Kitchen Table Redo?

As soon as we signed the purchase agreement on our house, I headed straight to my favorite fabric stores to pick up swatches for the window treatments I would be making for virtually every room in the house.  It was so fun!  Now I have made some decisions and even have a few months in which I could start making those drapes and curtains, but I don't dare spend the money on fabric.  I make real window treatments and not Nesterized "mistreatments," and I don't have exact measurements on the completed windows yet, so don't want to regret anything. Plus, we need to save our money for crazy closing costs.

So.  I am thinking about other projects I can do that will make our home beautiful and can be done ahead of time for less cash.  One project I have been wanting to do forever is painting the kitchen table.  Here is what it looks like right now:

Our new kitchen is going to have black appliances and an island with an overhang. These are the counter stools I really want to get from my favorite place, Ballard Designs:

I have never loved the orangey color of our kitchen table, but I do love the style.   I have thought about painting it black, which I know would look good with the black appliances and the bar stools.  It would also look good with our furniture in the family room, which is mostly red and tan.  (I was thinking about throwing in some black patterned accents, like throw pillows on the checked couch.)

I feel confident that the black would look good, but I think Jim will be a hard sell.  I don't get the impression that he ever prefers paint over stain (am I wrong, honey?).  Also, I can't decide whether to leave the tabletop and seats stained like this:

or to go all-black like this:

So, this is where you come in.  Tell me your thoughts.  Should I paint the table?  Should I leave the top stained as is, or should I go all black?  Should I go solid or distress it to let some wood color show through?  Keep in mind that I am impatient and inexperienced at refinishing
furniture, and I have a five-month-old, so this cannot take a super long time or require tons of elbow grease.  Here's another shot of the table so you can think:

Okay... go!