No idea about edgecomb gray specifically, but I think gray will look fab in your kitchen. My only concern is that because your counters and floors are also gray, that you break it up a bit. Are you thinking of staining your island (is that an island?) dark like in your inspiration?Another option would be to do your lowers all a dark stain and then the uppers in the gray. The glaze would tie them together wonderfully. Just some things to think about.

You might want to consider purchasing a similar cabinet door from a salvage yard or off the shelf at lowes or Home Depot and do a few practice doors with base color and over glaze samples. That is the only way you'll know what the proper base color should be.

Don't forget that if you use the over glaze, which I think really makes your inspiration kitchen, you'll need a clear final finish to flatten the sheen & protect the glaze so that it doesn't wash off when you go to clean a cabinet door.

What if you do most of the cabs in the trim color, and do the cabs on the opposite wall in gray? I don't know if I'd want all of it gray, with the grayish tiles on the floor. Just a thought. Have you checked out Sally Wheat's kitchen? It is BM Fieldstone, but I think that's darker than Edgecomb Gray. Keep us posted:)

Here are the two together. It looks close, but I think the paint base color is lighter. Maybe a grayed white. The brown over glaze makes the cabinets appear grayer.

I love the idea of a soft grey! But it is so hard to choose subtle shades on computer screens. As beverly27 suggested I think you would be happiest with the end result if you tried some samples and looked at them with your lighting and floor/backsplash. If you can get some old doors (Craigslist?) that would be great, but even mockups on tagboard would be more realistic than trying to match on the computer. Plus you can see how they work with the adjoining room colors as well.

Beverly - thanks so much for posting them together! I think you're right, close but maybe a little lighter. I think I'll also get a sample of the color lighter than Edgecomb Gray, Lancaster Wash or Whitewash, I think. Thanks for the idea of using a sample door and protective sealant. I'll do that.

Lake Girl and daisychain - I do like two tone kitchens. If my island was separate I would definitely use a darker stain there. Mine is a more of a peninsula and attached to the other cabinets on that side of the kitchen. I was hoping to brighten up the kitchen because it seems so dark even with the light oak. Do you think staining all the lowers on that side would make it too dark?

I think your cabinets will be beautiful in a light gray. I agree about doing a sample door or two - go to a Habitat store or "junk" store and find some to practice on. I wouldn't do the glaze too dark or heavy as your primary goal it to "lighten". I don't see anything wrong with subtle arches in spite of what the kitchen police think.

The hutch you painted is one of my inspiration pieces (for something - I don't know what) so it is obvious you know how to do a good paint job :).
You should show it off again - there are probably folks on here who haven't seen it.

Good luck with your project.
Tuesday

jrueter - you're right, it is hard to tell on a computer what a color may look like in your own home. I've learned that the hard way a few times! I will start searching CL for some doors and get some paint samples, starting with Edgecomb gray and Manchester Tan. We're getting the appliances now (so DH can't back out of the project!) but holding off on painting until after the holidays so I have time to experiment.

tuesday - thank you for your compliments on my hutch! I still love her - here she is :-) That project was a good example of how paint can change depending on the light - the Baby Turtle is so much lighter on the hutch in my bright foyer than on the walls in my dark powder room.

I agree that a much lighter glaze would be best for the kitchen. I like a darker glaze on furniture but plan on just using a pinstriping technique on the cabinets, which I believe is just using glaze in the details instead of the whole piece.

First, I need to try to get a smooth finish so the glaze doesn't catch on the oak grain. I'm researching primers and brushing putty now (but really don't want to use putty if there's an easier way though!)

I just realized that I must not mind arches so much either, because all of the newly installed doors, bathroom sinks, and hand towel bars have arches. I'm just going to embrace these too! As DH just recently said (in a confused tone) when wondering why I wished they were squared off, "It's just a shape." :-)

Before:

After:

This post was edited by juddgirl2 on Tue, Oct 8, 13 at 11:16

Love it! I am going to copy that someday. You are right - it looks nothing like DH's Baby Turtle bathroom walls :). Thanks for "sharing" again.

Oh juddgirl - that's funny! You see I have a hutch almost identical to yours, except it's still pine. I have thought about painting it, but I'm very nervous about it. My kitchen cabs are white, so this hutch could be almost any color, but was thinking about a green shade:) Can you tell me how you did it? It looks professional. I'm also thinking about painting a very scratched up kitchen table, so maybe you'll give me the confidence I need:) thanks!

Lake Girl - it was time consuming getting the wax off and perfecting the glaze technique but not very hard once I figured it out. This is a link to my original post where I included the different steps (be sure to prime first though - I applied so many coats of "oops" milk paint before deciding to use a solid color that I didn't think priming was necessary and now I have a few knots slightly bleeding through).

Feel free to send me an email if you have specific questions!

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg1216071720843.html

Thanks for the link. I really like the first phase where is was looking more unfinished. I'd love to have an unfinished look on the hutch, and some wood interior doors I just bought. I just don't think I can pull it off. Paint is so much easier. My big fear is I'm not going to like the results or change m mind, & that would be bad. I'm gonna come back from work later and look closer at the link. I'm also interested in how to arrange it. Mine is in my eat-in kitchen on a large wall. My lower two shelves look shorter than yours, making it hard to fit more than 3 small plates on them. (I need to send you a pic, just not sure how on my smartphone.) I have to say that piece has been very useful for us because it really holds a lot of my small appliances, etc in the lower cabinets. Gotta run this morning. Thanks for your help:)

Thank you for the link to your hutch. I have always admired it and would love to do a table with that type finish.

marti8a - thank you!

Lake Girl - I was so tired of the hutch after spending several weekends in the garage scrubbing 40 years of furniture wax out of all the nooks and crannies that I almost decided to skip the paint and leave it natural. After all the wax was removed, I bleached the wood and liked the look.

Unfortunately, when I applied a fresh coat of light brown Briwax to a small section it went a bit orangey-yellow again, so I stripped it off and reached for the paint!

I think that a very pale gray will look amazing! Please keep us posted~

If you decide to stain them, see my before and after kitchen remodel here, third and fourth videos.
Https://vimeo.com/user12732009/videos
I stained them in only a few days, using stains I already had. Very simple to do, and 8 months later they still look like new.

Don't forget to post after pics - The color you posted should look awesome in your kitchen.

Thanks, loribee and CLBlakey! It turns out we'll need to modify some cabinets and also the apron on my granite counters (who knows what that's hiding) in order to switch out the appliances. The PO remodeled and actually blocked in the appliances when installing the floor and counters after. Crazy.

I'm considering whether I want to spend the extra money to make these changes and just refurbish my existing cabinets or save up for a complete remodel next summer. If we remodel we can get an updated look and also address some issues with the current layout. Obviously, a big cost difference but I'm not sure about spending money now to modify what I have if I'm still going to want a full remodel within a few years.

If I do paint my existing cabinets, though, I'm definitely leaning towards the Edgecomb Gray!

Donna - I don't think I'll stain the cabinets because my kitchen is already so dark and I truly lust over lighter kitchens but thanks so much for the link!