Lighting always makes a difference - the light is boss. Change the light, you change the color. Grab chips first, choose your favorite three and then buy samples and sample boards to test the color in the space so you can see how it responds to the inherent light and if you like it.

Lighting ALWAYS makes a difference in how paint looks. You can't tell for sure till you paint samples and bring them into the room. The same color will look totally different on horizontal and vertical surfaces under the same light which is why we advise people to paint sample poster boards so they can move them around and see them under all conditions.

I don't think painting those floors will be very successful. In a high traffic area, I doubt it will last long and when it gets scuffed, it will look pretty awful. However, keep in mind that huge expanse of pink is going to reflect on whatever cabinet color you choose.

@groveraxle I Know!!! Pink floors and light green counter!!! I'm starting to have mini anxiety attacks over the right white choice due to these 2 major surfaces in the kitchen. I have a friend and a spray painter for 3 whole days this week. I have to make the right white choice the first time!!!

You need more than 3 days to paint. They need to dry for 24 hours between coats.

@truey All of the prep work will be done before my friend gets there...door/drawer removal, hardware removal, surface cleaning, sanding, etc. You don't think three full days for just the painting will be enough?

I don't know...I just read a blog where someone used bm advance and their biggest regret was not waiting long enough between coats.

If if I can find it in my history I'll post the link.

White kitchens are hard to do in Photoshop. The kitchen above does not account for the reflection you'll get from those floors. Keep in mind that white will be way less forgiving than a darker color.

http://www.stacyssavings.com/my-adventures-painting-cabinets-with-a-critter-paint-sprayer/

I like the darker cabinets here. Maybe not black, but a charcoal. Dark gray will go with the "pink" floor and the green counters. The pink tile, I suppose, is to mimic terra cotta, so leave them alone for now.

I'm painting cabinets right now. Went with SW ProClassic in satin. I hate it. The paint itself is wonderful to work with, I just don't like the satin finish I chose - it doesn't have any slip. Shoulda gone with semi.

I have a friend at PPG who recommends a product of theirs called Break Through in satin as a solution.

She says, "It's used often on apartment cabinets and doors due to quick dry and durability. Because it cures so quickly you don't want to overwork it and it's a bit thinner than traditional paint (by design) but performs beautifully. "

So. There's that.

Lori, I have been reading many of your posts here on Houzz and on your blog. I am trying to learn as much as possible about color selection, but feel I am treading water. I am considering Chantilly Lace for the trim throughout my home and eventually for the family room built-in cabinets. We face north and I have been having a dilly of a time finding the right white despite everything I read and test. I have purchased pint samples and even a piece of drywall along with replacement trim sample. I place them all over the house!

Can you tell me a little about your recommendation of Chantilly Lace for this kitchen situation? I hope I can learn a little more from your suggestion.

@truey Thanks! The Photoshoping helps a ton. The white kitchen makes the counters look much more nuetral but think that is the photo...they are definitely a pale celadon green. The painting time-frame does give me heart palpitations. The kids and husband are gone so this was the time to do it! Hopefully it is enough. Worst case scenario is it does not get done and I finish it the following weekend i guess.

When I had originally said I'd want to paint the floors this is sort of what I was thinking. Both of these floors have been painted/stained darker or black. It's obviously not regular wall paint but something similar to what would be used on a garage floor.

@Lori So you'd still stick with Benjamin Moore over Sherwin Williams? I've always used SW for walls and had no problems, but never done cabinets before. Seems that people are usually loyal to one or the other. One thing I did get from all of the reading is that it's either Benjamin Moore Advance or Sherwin Williams ProClassic? Was going to go semi. I've got kids and need help with friendly cleanable surfaces!

@jenwen You bring up an argument that has been going on in my head from the beginning. I wasn't sure about a darker gray. Wasn't sure if the gray would actually make the counter top look even greener since in some light the counter could look more light greenish-gray than just light celadon green....so putting an actual gray next to it would make it look greener. Make sense?

I should have named this post,

Green Counters, Pink Floors, 90s Cabinets, Oh MY!

1) your sample floors look like brick or terra cotta that has been stained -- that's pretty different from tile that has been painted. it's a short-term solution at best.

2) I was going to advocate a warm white until I saw Grover's renderings -- I think the dark brown is totally the winner. Keep it warm enough to work with the floors, and you'll get away from all the potential stumbles over the right shade of white, offwhite, gray, etc. even if you do it with paint instead of stain, I think that's the right choice.

