The lighting & filters used in online photos are very misleading. Much like my surprise when I’ve met a few we’ll known models in real life .... looked much different than their magazine pics.

This is Hale Navy in my tiny galley kitchen with 1 small East facing window (gets light but not direct as we're on a low floor). I thought it would be too dark but I love it.

Ask to borrow the Hale Navy doors/drawers you saw at the showroom and bring them to your house.

If they say no, offer to pick up late in the day and return by noon the next day or offer to pay for the loaner. Most stores are reasonable when you are willing to compensate them or minimize the time you borrow samples. Always return samples at the agreed upon time.

I am going with a different company for cabinets so they probably wouldnt want me to borrow lol. I am just looking at Newburyport pics... Might get a paint sample too.

Most cabinets have a gloss finish that reflects light, whereas walls are done in matte. Eggshell is also used for walls and it has a slight gloss, but it will show every imperfection in the wall so you have to make sure the surface is perfect.

North facing rooms really don't get any direct light, which is why artists use them for their studios.

I think it is much better to use foam core when testing. You can move the sample around for one thing and it doesn't effect other samples if you try more than one.

Hale Navy is a great color, but it will show dark in a north facing kitchen. Just make sure you have adequate lighting in there. something w/4000K temp bulbs (lower temps mean yellow/dimmer lighting)

I think the dark blue is a great option. just surround it w/white.

another option

Be aware, there have been other threads that talked about how really dark cabinets, especially navy and black, show every scratch and ding. There have been people coming on here after a year of living with their dark cabinets unhappy about the way they look and the amount of touch up required.

Yeah I have black stained cherry and in the sun you can see every streak and speck of dust. Hale navy seems chalky to me which is something I have been avoiding lately. My pantry is a chalky blue (can't remember the color) and I have been looking for a cleaner navy. I'm liking BM "bold blue" right now.

I immediately fell in love with H.N. and just painted our upstairs bathroom with it.

The FIRST coat I put on was DARK (deep grayish black); I was disappointed!

After the second and third coats went on, and the color dried completely, it turned exactly into the H.N. that I fell in love with.

Upstairs bathroom (where cabinet vanities are) gets ZERO natural light, and we only have lighting above the mirror, about 6 feet, from where the vanities are!

greenfish, have you seen this photo? it's BM Mozart Blue w/a black glaze. I always thought this was so pretty

My DD has hale navy on her walls with warm white cabinets. She tried hale navy on her island with dark floors and it was just too dark and kind of disappeared.

Ooh Beth I do like that!

We have lot of led recessed lights, about 10 I think in the small kitchen but I think I went with the 3000k. It was funny in natural light the HN seamed more blue but with the lights on it washed it out to black. There are just so many variables. Interesting on more coats making it more true. Im thinking it being a lacquer will give it a different effect as well. Its just the weirdest paint strip of colours and even looking at everyones photos, they just don't look like the paint chips (until you hold it right next to painted surface) they just look grey. Like that Newportbury bedroom it looks so much bluer on the walls. I went and tried the VanDusen and its quite nice definitely lighter and bluer. I hadn't read about people hating dark because of scratches but it makes sense and now makes be hesitate a bit. Im hoping the VanDusen reads more smokey then chaukly. I don't want the cabinets to pop to much. I hope try at least 2 more colours. Its so hard because if the paint doesn't really look like the sample how do you know what the other 'best navy' are going to look like unless you have seen them in person. Off to buy more paint pots!

3000K has a yellow to it. yellow cancels blue. try a 4000K bulb and you'll see more of the blue color.

In a north facing room or low-light conditions generally, colors will seem both darker and more muted (more gray/black) than they do in better lit spaces. As the light goes, so does our ability to perceive color (We're all color-blind in the dark). You've gotten great suggestions for how to change up your artificial lighting.

But if you want your room, in natural light, to look the way Hale Navy looks in good lighting, you need to choose something lighter and/or brighter. BM Gentleman's Gray is similar in hue (a wee bit more green) and lightness to Hale Navy, but a lot more saturated. It would still read blue where Hale Navy starts looking black. Plus it's gorgeous.

Oh yes Gentlemans Grey is right up there. I found this site which is interesting https://campchroma.com/hale-navy-hc-154-by-benjamin-moore/

I used BM Van Deusen Blue in my office which is South East facing. It doesn’t have windows in the actual office but there is a bank of windows across a breezeway from it and I did transom within the bookcases to bring more light in from the west side. I went with this color over some other navy blues because it didn’t absorb the light as much and had more reflection so the room didn’t become a dark hole.

