Painting kitchen cabinets - color suggestions?

[lessel]

When we bought our house last year one of my least favorite things was the kitchen. It’s kind of galley style and the cabinets are really dark. (Some pics from the listing below—the cabinets look near black in person and they’re so tall it just feels like a cave.) I reallllly miss having a large island. And the other thing that really bugs me is there’s no built-in spot for the microwave.

I loved where the kitchen was in the house—the kitchen window and French doors have a pretty much full view of the backyard. Lots of houses in our area have the kitchen looking out on a deck and you have to walk downstairs to get to the yard. I think we have a longer term plan to extend the house out a bit in the patio area, put a breakfast nook on the patio area and expand the kitchen into the existing eat-in kitchen area. (An architect friend gave us an informal idea of how to make it happen, but it’ll be $$$$...so probably a project for about 10 years from now.

So... I’ve decided we’re going to address the main two things that we hate: cabinet color and microwave placement. We’re going to leave the countertops for now, although I don’t love them. (My parents have a kitchen and bath company, so we might be able to get those at cost.) I figure we paint and see how that feels before doing more.

We’re going to cut into the cabinets above the stove currently—get rid of the shitty hood and put the microwave there. We’ll seam the cabinet doors back together and the painting will cover the patch.

We’re getting an estimate this weekend from a painter we’ve worked with before. He painted bookshelves and wainscoting in our family room and it’s flawless a year later. (Family room colors are SW Albaster and SW Agreeable gray.) We’re going to have the rest of the kitchen painted too. (Previous owners carried the cabinet color into the trim in a weird way.)

Which brings me to the color question...any suggestions for cabinet and wall colors? I feel like we need a slightly warmer white to go with the backsplash (kind of an ivory travertine) and the countertops)... or maybe we do Alabaster and then it carries into the family room?

Open to suggestions.

[rooster222]

First off,. I think you have a really nice kitchen. I would probably want to paint too because I like bright kitchens but I think your cabinets look great the way they are. My cabinets are BM Chantilly Lace but I think that would be too white in your kitchen. I think I'd try to match the lightest color in your backsplash.

This may not be what you want to hear but I greatly dislike having my microwave over the stove. I find it very inconvenient and hate how it gets steamed up. I don't have any helpful suggestions though. I totally get not wanting a microwave taking up counter space.

[lessel]

[mention]rooster222 [/mention]
Yeah, I don’t love the microwave over the stove but it’s kind of the best option in our case. We had it over the stove in our previous house and it didn’t bother me much. The other choice here would probably to do the oven/microwave built-in combo and take out the double oven. But I do use the double oven a good bit and I hate to give that up.

I’m definitely realizing I’m a bright, open kitchen person. Just for reference, this is our old house’s kitchen. I miss it so much!

[sandandsea]

I think your kitchen Is really pretty too. If you want to lighten it up I’d only paint the top cabinets and would choose an ivory shade to match the countertop. I think two toned would look very balanced in there with the top light and the bottoms dark.

[rooster222]

Aug 22, 2020 9:36:11 GMT -5 lessel said:

[mention]rooster222 [/mention]
Yeah, I don’t love the microwave over the stove but it’s kind of the best option in our case. We had it over the stove in our previous house and it didn’t bother me much. The other choice here would probably to do the oven/microwave built-in combo and take out the double oven. But I do use the double oven a good bit and I hate to give that up.

I’m definitely realizing I’m a bright, open kitchen person. Just for reference, this is our old house’s kitchen. I miss it so much!

That's beautiful! Having our microwave there is the best option too but in a perfect world I'd like it elsewhere.

[TBM]

Aug 22, 2020 9:36:11 GMT -5 lessel said:

[mention]rooster222 [/mention]
...
The other choice here would probably to do the oven/microwave built-in combo and take out the double oven. But I do use the double oven a good bit and I hate to give that up.

Our appliance guy said that oven /microwave combination is a really bad buy, because typically microwaves don't last as long as the oven and can't be repaired or replaced, so you're stuck with no working microwave until the oven dies, or a big expense replacing the whole thing.

I'm no help with the microwave placement...we had no room for one so ours is out in my studio. At least it is only 16 ft from door to door under patio cover. If it was in DH's office, it would be further, and could potentially involve darkness and trip hazards.

[roni]

You have a lovely kitchen. Just throwing out the idea when I see styled homes now in magazines, the upper and lower cabinets are often different colors. If you wanted to just paint the uppers and leave the cabinets below the counter the deep chocolate color.

[boiler717]

I agree with not liking above the range microwaves. We had a microwave in the pantry at our old house; we no longer have a microwave now. I really don’t miss it at all! I would put it inside a cabinet if you can add electricity inside the cabinet.

[nicolewi]

Could you do a drawer microwave? I agree with matching the cabinets to a light color in the backsplash tile.

