Abby C.'s Profile

Geh! Our apartment is painted with yellowy cream walls and greenish-beige trim (the trim is not even close to the elegance of putty.) That first picture has me longing to do up the bedroom with putty walls and white trim. We painted the living/dining space with a cool gray wall and white trim...putty in the bedroom would tie into the neutrals, and warm up the space without making it feel smaller. Love the first example pic.

I'm guessing that you're debating between painting and staining because you want to change the color but want to preserve some of the nice wood grain. If you don't care about wood grain, paint them. Look for inspiration kitchens on the web with painted cabinets and go for it.

If you're concerned about wood grain, then look into milk paint. It would allow some of the grain to show but is closer to a paint than a stain and you could lighten the kitchen considerably.

Painting your cabinets is a much more economical way to update your kitchen than to replace the appliances and countertop as other commenters have suggested, so I say go for updating the cabinets first!