Study/Office · More Info

Yes of course I came across your picture researching VD. Love the brass or gold with this colour. I am almost having a heart attack now and might be chickening out of a dark blue kitchen. I sort of feel if I can't do dark in my space do a much lighter grey/blue. Though I did find another dark colour similar to HN called Cyberspace a SW colour that looks interesting but I'm guess to dark. Another one that looks grey on a chip but very blue on a surface.

this is Cyberspace on the lowers. it's a gorgeous shade, but yes, leans blue gray. Unless your kitchen is filled w/light, I would avoid doing the entire kitchen in the color. using it for lowers or an island would look great.

it's a gorgeous shade. i'm in the market for a darker blue/gray on my island. was considering gentlemans gray, but, I may try a sample of this one.

cyberspace is beautiful in those pics! I was considering it for my island, but went in a different direction bc all the pictures I saw looked much lighter/ bluer.

The cabinets in my vacation home are hale navy-- but the kitchen faces east...I'm off to look for a picture for you. I've had them since 2014- and just love the color. No regrets!

Here is the VD in my son’s room. I tried Hale Navy and it looked super dark almost black. The room is north and west facing.

How about Pittsburgh Paint's Sailor's Coat? I am going to use that in my foyer (some day...)

Still pit pat that looks almost identical to SW Tempe Star. Such a beautiful color. I have the SWTS in the back of my build ins

I love it too. I was going to do Gentlemen's Gray until I decided to expand beyond BM (my preferred paint store sells both), and I was delighted with Sailor's Coat. Now I just have to get up the motivation to do a little bit of wall repair and then paint.

I love Newburyport Blue. We have it as our island, a desk and the wall color for two rooms (office and bedroom upstairs). I call it a blueberry color. I like Van Deusen too and have seen. It seemed a little more gray green. But, a great color. To me, Hale Navy seems very dark, but I have seen examples of it that I like. Some pics below. I think these make it look a little more purple than it is in real life.

SO after looking at many picture of what people said are a certain colour and then going in and looking at paint chips I'm thoroughly confused. Many of these smokey grey colours look nothing like the tiny chip. Of course it really depends on your lighting and what your putting it near. Most these blues are almost to blue for me including van dusen but paired with the dark brown wood tone floor and butcher block it really tones it down. Of course a whole bank of cupboards also make it look more blue. I found I was very drawn to certain colours but in masse they were just to poppy. If my place was higher light VD would be way to blue for me but since its darker with 3000k lights its toned down. I really like the look of SW cyberspace and BM Blue note online but since they are so dark and grey in my space they don't show like in all the pictures I see online. VD is growing on me. It showing in lacquer form has me worried a touch.

What do you mean by lacquer form? My study is high gloss and i had this piece of furniture done in lacquer

I think I worry it will show to light/brighter with lacquer. Like this kitchen looks so light/bright compared to other VD pictures https://www.houzz.com/photos/madrona-residence-farmhouse-kitchen-seattle-phvw-vp~13181654

amazing entry peony!

Thank you......so you’re having the cabinets lacquered Not just painted?

They said both? Cabinet makers like lacquer because it dries way faster. What did you think of that link of the kitchen above? Does it look like your VD rooms/items?

Lacquer has almost a mirror finish and it actually takes a long time to cure because it dries by solvent . BETH will be able to explain this much better. Beth where are you?

those cabinets look almost teal on my screen. No anything like my VD blue.

Sorry not teal thought one word and typed another they look almost periwinkle on my screen. Not navy blue at all. My VD Bue is definitely a navy blue in my home just one that has a slightly higher LRVthan some of the other ones.

Here is a picture of the top of my console. As you can see the finish is almost like a mirror finish. You can see the reflection of the base sitting on it in the finish.

Here is a picture of the top of my office cabinets

Sorry hard to get a good picture of these

We have a North facing house that gets sun only 3 months a year and our front door is Hale Navy. It’s dark and always looks very grey to me.

Thank goodness I don't want that kitchen colour like above, made me nervous seeing it lol

You really have to sample it in situ. I tried a bunch of navy colors in my powder room (van Deusen, HN, Gentleman's Gray) until I settle don Newburyport Blue.

@Anastasia Reid so what did you decide on? We are going back and forth about a navy in our north facing kitchen as well..HN looks like a muted gray/blue...I am in love with Gentlemans Gray..or Polo Blue.

@Marci Any chance of posting your Hale Navy east facing kitchen? TIA

What color is your kitchen now? Meaning what are you used to? I have a north facing kitchen. The previous owners refaced the cabinets in a medium wood tone. The counters are uba tuba which is pretty close to black. Overall it is so dark. I don't like it, but I am coming from a white kitchen. When I remodel I am going back to white. If you like the idea of navy but aren't sure about a large amount of it, just use it on your island, or just on the lower cabinets. I personally don't like two-tone upper and lower cabinets, but it is moderately popular now.