Wife wanted to try the Rustoleum Cabinet refurbishing kit. We spent several hours a day, for a few weeks attempting to remove the previous finish and gloss with their deglosser and green scrub pads. After the second week, the progress we made was unsubstantial, so the wife agreed to let me take my 4" palm sander with a high grit sandpaper to clean all the doors up. Was able to finish it all in about 6 hours. I had to take my time with the sander as it was just laminate we were working on.
I was pleased with the espresso stain/paint mix that came with the kit. The glaze really makes a noticeable difference in person. We replaced all the hinges and handles, I still need a picture of it all completed, with brushed nickel pieces. The original hinges had actually started to fall apart after 30 years of kitchen grease. ~5 screws were broken off into the wood giving us some mild issues.
We removed the old fluorescent lighting and replaced it with 4 bright LED dimmable bulbs, and decided to leave the area open for more height. Working on the lights wasn't nearly as bad as I first assumed. The "crawl" space above the kitchen had portions that had a higher clearance than the kitchen itself. The dimmable lights only light up the floor in the kitchen, and all the cabinets have under lighting installed to illuminate the granite counter tops. I still need to put another light in above the kitchen sink, but haven't decided on the type I want to use yet.
We removed the old electric range and installed a Samsung true induction. Although significantly pricier than our initial desire for gas, it ended up being cheaper than just having the gas line ran. After using induction, I'm sure every home we have from now on will have an induction range in it. We removed the old hood vent and installed a microwave hood combo. Unfortunately the venting wasn't the same between the two and we had to make many cuts, and use lots of metal tape to get a good exhaust.
We replaced the old ugly ass tile with some 12"x24" porcelain tiles. Metro Charcoal Porcelain Tiles from home depot. Buy lots of spacers, they make the tile work much much easier. We applied the stain resistant mix in batch liberally to the grout to hopefully maintain a good color.
The dining area we took out the old low hanging chandelier. Everyone on my side of the family hated it from hitting their heads, my wife's side is fairly short and never even thought it was an issue. Regardless but sides appreciated the fan in the dining to help cycle air. I chose flush mount, hard wired, so that we can have the 6 additional recessed lights on a dimmer switch. Something that wouldn't have been possible if the fan was connected.
We invested a month of work and $3600. Probably more if you count that we ate out for every meal. In the end, I'm sure all the work, and lack of good food made the first meal prepared even more delicious.