Painting them the same color as the cabinets looks like an "oops, I didn't remove the hinges or tape them off to do a proper paint job". Hinges, if they are exposed, should match the knobs and handles. However, if you are painting, this is an ideal time to convert to the invisible hinges as you can fill the exposed holes and the paint will never show they were there.

My opinion is the same as live wire oak's. To me, the ORB looks classy and the painted looks cheap. Hopefully some one will post a picture for you with them painted, so you can visualize it and see whether or not you agree.

Thank you for your responses. I spray painted my hinges in ORB and started second guessing myself. I would love invisible hinges, but at this point I won't be able to do them. So I'll stick with my ORB painted hinges so that they will match my ORB handles.

i had this situation in my old kitchen. i had oak cabinets and painted them a creamy white and went with ORB knobs.

I also had brassy gold hinges to start with. Rather than paint them, I replaced them with the same hinge but in a cream finish.

I wanted the hinges to less visible, but as others have stated, didn't want the chinzty painted hinge look. The cream ones I purchased were very inexpensive. You can see from the pictures that they don't completely disappear but to me, I liked it better than having ORB hinges which I think I wouldn't have liked. This is contrary to what the others are saying above... certainly it could go either way.

here is a pic before and after:

Thank you for the visual Mamadadapaige! Your thoughts about not wanting your hinges to stand out where exactly why I was considering going with the cream hinges.

Downsy,

If you're going to paint your old hinges (and unless they're in really good shape- I'd replace them), I would say spray paint them or else go with the ORB. Mamadadapaige bought new cream hinges, so it's a different issue. It's not the colour, ie cream that people object to, it's the messiness/tackiness of 'hand painted' hinges.

Raehelen,
My kitchen is nearly 20 yrs old, but the hinges are in great shape. I soaked them in TSP and spray painted them with a metal paint in ORB so they would match my new ORB handles. The hinges look great sprayed - no drips and they look like new. I would never attempt to hand paint hinges! LOL

I just started 2nd guessing myself whether I should have sprayed them with a cream color so they would disappear on the cabinets. But at this point - they are now sprayed ORB and look good so that's what I'll go with.

Thanks for your help.

Can someone recommend a paint brand they used to spray their hinges? I tried it and the paint rubbed off when I opened the hinge.

Could someone tell me where you can purchase cream colored cabinet hinges?
Thank you.