IMO- While I agree with 82mainstreet about painting cabinets white and not expresso, I also believe you won't be happy unless the color combo pleases you. - First, what do you want to accomplish? Are you intending to live in the home for a long time? Or are you painting for resale? - If you are painting for resale, then classic white for your cabinets is your best choice. It has wider appeal. A future owner will find it easier to change the wall color than the cabinets. - If you are planning to stay in the house, you can be more personal in your color choices. - But be wary of fads, especially when painting cabinets. It is much easier to paint walls. From your photo, it looks like your cabinets are nicely finished wood. Personally, I wouldn't change that unless they are damaged. I would just update the wall color, but that is just my opinion. If you do paint the cabinets, don't be swayed by fad colors. I would still recommend white or maybe a pale cream. That way, if you get tired of your color combo in the future, you only have to change the walls to update the room. - Unless you are changing your appliances and flooring, very dark cabinets will probably make your kitchen feel overwhelmingly dark and warm. - Consider your lighting and how you want your kitchen to feel. Does your kitchen feel too warm or too cool when your work in it? - White will give your room a light and airy feel especially if paired with cool blues and greens. If that seems to make the room feel too cold, white or cream can be warmed up with a bright wall color like apricot, lime green or turquoise. Try looking through magazines for color combos you like...or look inside your own closet for colors that make you feel good.

roseabbey, The 'one up' thing doesn't always apply to the way paint works present day -- because paint color strips are not all created equal. Back in the day, there was a lot more consistency and 'one up' kinda sorta could really mean something. Now-a-days if you go one shade lighter, it's a real possibility that it's not the same color that you initially chose. A lighter color, yes, but very characteristically different than the darker color on the strip. Not all paint color strips are the same - these days they're arranged in all sorts of ways. Sometimes, 'one up' is a viable option because the strip really is a progression of color arranged lighter to darker. Oftentimes, that's not the case. The strip is comprised of anywhere from five to seven colors that can be very similar, but are essentially different colors. The way to manage and determine what is too dark, too light or just right is primarily by using LRV. Light Reflectance Value. The number is a consistent piece of data that tells you a lot about how light or how dark a color can look/feel. LRV is especially useful if you have paid attention to it over time and have benchmarks for you, your house that you can refer to when choosing what colors to sample.

You are to be congratulated....BEAUTIFUL JOB! The contrast between counters and backsplash is perfect! The way you accessorized your countertops just brought everything together wonderfully! I will tell you what I've been using for the last five years. Maybe the lighting is different in your home, maybe the colors in your home won't work the way it does in mine. But for us, the perfect tan....not too dark, no undertones,no pinky, no green....has been Pony Tail by Pittsburg Paints but we've had it mixed in BM and SW. Computer monitors vary so here, the color might not look as good (or might even show undertones-which it doesn't have) as it does in the rooms where we've used it. Here it is against Dove White Door in our bedroom mid-afternoon/blinds open, with ceiling light and table light on: FOR DIY TILE PEOPLE: Our first bathroom: we tiled everything except what needed to be cut. We took those to Ho-De and since we are on a first-name basis with some of the employees, we asked about having them cut and they cut those tiles for us....I think we were charged 35 cents per cut. After the fourth cut the nice employee just cut the rest for free. While we were there, another employee wandered over, chatting with employee that was cutting our tiles. Second employee told us to buy a $15.97 tile cutter (only does straight cuts but that's all we were doing anyway) and told/showed us how to do it ourselves. These inexpensive Straight Tile Cutters are called "Snap and Score" tile cutters. By the time it came to doing the second bathroom tub tile, we decided we'd try the tile cutter. It's nothing fancy, my 11 year old grandson was helping with the cuts. The second bathroom used 4" x 4" Travertine squares and we had no problem making straight cuts with the little tile cutter. Line up the tile on the board/bar, score it with the little sharp thing attached to the running handle, then put a bit of pressure with the handle on the scored line and snap...easy peazy! I know there are the pro tile cutters with the water that runs to keep the blade cool. But for us, the few tiles we had to cut, the little $15.97 tile cutter paid for itself 10 times over! Buy some extra tiles and practice and I know you'll get the hang of it! IMPORTANT: make sure the tile cutter you buy is big enough for the tiles you want to cut, and that it will cut the thickness of your chosen tile. Then there is the grinder. We have several grinders....4" 4.5" and 5 inch. You can buy special blades, buffers, sanders that will make straight cuts on granite and those types of stone. Just measure the stone, draw a light mark in pencil where you want to cut and run the grinder blade over the pencil line. In less than half a minute you have a cut tile. Then switch out the blade to a sanding disc or buffer disc and smooth out the rough edges you just cut. Again, 11 year old grandson helps with the sanding/buffing and is getting pretty good at it. lol The little bit of $$$ you spend on the tools....they really do pay for themselves. If you want professionalism and perfection, then you might not want to do the tile cutting yourself. Reason I say this.....the more we did the better we got and we can now look back at rooms/areas where we first started our own cutting of tile and see where we could have done better. Mr.Amity's Motto: "It's not professional, but it's passable and presentable (just don't look too closely)." :) Grinder: Here is a link that might be useful: YouTube Video: How to Straight Cut tile

I need help quickly! I can’t decide what color to paint the few walls there are in my kitchen. Because it’s my own, it is torturing me. We’re updating the entire kitchen. 1. Replacing all of the cabinets – white (BM Silver Satin). 2. Backsplash dark grey with gold undertones. 3. Floor – Italian tile with an old-world muted pattern of blue, beige, white, gold, brown, grey. 4. Countertops – Medium gray solid color quartz. 5. Island – white with grey horizontal stripes (White Maucumbus quartzite) 6. The island is BM Buckland Blue – it is 109” x 54” I removed the breakfast nook table and plan to use the island for seating. 7. Gold hardware for cabinets and gold and black faucet. 8. Island pendants will be black barrel shades with gold inside. Adjoining rooms: Family room – light grey (Glidden color Universal Grey). FR & DR Floors – will be stained brownish grey. Dining room - Dark blue, (BM Van Deusen Blue) Painted trim throughout (BM Distant Gray) My original plan was to paint the walls gold. For instance, BM Marigold. Then I saw Benjamin Moore’s Beau Green, 2054-20, it is beautiful! It looks great next to the navy blue in the dining room. I am afraid though; the very deep green may make the wet bar area feel like a cave. I wanted something to pop with the predominate white/gray combinations. I am attaching photos of the walls that will be painted. There are 3, kitchen into the DR, arched partial wall looking into the FR, and a short wall with a window and sliding glass door. I am also including photos of the materials to be used. I apologize for the poor layout of this request, and the photos. If you need additional information, please let me know. Cabinet door & backsplash FR from kitchen. Kitchen to DR Lft: All cabinets taken out looking into kitchen from FR. New cabs go to ceiling. Rt: New floor in kitchen Beau Green is on wall on left Marigold is on right. Misc photos: BM Beau Green, more views of the kitchen. New tile and Macaumbus quartzite Backsplash top and bottom left, tile and countertop with tile right