If you want to lighten them up, you could paint them or put contact paper on them. The contact paper will let you see how it could look painted, but can be removed if you don't like it.
For our oak cabinets, I started by removing all of the drawers and doors, and as I did that, I labelled them so I knew which piece belonged with which part of the built-in units.
I then prepped all of the wood with Krud Krutter (not just the stuff meant for cleaning - they have product that specifically meant for paint prep). This product should remove the shiny topcoat from your cabinets.
After it dried, I filled in the wood grain with putty and sanded it smooth (you really only have to do this if you have oak cabinets because the grain is so deep. You also don't have to do this if you don't mind the grain showing through the new paint).
Next, I used a paint sprayer to cover everything with a solid layer of primer (Behr has product designed specifically for cabinets). After drying, I used the sprayer to add a couple coats of my final paint colour (we went with a light grey colour). Again, Behr has awesome, enamel-based product for this type of project.
Once again, I let everything dry and then put each piece back in its original place.
I also cleaned and spray painted the original hardware to give it a fresh, modern look, which helped us save money (brand new hardware can be expensive depending on the size of you kitchen)!
If you are looking to repaint - I recently discovered Oil Bond (you can get it here on Amazon https://amzn.to/2wGmiNO) where you rub this first on your cabinets. This helps the paint stick so you DON'T NEED TO SAND!! Also add a bit of Oil Bond to your paint. I would also spend a bit more for specific cabinet paint to ensure a smooth finish. I recently did this on my bathroom vanity and it turned out fantastic! Here are my pics of my project: https://wp.me/pUbK5-yRy
We like shaker style or something with molding and also replace the fluorescent ceiling lights to pot lights. We also would like to add a 9" molding from top of cab...
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Pati, take a look at some of these. Maybe you will get just the inspiration you are looking for!
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1300&bih=748&ei=LsRdXLmfHIGUsgWm_ZyoDA&q=kitchen+cabinets&oq=kitchen+cabinets&gs_l=img.3..35i39l2j0l8.4537.9010..9452...0.0..0.78.1044.16......1....1..gws-wiz-img.....0.YwY5SNRm2hE
If you want to lighten them up, you could paint them or put contact paper on them. The contact paper will let you see how it could look painted, but can be removed if you don't like it.
For our oak cabinets, I started by removing all of the drawers and doors, and as I did that, I labelled them so I knew which piece belonged with which part of the built-in units.
I then prepped all of the wood with Krud Krutter (not just the stuff meant for cleaning - they have product that specifically meant for paint prep). This product should remove the shiny topcoat from your cabinets.
After it dried, I filled in the wood grain with putty and sanded it smooth (you really only have to do this if you have oak cabinets because the grain is so deep. You also don't have to do this if you don't mind the grain showing through the new paint).
Next, I used a paint sprayer to cover everything with a solid layer of primer (Behr has product designed specifically for cabinets). After drying, I used the sprayer to add a couple coats of my final paint colour (we went with a light grey colour). Again, Behr has awesome, enamel-based product for this type of project.
Once again, I let everything dry and then put each piece back in its original place.
I also cleaned and spray painted the original hardware to give it a fresh, modern look, which helped us save money (brand new hardware can be expensive depending on the size of you kitchen)!
I hope this helps.
If you are looking to repaint - I recently discovered Oil Bond (you can get it here on Amazon https://amzn.to/2wGmiNO) where you rub this first on your cabinets. This helps the paint stick so you DON'T NEED TO SAND!! Also add a bit of Oil Bond to your paint. I would also spend a bit more for specific cabinet paint to ensure a smooth finish. I recently did this on my bathroom vanity and it turned out fantastic! Here are my pics of my project: https://wp.me/pUbK5-yRy