I just walked down to the kitchen and wanted to say that the color in the photos are really off. The actual blue is more subtle--muted and darker. Still, the real question is if I'm crazy to be introducing blue to this mix. Thanks!

Isn't that a dark blueish couch in the other room, a blue throw over the leather chair, and a blue frame around the poster? You love color... there are no hard and fast rules. You don't have your "stuff" inside the kitchen yet. Add some similarly colored blue pieces in the upper part of your lighted cabs. I think you may then feel differently. Hold off on changing to a "safe" color.

I like the blue. It is beautiful.

Remodelfl has some great ideas.

If it is closer to the colors in the other room keep it.
Photographing wall color can be tricky with aritifical
lighting. You might try taking pictures in the early part
of the day with natural light.
I notice when I want to photograph paint it is best
during natural light to bring out the true color.

~boxer

Nice blue. Looks great with the white woodwork, not so great with the dark cabinets and granite. Still, it's just paint. If adding blue accessories doesn't help, it's easy to change.

Not too sure about the blue, but I did want to compliment you on the cabinets and the granite countertops. They are beautiful together. What is the granite?

On my monitor, it looks like quite a bright blue. I would suggest a steel blue to go with the orange if you want to stay with blue.

The blue is a bit harsh in tone compared to the Chamois Shirt (which is a great color). The blue is too cool toned to go with your warm woods, granite, tile and adjacent room. My first choice would be to not consider it an accent wall. Overall painted wall space is minimum for color impact. Plus, I see you have a desk set up. Desks tend to become a bit cluttered due to their usage and that would have attention drawn to it due to the bright color. It also distracts from your great cabinets and counter tops. If I were you I'd just paint it the same color as the rest of the kitchen. My runner-up opinion would be to bring in the Chamois Shirt or take the paint strip and jump up or down a notch on the gradient to get the desired effect you were looking for. If you want to pop color, I'd get a great fabric and do cornices over the windows.

Thank you all so much for your comments--the pros and cons are all helpful!
jb1176: our granite is Red Montana.
I tried again this morning, and this photo is a little truer to the actual blue than what I posted before.

Plllog, thank you for being blunt. I will admit that I was leaning toward keeping the blue until I read your comments, which totally resonate for me. The two options you mention are the ones that I have been tossing around in my mind. I am slightly more inclined to go with your first idea, mostly because I like color and think beige is boring. But perhaps you are right that in this case there is good reason to go beige. The one question I have about going with the orange, is that I am nervous about getting the tones to look right together. Your idea of mixing the two paints might just do it. Thanks!

I have madura gold granite- almost identical- and I love color as well. My kitchen is painted Benjamin Moore Dry Sage, which is a greenish gray. It's pretty with it, and goes great with orange as well. There's color, but it doesn't stand out quite as much.

hokie80: Great suggestion--thank you! Originally green/gray was my back-up choice to the Chamois Shirt. I know it would look good with the granite. Would you just do the one wall, or the whole kitchen? I went home at lunch, with the mindset that I would change the blue, walked into the kitchen and thought "boy, I really love that color!" I am torn between my sense that design-wise it is not right, but personally, it's a color that makes me happy. I am going to keep thinking... I hope others will share their opinions!

I agree that the blue is out of place in the kitchen. Where else can you use this blue since you love it? A hallway? Entryway? Etc? The blue does distract from you lovely neurtral kitchen.
What other colors are near Chamois Shirt on the color chart?

I actually like the blue. I think it picks up o nthe blue in the family room and the blue that is in your wall art. I think it helps unify the two spaces.
I think to truly make it work you need to carry the blue into whatever fabric you put over your window in the kitchen area or with accents on the counter. Otherwise to others it may seem out of place.

I'd do the whole kitchen with the green- I have almost the identical orange in my dining room- and the green looks great with the granite. I'll try to put a picture on tomorrow. I'm getting ready to do a backsplash too- and I love yours! I think the granites are the same, just two different names.

hokie80: I would love to see a photo of your green kitchen--thanks! Maybe the granites are the same--when I searched for Red Montana on-line, I didn't find much, and what I did find, didn't really look like what we've got. Whatever it is, I love it.

Sorry it's taken a while, but here are a few pictures- the color may be a little off. Hope it helps!
Donna

Sorry, but I don't think the blue works in that space. It's a beautiful blue, but it doesn't suit your warm kitchen colors. I agree that a grayed green could be beautiful or a beige that lets all that outdoor greenery pop.

Maybe you could use the blue in your bathroom or a bedroom? Someplace you see your happy color every day.

