I finally gave up and am currently in the process of painting all of my oak trim AND cabinets! It took me 5 years to muster up the courage! Before I decided to paint them, I had SW Believable Buff and thought that was the best color so far that I had tried (my kitchen has been at least 4 different colors!). One shade darker on the same strip is Whole Wheat and that was nice also. Good luck!

Mom and Dad just painted their farmhouse kitchen with 80s oak cabinets and shiny brass fixtures in Farrow and Ball's "Archive". Their eat-in kitchen gets lots of west sun and the paint looks a bit yellow; their tiles are golden. It looks great. The adjoining living room is in "Joas White" which has a lot more pink in it, but blends well.

...Pam

Here is a link that might be useful: Farrow and Ball paint

My last house had oak cabinets & trim (fruitwood custom) and I went with SW Believable Buff throughout (except the master suite which was SW Raffia Basket, and home theater room which was SW Blonde - would not use either of those colors in an area with dominant oak).

What kind of look do you want? What color is the oak stained? What's your general style? What color are the other elements in the room?

Oak and green is usually a successful combination. I've seen it done with a smokey blue and look good, and once saw it with deep red walls and a tin ceiling and not be nearly as bad as it sounded. But pickled oak will carry differently from honey oak or brown oak, etc... so tell us more. :)

Thanks! We have honey oak cabinets. We're very traditional in our style. I have a few cranberry accents in the kitchen (towels, rugs, etc.) The kitchen table is black and the light fixtures are oil rubbed bronze. The floors are hardwood (again an oakish color). The adjoining room is the family room where we have a dark brown leather sofa. We have a sort of khaki color on the walls throughout the house. I thought I was going to use this same khaki color in the kitchen, but it turns out to be the same color as the stone in the tile backsplash. I hope this additional information is helpful! Thanks for all your ideas!

The room sounds pretty with the updates you did and I'm sure it looks nice.

I have oak cabinets and used BM Olive Branch. It's a green with brown and I get a ton of compliments on this paint. The photos don't do it justice. It doesn't blend in with the cabinet. Another good green color (more green) is Laura Ashley Olive 4.

Here's the Olive Branch. The color around the top of the cabinets is more accurate on my monitor.
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I'm assuming your cabinets are darker? Here's a shot of the same color with darker wood.
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Here's LA Olive 4.
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You could also look at some golds maybe.

To post pictures, open an account in photobucket, it's free. Upload your pics and resize them. There's options along the top of the photo once you load and there's preset sizes you can pick from. You'll want to use the large or medium size. Then you'll copy and paste the HTML code in the message box. When you hit preview your photo should apprear if you did it right. Let me know if you need anymore instructions. Pictures really help us help you on here!

we have honey oak cabs and went with LA Olive 2 and LOVE it! I tried so hard to make Believable Buff to work but I couldn't so went with this green and very happy I did

I have a freind who has the honey oak cabs, and we painted the kitchen Sherwin Williams Koi Pond, a green which looks very similar to Olive Branch. Using a color that is opposite on the color wheel of what the cabs are seemed to be the best color, which is supposedly the best way to find a color. The family room is right off the kitchen and I used the green as an accent color, whcih ties the two rooms together beautifully. ;o)

BM Wilmington Tan looks really nice with Oak Cabinets.

DIL's previous home had older oak cabinets and a designer she brought in suggested Devine Sangria. She said one has to be careful of the yellow tones in Oak and it's best to stay away from colors with yellow and go with a contrasting color.

The link below is something I found on the web.......

Here is a link that might be useful: Sangria samples

Here are some quick (sorry for the poor quality) mock-ups of different colors with honey oak cabinets. Notice the way the color opposites/compliments make the cabinets really stand out (that "pop" people refer to), and you can manipulate the appearance of the wood color through the background paint color.

Notice how blues bring out yellows, reds bring out greens, etc.

So what are you trying to achieeve with your wood?

I have oak cabinets also. First I used BM Straw, and had that for a few years. It was OK but never truly happy with it. I then changed it to BM Baby Turtle (a very popular color on this board!). I am much happier with the Baby Turtle. Pictures below. Color is slightly washed out in pictures, but you get the idea. Hope this helps.

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Thanks!!! I'm new here, and I have a feeling I will be visiting frequently. (= I am going to try to post the pictures of my very unfinished kitchen. We just moved into this new-to-us house built in the 90s. We've made a TON of upgrades including new hardwood floors, granite counters, and tile backsplash. I would love to put in new cabinets or paint them, but the hubs just can't take on another project at this point. So I must live with the oak. I'm not sure exactly what I'm trying to do with the oak... just upgrade them I guess. I plan to add oil rubbed bronze knobs and drawer pulls to the cabinets. I think I'm drawn to a Tuscan kitchen. (that is sort of my inspiration)

Thanks so much sheesharee for teaching me how to upload pictures. I absolutely adore your green kitchen! That looks like exactly what I'm aiming for. I plan to go get a sample of that paint tonight! I'm definitely open to other suggestions, though, because everyone's house is different with the amount of sunlight coming in. I hope that BM green shows up the same in my kitchen! (=

This is the unfinished kitchen so far.

I was originally planning on continuing the base color in the house (a khaki color) in the kitchen. We realized, however, that this color is identical in color to our tile. So now we think we should go with something that would give us more contrast. Here is a picture that shows the color of tile compared to the base color in the house.

