apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Then paint them some other color. I painted my lower cabinets in my previous house a bright red, installed simple birch upper cabinets (from Ikea) and a pantry and cabinet around the fridge.
You could look at some other colors for painting and put in a row of cabinets above the wall over the oven.
Speaking of the oven and stovetop. What the heck is that?

I agree with Austinjohn--paint it another color. Beige or light grey might be okay neutrals, depending on what the rest of your place looks like. Replace the hardware with satin nickel pulls or whatever finish you like.

Paint it a dark color, such as a navy blue.

There are other shades of white besides stark. Use an ivory color or paint them an entirely different color. Add new hardware. And install open shelving above

I think you could paint them a fun, strong color. For some reason, the country styling to the doors makes me think of Monet's house in Giverny. Perfect color inspiration from a master. You can see his yellow dining room here: http://parisbreakfasts.blogspot.com/2007/04/petit-dejeuner-bleu-et-blanc.html or other rooms here: http://www.adelynlee.com/food/?p=480 My favorites for your kitchen would be the yellow of the dining room, or some variation of the green he uses throughout.

just paint them some other color.

I'm a big fan of Waverly Classics' Gypsy Gold from Lowe's...

Agree w/ the above posters - there are other colors for cabinets besides white...

Have you considered Dark Grey or Black?
Apple Green?
Chocolate Brown?
Tomato Red?

BTW - That's a great stove! Can you tell us more about it?

I think black would look great with your stove, and agree with the suggestion of open shelving on top.

I would go with a swedish gray/blue.

Would sanding and refinishing be too big of an ordeal? If you did a nice job you could reuse them later rather than trashing them.

Green!

Paint them green!

I think painting them is the best idea. I would, if only I could find a painter who knows what he's doing.

Charcoal Grey paint, some new hardware and a new stainless or white countertop would look great

Hi Everyone,

Thats our ugly kitchen cupboards- thank you for your suggestions.

As for the stove, its an elevated oven (intended for old people & the disable- neither of which we are!). All of our other 35 neighbours also have them.

We've also been thinking about putting a feature panel in the centre of each door- do you have any suggestions?

Thanks so much for your help AT!
Marcus & Jenny.

Why not take advantage of the short-term-ness of these cupboards and paint them a really bold, fun colour? If you plan to replace them shortly anyway, you can do something more daring than you may otherwise. And get cool new hardware.

That's a really funky stove, btw!

Chocolate brown!

I am going to suggest, given if you are going to replace them within the year, and if they are in salvageable condition, not to paint them. My mother, when she redid her kitchen, sold her wood cabinets in about a minute, they were from the early 70s and kind of hideous, but unpainted. I don't know what the market wants. Someone may like the color you choose, I know I wouldn't want too much of a project to have to strip something.

But if they're real, true crap, paint them hot lime green. How much longer will they be there? I would experiment and do something brave. I kind of think if you painted them something nice enough (in the safe, easy-to-decorate-around category), you would end up putting off the new cabinets, so do something maybe a little hard to take, something you'll never get another chance to play with. You'd love something different for a while when you know it's not forever, it's the perfect time.

Take the doors off them - go for the open shelf look where you can and where you can't hang retro curtains...or buy some Ikea cabinet doors.

I'd go dark navy blue or black.

Chalkboard paint! Bright red enamel! Apple green!

The possibilities are endless :)