Painting Kitchen Cabinets, Back wall

NewlywedKristin

hello,

Here are pictures of a kitchen that needs some help.

we're fixing up a 1000 sq ft 1950's era brick ranch that was foreclosed and trashed. Our biggest obstacles are 1) lack of space, and 2) Insufficient funds to work with on this project.

CURRENT ISSUE: The Kitchen.

We've already painted our kitchen and replaced the terrible tile/carpet mess that was the prior kitchen floor, as well as purchased a new refrigerator to match our stove (the previous refrigerator and stove were at least 30 years old and a nasty dark brown color, which you can still see on our range hood. we are having a hard time finding the right size replacement).

Our stove and fridge are now bisque & black. Our countertops are a beigey/bisque color, and replacing them at this point is not an option. Our kitchen sink is also a bisque/beige color.

Now we installed a tan/creamy tile floor that we like, as well as a decorating scheme (coffee -- I know its a theme many people do, but we like it). The kitchen cabinets, however, are hideous, and I hate them. They are very dated, and I feel like they bring down the whole room. We can't really afford to do anything but paint them and change the hardware -- but WHAT COLOR?

We originally thought maybe white for the cabinets, but I feel that would completely wash out everything since the wall paint is so light.
Even though I picked the wall colors a year ago, I think the color on top is too light. (at that moment I guess I'd gotten tired of decorating and just picked whatever color looked okay at the time.. big mistake) In the pictures, the walls look almost white. Its actually a cream/tan color. We picked the colors based on the border.

So now the dilemma: What color to paint? I'm willing to change the wall color on top. I guess I'm willing to change the bottom color too, but I feel like that one's fine... its the top color that concerns me.

Also - we're thinking we'd like to paint the small areas of wall behind the counter and cabinets a redish tone or something - to make that wall stand out a little more, like an accent wall.

So to re-cap.. everything as far as appliances, floor and decor must stay, but we can paint any color we want to bring it all together. It seems like choosing paint colors shouldn't be this hard-- but IT IS!!!

any ideas are greatly welcomed, because I'm about to tear my hair out with this kitchen. It's *almost* there... I just need a little help bringing it all together.

Thanks in advance to any brave soul that can offer me some advice!!!!!!

Attached are pictures of our kitchen, with close up of the border to see colors. (please excuse the dishes in the sink!)

THANK YOU!!!!!

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G.Barker

Paint the cabinets the cream color that is on the upper part of your walls currently and use a complementary tone that will go with the red in the border for the bottom of the wall and a ecru color for the upper part of the wall.

NewlywedKristin

OKAY, so I've decided the cabinets are going to be painted a beigey-tan, similar to the color of the top of the wall. The hardware will also be replaced, we're thinking brushed nickel.

Here's the dilemma -- What color to re-paint those walls? And the backsplash? Its so plain!

I hate hate hate to tear down our border. I know its not "modern" but we like it and I don't want to see it go, but I have no idea what to paint the walls around it.

I feel like re-painting the walls is a necessary thing since the cabinets are going to be beige -- we've gotta break up the monotony of the beige!!!!

I'd love to incorporate color, especially reds- I love reds. any suggestions?? PLEASE!! and thank you!!

oldrivers

range hood you could have bead blasted and then powder coated any color.id say for around 50 bucks.

chrisn

I'd love to incorporate color, especially reds- I love reds. any suggestions??

So,whats the problem with painting them red?

Kanneii86

Firstly, the pictures are just amazing, the kitchen is looking very much nice...secondly, Red, NO! red wont be my suggestion, would be too bright for kitchen dont you think so??

kimberland30

I was just reading Good Housekeeping yesterday and there is a hostess from a HGTV show that did her kitchen with mix-matched cabinets (the top cabinets she painted white, the bottoms ones she painted smoke gray). It was beautiful, and a similar color scheme would work well in your kitchen. I would do a beige color for the top cabinets, and a dark rustic brown for the bottom ones (almost black in color). That will break up all the beige - since your flooring, appliances and counters are beige. Then whatever wall color you use (if you choose a red) will really pop.

We just redid our 1980's kitchen - we also have beige appliances and countertops, and the flooring is white with blue. I painted the cabinets a light tan to give some sort of darker color to them than what the countertops are. I haven't finished it yet - we are still attaching trim - but I'll post a picture of it tonight so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

As for the range hood, box stores sell appliance spray paint that works wonders. Our range hood has a lot of worn paint areas on it from when DH tried to clean it with steel wool. It's an epoxy paint so it will cover anything and dry to a tough finish that you can wash. Just make sure it's super clean before you spray paint it.

kimberland30

The more I look at your kitchen, the more I think you can get away with a red accent - the wall that houses your cabinets and window. If you go with a red on that wall, you can leave the rest of the wall color alone.

Also, for knobs and drawer pulls, you might find that Venetian Bronze goes better with the beige - and your color scheme. I love brushed nickel and used it in our recent bathroom redo, but it didn't look right with the cabinet color so I opted for darker knobs (they will be in the pictures I post later).

Just a thought

saggdevil

I'd do the cabinets same color as countertop & appliances, paint bottom of wall the brick red color in the border and top of wall the light goldish yellow color in the border and trim in a darker goldish tan color in border. You could also consider the top of wall in a lighter shade of the brick red and you may also consider painting the cabinets a charcoal or black and do the trim in same color. I'd definitely add some color to the room and get rid of the bright white trim. My kitchen is very similar to yours and just redid it in "spring green" with vanilla creme woodwork with butter yellows, soft gold, red and orange decorations. Looks great with all the color. I have cabinets like yours but left them natural....once painted, no more pretty wood. Good luck

kimberland30

Sorry so late with the pictures, it took a couple days to finish the crown that we installed on the cabinets. Our color was color matched to Taupe 3 by Laura Ashley (Lowes). We used an oil based paint.

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Rose Duffy

Sounds like you like your boarder paper and I can see why, it's really cute. If the cabinets are going to be tan, then I'd paint the walls with the cabinets on them the reddish color that is in the boarder and leave the walls without cabinets the way they are. Instead of pewter hardware on the tan cabinets I would go with black so the hardware pops.

JLSchultz3172

How about a bronze color hardware? I love the coffee border!

cellophane

if you do the two-tone cabinets you could paint the wall they are on red and leave the rest alone. it would give you quite a bit of emphasis and color without overwhelming the entire room. you can take in a sample of your border to Sherwin Williams and they can match the color, or you could find something that coordinates.

you could also use a red enamel paint for you cabinets. if you did that your countertop would probably need some love but it would be a different approach to the standard cabinets that most people have.