Redoing the kitchen... so many questions

[aggiekathy]

So I am fairly new here but here goes...

We are looking to redo our kitchen. It is a fairly large space that gets very little natural light. Currently we have dark (mahogany colored) cabinets and dark granite. All was here when we purchased the house. While we hate to take out the granite it is just too much dark material. We have gotten a price on replacing the current granite with lighter but we aren't tied to that. We have a rather large island and I am thinking it would look nice in a different material but have no idea how to go about mixing them. I am googling to try and get ideas but there are just so many of them. 

Any idea of where to start?

[pitterwoo]

is the kitchen in good shape that you'd want to paint the cabinets white to lighten things up and keep what you have? or are you looking to do a total gut and remodel?

[sillygoosegirl]

Would it be better with more natural light? Can you install solar tubes?

[aggiekathy]

We are kind of stuck with the light situation and the house is only 4 years old. We have been tossing around the idea of painting at least some of the cabinets. I was thinking of painting the island a light color and doing a darker countertop and keeping the rest dark and doing light countertops.

DH likes the idea of painting the upper cabinets. Let me try to figure the PIP thing out.

[aggiekathy]

Let's see if this works...

[kaylie]

We're just finishing up our kitchen remodel and were in a similar situation with not having enough light. We had light maple cabinets, but they still made the room look drab.

We demolished a soffit and put in new 42'' top cabinets to make the room feel larger. We kept our bottom cabinets but painted them white to match the top cabinets. We also got new appliances, granite counters, backsplash and added a kitchen island.

I would suggest doing a lot of research before you start. Check out GardenWeb's kitchen forum for ideas as well as pinterest. Then decide what you're willing to spend since that will pretty much determine what your options are.

If it were my kitchen, I think I would paint the perimeter cabinets and keep the counters on those, but not paint the island and get a lighter granite or marble counter there. I think the contrast would be nice.

[kellikans]

your cabinets look like they're pretty nice. I would keep the countertops and paint the perimeter cabinets white and maybe do a contrast color on the island. I'm not a huge fan of mixing countertops unless its something like butcher block and marble, so I would keep all of the countertops as they are.

[pitterwoo]

Jun 1, 2013 22:02:51 GMT -5 kellikans said:

your cabinets look like they're pretty nice. I would keep the countertops and paint the perimeter cabinets white and maybe do a contrast color on the island. I'm not a huge fan of mixing countertops unless its something like butcher block and marble, so I would keep all of the countertops as they are.

this is what I would do as well.

painting those will lighten the space dramatically and everything else about your kitchen seems fine (layout, style) so I just wouldn't feel it was worth it to change everything out.

[aggiekathy]

We are definitely keeping the cabinets. Changing them isn't in the budget. Really thinking at this point about what to paint. Definitely the walls, which set up cabinets is up in the air. DH REALLY wants to change the granite. He doesn't like anything about it. I am now thinking we paint the cabinets an antique white. Leave the island. Go with a lighter granite.

[pitterwoo]

Jun 1, 2013 22:36:05 GMT -5 aggiekathy said:

We are definitely keeping the cabinets. Changing them isn't in the budget. Really thinking at this point about what to paint. Definitely the walls, which set up cabinets is up in the air. DH REALLY wants to change the granite. He doesn't like anything about it. I am now thinking we paint the cabinets an antique white. Leave the island. Go with a lighter granite.

If your H really hates the granite then maybe changing it is the only way to go and discussing anything else is moot.

If he's at all open to just seeing how it goes, I would paint the walls and cabinets and then live with it for a bit to see if we still wanted to change the counters.  I would just want to save the counters if there was a way to make them work for me.  But I'm a make-it-doer.

[heygrey]

i totally agree with painting everything lighter and leaving the granite as is for a while. paint is cheap, although time intensive if you're DIY. i just wouldn't rip up my expensive countertops as a first option. try other things first and if he still really hates them, then make plans to replace the granite.

[hbomdiggity]

I would def just paint the cabs and leave the granite for now. Show your H the bowerpower blog before and afters.

[nessness]

What does he hate about the counters? I love kitchens with white cabinets and dark counters. If it were my kitchen I would probably paint all the cabinets white, add some hardware, paint the walls, and leave everything else as-is. I know the two-toned cabinet look is trendy right now, but personally I'm not a fan.

[barney96]

do you really need the glass cabinets where you store your glasses? it looks pretty and all, but I bet without those cabinets the room would get more light. I wouldnt paint those cabinets at all. I would change the granite to something you like, and then decide if you want to paint.