One of the houses Dave and I are zoning in on has a really out-dated kitchen. The lay-out is two L-shaped countertops creating a square, but not touching and thus creating a walk-out at two points in the kitchen. One wide doorway leads to the dinning area, and at the opposite side the countertop is open to the casual eat-in area which is surrounded by windows. The floors are wood. The cabinets are a golden oak with gold knobs, and the wallpaper is hunter green and white bold stripes. The appliances are white, and the countertops are hunter green formica.
Help.
I'm trying to think of fresh and affordable ways to update the kitchen. Take down the wallpaper, paint the cabinets, new knobs & light fixtures, possibly new stainless steel appliances (we already have the fridge!) I think I'd want to paint the cabinets a neutral color, but brown seems like it's trying to hard to look like wood, and white is too harsh and lacks depth, contrast, and those all white kitchens just make me feel like I'm at a hospital or science lab or something cold. So, I'm considering painting the cabinets a light warm grey (maybe with a subtle hint of green). Aren't these kitchens surprisingly cheerful and soft on the eyes? Notice how all the accents are warm: either natural wood, red, or yellow? The grey is a nice canvas for whatever color you'd like to feature. To me, it seems like it can be trendy and somewhat sophisticated at the same time.
My favorite! I love the roman shades and the warm brown accents.
I love the two-tone cabinetry from the Barefoot Contessa's kitchen and the subway tile backsplash.
I don't think I'd want to make a mess in this kitchen, but doesn't it look stunning? The grey is pulls off an air of sophistication much more nicely than white ever could.
I love the wallpaper and red accents in this galley kitchen!
Does anybody have any thoughts on accent colors? I was wondering if I could pull-off aqua and grey? And has anyone ever painted on formica countertops? or poured concrete countertops?
I'd love to hear any ideas or suggestions!
xoxo
We did a fairly inexpensive update to our kitchen last year. You can definitely paint the cabinets, I'll go back through my email and see if I can find the primer my painter friend recommended (she does faux finishes and updates on cabinets for a living)....1 thought to think about is the new trend to paint the lower cabinets slightly darker than the upper cabinets....it adds more depth.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as far as countertops...we didn't want to over improve for downriver and really just needed to make our kitchen more functional so we looked at the stock counter tops that home depot and lowes have in the back. We replace the existing counters for just over $120 and my hubby was able to install them himself. We did have to special order the peninsula we added...but we still did our whole kitchen countertops for under $600....not bad! Look online for deals on new knobs for the cabinets, we found ours half off! Good luck! You're creative, you can totally do an inexpensive upgrade!