Gosh, your kitchen is beautiful! Is there something wrong with the cabinet finish? If your cabinets are in great shape, don't get caught up in the white cabinet trend going on presently. Painted cabinets should be done professionally for the finish to last. Some people slap paint on OLD cabinets to extend them for a couple of years until they remodel. You might want to try lighter bar stools and other decorative touches in the kitchen. Congratulations on your new home.

Looks beautiful! I love white painted cabs, but I wouldn't touch those. They look great.

Thanks!!, these are fairly new cabinets, nothing wrong with the finish, just thought would look nice white/cream :). I have bought white colored barstools, to go with the island. I guess once I start added decorative touches as you mentioned, maybe I will be able to lighten the kitchen. It just looked like too much brown to me, the floor cabinets etc..

Yes, I guess I could get the cabinets painted professionally, if it fits into my budget. I would have to do some research into painting cabinets before I try myself.

Cooks.

It's a very nice kitchen. I can see what you're saying .It does blend with the hardwood, doesn't create enough contrast. But if you do paint the cabinets-you won't have contrast with your granite/back splash..not necessarily bad, just something to take into account. If you do paint the cabinets-it doesn't have to clash, but you'll have to spend some time on choosing the right hue so it'll blend with countertops rather than clash. It's hard to say what this hue might be from just looking at the pictures..I for example don't see pure white there, I see warmer hue like ivory or cream, or maybe even really pale warm gray, just a hint of it, you know, but I can see only so much from my computer screen. I tried to find different pics of Bianco Romano on Google right now, but they all seemed a bit different to me-some looked colder, some warmer. I must say it's a pretty beautiful stone though. Easier to work with than some really busy ones.

When do you need to decide? Maybe if you're not in a hurry-it's worth waiting, moving to the new house, and live with it for a while. accessories like a rug or counter chairs might break the dark feel of the wood and make all the difference. You also might decide to paint just an island, for example. And maybe not in cream, who knows.

In short, it's a beautiful kitchen. If you have time to live with it while deciding-you'll get a better shot of seeing whether it needs changes or not, and which changes. If you have open floor plan-for sure you'll want to see first how everything works together-your furniture, curtains, rugs, etc

If you have to decide now-imagine everything you own together, and how it flows, and if you're still strongly favor the change to the light color, then it's time to head to a paint store. They have different technique for cabinets though if you want the paint to hold and look nice for years to come, they lacquer it(if I remember correctly), so it's a special type of paint. You probably know it better than me, I just a recent learner and eager to share.

Thanks for the detailed reply. Was thinking of starting the paint work next year in summer. I guess, that will give us enough time to move in, put the furniture in place and everything else and settle in as you mentioned. Yes, maybe I am noticing the cabinets, because its an empty space, maybe once I have everything in place, I wont notice it. I did like the idea of a warm light gray color and also just painting the island, will think about it.

Thanks for the lacquer advice, I have no experience in painting cabinets, so till summer was planning to research everything!! and convince my husband!.

I will try to post more clear and close up pics once I move in.

I think you will find that it's not so much brown/wood once you have furniture in and rugs on the floor in some areas, etc. I do not think that white or cream would look good, and it does show every smudge - I have white painted cabinets (they were never nice wood, they were badly painted and peeling when we bought the place, I had to clean, sand, prime and paint it all and it was a LOT of work) and I would not paint those, they are absolutely stunning as is.

PS if you still want more color when your furniture is all move in, you could change the backsplash, but again once you have your own stuff in there you can see how you feel about it.

Beautiful, warm cabinets. I would leave them alone. Lovely!

no, no, dont paint the cabinets, they look great.

I love the kitchen as is. I wouldn't mess with the cabinets at all. If I lived there, I think I'd extend the look and strip the fireplace mantel to match the kitchen.

I would paint them a medium gray if that color is in your granite. Or a biscuit color, but not white.

Unless you hate the cabinet stain, I would wait and see how things look after you add rugs, a kitchen runner, window treatments, etc. I prefer painted cabinets but your stain is a nice color.

When you said you will be painting the walls a lighter pastel color, what do you have in mind? They look pretty light already. I think changing the wall color to something warmer will help tie the cabinets to the rest of the room.

Edited to add - The home improvement shows usually slap white paint on stained cabinets and call it a day. You rarely see close up pictures and you never see how they look after a month, a year, etc. Painting stained cabinets to look professional and be durable is a ton of work.

Unless very professionally done, I'd be worried about the cabinets looking like a "paint job." So, would get some color in there with accessories, rug, art work first and then re-evaluate.

I would live with it and accessorize to your liking, then think about a redo before I'd put any money into those cabinets.

Second Dee's comment and would advise having them professionally painted.

