It’s official. Today marks the third trimester of pregnancy and I have transformed overnight from cute, bouncy pregnant lady into shamu the whale — beached and bleating out sad whale noises whilst flipping over and over in hopes of finding a comfortable side to lay on (hint: there isn’t one). In other words I’m slowing down. So far we’ve painted most of the rooms — and I’ve even painted one room twice (be gone, band aid office!) — but at the very least we still have the baby nursery to paint and kitchen cabinets to tackle.
Ohhhh, the kitchen cabinets. Thanks a lot, you bossy bitches, for deluding me into thinking I can paint that crap. And I mean that in the nicest possible way 
Look! I am smiling! But seriously we are going to try to paint them in the next three to four weeks, before I totally wimp out and can only mail order window treatments and rugs and the like.
Ohmygod why… WHY! This kitchen was gutted about eight years ago, and while I don’t expect it to look fresh as a daisy, I cannot for the love of jeebus understand why the homeowners installed custom honey oak cabinets. I do not hate wood cabinets — darker or lighter would have been fine. But these are orange and wood grain striped like an angry tiger.
Here’s a better view that shows the beautifully absent desk that Matt knocked out. My James Montish cerused oak hutch has since occupied the space, and it looks boss.
Now, let’s talk about these cabinets. Some of you suggested a two tone look, with cream on top and taupey gray on bottom. That would be fine, but there is a floor to ceiling pantry wall that houses the fridge (taupey gray?) and a floor to ceiling double oven cabinet on the other side of the microwave. That one is attached to the upper cabinets, so not sure what to do about it if we go two tone.
You can see how that wall is configured in the MLS photo. My photos are more accurate colorwise.
Here’s a shot of the counters. I think they read darker and a little warmer/yellower overall, but I wanted to make sure you could see all the different colors — peachy rust, beige, taupe, medium and dark greens. The backsplash is sandy beige tile.
I would like for you to know I hate this kitchen so much that I’ve already priced out carrara marble counters ($55 sq/ft installed for 3cm slabs with eased edges), Ikea cabinets, and I’m plotting to run the living room wood floors into the kitchen and dinette…
Someday.
I cannot undertake a reno of that scale before baby comes. Not to mention that we just bought a new car and ye olde bank account needs a while to recover.
And so friends, it’s up to us to make this kitchen livable for the next year or two. What color should I paint my cabinets?
Maybe something like this?
Or darker and greener?
Or perhaps softer?
Two tone or not two tone?
Dare I paint the backsplash? It always seems to look nastily flat to me.
Ok, put on your thinking caps and give me your best and brightest advice.
I gotta get her done before baby is here.
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So, since the cabinets are not that nice, I personally would not draw attention to them by painting them 2 different colors. I think 1 color would be the way to go.
At first I was on the gray train…. but now I am wondering if a really dark – say blackish even super dark navy tone – would be fantastic? My thoughts are, the backsplash/granite/floor tile have the ability to look horrible and pinky and dirty against a lighter color, whereas they might actually look (dare I say) “good” (for now) against a dark rich color.
I would paint some boards and tape them to my cupboards and see how they fair!
Oh, I still like the gray too though – Cathedral Gray would be my pick!!
I am staying out of this one. Kitchens scare me. I look forward to reading the stream of awesome suggestions, though! And, of course, the big reveal.
You can do this…it’s going to make you feel so much bettah.
My vote is for Grey Gardens. The Cathedral Grey is looking a little pink-y on my screen. The darker color will pick up the darker tones in the counters and contrast nicely with the floors that you’re stuck with now, plus compliment the pink walls. I’d normally be on board for a two-tone paint scheme, but with all the other existing elements I think it’d look to hodge-podgey.
I was helping a friend strip paint off her cabinets just yesterday. She’s painted them 9 times in 8 years. Be glad you’re not her.
That scares me, Tandy. I mean, I’m prettttyyy sure we won’t be keeping the lower cabinets when we remodel, but what if…? And I know I won’t want dark cabs when I put in white counters and light oak floors.
I would go for something deeper and greener, and ONE color only. Those soffits? WTF was that builder thinking?
Gray Gardens. Now that your walls are pinkish, I nix the two tone idea… it just seems like too much.
