Next year sometime, we’d love to do a full kitchen remodel. We’re taking notes as to what isn’t working for us, but so far the main things are the interior of the cabinetry is too small, the oven behind the island (where the girls sit) feels out of the way and dangerous and we’d like to rearrange most of the appliances and be able to access the pantry from within the kitchen instead of around the corner. The island is big and bulky. It’s all really exciting, but we’re taking a year to save up and plan and continue taking notes to see what is and isn’t working. Â In the meantime, we’re gonna give our kitchen a quick and inexpensive phase 1 makeover.
There are a few things that I think are really making our kitchen look dated: the tri-color cabinetry in a high-gloss, distressed finish, with a glaze on the island. Uppers hung at multiple levels (nothing dates a kitchen faster). Partial overlay cabinet doors and full overlay with shaker and beadboard mixed in and all the ornate trim work. We’re going to try to minimize all of these things in our phase one renovation, and address a few other things, too. But first! The color. Our brown granite countertops are staying through phase 1 (womp womp) so that’s the main thing we’re working around. Our white-ish tile floors are also staying until the full renovation probably next year.
We have a big video/photo shoot for THANKSGIVING (how?!) in our home mid-August–in just a few weeks!–so we are under a tight timeline to make this look a little more like us and we’re getting started this week. Paint is a great way to update a space on the cheap and just requires a bit of a time investment. We’re also going to be reconfiguring the upper cabinets and removing some. We’ll definitely share the whole process here when we’re done (and lots of sneak peeks on Instagram stories, too) but for now, I’m just trying to decide on a color.
Here are the colors I’m considering and the inspiration photos I’m drawing from:
1. A Warm Taupe-y Brown
I was first turned onto this color years ago when I was researching for our last home’s kitchen. This kitchen from Traditional Home, designed by Christopher Peacock, below has been saved ever since and now might be a fun time to give the look a go. The color here is Farrow & Ball’s Mouse Back.Â
Recently, Brittany Chinaglia used a similar tone (Farrow & Ball’s Salon Drab) at her new Vintage Rug Shop store (in progress) and I fell in love all over again.
I think this would work well with the existing countertops but we would definitely need to add a more streamlined, modern element to the kitchen to pull this off with our current cabinets. Maybe fresh hardware would do the trick.
2. A Green-Blue
I really am into this cabinet color for our home and the cottage vibe we’re going for. It being the trial run, and working with a lot of existing things, I must say I’m worried to try this and it not work with the countertops (for instance) and it turns me off of it for the future. But, then again–is that even possible?
Emily Henderson really nailed it with this perfectly grayed-out green (Sherwin Williams Pewter Green) in her Portland kitchen project. Please note that all of the upper cabinets are lined up so nicely. Haha.
Or something a little deeper/inkier like this beauty from deVOL kitchen. (I believe the color is Farrow & Balls’ Pantry Blue)
The House of Silver Lining used Pratt & Lambert Essex Deep Green in their laundry room and it is easy on the eyes.
3. Something Light.
We aren’t very accustomed to a light kitchen after having black cabinets for the last few years (that we loved and would absolutely do again in a heartbeat but also want to try something new) but maybe now is the time to try.
These light gray cabinets from Amber Interiors feel fresh but classic thanks to a traditional hardware.
Jean Stoffer used a light beige in her storefront kitchen, Stoffer Home, and I’ve basically pinned every angle. We could even extend our trim color here if we wanted to! (I’m not sure of the exact color here, but our trim is painted Sherwin Williams accessible beige at 75%.)
I can’t do white because of our current tile floors. But I feel good about the options here. Although my mind is racing and part of me just wants to rip out the entire kitchen now (like, a big part of me), I love the challenge of working with what we have. I love the idea of seeing what we can do with $1000 (that’s the budget we’ve set for ourselves for this makeover) and a couple weeks’ time.
Can’t wait to take you along for the ride! Any favorites from above?
Beautiful color options! The blue green cabinet refinishing is my favorite. Are you going to do it yourself or call in a cabinet refinishing company?
Hi love the process. Would you know the paint color used by Amber? I have the same brown counter top…..
She doesn’t often disclose paint colors so I can’t be sure!
Would you consider camouflaging the floor for the year with sheet vinyl? I fell in love with a Mannington resilient sheet vinyl called Deco in the color wrought iron. Looks like a cement tile. For just over $1 a square foot it could allow some different cabinet color choices at least until the next phase.
Buy those paint samples and see what they look like against the countertops. The island seems like a good place to test all those colors.
I loved the darker color cabinets! Can it work in a smaller open kitchen?
I want to know this answer too!!! I am ready to paint our kitchen cabinets but worried with our small kitchen dark would be bad/make the space look smaller. Is this true?