Do not paint the floors. It looks great for 1 year at best then FLAKES everywhere, in your food, on your clothes, in your dogs water bowl. Never again. Even with garage epoxy which is a terrible smelling product and you have to move out for several days while it cures. I wouldn't even paint the cabinets. Just save your money for when you can redo it all. Painted cabs can chip and look terrible after a few years. If you must do it pick the darker color it will not show the chips so much.

@rawketgrl We were trying to do an inexpensive kitchen remodel to have a kitchen that we could like (maybe not love) because there are so many other projects that will need the money before the kitchen we'd love to have. We spend so much time in our kitchen in our everyday life and even when company comes over. I do agree and think I'm leaning back towards my original gut feeling with the dark cabinets. Thanks for your opinion.

How about a sage-y green for the cabinets? Maybe a charcoal center island, if you like the two-toned look.

Lori, I have been reading many of your posts here on Houzz and on your blog. I am trying to learn as much as possible about color selection, but feel I am treading water.

I've often thought about doing a Color 101 kind of webinar about white. Maybe when things slow down for me client-wise around the end of summer I'll get one together. If anyone is interested, DM me and I'll let you know when the webinar is live on Camp Chroma.

Can you tell me a little about your recommendation of Chantilly Lace for this kitchen situation? I hope I can learn a little more from your suggestion.

Couple reasons - and they're long.

Chantilly Lace belongs to the green-yellow hue family. It lives over near 5GY. Once whites get past the 5 GY point in terms of hue family, they can start to be perceived as blue.

Fun color fact. There are very few whites that belong to the blue hue family, very few "blue whites". Because super pale, pastel blues are difficult for measurement devices to read. If you can't measure it, you can't make it.

As a result, most colors of white that the average person with average color vision perceives as blue actually belongs to the green-yellow or green hue family. Perceptually the color of white may read as blue, but technically it's not. Technically matters in terms of which white harmonizes with which color.

And there's a whole novel I could write about that but suffice it to say that it's really important to correctly identify what hue family a color belongs to from a D65 illuminant (daylight at noon light source) perspective.

OP mentioned that the color of the count top is somewhere in the blue-green hue family. Chantilly Lace is the closest to blue-green while still being 'above' that 5GY mark. We need a white that relates to the blue-green counter top but we don't want a white that actually belongs to the blue-green hue family -- because it won't look "white".

Additionally, Chantilly Lace on the cabinets will be neutral enough to transition through all the updates - it's a good, basic, clean white.

If you do decide to go darker, then you might consider replacing a few of the panels in the doors with glass to lighten it up a bit and display nice dishware. This is not expensive. I was quoted about $60 per door with glass. I called a local cabinet maker.

Updated hardware in nickel/silver tones would also be nice in any color you choose. And rather than painting the tile floor, perhaps the backsplash could get painted (proper prep is key here -- right primer/paint, taping, etc.). Finally, perhaps a different rug with no red tones. I think with some of these changes your floor will not look so pink. But to me, terra cotta tiles are timeless.

Could you post pictures of the "after"? They are very much appreciated!

Lori, thanks for the answer. I would very much be interested in an online webinar!

I have a friend who used Chantilly Lace on her trim. She recently had some new countertops in a faux marble look installed from Home Depot in Silestone White Arabesque with a basic white subway tile for a backsplash. The counters look kind of gray at times. She wants to paint her cabinets black rather than white but I think the Chantilly Lace would work nicely with the countertop. I also considered Super White for my trim and interior doors, but am still leaning toward the CL since it seems so clean.

Now back to the OP, do you think that a darker color would also work in this situation as she is now leaning? Are they easier than whites? And in what situations would you recommend darker colors over a white?

@mobuddy. Oh, I wish they were terra cotta floor tile vs the cheaper looking ceramic that they are. I've thought about replacing some of the fronts as suggested with glass. It's baby steps with us due to time and money. The back splash is getting torn out and replaced next. The hunter green accents in the tile and SINK probably accentuate the counter's green color. Not having that pink and green back splash directly next to the counter will most likely help a ton.

Now back to the OP, do you think that a darker color would also work in this situation as she is now leaning? Are they easier than whites? And in what situations would you recommend darker colors over a white?

I would throw as much white and brushed nickle finishes at that room as possible.

The blush colored tiles and espresso-like stain makes me think Halloween. I'd much rather explore what could be done with white cabinets, celadon counter tops and a pink floor until reno time.

@Lori So you'd still stick with Benjamin Moore over Sherwin Williams?

Advance does take a while to dry. ProClassic in semigloss would probably be fine - just not satin. I also like Cabinet Coat by Inslx now owned by Ben Moore.

There are good and bad grades of paint from every brand. I specify them all as long as it's top tier. Whatever makes the painter happy is #1, whatever makes the client happy #2. Sometimes it's all about the color(s) and we go with the 'home brand' of the paint colors to avoid messy color matching gymnastics.