And what IS UP with your ceiling? Why did they even bother elevating that little tiny rectangle in the center of the room. Is that for architectural intrigue?
AND AND that kitchen is only 8 years old! Dayum it was dated before it was installed. That door style is so 90′s. I hate it when people pay a lot to renovate and make bad decisions.
I know!!! They did such a quality job renovating (drywall is impeccable, everything is flush and perfectly square, etc), but I hate every single finish in this house. Slowly but surely we will DESTROY it all.
Here’s what I said about the soffits to dwr in an email reply (too lazy to paraphrase and retype):
Hoping to knock most of them out when we reno… I see one register on the dishwasher wall, so that probably will have to stay.
Gross.
If we can’t knock them out, I am seriously lobbying for a skylight.
Erin, you’re going to have two little monsters running around with filthy fingers. You DO want dark lower cabinets. You do.
Kids are messy, that’s for sure. Well, we had the Ikea high gloss flat front cabinets in our last house, and finger prints and spills just wiped right off. Loved them. But I can see how dirt + white cabinets + routed frames = nightmare.
I still vote for two-tone and would use the countertop (which I think it very pretty) as the dividing line. I’d have to see the fridge cabinet, but all dark sounds okay. I prefer the first swatch up above for the darker/base cabinets, but navy or charcoal would be nice, too. My two cents. Oh, and a skylight in that mysterious recessed area — totally!
I’m still liking gray for the cabs and will suggest you simply go OVER the tiled backsplash with plexi painted on the backside or mirror, or some other flat, wipeable, smooth finish that can be attached on top of the tile. You’d only lose 1/8″ to 1/4″ max and I think it would make a huge difference to the space for cheap?
I vote for grey gardens. But I second Lawny- deep navy/ black cabinets would look SO sweet. It would be really striking against the pretty pink of the dining room. OMG I’m picturing it right now and it looks SO GOOD. SO. GOOD.
Hmmm, well this color looks ok with my counters and backsplash:
http://www.houzz.com/photos/622469/notre-dame-CSP-570–paints-stains-and-glazes-
But will it be weird next to a room painted a similar color?
http://design-crisis.com/?p=4087
Hi there Erin,
I think Lawny is on to something. I can totally see navy/charcoal cabinets in there.
No to the two tone cabinets.
I like the idea of doing a gray color on the cabinets too. How about Sandy hook gray, Ben Moore HC 108? It is dark enough I think and warm enough not to make your floors and back splash look more muddy.
Stay waaaay the heck away from the paint fumes girl.
Marybeth
Oh Good Lord. I had those cabinets in a new home we purchased in 1998. Same color, too, with Mexican terra cotta tile floors no less. I’m not sure what I would do here. My first thought is why not ceruse the cabinets since they’re oak? But that’s a lot of visible wood grain in combination with the patterns in your granite. It could all be just too much. Maybe paint them greenblack, like Benjamin Moore’s darkest exterior green? Just wondering if that will amp up the pink on the walls too much? Also wondering if I would be happy in a kitchen with such an abundance dark cabinets? The backsplash is a big issue, too. Can you just tile over it? What if you did gray cabinets and tile over the existing backsplash with black subway tiles? Good luck – this is a tough one!
I’m with Lawny… I’ve been thinking about this all day, actually, and I keep coming back to a deeper charcoal-indigo-aubergine undertoned grey for all of it. The darker tones in your countertops will pull forward, and the peachy-sand tones in the dinette and in the backsplash/flooring will harmonize better. If you wanted to make the cabinets disappear a little more, you could try not using a high gloss (maybe a satin) so that you can still easily wipe them, but have them flatten out somewhat (to disguise that horrid raised panel). Otherwise you might as well match the trim in the rest of the house and just do cream on all of them. Neutralize them and forget they’re there (plus then the soffits will not be so imposing in your visual headspace). And, having actually painted cabinets (and lived with them until we could afford to redo our kitchen) I can vouch for the fact that you’ll be glad you did it. Makes the day to day so much more bearable. And don’t bother to sand – get a primer that will stick to anything and just wipe down the cabinets. I assure you that you won’t want them in 2-3 years when you can afford to redo the space. And by then, Ike will be old enough to help with the repainting, should you need to do any, so there’s always that. What else do you have kids for anyway?
