As an example, this is what we did to refresh our kitchen 8 years ago. When we bought the house in 2005, the kitchen looked like "Attack of the killer bees" with painfully bright yellow/black stripes wallpaper. It also had an indoor BBQ which was never used, electric range, and a tiny space for an old school fridge.
The house was built in 1965 and we wanted to keep the look somewhat period consistent. While everyone else was putting in $60k kitchens with granite counter tops and stainless my wife chose Corian counters and white appliances and we are very pleased with this choice. We had a skilled carpenter rework the cabinets, my wife stripped and repainted them, and I installed all new hardware. The lighting was changed to CFL cans with several options for brightness and coverage. New double well sink and range/double oven/microwave. We kept the oak floor as it was still in good shape. This resulted in a Martha Stewart look that suits the house and our lifestyle and is very different than every other kitchen in the area. Total cost including range/oven/microwave was around $15K. The pictured fridge and dishwasher models are recent additions.
