This is our kitchen (in an old picture from last year).
There are a few things to know:
1. The appliances are ivory- (off-white) colored.
2. That floor is linoleum and the countertop is laminate/formica/whatever.
3. The cabinets are cherry-colored (a bit redder than shows in the picture).
4. The overhead light is a large stained glass fixture that matches the small one over the sink. (Yellow/red/green mostly.)
None of that is going to change.
Additionally:
2. The window coverings have been replaced with roman bamboo shades (like these).
3. The cabinet knobs have been replaced with oil-rubbed bronze ones.
Bordering rooms:
1. Our dining room is medium teal; you look straight in to it from the kitchen, and vice versa. (You can see it here, scroll to the last image.)
2. Our hallway is medium green. It also meets the kitchen but not as noticably as the dining room. (See it here.)
Now, let’s talk paint. It is currently unpainted. Meaning, when they redid this kitchen in 2005, they put up new walls and such but apparently did not paint them–or painted them some awful color I’m going to call dirty-builder-offwhite. Please keep in mind that while it looks pretty good in the photo, it does not look nearly so nice in person.
In addition to the area around the backsplash shown here, there is also about 18 inches of space to be painted above the cabinets, plus a full length wall and doorway, sort of seen here.
Mr. N’s top choice would be to paint it grey, like my office. But I didn’t really think the grey complemented the red tones of the trim in that room. I’m worried about it looking pinkish in here, or just clashing with the cabinets. Thoughts on grey?
My top choice is the ‘boring’ one, to paint it the same tan that the rest of the neutrals in the house are painted. That tan is shown here (the first photo in that post). Thoughts on tan?
I need help. What color would you paint this kitchen? (Before anyone insists, I am not painting the cabinets. I’m just not.)
–Grey like our office
–Tan like our living room
–Another color
Please tell me in the comments.
Late-20s yuppie, professional techie, terminal student. I probably live farther north than you do. (
Tan, for sure… will make the space look a little more modern.
I vote tan! Goes better with the linoleum and doesn’t fight with the red in the cabinets. Warm+warm=warm.
Is there anyway to cool the room off a bit (without clashyclashing?!)
Use a tan with gray undertones (as opposed to yellow or brown undertones)…still a warm color, but cools off the red and browns in the room.
Maybe this?
http://www.benjaminmoore.com/e.....038;col=CC
or this?
http://www.benjaminmoore.com/e.....038;col=CC
Might have to get swatches and hold them up in the room to see what looks best to you!
I think I would try a pale yellow, or a color close to that of the buttons on your cupboards’s doors.
The doors will have oil rubbed bronze knobs(they were wooden in the pic but they’re coming off). Yellow, I really don’t like – I think it would look nice but I don’t like it :-(
The tan would look good.
Bronze might too, but it would darken the room significantly I think.
What about a very pale shade of green, or a paler version of the teal in the dinning room ?
I agree with you on the gray, I don’t think it would look right with the cherry cabinets. I think I’d go with tan.
I would be boring and paint it some not ugly white, personally. But I’m afraid of trying to coordinate all those colors.
Definitely tan. Gray will clash.
LOVE your cabinetry. I wish that’s what ours looked like. Instead, they’re orange.
I think tan would be fine, and gray would be fine if it was a “warmer” shade of gray. What about a cream color? It would bring out the colors in the flooring/countertops.
Gosh, you know I’d probably go with a boring old tan too? I did notice your outlet covers are that off-white tan color too. If you were to paint the walls grey (grAy?), the outlet covers might “pop” in a really… not so good way.
Also, I love the window in your dining room :)
I’m usually not a fan of tan paint at all, but I think given everything you’ve said it’s probably your best option! Gray definitely wouldn’t work with your cabinets. Have you thought about a pretty greenish-blue – maybe a lighter version of what’s in the dining room? Can’t wait to see what you choose!
I personally really like a grey and red combo, so I would vote for grey paint. And maybe you could find a couple of inexpensive grey and red counter top accessories to tie it together, like canisters or a spatula holder?
I think a pinky-beige would minimize the red tones in your cabinets, Colour Me Happy blog has good color suggestions!
ps – Every time I comment on your blog, I forget to scroll down to see that ‘captcha’ box and it deletes my comments when I hit submit. It also deletes it if you type the phrase wrong. Usually I just say ‘to hell with it’ and don’t retype it. It just happened again, so I thought maybe you would like to know it may be elminating some of your comments.
My mom always says to paint kitchens a cheery color. I’ve found she’s totally right! My first instinct would to say yellow but I think that would be wrong in here … Light coral?
I definitely agree with you and others who’ve said yellow would look nice. Problem is I spent the last 3 years getting all the yellow out of my house. LOL. I ALSO think coral would look nice in a kitchen, but I’m a little worried about it looking *very* pink due to the reddish cabinets? Food for thought.
Is there an option to add a tiled backsplash? I think that would look really nice and add a lot to the space, it would also give you a bit more flexibility with color since there can be several colors in the tile/grout.
You know, I really, really want to do this. But once I looked in to it with detail, I realized how much work it would be. Especially cutting the tiles around the outlets and such. I don’t think I have it in me to do that large of a project right now. My thought is perhaps to freshen it up now with paint, and then maybe add a backsplash at a later time if I decide to…
I was going to suggest the same. I know you like to do stuff yourself, but we got a guy to lay tile for a new hearth and he was *very* reasonable and fast…weighing the options of having to rent a wet saw and figure out what the hell we were doing it was pretty clear that hiring it out was the best choice. I don’t know how much the cuts for outlets would add to the cost. We got an entire box of tile in the bargain basement of a store in town. That would limit your color options, but there’s actually more choice than you’d expect down there.
what about a goldy/bronzy hue? i would worry that gray will be too blue or sour against the warm cherry. i know you said you don’t like yellow but i think you need something warm to make the kitchen glow and compliment the wood.
I would pick tan over the gray, but I wonder if your dining room color several shades lighter would work, as someone suggested. You could always paint test patches of a couple of colors. Lots of paint stores sell those little test pots. I made about six different test patches in my kitchen when I was trying to pick a color. I have the color picked, now I just need to get it done.
I prefer the tan over the gray (too cold), but my first thought was a muted green. It would give you a pop of contrast against the cherry.
I’m usually not a huge fan of tan, but I like the tan you have in your living room and I think sticking with a warmer color (that isn’t too warm) I best b/c of your lighting fixtures.
White! The cabinets make it dark.
Wow, I agree with the above! A bright, cheery, fresh, clean non-teal, but kinda-teal green would be FAB. I can’t really picture such a color but if it exists I bet it would be awesome!