Crackle is out of style, but so what? If the cabinets are in good shape, put your thoughts, budget and efforts elsewhere. My old kitchen had partial overlay, bullnosed laminated slab, knobless, oranage oak from the '80's, with MDF interiors. Nothing to show off there! Lots of frustration with having the wrong kind of cabinets in the wrong places, too few uppers, too few drawers. If it hadn't bee for the awful layout and for the fact that MDF does not stand up to water damage at all well (plywood would probably have been okay--the MDF croaked), I probably would have just replaced the appliances and been done. Decent quality and not glaringly ugly is sufficient. (I'd call the orange oak non-ugly the way a new pair of coveralls isn't ugly. Not pretty, but functional and not ugly.) Not-ugly is also saleable. The best thing you can do for your kitchen for resale is clean the heck out of it. Empty all the cupboards and scrub the insides. Let them dry before putting stuff back (do a section at a time), and stage your belongings inside the cupboards to look good, like in a magazine ad. If you have overflow, pack it if you can, or put it in plastic tote boxes that can be put in the gargage during viewings. Get the appliances pristine. Pull out any free standing ones and clean all the area behind and under really well, then clean the backs and sides of the appliances. Wash them thoroughly inside and out. Use baking soda and boiling water (let them set) to get spots off of cooking equipment. And let the cabinets be what they are. If you hate the crackle, you can take apart the cabinets (remove doors and drawer fronts from all hardware including screws and hinges). Sand lightly, but thoroughly, and clean with TSP. Get a primer recommended at the paint store for covering faux, and prime carefully, then paint. That's a lot of work, however, and if you're really thinking of selling, it's not worth it.

I was told at a tile store (disclaimer: I was told something at a lighting store that turned out not to be very accurate) that to get the crackle finish, after the tiles are baked, a thin glass layer is added to the surface, heated at a high temp, then cooled quickly creating "cracks" in the glass, hence the "crackle" finish, and that it should be sealed. I do believe it should be sealed, as I had a sample of one where something had permeated a portion of the crackle surface, and it didn't appear there would be any way to clean it at that point.

a2gemini that name was on the back of the tile but it is a sticker from the tile shop so maybe the almond is just something they added cause it is shown as crema-almond. I just love it, it's like besides the crackle there is a lacy look to it. We found the sample at Seattle Tile. We live about 30 miles south of Seattle but our daughter lives in Seattle so we hit a few tile stores there as our local shops had no crackle tiles at all. Jennaphllps we LOVE our floor! It is solid natural distressed acacia hardwood. After a year it still amazes me how beautiful the wood is and it is very hard, we have a 60 lds dog with nails and while there are scratches they can only be seen if you get down on the floor and look at just the right angle and they really are not in the wood but just the finish and it's a matte finish so they really are invisible to everyone. The only time I seem it is when I get down on my hands and knees to clean the floor

Cabinets are semi-custom. Bases are built by a local shop and all the doors, drawer fronts, molding, trim, etc are all by Conestoga. It was a special order style door/drawer though since I wanted a modified shaker door. Cpartist - you are more than welcome to come check out the kitchen when you are back! I need to make sure there is caulk on the bottom row where it meets counter and not caulk right? And a sneak!