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White/chocolate cherry kitchen w/ blue walls?

14 years ago

I'm struggling to narrow down my kitchen paint selection a bit. I love the overall feel of sparkling white trim, pale blue walls and a warm espresso or chocolate together, always have.

My new cabs will be Shaker-style, white uppers and chocolate cherry lowers, with a pretty light slab of Shivikashi (ivory brown) granite counters and stainless appliances. The dishwasher will be paneled, the sink undermounted, and you really don't 'see' the stainless fridge or stove, as they're parallel to the traffic pattern through the room -- you're never directly facing them from a distance -- so the stainless doesn't have a strong presence as a surface.

The room's too small for an island so I'm faking it by building a bar-height corner banquette (using refrigerator wall cabs) with a counter-height table that can do double duty for 'island' counter space when needed. The banquette cabs will be the cherry and I don't yet have a table and am undecided what to do there just yet.

I've had my eye on BM Yarmouth Blue for a long while, but I'm afraid of the green tones I've read about. The room has a wide expanse of western exposure windows and a smaller southern window, that meet in the corner over where the banquette will be located. Lots of natural light, with mature trees right there in the summer.

On the other hand, I'm afraid a more 'blue' blue will cast a juvenile feel. The most adjacent room is the living room, which will be painted next, and although I don't want or need the same exact color as the kitchen, I have tobacco leather furniture and dark wood, so I'd like something light and coordinating with the kitchen.

Any thoughts on how the Yarmouth Blue will read IRL in the kitchen, and what might be a good complement in the living room, which also has western along with northern exposure?

I have the full BM color swatch thingamajig and it is just overwhelming to have so many colors at hand! I do seem drawn to the HC colors, FWIW.

Thanks much!

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Comments (5)

lizzie_grow
14 years ago
Jacy,
My DD used BM Buxton Blue in her previous kitchen & it was very pretty...she has it in the DR in her current home.
natal
14 years ago
I used YB in a bath and laundry room, but both have a northern exposure. There's no hint of green with that light.

Have you checked on the Bath forum? I think a few people there chose YB.
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bluekitobsessed
14 years ago
I'm in California where I use Dunn Edwards paints, so the names won't be of much help, but I have a soft blue throughout most of my house that's about halfway between a baby blue and a "spa" or robins-egg blue, and pretty close to the color of really, really faded jeans. It's called Sidewalk Chalk, if that helps. It's a little lighter than the Yarmouth Blue shown in that beautiful bathroom pic. My LR has lots of morning sunshine and the color looks great all day.

Your color combination sounds very pretty! The spa blue + chocolate color combination might look dated very quickly, so I think your instincts are right to go for something neither spa blue nor baby blue, but more sophisticated.

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ranchreno
14 years ago
We have a similar color scheme in our master bath and used SW Upward which is a very soothing light slate blue - has just enough gray to not look 'baby blue', but definetely reads blue as opposed to gray. I really liked the next color darker on the strip which is Krypton. But even Upward does not get washed out in bright natural light. We have it in our master bedroom too which gets tons of light.

Here is a link that might be useful:
jacy
Original Author
14 years ago
@lizzie, Buxton Blue is on my short list, too.

@natal, I actually have that same bathroom bookmarked -- I love it!

@bluekit, you touched on a secret fear of mine... that this combo will look dated quickly as it's been a trend for a while. Trouble is, it's ALWAYS been a favorite combo of mine, if I took a shot of my closet you'd see I'm stuck on all shades of blue and brown together. LOL.

@ranch -- ver pretty! Love the crystal knobs, too. There's a SW shop nearby that I've never visited. For some reason I've always stuck with BM paints although I really couldn't say why. Habit, I guess!

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