I was noticing the picture in the adjacent room looks to have a green mat- it looks very similar to my dry sage and goes well with the orange paint in the other room (which I love!). Could you pick up that color?
I think that orange shade is great- not too brown at all! I think the blue is pretty, but agree that a green, beige or gold would compliment it more.

hokie80--thanks for posting the photos! Our granites are really similar--love them--and the green looks great. Based on all the feedback, by Wednesday this week I had decided to go with beige--was thinking that it would give me the most flexibility for different accent colors. I told my husband first, who told me he really liked the blue. The painter loved the blue, then 3 of the guys working on the kitchen all separately and unsolicited told me how much they liked the blue. My neighbor, who stages homes, told me to keep the blue. And another friend stopped by this morning and said to definitely keep it. So, now I'm back to square one, but thinking that I'll live with the blue for a while! I did post some photos of what it would look like with beige/green/orange in another thread. I definitely plan to plant something pretty in front of the fence, to improve the view out the bay window--at least that way, if the blue draws your eye, there will be something pretty to look at. I really do appreciate all the input--thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: still can't decide about paint color

I'm not feeling the blue, sorry. I like the cream color on the walls. I think with your white trim it will look really sharp. You can add a blue kitchen aid mixer on the counter, if you leave a canister out with utensils, throw in some blue ones (Le Crueset seems to have a lot), blue tablecloth, blue accent rug...the list goes on. I see how blue can work, but I'm not so sure about the wall.

Sometimes paints look different in pictures, and when you're looking at one wall it's hard to tell. It's definitely a pretty shade, and if that many people like it and you like it you should do what makes you happy!!! I never thought there was anything wrong with it...but I'm like you and love color. Enjoy it- and the photoshopped pictures look great too, any of the colors, including what you have, look nice!

I love blue and it's hard to tell what it looks like in your kitchen because I'm pretty sure it isn't what's on my monitor -- never is. ;-) I think it is possible to work with blue, but I'm not sure that shade is right. Since you are getting more yes votes in person and more no votes online -- consider the sources and that we are not seeing the same thing.

I'm not sure if you were planning to carry the color around the rest of the walls as you've shown the other colors in the other thread. I think part of what I don't like is the blue as an accent wall. It's too choppy for me -- especially with the opposing white trim and dark brown cabinets. I'd rather see more of the blue on those other bits of wall or make the one large wall either the same beige or a shade in between your family room color and the kitchen beige. If you go beige, you can look at accessories, rugs, window treatments -- lots of other features to pick up some blue with.

Good thing about paint is there is there is no one right answer and it's one of the easiest things to play with changing (I'll paint anything other than a stairwell myself, so that makes it even easier).

I just love color choices, though I have yet to make them for my home, so will probably ask for help myself when the time comes.
I usually have a gut reaction to color choices, then think about the why's or why not's. I love the color, but do not like it in that space. To me, it highlights the white trim and looks a bit contemporary and if in a kitchen, maybe one with white painted cabinets.
Everything else in the rooms seem to be the same style and color range. What about taking the green color from the matt in the picture over the sofa or from the carpet in the livingroom (they look similiar to me on the monitor) and paint the kitchen wall. It looks similar to Hokie80's green to me.

Thank you all for your opinions--I really appreciate them. I have to laugh, because they are all the same thoughts that go through my head. I know the green would look nice. The beige seems the safest choice--it would absolutely work. I like the idea of mixing the beige with the family room color, which would add a touch more interest. I'm tempted to experiment with all these ideas, but at this point, my husband is so fed up with me that I just can't! And since, in person, the blue is getting very positive reviews, I think we will live with it for a while. :-)

LIke I said before I think if you add some blue around your cabinets - a few decorative pieces (bowls, utensil holder, vase, plates) or in a window treatment above your window that will really help it look very cohesive and purposeful. I really liked the blue just felt it needed to be repeated in the section wehre the cabinets/counter are.

I agree with remodelfla-it's kind of refreshing and connects it with the blue in your family room.

I love the blue with the orange... but not with your kitchen. It looks like that orange might look good with your kitchen and you say you really like it -- have you considered extending it onto that wall?

i think the blue is a great color...for an office. i think it's highly odd in a kitchen, esp with your cabinets.

the other way i look at it is, the blue is a great color... just as a paint color on its own merits and ignoring everything else around it. but when put in your kitchen, it just clashes with your cabinet color, counter color and backsplash.

even if you add blue coordinating elements, i still think blue is an odd color in your particular kitchen due to your warm cabinets and counters. employing the sweeby test, blue connotes cool while your dark stained cabinets connotes warm...which equals conflict.

i like the paint color over your sink window, and some of the other suggestions here (like green) are good ideas too. anything but that blue.