Lori, I think the analogy of Halloween is good. I have reclaimed brick on my house and in my family room fireplace. It is orange-salmon much like this kitchen flooring. I won't paint it ever, but work with it by choosing the right white for the cabinets and possibly a blue or gray sofa.

In the photoshopped pic of the white cabinets, I think the wall color could be throwing things off.

Pghtwin, could you tell us a little about your decorating tastes and what inspires you? Do you have any artwork or collectibles that you want to display in the kitchen? Accent colors you love?

So now that I'm home and can give a better reference by looking. I happened to grab some green/blue/gray paint swatches to match the counter for shopping reasons. The color that I found matched pretty darn close was SW 6177 Softened Green. My counters might be a quarter to half shade lighter than that.

I'm swaying towards white again. No idea when we will be able to an actual kitchen reno with kid expenses and other projects that come up as a "have to do" vs. "want to do". White seems to be more of a timeless thing when it comes to kitchens. Problem is that I like both dark and white and that is probably adding to my confusion and last minute indecisiveness.

My style...more like our house's style would be a cop-out answer. It's somewhere in-between transitional and contemporary. Transitional because of my husband's taste for more traditional which I do not prefer unless it's a nice antique or piece of artwork used as an accent. I lean towards more contemporary. I like clean lines, neutrals as the primary palette with splashes of color here and there. Our house in general would be transitional. We've got a mish-mash of everything: IKEA, vintage mid century modern dining room set, old Pottery Barn style couch and chairs (on the list to replace), and a few antique pieces, artisan type worldly pieces, etc. This is probably one of the most confusing answers of one's style you could get. I'm eclectic in my taste. I appreciate many things :o)

I'm going to go out tomorrow and buy several colors, paint some board, and look at them in the morning light and then the evening night when I get home from work.

I think the white perimeter with the island something else could be really nice (perhaps the pros here or more experienced could offer up a good complimentary color). You could get the best of both worlds!

And you could start painting the whites this weekend while you figure the rest out. I think you might need more than just one weekend though. If your budget could allow, IKEA has some nice butcher block counters for less than $100 that could look really good on the island.

The pics Beverly pulled up are good inspirations.

@BeverlyFLADeziner Thanks so much for the great pictures. I'm leaning towards the white again and those helped. I'll probably started with the perimeter cabinets and paint them white. The island will be last and I can decide whether to stick with all white or go with a different color as mobuddy89 suggested.

@mobuddy...thanks. I'll probably go with your suggestion. Whether I go all white or two colors, I'll decide after I see the white up on the perimeter. I'll also get some other colors beside the whites tomorrow, paint some boards, and place them by the island.

Featherbee, your cabinets look great. Nice to hear after six years they are still holding up (just read another thread where someone really bashed painted cabs -- your proof that it can be done successfully) . Interesting that you used CC as the primer. Isn't it usually the topcoat?

@FeatherBee Your kitchen redo looks awesome! Congrats and great work.

I totally agree with the prep work! I'm doing a ton. Cleaning, degreasing, sanding, and priming. I had done lots of research and found everything from the extreme to hardly any cleaning and prep at all...just paint them! I've gone with the extreme. After cleaning and dregreasing those cabinets last night...there is NO WAY I could have gone without that much prep. We scraped along with the degreasing to get things off such as adhesive pads, raised areas from the old hardware, and food. The amount of grease buildup near the stove after years of cooking was gross. The closer to the stove the more that just skimmed off like layers of skin. Tonight is sanding!

A question for you. If your house is like mine, you have the same color wood running throughout the entire house with baseboards and crown molding. Are you living with it, painting it, or re-staining it to a more neutral (un-oragney) brown?

I'm buying several different colors of paint to test and help settle the battle ongoing in my head. Seeing them up in large patches in different light and cabinet locations around the kitchen will hopefully help.

Thanks for your input!

mobuddy89 - thank you :)

And good question about the paint. Back when I bought I didn't know much about paint. In fact, I hadn't painted since grade school so I did a little research online and then went to a family owned specialty paint store and asked about BM's Advance. They told me Advance has a primer and paint but they recommended Cabinet coat (for primer) because they said they'd been selling it for years and never had one complaint. I probably could have gotten by with just CC (I believe it's paint and primer in one), but I will say that Advance levels beautifully so no complaints on my end.

Thank you pghtwin and good luck with yours :)

It sounds like you're doing a lot of prep work so I'll think you'll have a great result, even if you do go with white :)

My house has the dreaded faux wood color trim and doors. I hate orange oak with a passion so I actually tore out my orange oak hardwood in the foyer and replaced with a darker wood. When we put hardwood down we replaced the trim with new white trim. The old trim was so cheap that it wasn't worth keeping and painting. Plus I wanted taller trim.