I don't like dark wood cabinets and dark wood kitchens myself, although my SO does. To me though, it would be a whole lot easier to learn to live with and adjust to beautiful dark wood cabinets than to go through the time, effort and expense of painting them or replacing them. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! There are other ways to "lighten up" a kitchen. Also, if you go with warm brown and beige tones, not things that are the exact opposite on the color wheel, it will have the effect of "lightening up" the space too, because your dark stuff won't stand out as much. I learned that lesson on this very forum ten years ago when I posted about trying to "tone down" my Pepto Bismol bedroom. I chose the color and my dad painted the room for me as a favor, so there was no way I could change it. It just ended up looking overly "peachy" to me and so I was trying to tone it down by pairing it with white and blue, which only made it stand out more dramatically. When I paired it with gold, terra cotta, brown, beige and other lighter versions and darker versions of the wall color tone, it actually faded much more into the background and the room looked very warm instead of overly garish/contrasted. If you don't love the cabinet color, find some similar colors you do like that are just a bit lighter, and work with those. They will make the cabinets seem less dramatically dark, as opposed to a very light highly-contrasting color, which will just highlight what you don't like about the kitchen.

I think the wood cabinets are elegant and very nice looking and as others have said once you add rugs and accessories it will break things up a bit. I find that white cabinets have become very predictable and over used. Everyone has them and they are no longer as appealing to me as they were a few years ago. Before you make any changes to a kitchen that is already very lovely, I would dress it up and live with it for a while.

I would paint the walls first and add colour through a colourful rug, colourful cushions on your bar stools, a green plant in the back corner and some colourful artwork to the right of the back windows. I'm assuming that the tv goes over the fireplace otherwise I would suggest artwork there. You could even, if you wanted to break-up the brown at eye-level in the kitchen, change the island pendant lights to ones with coloured shades. If you really don't like it, practice the art of distraction.

I do think that the backsplash and granite have enough interest to break up the browns.

What a gorgeous space! I agree with others that once you get furniture in over by the fireplace, especially if it's light and neutral or colorful (not brown!) it will dramatically reduce the amount of brown you're seeing. I think the kitchen looks SO brown because of the large expanse of brown floors. Once there are couches and area rugs, those few brown cabinets will fade into the background quite a bit. I do love that paint color with your kitchen counters!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!! So I am on board with
not to paint the cabinets and work on the surroundings. Sorry for posting in
both forums, not sure how to delete the other thread.

@deee_gw…The colors I had in mind were light
blue/crean/yellow/light pink-lavender.
Something similar to this:

@1 pinkmountain…I understand that if I too light on the
walls, then it might make the cabinets stand out. Then maybe I should look at
other options then pastel wall colors. Will try to find how warm wall colors go
with the dark cabinets.

@aimless07…love your kitchen!!, its spacious and must be a
delight to cook in.

@blfenton…..yes the TV will be going over the fireplace.
Will definitely find out if the shades are removable and change them to colored
ones.

@olychick…yes, I agree maybe because of the open space right
now it looks too brown. Once I start filling it up, it may complement the area.

You might consider consulting/hiring an interior decorator to build a palette of colors and textures, define spaces, arrange furniture, stage artwork and treat windows.

I believe you can hire them to help you with your overall vision so you can execute it yourself.

Your cabinets and floors are gorgeous! Maybe it is a case of too much of a good thing? Think about possibly painting the island cabinets a grayish tone to give visual interest?

Actually, I think that rich brown plus a drop of light gray plus pink blush or even stronger pink plus sky blue can be dashingly beautiful. I'll try to do it myself in a small guest room next year..only I'll add a tiny bit of bright yellow instead of gray , because it's a favorite color of our guest)) Not my choice (I have too much yellow now, and frankly got a bit tired of it), but the guests should be happy, right?

I think it -the blue and the pink- might look especially cool when walls are painted milk-chocolate-y brown. A dream!

Bring in flowers and plants, and you have your green too.

But you have time to decide what you like and how you go. The house seems so cool, and the kitchen is gorgeous..lots of possibilities here.

I also loved the idea to change the pendants. Pink pendants-how cool is that? I just don't know whether they'll change the color of the food..

When I moved into this home the cabinets were a dark Western Australian jarra. A very expensive timber. However in this day and age it looked dated so I went with a whole new look and that was white. You need to think about what you can afford now. Maybe your budget is tight, which is very normal when you move, then I suggest you wait, Take your time and eventually you'll get just the kitchen you want.

Your preferred look of white / bright pastels will definitely not work with your current cabinets and I now see why you want to paint them white. You'll have to make sure the shade of white or off white paint you choose doesn't make your granite look dirty.

You need a mid tone color on your walls, otherwise what you dont like about your cabinets will stand out even more against pastel colors. Whatever furniture you bring into the family room will have to balance the heaviness of the kitchen, so dont go too light on furniture, rather go lighter on an area rug to lighten up the space.

I'm glad you're going to try to work with the current color -- it's a lovely kitchen.

I would definitely not paint the cabinets. The finish on the cabinets is very nice, and if you paint them, you will constantly be touching up, etc. To lighten things up a bit, you could paint the walls a different color, change the hardware, maybe put glass in a few of the cabinets, and lights on the inside, etc.

Beautiful as is! Don't paint them. Add plants, bar stools with contrast, a rug if you need to. I used to have dark cabinets in my former house and now I have white. The white is bright but shows EVERYTHING. I got away with alot more with the darker cabinets. If I were building now I would NOT do white.