We have a built-in microwave above the oven, and our microwave isn't working. It's already been repaired once, so when it broke again, we just got our old microwave out and put it on the counter. It truly is a problem, b/c no current microwaves fit into the built-in spot correctly. But if we replace the microwave, we have to replace the oven, and it will probably mess up the surrounding cabinets...so then we'd spiral into a kitchen re-do. I would love to re-do the kitchen but I would want to do it right and it would cost a fortune. W're not ready for that yet, so in the meantime, we just keep not dealing with the issue and using the counter microwave. It's not ideal.

[simpsongal]

I think sage or a jewel toned green would look awesome!

[k3am]

I actually really liked my microwave over the stove. This is the first time in my life I’ve lived somewhere that we don’t have it.

I think aesthetically, the hood we have now looks better, but I really wish they’d done a microwave over the stove for function and space concerns. We’ve never had any issues with it steaming up.

I’m no help in paint colors for the walls. We had roughly the same counter in an old bathroom and it was a PITA trying to find a paint color that went well with it. We ended up with Bungalow White, no idea what brand, that was a pale pink. I actually really liked the color for a small bathroom.. wouldn’t do it in a kitchen though.

If it is the same counter and has blue/purplish undertones, I like the idea of a dusty navy (or maybe a gray, if I were playing it safe) for the lower cabinets and white with complementary undertones for the kitchen.

[k3am]

I take it back. Your backsplash wouldn’t go well with with colors for the lowers that I was thinking. I was just thinking counters, since they are familiar to me.

[mrsukyankee]

I'm in England so I'm used to microwaves on the counter. They don't ever go on top of the stovetop due to regulations here, so I don't mind seeing them on the counter. It looks like you have a ton of counter-space to work with. But if you don't want it on there, I'd go with putting it in a cabinet versus losing an oven or putting it over the stovetop.

[aprilsails]

I think the Alabaster would work, or something similar. I have a strange suggestion for BM Barren Plain. We used it through the kitchen in our last house when we were trying to marry some existing cream Cabinets and warm toned wood floors with blue countertops and stainless steel appliances (kind of an in between stage for 3 years before the full redo). It’s a true taupe and doesn’t read as either grey or beige and blends pretty well with both. It might be darker than you are looking for though. Calm on the same colour card is pretty warm. It isn’t the same kind of chameleon colour.

[lessel]

Now y’all have me searching for other microwave ideas. I think it will likely still end up over the stove, but I’m going to run some ideas by my stepdad, the cabinet guy.

I do like the light upper/dark lower idea. I tend to like it more when then countertops are light though.

And I like the sage idea for the walls. Years ago we had a rental house and the cabinets were white and the walls were like bright grass green and it was such a happy kitchen.

Here’s a close up of the counters/backsplash (this picture has the countertops looking more green-tinge than in person). I don’t even really love them together. They’re fine, but I’m tempted to replace the backsplash sooner than the countertops. It’s just kind of all ‘sale at Home Depot circa 2009’ vibe.

[k3am]

lessel we replaced our backsplash last fall. We expect that we’ll replace the whole kitchen eventually, so I wasn’t sure if it was worth spending money on. I HATE our counters, but that was a much more involved and pricey swap.

I have zero regrets. I love the new backsplash and it makes the counters less obnoxious at the same time.

[lessel]

k3am That looks awesome. Seems like the counters are pretty similar. My biggest complaint is that they never feel clean. They hide so much shit and I clean and clean and I’m always thinking they’re still hiding crap all over them.

[blondemoment123]

No suggestions, but I love your backsplash!

[lolalolalola]

We have had a microwave above our range for 10 years no issues. I know they are unpopular here and I don’t think designers like them, but I like mine, I’m happy with it. It’s a good size and is better made than a countertop microwave. I have no issues with the height, etc.

Do you have white trim elsewhere in the house that you’re planning to extend into the kitchen? I’d do something similar. Get some swatches and stick them to the walk to narrow down your colour - young can see how it lines up with the other colour s in your kitchen...

[lessel]

Aug 24, 2020 9:06:02 GMT -5 lolalolalola said:

Do you have white trim elsewhere in the house that you’re planning to extend into the kitchen? I’d do something similar. Get some swatches and stick them to the walk to narrow down your colour - young can see how it lines up with the other colour s in your kitchen...

Yeah, we have SW Alabaster in our adjacent family room so I’m thinking that’s what we’re going with for the kitchen cabinets, trim, pantry doors, etc. The other side of the kitchen is the formal living/dining and foyer area. That’s a paint job for another day. The trim over there is a much warmer white. There is a natural break with some doorways on that side to end the color for now.

We met with our painter last night. Now we just wait for the quote!

Colors of family room in pic below, although these are a little cooler than in person... the wall is more gray than beige (SW Agreeable Gray) . Best I could find on my phone 🤦🏻

[froggy76]

Wow, your kitchen is beautiful! But so dark. I think a creamy white would look amazing. Sorry I don't have a paint suggestion, but I do think that's going to make a world of difference!