I still haven't finished painting all the doors (they are too $$ to replace all of them) - so for now my house trim/doors doesn't all match. It's a ton of work and for some reason I hate painting the doors. I didn't mind painting the cabinets but doors and trim suck lol.

Here's a B&A of my pantry area.

I redid my master bathroom a couple years ago and that time around I replaced the oak vanity with a cherry one that matches my hardwood. I also got all new doors and trim.

And yes, I had carpet in my old bathroom ...

It's a long process but I'm slowly getting rid of the orange oak...

I just got a 40$ critter spray gun to use with my husbands compressor. I haven't tried it yet but it gets awesome reviews. Might make the door painting go much quicker.

truey - good idea. I bought a sprayer years ago but was afraid to use it. I'll check out the one you mentioned. Thank you.

Here is a breakdown of the critter vs a Wagner http://www.addicted2decorating.com/the-best-paint-sprayer-for-kitchen-cabinets-plus-tips-on-getting-a-beautiful-finish.html

Hi FeatherBee! Your kitchen is beautiful! Did you use BM Advance semi or satin finish on your kitchen cabinets?

I'm not sure anybody will even check these out, but thought I'd post because I know I like to see the transformations. It's been forever since I did the original post, but I forgot to get back to this and post any type of "after" pictures. I happened to be going through old photos on my phone yesterday and found some that I had taken back in September. Excuse the iPhone quality pictures and the hole from the missing drawer front below the sink. The hardware to attach the false front had mistaken been pitched by someone and we had not yet fixed the issue.

After much debate on the kitchen cabinet paint, we ended up going light vs dark and were happy that we did. The kitchen seems bigger and brighter. The counters actually look new and have been mistaken as such by friends and family. The floors are pink but no longer seem to scream it when we are in there. The island lighting configuration was flipped and new pendants installed. The pink and green backsplash was replaced with carrara subway tile. We decided to paint the island gray and love how it picks up on the grays in the carrara. We went with a brushed nickel for cabinet hardware and changed all the drawers to pulls.

Time involved: The painting prep took about two weekends due to extremely filthy, grimy cabinets needing a good degreasing, gunk scraping, and an initial sanding. The actual painting took about 4 + days due to a stubborn paint sprayer that cost us almost an entire day. We primed and then did 2-3 coats of paint with some touch-ups in heavy grain (oak wood) areas. The tile backsplash took another 2 weekends from start to finish. The pale yellow walls were replaced with lighter gray. The pink and green tiles framing the kitchen window seat and desk area were painted the same color as the cabinets as a temporary but satisfying fix. The only thing we really need to do and have not done, is to change out the hunter green sink.

@pghtwin Looks awesome! Which paint brand did you end up using?

Amazing results. Way to color for your now. In the grand scheme, not that much time and money. More effort than anything else. And I think that investment of time, money and effort is totally worth it to color for your now and make it as livable as possible so you can relax and not rush planning for the bigger remodel.

@beanie1922 I ended using Sherwin Williams. The original colors that I liked in Benjamin Moore just didn't look as nice once in the space. After lots of paint chip comparing, pairing whites and grays with each other, as well as against the floor and counter, Sherwin Williams had the colors we liked best. It's also held up fantastically so far with two kids and a not so careful husband. There is only one area that has lots of abrasion type opportunities that has started to show some wear. In all honesty though, that is the one door that I messed up with prep work. I will most likely redo that door correctly which should help.

It looks fantastic. Isn’t it amazing what paint can do? I did the same project last spring so I know how much work that was. Congrats!

@chess Thanks. I agree. It's a ton of work and mainly prep work. I don't know how there are these people out there who can claim that there is no prep needed. If I would have painted the cabinets as is, I think the paint would have beaded on top with the amount of grease I skimmed off that couldn't be seen until scraping/cleaning. :O) It was disgustingly eye opening.

this looks great!

Looks fabulous. I especially love your backsplash choice. It works really well with the countertops.

pghtwin, absolutely agree. Prep is EVERYTHING. I don't think folks here claim no prep needed - I think it's the online DIY bloggers that just try to get their fan base up LOL. Anyone that spends the proper amount of time researching it, will know to ignore those people. :-) And yes it was SO yucky the amount of grease and grime! That stuff really builds up - and the thing is - the wood HIDES all that dirt - at least mine did. Now my cabs are much easier to clean, and I like it that way.

What color white from SW did you end up choosing for the cabinets?