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olldbobbi Holy moley that is a lot of tract lighting! Were they filming cooking shows in there?

I would tear ALL of it down and go with recessed canned lights.

meaz_89 For a modern sleek feel I would leave that space bare. No pictures no terrable lighting. Recessed lighting atleast over the sink area. Have you looked at modern cieling fans (if you even want a fan) Or better a modern light fixture to replace the current fan.

lila29 I agree, recessed lighting, and also under-counter modern lighting would look nice. The fan looks a bit dated. Those cabinets will look great darker!

Walker Woodworking You are certainly on the right path & site for getting some ideas. I agree with the above comments. If I am reading your plans correctly you are wanting to paint your cabinets white on top and brown on bottom, I was not able to open the link above but we did this for a customer and here is the result. This type of mix is not my personal favorite but you can pull it off if it's what you want.

olldbobbi Walker Woodworking - LOVE that!.......Bobbi

Roots and Rafters Definitely remove the track lighting that's in there now and replace with can lights in the ceiling. Don't forget that you'll also need task lighting. For that, an under-counter LED system is easy to install, and runs cool (so that it won't melt things in your cabinets).

Jason Ball Interiors, LLC gingeraleshoup - if you can't afford recessed lighting, then look into monorail lighting. I ended up using it in my own kitchen because I have a beadboard ceiling and didn't want to cut a bunch of large holes in it. Down properly, it can look contemporary without looking busy. It would also give you the same ability of distributing the light around the room like the recessed lights do.

Elise Clean up the lighting as mentioned above and remove the items hung above the cabinets, then highlight the cathedral ceiling height by carrying bold color on the wall up to the ceiling . Not keen on brown base cabinets, with the stainless steel appliances, I would rather see you go bolder. I like your hardware idea.

anitajoyce Take all the track lighting down! It is distracting to the room. Recessed lighting would be a good idea.

Ginger Shoup @meaz_89 I was thinking the same thing with a fan like this. A recessed light above the sink would be nice & make it clean.
I felt bad removing the tracks & not putting something where the wiring is already there, like I should put something there, but it seems I should just cover it up based on the comments. @Jason Ball Interiors, LLC do you have a pic of what you're thinking?
@Walker Woodworking You've got the idea, but with flat panel doors & sleek handles. Here's a pic attached.
I agree under cabinet lights would be amazing and add a lot to the look.
@Elise I've not totally opposed to going with a bolder color. Good ideas. The concrete counter pic you posted is already in my ideabook.

Marie Hebson's interiorsBYDESIGN Inc. Hi gingeraleshoup, Marie here. You've got a lot of angles on your ceiling, and, when I see that many fixed track lights on the side of the walls means they could not get electrical up and into spots they needed. I would get a professional in to assess what you can get where, and, if with all those ceiling angles you can actually get recessed pots in!

DO NOT paint your kitchen a two - tone. If you are repurposing your cabinetry you will have to re-use the same size hardware from centre to centre, and you want it to look as polished as possible. By changing out the colours will double the work for you in an already very tedious repainting process.

With refinishing, it is all in the process. TSP cleaning, sanding, TSP cleaning again, sanding again times from heavy grit, to lighter and lighter, then priming (2 coats), light sanding, then 2-3 coats of paint. This process is all with white, so if you want dark, you add on another 2 coats of paint and a lacquer final coat for all. IT IS VERY LABOUR INTENSIVE TO GET IT DONE RIGHT. Otherwise, you will (if you lucky) get 3-5 years out of your newly painted cabinets) depending upon how rough your family is on cabinetry.

Lighting: I'd get a pro in to see if he can retro-fit any pots in your angled ceiling. Add flex lighting to the underside of your cabinets, and go for a new ceiling fixture.

Good luck to you!

Jason Ball Interiors, LLC Me again. Something like this. What's nice is you can use the lights to do the same thing recessed lights would do - highlight the cabinetry and provide great task lighting on the counter. Plus, you could still use the power source where the existing track lighting is and just run it to a new location up on the ceiling.

http://www.houzz.com/discussions/46396/Would-love-to-know-more-about-the-track-monorail---

Ginger Shoup There is a chance we might get new cabinets if the process is harder than I can handle, I just thought the shape of the cabinets had potential for a contemporary look. I talked to a painter and he seemed to think it would be possible with a SW Adhesive primer. They're laminate & I found several articles from people successfully painting that.
Good point that we might not be able to put recessed lighting in if we wanted to on the angled ceiling. Not sure that is worth the trouble to me except above the sink.
Thanks for the pick Jason, I like that idea :)

lefty47 HI -- Looking at the age of the kitchen and seeing the out dated lighting etc. I think you should price out a new kitchen . We have came a long way since that kitchen was put in and I think you could update the lighting and be better off instead of putting money into a surface fix up. I think you need a better layout ,- like getting rid of all the angles. As you said it may be easier just to do new.

Elise The light aqua walls are what make the two tone brown and white kitchen work. That is the magic color. A suspended track could look great as it curves around the kitchen. Take a look a pricing out a new kitchen and then compare to someone coming in and refacing it. Here's a sample company from my part of the country.

http://www.kitchenman.net/what_we_offer.htm