@K Sissy...I was just thinking the same thing, about putting glass in a few cabinets. I have some lovely glassware that I could display/store in these.

@jlj48...yeah I guess they would get grimy over time. I do a lot of cooking.

I checked the color of the current cabinets and its maple wood with a java glaze.

thanks everyone for the input. I will post a new thread with some of the ideas I have and the paint color choices. I agree the pastel walls wont go well with the current cabinets, will look into other subtle colors.

Cooks.

Here's photos of 4 alternatives (instead of painting all the kitchen cabinets), since that can take quite a few weekends. We did it, and found it to be a huge undertaking. You could make a great deal of impact with these:

1) change out the doors over the stove to glass inserts - see photo below - then accessorize with colorful pottery & interior lights

2) Paint the island only, perhaps an ivory, taupe, gray or tan.

3) Add large colorful artwork beside your cabinets, a piece you love!

4) Add bar stools that have colors you love.

If you do these 4 things FIRST, you could always go back and paint all the remaining cabinets later. However, people often tell us that what they originally thought was the issue wasn't really the problem....once they LOVE the rest of the room.

Click on these blog links - for photos of all the above ....with two tones of woods (ivory and wood stain both), etc.

http://www.interiordesigngreensboro.com/search?q=kitchen%2C+contrast+

ww.interiordesigngreensboro.com/search?q=kitchen%2C+bar+stools+

Adding color · More Info

Keep us posted how it turns out!

All cabinets get grimy. White cabinets show it more clearly and frankly, make it easier to see what mess you've made instead of being blissfully ignorant of that red sauce splatter from 3 weeks ago.

mimipadv, I used to say that too until I lived with white lower cabinets. We try to keep them clean, but every little smudge and scuff showing bugs me. I don't leave splatters of food on my cabinets, whatever the color :)

You miss lots of stuff on dark cabinets, and I've never scuffed or smudged my white cabinets. Other than kids, I don't know how that happens!

Maybe your finish was different from mine.

You could look into using milk paint for the island. Or use a light blue wall paint?

Agree with everyone who said move in first. We did a big remodel several years ago of our entire upstairs master suite. Before we moved in, I freaked out. Brown floors, wood cabinetry, what was I thinking, everything was brown! The floor looked expansive, the cabinets looked huge. The walls were even a khaki color. But as soon as the furniture and bedding and art and rugs all that came in, it was fine, and a very restful and wonderful space. Take your time.

The last two photos Nosoccermom posted above kind of illustrate why mid tone colors are better with darker wood. If you go with something light, the brown will just pop out. Better to include some lovely artwork or dishware that you want to pop instead. You can get away with using yellow and blue, just not really light yellow and blue. Also, I think the island painted a muted greyish blue would look cool, like those bottom two photos.

I got this photo yesterday from the SW Michigan Land Conservancy of one of their refuges, which reminded me of your cabinets! It kinda shows how if you mix dark brown with other similar color tones, it doesn't pop out as much. So the dark colored tree line blends with all the other colors. I does have a tinge of lavender and blue. Not saying I would pick this exact color palette, it's just an example of how you can make brown pop out less.

Wow thanks, 1pink mountain, I do understand what your trying to say. That is a beautiful picture,everything looks calm and fresh.

@nosoccermom...I also like the last two pictures, I think I can go with a mustard yellow or similar color. The blue color might also work with a grayish tint to it.

@transforming rooms..I do like the glass inserts in the cabinets...will definitely consider for the two cabinets on either side of the gas/stove. And was also thinking of doing complete glass doors /inserts in the ceiling to floor left side cabinets next to the fridge..or that may be too much..will see.

thanks everyone, you have given me many ideas to think about. I am planning to find a freeware software, where I can upload a pic and add wall color, furniture etc etc...just to see what the space looks like.

Cooks.

I liked the idea of doing an accent wall color as below, liked the yellow wall color, not so much the bold orange accent (will think of another color).

I think the pastel colors can work very well in your kitchen and blend nicely into the rest of the space. These are SW colors. I did play some with ceiling colors too.

Ash violet

Lime granita

Moon mist

Morning sun

Thanks!!, I like the morning sun and the lime granita, I think they will cross over well in the main family room too. I am planning to keep the same color in both rooms and add the accent fireplace wall color.

i had a wood floor with similar colored cabinets in a previous house, so understand the feeling of 'so much brown!' but, I would leave the cabinets as they are... you can get a long colorful runner that runs from the island edge all the way to your ovens...

I think a color similar to morning sun would look great in your kitchen and then maybe you could use a shade of green for your accent wall

I think you will find once you get into it and start to decorate the whole space with a whole color palette, the cabinets will seem more neutral to you. Can't wait to see how it turns out. How I envy you with such a gorgeous kitchen and that great island and the "Open Concept" kitchen/family room. I have wanted something like that all my life, a big kitchen that wasn't completely closed off from the rest of the house, since I spend most of my time in the kitchen!