Your little green swatch looks great!

avesmor: do you have the ability to take the picture of my kitchen I provided and change the background colors like you did with your mock kitchen? If so, would you be able to try a green with it? If not, no worries! I just thought I'd ask!

jillinnj: your green kitchen is beautiful! Thanks so much for including the picture. It helps me visualize so much better!

Your cabinets are beautiful - they aren't quite that "90's honey stain" I was thinking of. And they look like quality cabinets.

thanks for the kind words!

Hi, I am having the same problem! My cabinets are natural oak, the laminate is butter-rum granite and we are planning on a tumbled stone black-splash! I was planing on a yellow wall color, as I thought yellow would look good next to the green dining room, but someone told me yellow would make my oak look pink! I really like the green walls the others have posted, but my living/dining/foyer is going to be green. I love the photoshopped pictures showing all the different colors! I never thought of it, but I guess I need to figure out "So what are you trying to achieve with your wood?" lol

Pipi, I think your kitchen is very pretty. I can't wait to see which color you choose. Will you be painting soon? This thread has encouraged me to start a thread for my "oak" kitchen, too.

Pipi - Thanks! I'm glad I was able to help. Did you pick up anymore paint samples? Your kitchen is nice and I think the green will work great.

Teresatree - I think your kitchen would look good with green too. Is that a green sample on the backsplash?
If you start a new thread with your kitchen photos I'm sure you'll receive lots of suggestions.

pippi81 - no problem, I'd be happy to do it for you. Any particular green you want to see them with?

avesmor-- oooh! yes! I'd love to see BM olive branch and SW svelte sage. Wow! Thank you!!

teresatree-- It is such a relief to see your kitchen with so many paint samples on the wall! It looks just like mine. (= What color green and yellow were you using? They both look gorgeous. I may have to try those colors on my walls. I, too, tried out a chocolate brown. My husband is really pulling for the brown, but I'm afraid it will be too dark. Keep me posted on what you pick!

Here are a few:

BM Baby Turtle:

SW Palm Leaf:

SW Artichoke:

Wow, how do you do that? is it a special program?

Just digital image editing programs. The first one I did in Photoshop, the other two I did in Paint Shop Pro (Photo X2).

Thank you avesmor!

@teresatree: Mind if I ask what is the brown paint color (the giant sample) on the wall next to your cabinets? Thanks!

sonaliagrawal: The brown is a Benjamin Moore historical color, I think Plymouth Brown HC-73. (There is a slight possibility that it is Davenport Tan HC-76) I can't find the chip, and it is one I took to Lowes to get larger matched sample.

pippi81: Hi and thanks! I like the brown too, I know it "matches" the laminate but I worry about the darkness and if the counter-top blends in instead of pop.
The big green color is Benjamin Moore Baby Turtle 0515. The lower color Olympic Toffee Crunch. The two little stripes of green and yellow were from free samples I received in the mail. They are Glidden Y25 vintage yellow and Glidden G21 Soothing Green Tea. Hope this helps!

No pics, but I used SW Svelte Sage mixed in Lowes Valspar paint to go w/ my honey oak cabs. My countertop is laminate, but the colors are very similar to your granite. I think it looks great!

Baby Turtle for both of you.... :)

This is my old kitchen in my former home. I absolutely loved SW Copper Mountain with my oak cabinets and plan to do my current kitchen the same. My sister chose it and then when I moved, I wanted something different. I have always regretted it.

Pippi81. I love the color of the family room with fireplace. Do you know the color. I have similar granite (santa cecelia) and oak cabinets also and the same set up kitchen open to the den. I like that it picks up the grayish tone in the santa cecelia.

hello, its my first time here. I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful ideas

Home Depot, Sagey green with primer in it. That's the name of it, Sagey Green. It really covers well and looks really nice with my oak dining room set.

struggeling with this issue. Any suggestions on a color which works with the oak cabinetry with an adjoining family room in a light grey with a hint of lilac color? Lots of light enters the kitchen with a patio door in the eating area. They are your traditional oak cabinets as shown in honey oak which look orange and or yellow so I am trying to get away from that. A picture with believable buff would help if possible. About to just give up but thought I would give it one last try.

Hi Nanners, This was originally posted almost three years ago. It has a lot of great suggestions but most people won't read a post this old. Try starting a new post with your questions.

I can suggest Ellen Kennon paints. I will look through my swatches and post back.

Nanners, there is an Ellen Kennon color called lilac mist which is a lovely grey with a subtle touch of lavender. It is a truly lovely color. If you go to ellenkennon.com there is a room painter tool that you can use to see how various rooms look with a particular color. I have all of her swatches and the colors are very true to the room painter, at least on my monitor.

Hi Holly-Kay. Thank for the information. I am not sure how to start a new post but I did read all the previous ones and viewed all the photos. I will try posting a new one. I will check the Ellen Kennon for now. Thank you so much!

Hi, I was waiting for you to start a new thread, but I guess that you couldn't figure it out.

This is the kitchen of my daughter and son-in-law. I painted the walls for them in a BM Woodstock Tan. It really did wonders for their yellow oak cabinets and floors. The walls were previously light yellow when they bought the home. They also added stainless steel appliances and granite, plus changed the hardware to a darker color.

Sorry that these photos are so grainy. I took the photos with my cell phone.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

There's also a thread, designing around the golden oak.

Here is a link that might be useful: keeping the golden oak

I'm looking at piles of oak flooring stacked on my grey-violet painted subfloor and realized they look really good together.

So consider something in the mauve-violet-stormy purple line.