I just wanted to add that I am open to all color recs, so if you think a diff color then green would look good, please tell me!

Thanks!!!

If you have not yet, post the question on the Home Decorating forum. Not to say that folks here would not answer but IDs visit that forum more often, I think, and they are usually willing to paint your room using a computer software in a zillion wonderful colors.

How funny, they told me to post over here! I'll try to repost over there and see what happens. Thanks so much!

Before I even read your post, I looked at your pictures & my first thought was the green. You have so much neutral (countertop & cupboards), that I think you can go really bright and it would be ok. Then as a second colour/accent, I would go with that blue thing that is standing up in your dish drainer. Look how good those 2 colours look together!! You could have tea towels in both colours. Have your window topper in the blue and maybe a couple pots of herbs on your windowsill. If you couldn't find the right pots, it's easy to paint your own - you could paint in solids, stripes of each colour or even patterns. (polka dots or big freeform daisies)

It would be very fresh for summer & something to brighten those blah winters.

If you don't like that, you could always take inspiration from your dishes. You must have liked that pattern when you got them, so you could match your paint, window topper & kitchen accessories to those. That was my basis. Of course it helped that the set came with the cannister set, spoon rest & even cookware.

Let us know how you decide!
Gail

Thanks for the tips. My dishes are....big surprise...White! I guess I have always be afraid of color :) I am thinking green for the walls too. Now I have to decide which shade! I posted over in Home Decor, so hopefully they will help me too!

you might decide to hire a color consultant. We paid for a couple hours time ($250 total) and the designer brought out chips of hundreds of Benjamin Moore colors. She very efficiently looked at our furniture, rugs, asked our likes, dislikes and suggested colors. We learned about different tones of whites, greens, etc (yellow undertones? grey undertones?). She followed up at no charge by ordering several 8" x8" chips of colors for us from BM that we could tape up to se how we liked them. She narrowed our choices to @ 2 paint colors per room and provided advice on a total of 6 rooms. The best part is that if we purchase the paint from the local BM dealer she has provided them our name and so we will get a 20% discount on everything we buy. In essence, we got professional color consulting for free by the time we are done. We do not plan to paint everything now - we are currently planning just a kitchen and bath remodel - but did all the other rooms so that when we do get to them we are not stumbling on color. Like you - our house is currently beige/off white and I hate it. But - we always ended up with beige as when we tried colors our idea of a soft green paint chip would somehow turn into a bright chartreuse or something equally hideous.

Where did you look to find this color consultant? Sounds like something I may look into? Does she work for BM?

I did some doodles for you. I leaned towards warm colors for two reasons: they would blend well with what you describe in adjoining rooms and they work a bit better with your warm toned cabinets. I tried some "cool" colors, and they just didn't mesh well. (I did a 'cool' gray and a terracotta so that you could see that the undertones were too cool, as in the gray, or the color fought the cabinets, as in the terracotta.)

Not trying to steer you in any particular direction, but I've created an album of various colors/depths that seemed to fit the bill (and some that didn't ;)

Some posted here, there are 2 pages of colors at the album I linked to below ;) Oh, almost forgot, left your crown molding white and painted the ceiling same color as walls so your crown molding wouldn't disappear. What some people do, rather than put the "full" wall color on the ceiling, is have the wall color mixed at 50 or 25% and use that reduction for the ceiling. That way there's a lighter version of the same color on the ceiling, blends well. An option if full wall color on the ceiling doesn't suit your taste ;)

A golden tan

A bit lighter version

A very deep golden tan/acorn (historical type color)

A lighter green with yellow undertones

An apple green

A richer apple green

An earthier moss

A warm mocha

If there are any other shades you'd like to see, give me a holler ;) I went through so many colors, these are the ones that came out the better. I don't tend to give my input, but do like the greens!

Here is a link that might be useful: lovetoshop's kitchen

Wow Moonshadow!! That's amazing!

Lovetoshop will have so many choices - I would love to hear back which she likes better.

Gail

WOW Moonshadow! You are SO nice to give me so many examples! I REALLY appreicate it! I think after looking at all the samples, I like the way the yellows look better then the greens. In the photoshoped kitchens, the color looks different depending on where in the photo you look. For example above the backsplash seems more like the true color vs above the cabinets. If this is accurate, then I like these ones: golden tan, earthy sage, garden path, palm, olive, butter and gardner. What brand of paint did you use for the samples?

Because the kitchen goes right into the family room (fr is right behind those barstools) I will only be painting a small amount of wall so that the new color stays in the kitchen.

Thanks and I'd love to hear which everyone likes best!

You're welcome ;) I used Lowe's software. Software is easy, but like all done on a computer don't render "true" to real life. Best to use it to find a color you like, then look for samples that are similar in real life. It's a pain, I know, but at least it helps guide you to what colors you like and away from a wasted paint job with those you don't care for after seeing them in the room. I would encourage you to take a look a the "Favorite Yellows & Golds" thread in the Gallery section of Home Dec here for lots of ideas (and real life photos) of that family of colors ;)

Here are the names of those paints in case one of the swatches does turn out to be a winner ;)
I don't know if you've seen Lowe's Seaside Retreat colors, there are some nice ones in that display ;)

Golden tan is Lowe's Seaside Retreat "Garden Path"
The butter color is Seaside Retreat "Window Box"
Seaside Retreat "Earthy Sage"
"Palm" is from Lowe's Eddie Bauer line
Gardener is from the Eddie Bauer line, "Gardener Green"
"Olive" is from Eddie Bauer Line

I'm glad someone said to use something other than green. I think the yellow hues are a better compliment. Too much green is overkill.

My friend has a kitchen similar to yours, and he used Pratt & Lambert Maple Sugar. I think that would compliment your colors well.

I also like P&L Popcorn (lighter) and Caramel Tint. These two are both on the same color palette.