What is the quality of the cabinets? They might not be worth painting, specially if you are tearing out backslash and flooring, it would be a perfect time to make changes to the layout.

*Very* pretty granite... I like that a lot. I agree that the whites are too white. Am intrigued by the blues and greens, and I’ll watch with interest how this thread develops. :)

Of the color samples you have laid out, I like the dullest green. The second from left. (If there’s a duller more subtle version of that green, I’d probably like it even better.). Because judging the colors by the distance of the photographer from the granite, that sample seems to blend the best. Maybe right up close another color would match better, but how many people will be looking at the colors right up close?

i feel the brighter colors, in big expanses, will be way too bright for your granite.

I like the granite. I like the idea of painted cabinets and love green. If your on IG look up @jennasuedesign. She recently painted cabinets green. I'm thinking only lower and upper a white or light color...maybe some glass or shelves like you mention.

Next , I think the back splash should be a larger tile with less grout or if you really don't want a larger tile then at least match grout to tile--to eliminate the busy lines with the movement in granite.

Cant wait to see what you choose.

I wish I could make changes to the layout but unfortunately my kitchen is under a stairwell and while I would have laid it out very differently if starting from scratch it's not an option in my budget :( The living room goes from 20ft ceilings to an 8ft ceiling in the dining and kitchen. I'm taking out the light in the dining and adding a vertical shiplap wall where the old "gray" paint color still is. I painted the walls BM cloud white and Hale Navy. This is my inspiration photo, however I realize the countertops are quartz therefore will be much more gray and white.

This is my living room so far I have stuccoed the fireplace and the tile above will be on the fireplace surround. The room has incredibly high ceilings so I chose the fireplace tile to give the room movement

This is the before photo

There are products that whiten grout, it may be like a grout paint or grout cleaning/freshening up product. I would try lightening the grout lines to see if that softens the brick pattern of the tiles and try living with it for a bit while you decide if you want to do more. Your kitchen looks like an "after" picture as it is now. :)

This is my inspiration photo, however I realize the countertops are quartz therefore will be much more gray and white.

Actually, the counters in your inspiration photo are marble, not quartz. ;)

I agree with @littlebug zone 5 Missouri, and love the paint color second from left. Great choice, so bold, I love it! The major difference I see between your current backsplash and the one in your inspo photo is that the grout in the inspo is white. Yours is not, therefore making your b/s appear busier. The hex pattern that you are showing is also too busy for your counters... I honestly think that by changing your grout it will make a big difference and accomplish the look you are after. I LOVE your counters!

Love that countertop!

I have busy quartz, so I understand the struggle. I also have green cabinets so I'm partial to that look as well =). From a cost/labor perspective, leaving the cabinets the existing color and redoing the backsplash is definitely the easier option. I found that choosing a grout close in color to my tile really helped tone it down so that it wouldn't compete with the counter tops.

I actually used that same inspiration photo for my kitchen. If you decide to paint the cabinets, do test out several shades because they can look very different depending on the light in that room.

I would go with a large scale white/cream subway tile with matching grout. You don't want to add any business here, but I don't think I would add such a dark color either. I do love the colors & patterns

from Fireclay though.

I’m thinking/wondering if going dark w the backsplash (matching the darkest part of the countertop) and leaving cabinets white would look very cool.

Wow thank you guys for all the responses! I've got a better idea now of what I should go with. I did a test piece of the Hale Navy I think it will look good and maybe more of a safe bet than a green for resale value? Since I plan on removing the uppers around the cooktop I don't think it will be too dark. I'm also toying with the idea of redoing the hardware in a gold or brass finish.

My cabinets are a cheap HomeDepot quality cabinet with that baked on finish so painting is going to be a pain. My house may look like an after photo, but in person it's a hot mess. Everything was done cheap and incorrectly. Please excuse my lab she always has to be in the mix.

I think that will be super pretty. Love it!

Hale Navy looks great, and yes, you'll thank yourself when it's time to sell, that you didn't use green.

That said, are you positive you want to paint the cabinets? Would you be interested in just painting the lowers? The thing is that baked-on finish is probably more durable than whatever you're going to get by painting the cabinets in place.

You mentioned above that you might leave the cabinets and go for a deep colored backsplash. I cannot impress upon you enough how much easier that would be than painting the cabs. You could use Hale Navy on the walls, and get a bs tile that goes well with it (like Navy Blue from Fireclay Tile below), so the overall look would be blue walls, white cabinets.

I found out that the cabinets are from Cliqstudios so painting them will not be as hard as I originally thought. Apparently they just need some tsp and a primer. I think I will still paint the cabinets if you saw them in person the lowers already need to be painted. It's sad that they just bought these cabinets 2years ago. They are chipping and a lot of them are off-center so we will have to take them off to reset them anyways. We've been toying with the idea of buying a sprayer to have on hand for our rentals anyways.

Another option is paint the lowers and leave the uppers white - a thought, if painting turns out to be more of a booger than you’re thinking.

I would run the same marble/granite up the wall for your back splash. If it's unavailable, look for a full piece of glass in a complimentary shade.

I really like eam44 post. If it were me, I would proceed with that. I think it would have fantastic results, especially with your idea or removing a few of the uppers. The removal of a few uppers will prevent the darkness of the blue cabinets from overwhelming. I used top quality Sherwin Williams primer and paint on my table legs in my kitchen twenty years ago and still have no chips today. To ensure good adhesion, I would go the extra step after the TSP and go over the cabinet surfaces lighty with a very, very fine sanding sponge before priming and painting.