Good luck deciding! It’ll be fab no matter what. xoxo
You are going to hate me, but don’t do anything!!! Just save that money/headache for a new kitchen! No color on the cabs is going to make that granite and backsplash work. Sorry. With 2 little ones a years time will fly by and you will have enough saved to get what you really want.
No hate, Slice! That was my initial impulse. BUT the cabinets are horrible. And I know it will never look “good,” per se, but surely it will look better…
I hope.
Erin. Paint. Life is short. Can you take the upper cabinet doors off? Most of them? Leave one or two key sets on to hide the stuff that needs hiding? I am still liking the charcoalish navy look or mid to dark value gray.
Marybeth
(1) First paint color. With cream/whiter color on top.
(2) No painted backsplash.
(3) In re: full-height cabinet pieces: the most recent hulu episode of “I Hate My Kitchen” (wherein the goofball homeowners put acrylic panels on their refrigerator) had two-tone cabinets (white on top, black on bottom) and they had one full-height piece and I think they painted it white. I was wondering what they were going to do there. I think it looks nice. Check houzz photos to see what others with two-toned cabinets have done with similar dilemmas maybe?
I am impressed with your painting. I am not pregnant, and I do not paint as fast as you.
I know it would probably look better if I took some of the doors off (Naomi suggested the same thing), but the stuff that’s in there is not pretty — spices, coffee crap, my ugly plastic cups, etc. I just don’t think I have the storage that the old kitchen had (we did open shelves over the sink there). I’ll examine the options before I make a final decision on that, though.
If humanly possible, we’re going to paint the cabinets. All it will cost is paint and time.
ps: I could never paint all of this myself! I cut, Ben rolls. We’re a good team.
I would say just start priming everything, you’ll see how the light colored direction takes you, then you can paint up some sample boards different darker colors and see which works best. And can you throw a big rug down, either colorful or neutral, whatever you don’t do in the dinette?
Hmm… that counter close up was not what I was expecting.
I do not like the “darker and greener” option. I think it will feel dated sooner. I like the other two better – they don’t fight the backsplash as much, and I don’t think there’s much you can do ’bout the backsplash till your rip it out.
i think you should do dark on bottom. can you rip out top cabinets and do a little of this: http://pinterest.com/pin/249879479295161892/
i mean that’s not too much of a reno, is it?
i don’t know. i’ve renovated nothing.
an indigoesque charcoal would look NAILS. esp next to your peachy walls and that gold goddess chandy.
darker & greener all the way.
My kitchen was worse than yours: the same red oak cabinets, but they had been whitewashed and glazed, and the glaze had turned yellow, and a very similar granite, called Verde Maritaca. As I researched replacement of the cupboards, I learned that there is no reason to do so unless one wants to change the configuration. My husband and I decided to refinish. Our granite has the pink that yours has, and also the greenish cast, but mostly looks gray. We found that it looks blue gray and gorgeous next to medium blue cupboards. The blue also looks great with stainless steel appliances. To add interest and mimic the black grain in the granite we did a technique called pinstriping. You take a watered-down black paint and quickly outline all of the groove details in the cupboard doors and drawers. On two of the upper doors, we cut out the raised panel and put in a thick, Victorian-style glass. Finally, we replaced the hardware with a combo of stainless steel cup and knob handles. Our cupboards are much older than yours, so we had to install roll-out drawers. The end result was beautiful, and we are glad we didn’t waste money replacing the cabinets or hiring a professional to do the refinishing. I think you will be surprised how little the oak grain will show through, once you get a coat of primer and a couple of coats of paint on your cupboards. Don’t despair.
I know I’m late to the party – but I’ve painted the cabinets in my kitchen so I have a little experience! We did the two-tone look and i’m really glad we did. Although, we only painted one set of upper cabinets a different color (black). The rest of the cabinets in the U-shape kitchen were all painted a dark green. So when you walk in, the upper cabinets straight in front of you are black (we actually installed frosted glass in them)and everything else is green. It really works to break up the color. (I tried to find a picture of my kitchen on my blog but since we refinished it 8 years ago, I don’t have a picture of it!) I’d love to completely re-do my kitchen (again) but I might break down and just paint them gray. I love gray. Good luck!
Marble counters – NO in kitchen – OK in bath
Either way, get honed so you can sand out stains and scratches w scouring cleanser