Pictures would help

I'll try to add some. Counters are black granite, cupboards are presently an awful, orangey oak, floors are oak. I'll work on getting pic. thank you!

Painting oak is difficult because of the grain and even professional paint jobs aren't satisfactory. Do your due diligence before deciding

It might just be fine keeping the trim as is:

I have an oak kitchen, but it is very light despite wood cabinets because the countertops, appliances, farm sink, backsplash and wall color are all light. Pics in my "my pics" idea book.

Thank you all for your input. Here are a few pictures of the room.

It is the black countertops that are darkening the space. You can either paint the cabinets - your plan, or get lighter countertops. In either case, get under cabinet lighting. It helps so much.

I would not invest in new stone countertops without doing a little cabinet rearranging - moving sink farther way from the range if possible. Switch the sink and dishwasher or move drawers to other side of sink and corresponding uppers above those - might not be possible.

Painting might buy you several years to save up for new cabinets. I'm not one to push new cabinets or painting oak - I still have my old oak ones and plan to keep them, but you have a little bit of a layout issue that might require new cabinets some day to really fix.

Once the cabinets are painted, you can determine if the trim is not working. I have stained cabinets and white trim - they do not have to match.

If you do paint the trim, do not paint the doors. Stained doors and white trim is a good look:

For the sake of example - here are some with lighter countertops:

Charleston Light Kitchen Cabinets Home Design · More Info

Victorian House Remodel, Alameda · More Info

An addition and kitchen renovation · More Info

Since you don't have a window over the sink, you should also be sure you have good lighting - no matter what color your cabinets.

Accessories might do the trick. Try some bold colors. Some new, more modern cabinet hardware in chrome may look nice as well. And if you are feeling crazy, a new backsplash that is a bit lighter could look good.

Wow! Thank you so much for all the input. Any opinions on the white used on the cabinets? It will be Sherwin Williams paint. Is it better with all the wood trim to do a creamier white, or a brighter white. I would love the end result to look bright, fresh and very clean.

The house is really traditional, so a more modern touch would be more youthful, but I don't want to go too far against the style.

I agree 100% that the room was poorly designed and the layout could be greatly improved. Also, I'd love to change the counters and back splash but can't afford to.

Thank you again.

I totally agree with jhmarie. The countertops are the problem. I would hesitate to paint your cabinets white. It will lead to a host of other problems. I would be afraid that everything else will look "off". You will suddenly have a bright white room butting up against all of the nice warm wood in every other room.

There has been a recent post where someone did just that. She has a beautiful new white kitchen surrounded by lovely warm rooms. It does not work, so now she has to change every room in order to make the kitchen fit.

If you really want to get rid of the " Orange" ( who started that??) cabinets maybe you could do a creamy/tan/beige instead of white. What kind of floors for you have?

The floors are oak too. The cupboards are pretty orangey and tigerish with all the variation in the woods. Wish I had the funds to redo the whole kitchen and make it lighter. I hate not having a window over the sink but the garage is behind that wall.

I really appreciate your input. It is a major decision for us.

Thank you!

I have exact same problem ! Any advice? I am planing to redo the whole kitchen plus floor into hardwood floor. Don’t know if I should go with white or dark cabinets! Solution for the window over sink!

I think you're better off changing countertop and backsplash to a lighter stone + subway tiles and add under cabinet lighting. Will look better than painting the cabinets. The style of cabinets with the arch and exposed hinges are still older- I don't think painting them white will give you the look you want (and will start a domino effect I fear). Another Houzzer recently chose to keep her wood cabinets and changed counter/back splash to light and it looks amazing and new. Think about it before painting (cost may be the same)

Hi, I have to say that, after long discussions and deliberations I DID paint all the oak cupboards in my kitchen and laundry room white and absolutely love it! I interviewed painters to get a good idea of their thoughts and methods, and went with a local company owned and operated by a woman:) She did not disappoint.

The room is so much brighter, cleaner and more open looking. I then actually painted the travertine back splash to match the cupboards and kept the black granite counter tops. Some day I will replace the back splash, but for now it is bright and surprisingly durable. I love painted brick though so that helps. I kept all the rest of the wood trim in the room, and added matching wood all around the base of the island, like baseboards to tie it all in. My room has oak stained chair rail, and large moldings along the ceiling and floors. I painted the walls the same white as the cupboards so it all ties in. The floors are oak.

One thing I will say though is that after the cupboards are all the same color, white in my case, you do see a lot that didn't stand out when they were stained wood. I am really careful to keep the finish nice and hope it stays great for many years. It's been almost three now and so far so good.

Good luck with your project. Hope you end up loving it too.

Mary

Would love to see a picture!

We are getting quotes for painting our oak cabinets white or grey too-doing a grain fill so they will look good. Same issues of all wood trim throughout the whole house. Please post a picture would love to see the 'after'.

Ugh! I am having trouble getting my pictures up on this site (new phone). I will get some "after" pictures up as soon as I can. Our painters also filled in the oak grain where needed and it really turned out great. Hopefully pics to come soon.

Do you have a picture yet?

Yes! As you can tell it's been close to impossible to get these on here, and now, they aren't even right side up! UHG!! Sorry, hope you can get some idea of what it looks like:(

Hi, Mary-- It looks beautiful. Would like to know what color white you chose. Is it Sherwin Williams? Thanks!

Hi Gail, Yes, it's Sherwin Williams extra white. Thank you for the compliment!

Thank you so much. I have the same dilemma right now, with wood trims and doors. Your post and all the replies are a huge help.

I know, it's so hard. First of all, It's crazy that my pictures on this site are all upside down or sideways with no way to edit them once they up. Makes it all harder to see.

In our house, the kitchen is attached to a family room that has the same wood trim, half wall pecan wainscotting, and a really pretty coffer ceiling, so to paint it all white kind of seems sad. We added stained based boards in the kitchen to the island and under all the white cabinets, and did the crown molding the same tying to tie it all in. There are some really fun wood lights out there too, so we just went for it. I have to add that I am just loving the painted back splash. It was going to be a huge pain and expense to change the travertine tile, but now it is very bright and surprisingly durable with the easy fix. We also painted the brick fire place in the family room white and it all works together. I'd love to see what you end up doing. Very best of luck getting something you'll love.

Haha - no worries. I've had the same problem loading pictures (on a different website) before, so I don't think it's us!

Interesting how similar our houses sound. The family room is off my kitchen and has a vaulted wood ceiling. Plus, painting all the wood trim and doors throughout the house would be a huge expense. I like your idea of adding stained baseboards to tie it in, and painting the brick fireplace the same white! I also have a brick fireplace in the living room.

I'm actually doing this for a second home that I rent out in another state, and I've had less than stellar tenants in the past. I'm trying to do the bare minimum until I can move back into it, so my main dilemma is that I don't plan to retile the floors right now. They are old, 8-in dingy-white tiles with dark brown grout, and I'm worried that any white paint I choose for the cabinets will clash with those. I do have to replace the countertop, though, so that will help (or become another impossible decision lol).

It may be months from now, but I'll try to post before and after pictures when it's finished. Thanks again for all the info. It really helps!