apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I agree -- don't paint the tile. It will just look bad.

I think it would be gorgeous to paint the cabinets the grayish color shown in the pillowcase in the fourth picture, and use burgundy glass knobs (see link) in place of the current cabinet hardware.

Burgundy glass knobs: http://www.dlawlesshardware.com/exrubredglas.html

You will have a unique and beautiful kitchen.

I have a mid-century Florida condo and please keep, but shine the cabinet hardware if it is mid-century, and use color around them. Bright, yellow-green, gray with burgundy/pale rose (accents?) would be authentic. No vertical blinds!Crisp geometric or bold leaf patterned curtains or roman blind?

Definitely get rid of the blinds before you do anything else- I think when you get a cute curtain in there you'll be much happier. If you decide to paint the cabinets, I think the gray people keep mentioning would look good, but I also think that you could go retro bold here with yellow or aqua colors and it would look totally awesome.
I love your pink tile! Those cabinets are fantastic too. Have fun with your new kitchen!

I think the gray can also really work well with the shiny appliances you already have, plus a metal dish rack, and a retro fan to switch out for the one you have now. Shining up the hardware already suggested would bring it together even more.
I love your kitchen!

I actually really love the tile. I had a 50s ranch house in Portland and my bathroom tile was identical (except the burgundy trim in the shower had swans and lillypads on it). I think the idea of grey or more burgundy is nice, if you can't stand the white. Really, the only part that drives me crazy is the blinds. You could replace them with curtains that use burgundy, white, and whatever else you like. Good luck.

I second the getting rid of the blinds. Replacing them with color appropriate draperies will make a world of difference. And, not to offend, cleaning up the space will make it feel brighter. Also, a new faucet (under $50) may make the whole kitchen feel newer.

I've painted tile in many rentals and it looked perfect when it was done. So painting tile really DOES work but only if you use the proper paint and acid etch the tiles (people rarely use the proper products so it can come out looking awful). To do a basic older style kitchen cost about $125. Another method is to hire a reglazing company to paint the tile (the companies that do bathtubs). You do need to regrout afterward for things to look properly done.

If you don't want to paint the tile, figure out what the undertone of your tile color is (is it white, grey, black, greenish, etc) - then choose your favorite paint color - but make sure to choose the one with the matching undertone. Doing that will help balance the intensity of what you're trying to disguise (in this case the pinkness of the tile).

i agree about the blinds and general clean-up. let in the light and embrace what you have.

I have that pink tile in my bathroom as well, and I decided to go with grey paint to spruce it up. My advice - it is very hard to get a good grey paint. I went through three different shades of grey trying to find one that worked. The first one looked baby blue against the pink, the next one looked green. Finally I found a good brown tinged shade that looked decent! I wish someone had warned me beforehand!

I sympathize! I used to have this exact shade of pink tile in a bathroom in my old rental unit. Yuck!

It looks like you have some good cabinet space around your counter. I would take advantage of that and store away a lot of your lesser-used appliances and dishes when not using them. De-clutter please! The stainless steel is Ok but that crockpot really is throwing off your decor.

If you can, install a hook inside the cabinets for towels, or even hooks on a wall would be an alternative to hanging a cloth from the fridge. It looks like you might have room for another hook rack (like your pans are hanging from). Or you could do a knife/utensil rack there.

Yellow is a great contrast with pink, and I'd love to see some yellow accents somewhere - paint some in a nice design on the cabinets or use yellow-patterned curtains. I once used some dignitet clips from ikea to clip new curtains where vertical blinds had once been.

What's up with the hideous fan? I'm surprised more people aren't mentioning this. Can you do something else about the ventilation situation here? You could swap out the existing light for an overhead lamp fan, as one suggestion.

I agree that painting the cabinets will really help. The current white cabinets are really making the tile stand out because of the high contrast. Whatever color you choose to go with (some nice suggestions above) keep the value of the color the same as the light pink. This will reduce the contrast between the cabinets and counter top so you don't notice them as much. Pick part or your kitchen you do love and make that the new focal point - perhaps the view out of the kitchen or some nice new curtains.

That's the exact color scheme (and the same tiles) used in my bathroom! I just embraced the pink/chocolate combination with towels and artwork and it wasn't so bad.

...but a bathroom might be easier to handle in pink than a kitchen.

I'd paint walls an apple green for contrast or a dark chocolate, leave cabinets white (or if I did paint them, paint just door faces not surround), but add cool pulls in chocolate or green, and last but so not least ditch that horrible blind and get shutters or curtains.

Pink and grey would be fabulous, and so authentically mid-century - and yes get rid of the vertical blind in favor of a fabric blind that picks up on the dark border tile. Maybe you can even keep the cabinets white if you have enough wall for the grey paint. Did you see the craftsman kitchen here earlier this week, with gray walls, and creamy cabinets with a pink interior? I think you just have to enjoy the pink and have fun with it.

But you *can* paint tile. It's called refinishing and I see it done all the time on home improvement shows. Miracle Method is one company that I've seen used. In fact, their website shows a before and after of . . . Pink tiled countertops!

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=226905&CategoryID=31769

Now, it's not about using a brush and just slapping on wall paint. I don't know if the paint is specially formulated but all programs that have filmed tile refinishing in progress show a spray gun type application.

I would buy a flat sheet of that kid's bedding and make curtains out of it, store your small appliances and fan, and buy some cute art to put on the counters. Done.

My husband and I painted our first apartment's kitchen pink--with the off white trim and cupboards and the brown floor, we decided pink would make it a fun, Neapolitan kitchen. (The little counter was a nasty gray linoleum thing, but that was always covered--dish drainer, piles of mail and recipes, etc.--so it didn't really matter.)

I don't know, if you already decided on your course of action, but I just wanted to warn you before, and if, you decide to paint over the tile. I had my bathtub done professionally about 3 years ago, and it already started to peel last year. It's quite difficult to make the border between the new and old paint to go away. I think your kitchen counter gets to be used much more often than a bathtub, so the wear and tear will be faster. It's funny that somebody mentioned seeing the paint used on home improvement shows, because that's exactly what got me to give it a try(Thinking of course they wouldn't recommend anything too flimsy, would they?). If you plan to stay in your place longer than 2 years, I wouldn't risk it.