Coordinating/Picking Colors of Walls and Cabinets

11 years ago

We're (DD and I) having a really hard time picking the "right" colors for this kitchen.

We want to use a bluish gray on the bottom cabinets, some variance of white or cream on the uppers and a very light blue/gray on the actual wall.

We have a sample of the Sherwin Williams Meditative SW 6227 that is really pretty for the lower cabinets.

Our dilemma is what other colors to pair with this. We've found we prefer a warmer white, and aren't fans of the White Dove. (It's really WHITE!) We just like warmer colors. The problem is that Meditative is really a cool color- should we start over on this color?

Here is what we would like:

Lower cabinets - darker bluish/greenish gray (open to suggestions!)
Upper cabinets - creamy white - colors ideas?
Beadboard - creamy white
Wall - Same color family as lower cabinets, but MUCH lighter. Maybe 50% white added?
Crown Moulding - Creamy white

Ironing board cabinet in the right of the picture - Dark paint or white? (can't decide!)

PS: I've always wanted to try the styrofoam crown moulding, so this is a good place to try it out! If I like it I might add it to my house too :)

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Comments (6)

quiltgirl
11 years ago
I am a fan of simply white by Ben Moore. It is a nice soft white. There are so many beautiful colors from which to choose. Look at gray cashmere by BM for cabinets. It has a bluish cast. Hold samples up in your light and see how you like them.
cawaps
11 years ago
I tried to use SW's color visualizer, but it wasn't cooperating, so I ended up using BM's. What I found was that I preferred whites with peachy undertones (blue and orange are complementary colors), to pair with a gray-blue similar to Meditative.
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I'm not a color expert, but I have 2 kitchens each with different shades of white painted cabinets, so I'll offer thoughts based on my experience. For our lake build I wanted a crisp white cottage look that would complement the blue stained island. I was planning on going with the whitest white option. My KD convinced me, as yours did, not to go with stark white. Like you, I was worried it would read creamy, but I'm glad I followed her advice. The cabs positively read clean white in the room. We did go with the stark white with the bathroom vanity and, as she had said, it lacks the richness and depth that the kitchen ones do and looks less like wood and more like a builder grade cab. We did go with a warmer shade on the walls in the open area of the kitchen and I think that helps them stand out as being more white. I wanted a completely different feel in my home and chose creamy cabinets. In both homes I have standard white ceiling paint. This is where the color experts may advise differently, but to my eye it works just fine in both spaces because the ceiling & cabs are on different planes & with the play of shadow & light the whites don't seem to fight in either case. Hope this helps as you sort it out.
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Congrats on your new home purchase! Once the terracotta walls are primed and not reflecting you will be able to really pick a nice color to compliment. Your cream cabinets have a lot of red undertones which can read a little on the pink side. The wood on the island and floor also have peachy or orangey tone. So I would avoid like the plague anything with a yellow, green, or blue undertone as that will just make the pink/peach stand out even more. Since the crown molding and trim looks a very bright blue based white, I think you definitely should paint them a neutral white. I liked the SW pure white, but I'd wait until you pick the main wall color. Whatever brand you look at just look for colors that say they are a neutral. I have been searching myself for a nice neutral wall color all day. It's tough! I was at SW, and liked either Repose gray or Agreeable gray from them. They really are not a true gray color like I think of "gray". I'm not a gray fan, but I do like a neutral "greige" as they call it. Both of those colors have a brown taupe undertone. I always look at the deepest shade on the color swatch to see what I'm dealing with. If it is really yellow or green khaki or blue I'd rule those ones out. Hope this helps. I'm no expert so take that fwiw! Ha! Oh and if you are drawn to a touch of gray which has purple undertones, or are interested in a richer more deep color you might like weimeraner. But actually I think anything with purples might pop the peach wood. Oh this one will be a challenge, but I know it will be great! Once you prime your walls, if you want to repost a new picture, I can try to do a mockup for you. Best wishes.
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Thanks for your response. This shows layout and is close to what we're planning to do -- the island will be a bit shorter on the family room side and it will be deeper. We've figured out how to reuse cabinets along the wall with the window without purchasing more, but we will need to buy new for the island. Those we are reusing will need a good cleaning and either a refinish or paint. Agree completely about the floor and the countertops - they have to go. Right now, I feel like the cabinets look overall too yellow, especially next to adjacent maple floors and with the color of the kitchen floor as it is today.
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Youve narrowed it down to two! Congrats :). That’s usually the really hard part. Now all you have to do is paint big samples, (three by three) of each on all four walls. Do two coats at least. Then check them out at various times of the day. i think trying to figure out how the kitchen to be will look with different lighting and new everything and then trying to guess the optimal paint color will make you crazy. You are starting with two great colors, its a lot simpler to just choose the one you like the best. Whichever you chose, keep in mind that the kitchen usually has the smallest wall area of any room to cover - it’s mostly cabinets. If you don’t like the end result it will probably be the fastest and cheapest thing to reverse of any of your design decisions. You likely wouldn’t even have to paint the ceiling again, as two whites on different planes will usually live together happily.
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itsallaboutthefood
11 years ago
We wanted warm colors in our house and a decorator we know suggested Benjamine Moore mayonnaise. It has yellow undertones (but I would not call it creamy) and should look fine with cool blue colors.
2LittleFishies
11 years ago
Meditative may be too dark, but I could be wrong- not sure what you're going for...

Whatever you put on the walls I would cut it back by more than 50% b/c when it is in the whole area it takes on much more color.

We are doing yellow cabs and the paint for the wall I could swear wasn't even yellow-- more beige with slight yellow undertone. Once it went up it looked so different than the 16" x 16" swatch I painted up. Definitely seemed yellowish. It actually worked out but just remember it will look darker (more saturated) when it's on all of your walls. Actually, once the cabs went up it toned that color down so much that it doesn't look yellow anymore so if that's the case ignore this paragraph! lol

We used BM Mascarpone AF-20 with our upper cabs and all the crown and base trim which I am LOVING. It is a creamy white but you'd have to see how it looks with your Meditative. Actually we are using it with BM's Woodlawn Blue HC 147 and it looks great.
blondelle
11 years ago
Hi! I started trying to help you out by doing a mockup in Photoshop of your colors but then realized if you paint the bottom cabinets that blue/green color you will break them up too much. With the white you have a continuous run of white bottoms and you don't notice the range and D/W there so much. With the bottom cabinets a deeper color you are dividing your bottom cabinets in half and making the kitchen look too choppy.

You have a small kitchen and I would leave the cabinets white and brighten it up with a nice backsplash and a nice paint color to set them off.
jaynees
11 years ago
On the styrofoam crown molding - we put up something similar in our old house in NJ and for the most part it was great. However, we were in a 70+ year old home and the ceilings were NOT straight, so we had to do a lot of gap-filling between some of the molding and the ceiling.

Despite this, we really liked how the room looked when we were done.

Coordinating/Picking Colors of Walls and Cabinets

Comments (6)

quiltgirl

cawaps

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