Install a nice hanging light.

It really depends on what is happening in the rest of the house, what sort of look you are aiming for, etc.

I agree about the tiled floors not working with the rest of the elements in the room. Personally, I would tear out the tiles, and lay down rubber flooring -- either Dalsouple (who have amazing colours but are a little harder to source in the U.S.) or Reztec. Rubber flooring is (relatively) cheap, comes in great colours, is easy to install, is comfortable when standing for extensive periods, has an antibacterial zone like true linoleum, is fresh because it has not been over-used (like granite countertops) and helps prevent breakage (when things fall to the floor, they tend not to shatter).

I was looking through the current issue of French Elle Décoration today, and saw a stunning kitchen based on '80s carved oak cabinets (the ugly cousin of what you have). They were painted an almost black earthy brownish green, and everything else was similarly dark except for Moroccan metalwork and an oversized rattan pendant from IKEA. Stunning. And a very atypical approach!

In your case, I would urge you to get rid of the bulkheads running the length of your counters, as well as that over your island. They are too heavy and weigh down your whole kitchen. As others have said, the microwave is too big, and needs to be better integrated. We've installed ours inside our island, and quite like it under-counter.

Can put your pantry items somewhere else instead of the upper cabinets? Is there room for a very shallow cabinet opposite the island (out of camera range)? Or somewhere else in the room? I would remove the upper cabinets, run the tiles to the ceiling and wall-to-wall, and install one or two open shelves all the way around to store dishware, glassware and the things you use regularly.

Your island seems a bit undersized to me... and I suspect there is an eating nook in a bay window just out of camera range, so I will not suggest putting a table there. My suggestion would be to make the top deeper, making it more friendly for eating or sitting on a stool. Clad the sides of the island in white marble (carrara or similar), the same depth as the top, and install the new marble counter on top, thus supporting the extended jut-out with the sides (hope you can follow that). It will increase the size and visual weight of the island, look fresh, modern and will introduce a luxurious material at lower cost (no fancy detailing, just straight cuts).

I think these changes will make your kitchen stunning.

(and if you want to be REALLY bold, I'd paint the lower cabinets a matte charcoal, or some other dark colour, but that would be pretty dramatic).

The countertops and backsplash look new, I’d keep them because I like a white kitchen, in fact I’d paint the cabinets white(no small task).
Priority numero uno would be the flooring for me, the wood looks in great shape but the floor is ruining your whole look here.
Like everyone else I don't know what you’re going for but painted hardwood and even commercial linoleum tiles can be really affordable and flexible flooring options.
If it were my place I’d also saw out the center panel of a couple of the upper cabinets replacing it with glass and paint the interior a pretty contrast color.
I second painting the crown, but again I like it white.
Removing the entire ceiling fixture may be a real problem as the ceiling looks like it might just be popcorn, you could give real context to the box by hanging pot hooks off of it as suggested and that box soffit make a great spot to use more of your accent color from the interiors.
My last “if it were me” I love aqua and I’d have those oven panels slid out and painted a fun accent color but you can also do them in white.
Beautiful space BTW :)

Marble marble marble!

Where is your fridge?

It depends on your style and the style of the house. If you're more eclectic, leave the cabinets, replace the countertop and floor with Morroccan tile, and draw a wall color from that. If you're more traditional, green walls and a solid surface counter in white or off-white. If you're more modern, take out the upper cabinets and replace them with shelves (stainless would be cool), add a solid surface counter, paint the lower cabinets grey and the walls yellow. No matter what, remove that light! I think HGTV has how-tos on their website for such monstrosities...

Vanilla yellow for all the walls where wallpaper used to be.

A white or cream would look nice with the cabinetry. I would do an almost yellow cream with white trim.

Since the appliances are so dark, I would go with a dark color on the cabinets, like a dark slate blue or maybe a dark olive. I would demo the overhead lighting thing and add a couple of pendant lights...maybe white globes or maybe even one oversized lampshade style pendant. I would replace the flooring with white penny tiles. They're cheap...about 6 bucks per square foot. The current tile is such an odd color and it looks weird with the tiles on the back splash. The island looks a little small...but maybe just because the overhead lighting thing is wider. I would either remove the top and replace it with a larger butcher countertop, or just replace the whole thing with a free standing island. Either stainless steel or wooden with a butcher block top. Open on the bottom since you have so much closed cabinetry. Maybe demo those sofits above the cabinets...it looks a bit heavy. Paint the trim white and maybe the walls white or a really light almost white gray.

I would paint the cabinest white or cream and paint the walls a nice colour of your choice and maybe change the countertops. It's a lot of work to paint cabinets, so you might just get away with changing the handles as you were thinking of doing.

Good luck!