I was in your shoes about 6 months ago. I finally decided to have everything installed and then do the paint color. I know it's easier to paint first...but, it really didn't take the painters that long to work around the cabinets and counters.

We have light oaks, uba tuba granite, tan tile floors and went with a light gold that also looks beige or greenish as the light changes. To me, it isn't 70s. The light gold is an easy backdrop for everything else and gives a nice warm feel (especially appreciated here in WIS this Jan)

Even with waiting, I also had about 15 samples of paint everywhere.

Only 15? Amateur! ;-) I'm embarrassed to tell you how many I went through. Thank heavens for those $4 and $5 sample cans from BM and SW. SW Blonde and Ivoire and BM Wilmington Tan were really high on my list. I don't think the light golds are anything like the harvest golds of the seventies. Sure, we may look back in 20-30 years and wonder what we were thinking, but we'll probably need to paint again between now and then anyway. Your kitchen sounds beautiful and I can't wait to see pictures!

BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I went through about 30, I think, not including the ones I mixed for myself.

When my builders saw my walls with a zillion different colour splodges they said, "Sure we can paint it that colour - we call it 'camouflage'". They were laughing at me for weeks (along with my dh, my mom, my dd and just about everybody else, including ME!!)

Go to HD and get some of the Glidden "post it" style sample packs - they're $3 for a palette of about 10 colours and will at least help you narrow down what you want (in my case, the first one I picked off the palette was perfect - now why didn't I do that sooner?!)

what I did - get some foam board at Michaels and paint a few pieces. then put them all around the room. It REALLY helped.

Plus you can move them as needed and you're not messing up your walls with splotches.

I have something that's very close to BM Aura Honeymoon and Valspar Redstone dining room gold. They sometimes look gold, sometimes a warm khaki, sometimes yellowish.

HOw about something PINK or pinkish? If not overtly PINK... something w/ pink/red tones. It just jumped into my mind as something that can work stunningly well with browns/chocolates. And also would tie into the mahogony/cherry Something about brown combined with pink neutralizes any connotations of "girl" or "feminine" that the pink might otherwise have. People are sometimes afraid of the word "pink" but it can be a really wonderful color.

Just an idea - FWIW!

Don't worry. Whatever you chose, it could not be a rehash of the 70s because the quality and materials are, generally speaking, in whole different classes. You could do kitchens in exactly the same colors and stand them side to side and they wouldn't be at all alike.

I was in the same situation until I tried SW Echelon Ecru - sort of gold, sort of beige. Goes with everything. Good luck

btw, the one I settled on was a goldish, beigeish, greenish colour that changes significantly according to the light - I love it. It's Glidden's Bonjour Beige, and I used Valspar Drumskin for trim.

I too had to have everything installed before I could pick paint colors - and yes I had lots of BM sample sizes and quarts. I needed to see how everything worked together and looked at different times during the day and night before I settled on a color. In addition, some of the colors had to cure for a week before they became their true color. My kitchen is open to the dining room (which had been the kitchen before the addition for the kitchen was built). I had to buy an area rug for under the dining table before I could pick that color; without the rug there I never would have been so bold in selecting the Soft Pumpkin that looks great in the DR. It really isn't a big deal for a professional painter.

I had the primer done before anything was installed.

I HATE picking paint colors. I had many samples on the walls, mixed my own, got advice from a salesperson at umpteen paint stores. I painted the kitchen from top to bottom four times. None were right. I was at wit's end. I just could not believe I couldn't do something this simple! I Finally I got all my elements together - cabinet door, floor, counters, fabric and got some professional help. She was an ID employed by the paint store and she was wonderful. First try was perfect. We love it. It is Cafe by Devine. I just couldn't do it on my own and we were coming down to the wire too. I am so glad I did not wait until the cabinets were in because we DIY and there is no way we could have done as good a job afterwards. Good luck!

SAA203: May I suggest that you choose a neutral color for the time being for your kitchen? When I say neutral, I do not mean gold. I, too, have BC floors and a lot of cool grey colors in my granite, but warm whites. I wanted a gold color, too, but decided to mute it out and wait until my backsplash was installed. Plus, my floors darkened considerably in just a few months, so I'm really glad I didn't add the gold now. You add gold to those walls and your cabinets will really start to 'yellow out'. I was shocked to see how much 'yellow' they picked up off of the walls even with Clam Island, and it's not yellow.

I am going to do a bit more painting now that I am getting ready to choose window treatements and believe that with my backsplash and granite to either beige up the walls a bit since I have brown glaze on the cabinets with Parisian Taupe OR either go a touch more gold with Toasted Cashew, both by Behr....and both look good.

I love the SW blonde. I got a sample the other day and it's just too gold for my kitchen. I don't have a lot of natural light and cannot afford to go any darker than the Toasted Cashew.

My point: I would really wait until you have your backsplash chosen before I would commit to such a strong gold in your kitchen, unless you know that you'll just love it and that it won't compete with what you use on your backsplash. When I got my backsplash, it had a lot more rose to the stone that I imagined, so I know the SW Blonde would not have worked.

Clam Island or Parisian Taupe are winners hands down and you just can't go wrong type of colors. The taupe has just a bit more pink, which I think compliments the brown/red tones in the cabinets and flooring; hence why I'm thinking I may go with this eventually in my kitchen after all of the cabinets are done. However, Clam Island is just a perfect neutral. It has enough depth to be a brown, enough gold to work with gold carpets and not overpower other colors. It's no longer in Behr's Color paint chips, but the color is in their computer at HD.

I've used Clam Island in several homes as my 'base' color and I come back in and add depth or lighten. It's definitely not a beige or tan or offwhite. It's a lovely base color. I mixed it half and half on some of my ceilings, too.

Here is Clam Island in different rooms so you can see how it goes with so many colors. (I think it does.)

Thank you for making me feel better about painting my kitchen 5 times and still not getting it right! Too pink, too yellow, too green, too "yuck!" (that was before the remodel.)
It is hard to pick a color from a tiny sample, and the lighting you have changes the colors too as well as the time of day. My contractor provided a designer for 1 hr to help with paint colors and I just said "whatever you think" since I obviously stink at choosing colors...and it was perfect the first time! Experience pays off!

PICK YOUR CURTAINS FIRST!

I painted first, and now I can't find any fabric for curtains that will work, and I don't really want to repaint.

i wish I'd gone out and picked a fabric to be the curtains, and then had the paint made to match it.

I agree with talley_sue_nyc: if you are using any fabric / art work / rugs in your kitchen, use those as your color palette and pick a wall color to match. That's so much easier than starting with almost a blank slate and several 1000 choices (love/hate those color sample fan decks!)

The splash may not be critical if it is to be neutral colors. I painted kitchen wall a pinky beige, then realized almost all tan/beiges now are yellowish or greenish. Yikes! Finally chose a splash tile with yellowish beige tones (marble subways) and it looks fine on the pinky beige wall by the cooktop (IMHO).

picking up paint color for my kitchen was easy ... being stuck at the hospital and having to decide on a spot since i wanted the walls to be painted before my floor goes in, i just went with the same color i have in the adjacent living room. true, i like it and tried the sample piece before, but was considering others as well. every other room was a lot of pain checking it in different lights and places and angles ... but this one was easy. i'll see how happy i am with it after a while

I'm now on sample #18.....thanks everyone for the suggestions......keep them coming!!!!