How to make my kitchen colorful
nisa101
4 years ago
Made some updates to my kitchen with new granite and a light colored tile backsplash. But it now seems a bit monotonous with similar colors throughout, appreciate any suggestions to liven things up a bit. Paint cabinets? Or paint wall? would appreciate color recommendations! Thank you!
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PLEASE help!! How can I make my kitchen with oak look better??
Comments (24)Those are not oak cabinets. As I started reading this thread, I was starting to compose a reply -- "Am I the only one thinking those are not oak?" but then started running into a growing number of folks saying the same thing. They have a tight grain that looks like maple or possibly cherry, but the way they appear to have taken a stain makes me thing maple. Maple has a tendency to not accept stain evenly and you have some lighter and darker areas. I suspect they are not alder because that is a softer wood and I don't see any dings. They do appear to be in good shape. I'd work with them. As said above, if you have money for granite and tile floors, you have money for paint or stain. If you are willing to take the time to learn and DIY on the cabinets, you may be able to do both. You showed us a lot of the kitchen, but not two things I'd like to see -- your lighting and the cooktop. Do you have a vent hood? Does it exhaust or recirculate the air? I'm wondering if the cabinets have years of gunk built up on them. They look not only yellowed, but possibly dirty or dry. I would give them a really good cleaning for starters. You can't paint or stain until you do that anyway. Then I'd look at the lighting -- It looks like it may be adding to the yellow cast to everything. Any chance you have an older florescent fixture in the kitchen? The wood color looks better in the breakfast nook than it does in the kitchen. Changing or improving your lighting and cleaning your cabinets could make things look a lot different and neither of those should be budget busters. I would paint the walls with some color and then step back and take a look. If you want darker hardware, I'd buy new. It doesn't have to be expensive, but painting hardware is likely to be very temporary. So far, with DIY, we're looking at a few hundred dollars. I would like to remove the soffit in the kitchen itself if possible. If not, I'd paint it or give it a deep crown treatment to carry the cabinet line to the ceiling. You could also paint the ceiling crown to match the ceiling if it will not bother you that is will then be different that the rest of the house. I would not paint the window trim -- the window itself is stained wood and matches all your other windows. Once you get to that point, I would make a decision on painting, gel staining or stipping the cabinets and refinishing. Those are all things you can DIY, but paint and stripping will be time intensive -- which is why there is a lot of cost to them, especially if they need a lot of cleaning and prep work. You don't want any painter who isn't looking at good prep work because the job will not be good or last unless they do it right....See MoreHow to make my earthy kitchen go with the rest of my house?
Comments (28)I absolutely adore that blue hutch in your kitchen and the sunroom ceiling color. Amazing! Seeing the tones in those and the floor/cabinets/counters, I would chose a fairly neutral tone trim color like BM Simply White. If the tone has any warm reds it could read pink (our engineered cherry floors did this to us) or yellows it will emphasize the counters. Since your floors have an orange tone (at least on my monitor) and that's opposite on the color wheel from the blue hutch and accents throughout your home, I recommend not encouraging or contrasting that color. Essentially, adding more warm color tones like Cotton Balls would make the warm tones even more dominant and adding cool would provide contrast, potentially making the warm pop more. A neutral tone will let the two coexist without dominance. Threers is right about lighting too. My husband rebelled at daylight lights in most rooms, but our kitchen was the one room that really needed it. Higher kelvins can wash out some of the warm tones, which can make the colors better go with the rest of your home....See MoreAny ideas how to make my kitchen more functional?
Comments (72)We have this butlers type kitchenette upstairs and we always need the refrigerator for drinks etc as we mainly use upstairs family sitting area- formal one is downstairs. We put our refrigerator in a corner of the sitting area / dining area for easier access and more space upstairs. Many people have started to do this, perhaps if you could find a place for yours just directly outside the kitchen area, you can use the refrigerator space. Just my thoughts anyway....See MoreHow can I make my kitchen bigger?
Comments (22)Thanks to everyone for the help. I really appreciate it! Hopefully this post will be more helpful than my original. I live in a 3 story home (upper, main, and finished basement). It’s technically considered a single family home, but the upper and main level both have kitchens, so it functions as a duplex. We’re renting out the top unit as a “mother-in-law unit”, and the bottom two floors make up the main unit. The bottom two floors have access to the backyard, while the upper unit does not. We’re currently converting the basement into a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom space and plan on having my sister-in-law move in down there with her husband. We’ve lived with them before and really enjoy it. However, all of us are food/cooking lovers and our current kitchen is too narrow and non-functional for ideal use by all of us. So the kitchen remodel is both a nice-to-have right now and would also (I think) be good for resale, since it’s fairly clear on first seeing the house that the kitchen is the low point of the house. Additionally, my partner and I would like to increase the size of the main bathroom. Attached is an updated floor plan based on the terrific feedback I’ve gotten thus far. Please let me know your thoughts! Current full floor plan: Proposed floor plan: Up close with dimensions and descriptions:...See More
nisa101
4 years ago
PROCelery. Visualization, Rendering images
4 years agoTo the all ideas I would add some roman or bamboo shades.
nisa101 thanked Celery. Visualization, Rendering images
PROMDLN
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoPaint the walls, my color preference with light stained wood cabinets is green.
nisa101 thanked MDLNeverdebz
4 years agoeverdebz
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoI'm back with metal: retro / "industrial" functional....well it has some cafe look to me - with your current lights, nice?
Leon Industrial Rustic Stool, Red, 18.1"x15"x31.5" · More Info
https://www.houzz.com/products/leon-industrial-rustic-stool-red-181x15x315-prvw-vr~132083073nisa101 thanked everdebzeverdebz
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoOr item distressed, imperfect could seem ok too - with pretty dotted swiss fabric I think they call it - but could look refined with last cart -
United Curtain Co. Dorothy 40"x63" Tie Up Shade, White · More Info
Heavily Distressed Blue Combo Side Table · More Info
https://www.houzz.com/products/united-curtain-co-dorothy-40x63-tie-up-shade-white-prvw-vr~53686737https://www.houzz.com/products/heavily-distressed-blue-combo-side-table-prvw-vr~48599270
everdebz
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agocomes in white and other colors -
United Curtain Co. Metro 40"x63" Tie Up Shade, Blue · More Info
https://www.houzz.com/products/blueberries-canvas-wall-art-by-emily-drummond-30x24-prvw-vr~75876586https://www.houzz.com/products/united-curtain-co-metro-40x63-tie-up-shade-blue-prvw-vr~53686930
nisa101 thanked everdebz
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