^I have a similar problem, @Consolation. Theoretically, we could afford to redo the kitchen, but we keep talking about moving (which H doesn’t actually want to do, despite the talk), so why redo the kitchen. It just isn’t that important to H. I expect to live with it for a long time to come.
OP do you want to maximize resale or be happy with your kitchen?
Another idea is to look at Zillow and see what people want in your area. There is a very sad $3 million dollar house in my area that has been on the market for 2 years. They pulled it off the market and remodeled but kept the 90’s planning desk in the kitchen. So another 8 months on the market and another price reduction.
Here’s my advice:
Since you don’t want stained cabinets, research cabinet refacing. There will be several companies that will come out and give bids and show their product. Beware of thermafoil white wrap crap
Take off one drawer and sand, prep, paint with foam roller. You won’t get the spray look but you will be able to tell if it looks nice and whether it will last. Put drawer back in, put a handle on and abuse the drawer a lot. Bang some pots against it, use dirty hands to open and close. Try cleaning the surface with a mild soap. In general newly painted cabinets will lighten up and freshen up the kitchen and you will love them.
Decide whether you want to reface or repaint and hire someone to do that job.
Before they come, you need to clear out all cabinets and set up a kitchen somewhere else. You may have to pull out stove, dishwasher, microwave, and refrigerator for a bit. You might as well, you won’t believe how gross it gets back behind these things and it needs a thorough cleaning. If you are not comfortable moving those out yourself, include it in the painting job bid.
Paint walls and ceiling yourself
You should be able to demo off countertops and sink yourself. The problem is hauling it away somewhere. By having countertops off, the painting will be more thorough. Find prefab granite, quartz, marble place in your area. Make your selection and ask the store for installation/fabrication referrals. Buy undermount sink and faucet (and soap, hot water dispensers if wanted.)
After cabinets done, have countertop guys install the undermount sink and drill hole(s) for faucet.
So far you have only hired two specialists. You might need to hire a plumber if you need to for hooking up garbage disposal, sink drain and dishwasher
Then you can have some fun selecting backsplash and installing yourself
You can do floors any time after countertop installed
@MaterS yep…when I redo my cabinets, I am turning that desk area into a coffee station or buffet or something. The cabinets above will have glass front doors for some of my nicer dishes. And all the crap in those cabinets…and drawers will get tossed!
We are doing all of the above in our kitchen except for the flooring. We, too, have 30+ doors and drawers to paint and we are going to experiment - DH and I will wipe a dark/almost black stain over the brown finish. We finished one door and loved it. We have a contractor friend who is doing everything else and he will have our refinished cabinets sprayed with a protective coating. We also have a tight budget and priced everything out before starting.
This is the order we are following:
kitchen island rebuild
kitchen countertop installation
cabinet repainting (really glazing)
island painting and cabinet sealing
backsplash install