yep, LEFSE, i feel ya on that. every house i've ever lived in has had those same crappy cheap "oak" veneer cabinets of which you speak...except for the last 2, which had plain painted plywood cabinet faces. sigh. i went all crazy on those plywood ones in my house in college by repainting them actual white (instead of the vague dingy off-white they were), and then using a stamp set in, yes, 6ish colors. the stamps had 4 or 5 different size/shape grape leaves and one little round circle. i think it was supposed to be ivy with berries, but it turned into a grape arbor in my hands. leaves were all shaded different greens, the dots got stamped into grape clusters in shades of purple and wine, and a thin vine was free-handed to connect them up. all of the corners of the cabinets had some random and irregular amount of grape vine growing over them. loved it, wish i had a pic. it was an inexpensive and attractive fix for those monstrosities, but was a lot of work.
i have it easy in this house; very nice **brand new** cabinets had been installed by the previous owner, who was basically flipping the house. they're even the color i would have picked on my own.
Karen, you could have a cottage industry in shipping us some of those amazing tiles!!
and ditto, all, i LOVE this thread!