Oh you are so lucky! I have sugar, flour, and tea. Coffee got lost a long way back, possibly when I was a kid. I once saw the precise cannister I needed at a flea market, complete with a handle of the correct style, but the dealer wouldn't sell it to me singly. Oh well. They're not really my style any more....same with my mother's Russell Wright china. I have it packed away somewhere or other. BTW I didn't realize there was a grease cannister, so I guess my set is missing two pieces, and it may actually have been my mother's, not my grandmother's. The thought of a cannister of grease on the counter is so disgusting! I'm a near-vegan now, and even as a kid, I hated fat and butter. Giving it pride of place in the kitchen? No way! Anyway I am rambling but meant to say that when I read your comment, a light bulb just went on above my head: I'm going to use the tea cannister for tea! Why on earth did that idea never cross my mind before???

I got this info from another board----I have not tried this but the poster is a paint expert and I am sure she has done this. Here are her instructions: "Prep first by lightly scuffing the surface. I like to then use an etching product (waterborne) called Primetch. From this point you can do anything you like. If you want it shiny use a gloss level paint. Or you can build up protective coats of the paint finish by applying multiple coats of a clear topcoat in your sheen choice." Good luck---I have plans on painting some ceramic items as well, just have not gotten around to it.

If you use the special cleaner for tiles you can find where you buy the paint you should be able to paint on it. I have used the glass paint on tiles to mark my vegatable rows and they are 5 years old and still as vibrant as ever. None has ever peeled or faded. I have handpainted tiles all around my kitchen cabnets, including the stove area. The only paint that has come off is a little over the stove where my unknowing daughter used a steel wool pad on it to get some greese off.

I agree with all the above comments. I'd also like to say that I think you're putting too much emphasis on the need to be creative in order to create a kitchen you love. I don't think so. You just need a vision and you seem to lack one now. Spend some time looking at kitchens like magazines, here, Houzz, and just plain google kitchens and look at images. Save every picture of a kitchen that speaks to you and makes your heart sing to look at it. Once you get a big pile of photos, sort through them and try to determine what features keep popping up over-and-over again in them. Narrow down your choices into a smaller pile. Keep doing this over and over until you have a small pile of photos that really excite you. Those can become your vision. Now you just have to recreate it in a way that makes sense for your space. It doesn't help you to find out what specific blue someone else used. Lighting in your home, what direction it comes in through your windows, your latitude/longitude/altitude, other colors in your home, the colors right outside your windows, etc., all will create a different look to the color in your own kitchen. So, instead, once you have found colors in your inspiration photos that you want to explore, go look at paint colors, pick a few that look like they might be the same as your inspiration photo. Buy several sample sized of a few different colors that might work, then bring them home and paint different boards with them. Then put the boards in your kitchen and see what they look like in different types of light. Only then will you begin to get a feeling for how that color will look in your kitchen. Once you've narrowed down to the color you think you want, paint a large board in just that color and, again, view it in different kinds of light over a period of time in your kitchen. If it sings to you in all lighting situations, go for it. If you post photos of your kitchen here, you will probably get some great input. Good help with colors and such can also be found at the Home Decorating section. Don't stress about this. Have fun with it. I don't think anybody makes the best decisions when they're stressed and being stressed will make a somewhat challenging project even harder to accomplish. So, really, try to enjoy the process. It can be as fun as enjoying the finished project.