Colors to Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets

Refinishing kitchen cabinets in a color rather than a natural woodgrain finish is a hot trend right now. While it can be a fairly labor-intensive project with a lot of prep work, it’s the most cost-effective way to change the look of your kitchen cabinets. Everyone knows how expensive kitchen cabinets can be to replace so that’s really not an option. In the past, the easiest way to make a change to the cabinets was limited to changing the hardware and handles. Today, however, you can change the color of your cabinets to whatever color you like.

There are some things to consider however before you start to look at color samples. There are a few things in your kitchen that any new color choice is going to have to work with before you can settle on a final color.

Your appliances and their color. Whatever color you would like for your cabinets, it’s going to end up next to your appliances so, short of replacing them, the two colors are going to have to “play nice” with each other. If you have stainless steel appliances this is less of an issue. Most appliances are in a fairly neutral color, to begin with, many are primarily white or solid black.

The color of your backsplash. If you have a tile backsplash this might be an issue as well because its color is going to be “fixed” just like the appliances.

Your countertops. It doesn’t matter if they are granite, Formica, Corian, or anything else, it’s unlikely that you will change these as well.

What’s not on the list? The walls, you can easily paint the walls and even the ceiling together with the walls as part of a repainting project. It’s not a requirement but if you want a whole new look the added expense of kitchen wall painting is minimal compared to swapping out counters or appliances.

Knowing where you have flexibility and where you don’t is really step one in this project but armed with this knowledge the next step is to consider some color options. The best move at this point is to get a set of color samples that you can look at right next to your appliance, hold up to your backsplash, and lay on your counter. When you find a shade that seems to work with all three of these finishes you have a real potential color choice.

What other considerations are there before we get to the colors?

Let’s start with how much natural light your kitchen gets because going dark might turn your kitchen into a cave. It depends on the number of windows you have, is it an eat-in kitchen with a sliding glass door? Do you have a skylight or double windows over the sink?

Does your kitchen open up onto other rooms or is it fairly closed off? If you can see your kitchen in its entirety from the den, dining room, or living room you will want to consider the color schemes in those rooms and how all these spaces will tie together.

Are you going to go with one color for both upper and lower cabinets or two? Today people are going bold in this area with different colors for the upper and lower cabinets. Some people do a separate color for the base of a kitchen island. It depends on the look you are going for. Mixed colors can be used to make the kitchen look rustic and shabby chic or very modern, think black on the bottom and white on top.

That’s a lot to think about suddenly! The truth is the majority of people tend to keep it simple starting with this color:

White: If you want clean and bright and you are trying to get away from natural oak finish cabinets you can stop right here. This is by far the simplest and most popular move. The idea behind it is to just cut out “the brown” from your kitchen. The end result is inviting, clean and welcoming.

Off-White, Beige, and Cream: Okay, these aren’t bright white, they are a bit warmer, they work with almost any countertop or appliance set and they can even mirror the color of the walls.  Going with a cream gives a slightly retro feel while still being bright and beige works because it still knocks the woodgrain pattern out but it doesn’t leave the kitchen looking too bright.

While we are talking about whites and off-whites you can also whitewash the cabinets so that they look white but some of the wood grain still shows through. Depending on the style of cabinets this can either look very modern (on flat-panel cabinets) or country if you do it on cabinets that have raised or beveled panels. Pair the look with black hardware and you’re all done.

Gray and Black: These are trending and the result is sleek, modern, and monochromatic. Mixing the two with gray uppers and black lowers just takes the look up a notch. Interesting door pull and handle choices in a variety of metallic finishes like chrome or gold can really help make a dramatic statement. Make sure that the appliance colors, counters and backsplash can go along for this ride though.

Navy Blue: Okay, finally a real color! This color works great with mirror finished hardware and it’s very trendy as well. Again, this color could be paired with white or gray, or even cream. All by itself though it makes for a dramatic look especially if you have stainless steel appliances.

Light green or Forest Green: Want to capture that cottage/farmhouse look then go for a light green or mix the two with the light on top and forest green on the bottom. These are colors that can also work in an open kitchen setting and tie into a natural color palette you might have in a living room. They also work with reddish or terracotta floor tiles.

Light Yellow: Want to capture that 1950’s kitchen look? Here’s your color! It’s fun, it can be mixed, and it’s bright. If you have flat cabinet panels and you go for a yellow-tinted “whitewash” the results will be bright yet warm and interesting with a hint of wood grain peeking through.

Add glass cabinet pulls to keep it light or cubist black hardware to give it a very stylish look. Do the kitchen floor over in yellow and black linoleum squares and it will be 1957 all over again.

The color of your dreams: Violet? Violet mixed with dark purple? Maroon? Chocolate? The truth is there are really no limits. Just keep one thing in mind, one day you will likely sell your house and the colors in the kitchen should work with you not against you. Sorry…

Oh, the possibilities! But again, before you’re overloaded by the choices you have, most people just paint the old oak cabinets slightly off-white.

A final pro tip: Paint the trim in your kitchen the same color as your cabinets to tie the look together. Door frames, window frames, baseboards, crown molding are all fair game.

If this is all too much your best bet is to contact the pros at CertaPro of Palatine and schedule a free color consultation from an expert, you’ll get the kitchen of your dreams and save a ton on cabinet replacement.