Please post your after pictures. Can't wait to see the transformation!

Erin, you're looking to build in the next year or two? Meaning you'll be selling this house in a few years? I wouldn't spend the money redoing all that. I'd fix up the cabinets as best you can, maybe lighten the grout with a painted on grout lightener and call it a day. Anyone buying the house after you will want to do what they want and the more neutral you keep it, the better.

You will not make back the money as life is not like what is shown on HGTV.

they just need some tsp and a primer.

TSP interior isn't a good plan. It's supposed to be "flood rinsed" can't do that indoors. TSP will leave a residue that will interfere with the adhesion of primer and paint. Read this post.

Dirtex is a better option if you really think they need a strong cleaning agent. A wipe-down before the sanding process for prep is oftentimes enough.

I think I have that same granite in my small kitchen. Needed everything else to be simple for sure, but I do love it. (The brick wall was there already; i was worried it would be too busy but with a wood ceiling and floor it’s nice, at least i like it. :)

this kitchen looks like an an AFTER picture...
I suggest you can use the green in your inspiration picture and the honeycomb splashback tile.
the living room is gorgeous!
I love high ceilings..

I noticed in one photo that you don't have many ceiling lights so you may want to be careful on how dark a color you go. You don't want to end up painting a dark blue and then find out the kitchen looks dark and then looking at having to add more lights.

Perhaps just change out the back splash

We have a professional paint sprayer which we use on our furniture redos. Much nicer finish than painting with a brush.

Be careful with dark paint, dark kitchen colors need lots of LIGHT.

What Ikea knows about black kitchens that you don't

https://www.mariakillam.com/what-ikea-knows-about-black-kitchens-that-you-dont/

- Huge window with no uppers or shelves

- Light Wood + Black

- All windows above the uppers

...that’s how the average house, without windows like
these, without all the extra lighting, without the well-planned and
executed details, will end up with a black kitchen and it will feel as
bleak and dark in most homes, as the average espresso brown kitchen did
back in the Tuscan brown trend.

I think a plain white backsplash will make the counter less busy

Really pretty! Sounds like a good plan. if you think of it - come back with “after” pics? Would love to see how it turns out.

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I was thinking the green gray of Farrow and ball called muzzle would be a good option if you were not decided. It is a gray with green undertones.
I like Hale Navy but I prefer an even darker blue or a dark green blue gray like weekend from Magnolia Home.

I like even darker blues than Hale Navy. I think Weekend from Magnolia Home would be a nice dark, gray, blueish green too. I think Hale Navy is nice though.

I think I have to agree with Thor; his picture shows what might result with lots of dark colored cabinets with not much in the way of windows or light colored walls to break-up the darkness.

Based on Thor's pic, I guess I would rule-out the dark cabinets in the space that you have. I think a patterned dark backsplash would not go because it would compete with the granite (too busy) and also because it would not provide balance to the room. A backsplash with all dark tiles will draw all attention to the backsplash and not allow the eye to travel around the room like it does with a good painting.

I think this color cabinet would look nice in your space. It looks like it is a grey with green tones to it. You could go with a creamy white tile with white grout on the backsplash and accessorize in the navy. The grey cabinets would blend with the navy in the adjoining room and be less of a stark contrast than the white cabinets. Keeping the cabinets lighter would keep the light in the room which I think is important in a kitchen and also an important consideration for a room without many windows and lower ceilings.

The counter-tops are lovely and dramatic. I would use a large scale solid colored tile

( at least 3"x 9" or larger ) with a simple installation pattern to keep it from competing with the counter-top. Perhaps a straight stacked pattern on the vertical or horizontal with very small grout lines (1/16th) in a grout that blends in with the tile. You are right about the existing subway tile it is too busy and the dark grout is a mistake for this back-splash.

The green paint is a great idea! Good luck on your project, I am sure that it will be beautiful when completed.

Reopening this thread to say I have finally almost finished this kitchen! This is my personal home so it sat on the backburner for a few years while we finished our vacation rentals. I am happy to say we are finally back to this house and this is what I ended up choosing. With the busy granite almost everything clashed. I wanted to do a beatiful zellige tile for the backsplash but everything I tried didn't mesh well. I ended up choosing this tile from Lowe's and it worked well. It gave it just enough movement to flow and not compete. We still need to build the floating shelves and add the vent hood and the pasta filler. I ended up going with a black one and black faucets I found on Amazon. Thank you to everyone who commented with suggestions. I will post again once everything is completely in place. I'm very happy with how it's turning out!

@Erin S Three years on… and I’m still in love with your granite. So pretty! I think the tile you picked is lovely. It all looks great together.

Beautiful! Did you end up with new cabinets or are those painted? Love the tile too.

I ended up just painting the lower cabinets. I repurposed the uppers for the laundry room. The tile is just Satori Pearl White Glossy 3 x 12 from Lowes so we lucked out that the best fit cost us so little. It was super easy to work with as well. I spent so much on different expensive samples I drove myself crazy there was a lot of trial and error. Finally one day I was at Lowes and thought hmmm maybe this will work and it did! I added a few more can lights as well just to be safe to make sure the space wouldn't be too dark. I think with what I had to work with it was the best option. I love the granite now. The shelves will be built in Maple and stained to match the floors as close as possible.