Ideas needed for kitchen reno (pic included)

bearcats23

OK, here is the hideous kitchen in our new home. I'm in need of some ideas. The only thing staying is the cabinets. Appliances, countertop, sink, faux brick vinyl floor, and 80's era flourescent lighting has got to go. To the right in this picture is a sitting area with a nice bay window. Thanks ahead for all your ideas, and I will definitely post pics as we go through the project.

I'm open to ideas on everything, but here are my current thoughts...

Floor
We will likely go with a laminate stone looking floor, probably a lighter color. The dining room and hallway next to the kitchen have light hardwood floors, so trying to match the wood color is likely out of the question. And tile is out because the subfloor is not completely flat and I don't want cracking tiles.

Appliances
We will be putting stainless steel appliances in.

Countertops
Not real sure just yet. We would like quartz since it seems slightly cheaper than granite yet has a similar look. The estimate I calculated has this around $3,000, which is a bit steep. We are also thinking of going with a lighter color, but would love to hear other opinions. If there are any nice solid surface countertops out there I would love to hear it.

Lighting
OK, here is a problem. We will definitely remove the flourescent light fixture, but I'm scared to see what the ceiling looks like underneath it (right now it's the popcorn type ceiling, which I'm not crazy about). Hopefully we won't have to scrape the entire ceiling down, but we may have to. Any and all ideas are welcome here, because I have no idea what to do with the ceiling/lighting.

Paint
We're thinking of either a really light green or maybe a light tan, no final decisions yet but it will likely depend on the countertop and floor colors.

Attached Images

 

tpolk

i like it just paint the cabs

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Troglodyte

I have to ask, my friend had a kitchen that looked exactly like this. Everything the exact same except the colour of the countertop and the model of the stove. Same cupboards, same model of fridge, same sink, same odd split-level countertop, very very wierd. Any chance this house is in northern British Columbia.

In my friend's house they had a stainless steel stove which looked very good with the cupboards and wood. I do think a lighter colour countertop would be preferable given the colour of the cabinets. I would want to make the countertop all one level but I do think it looks good either way.

As for the lighting I would put in a tracked lighting fixture, which means if there is any ceiling damage it will almost certainly have to be repaired. The reason I would go with the track lighting is that due to the fixtures location, just about any position you stand at at the counter you are creating a shadow onto the countertop workspace, which is a massive pet peeve of mine.

If you do have to work on the ceiling but don't want tracked lighting I'd add another fixture above the sink while you are doing the work.

Again, this house happen to be in Northern British Columbia?

vsheetz

- Counter depth refrigerator in an alcove
- Stainless appliences are good, especially for resale
- Find a place that sells and installs prefabricated granite - saves money and gets you granite
- Save money by doing a 6" granite backsplash (often included with the prefab granite) and just paint above it

bearcats23

House is located in Ohio. I'm sorry to hear that there's another kitchen out there as ugly as this one. I do like the tracked lighting look.

Jim F

I guess being there might give a different perspective but it really doesn't look bad.