Many of the things you are discussing, like the cabinets and the flooring, really can be handled by reminding him that things wear out and get ridiculously outdated so need to be replaced. Would he whine if you got a new roof when needed and went with a more modern look? If he can't see the logic in that, he never ever will understand and quit complaining.
As for the things that still have life left in them, I guess that's where he must simply bow to 'not my style'.
This is really annoying me. There's no need for him to "bow to" anything! Or to "remind" him of anything.
It's not his house!!!!!
Who cares what he says or thinks? He doesn't have to bow to anything, because he's NOT INVOLVED.
It's not his home. Even if the OP were RENTING the home from him, or borrowing it, her home shouldn't be full of his STUFF.
So ignore him completely. Don't even try to get him to "agree"--he doesn't have the standing to do so!
It doesn't matter what he thinks. And if the OP and her DH simply do what they want and blithely go one as if nothing is wrong, then guess what? Nothing WILL be wrong.
When he grumbles about how you've changed the house, just be indulgently amused. "It's so hard to let go of a home you've invested so much in. Poor Granddad, isn't he cute." Feel free to be indulgently condescending and sympathetic to him when he says these things. (heck, make that your "cut-and-paste" sentence--"You're so cute, it's so hard to let go of a home you've invested so much in, isn't it?" Maybe being pitied will shut him up.)