Congrats on your first home! What cabinet door style did you choose? If I were unsure of color, I'd be looking at pictures on Houzz and saving those that appeal. Then go back and look at them and try to find the common thread that attracted you. You might be surprised by a color choice you weren't expecting to love. Use filters when you search the pictures, specifying cabinet color and or door style. Good luck!

@Kathi Steele thank you for your input, but that’s not what I asked for. Of course the pictures from Zillow make it look like a pretty kitchen. They’re not going to show the bad paint job and the places where the paint has worn off. Trust me, I’d rather be doing something with the too large island, but we’re painting the cabinets and that’s that. I’d like suggestions for a paint color, please.

@Patti thank you! I am new to Houzz so I will try that. Surprinsly I like some of the dark green cabinets, but I just don’t know if it would look OK.

Before you order new cabinets you should consider a better layout. That layout is dysfunctional.

Honestly, I wouldn't paint the cabinets. They look fine with the kitchen how it is, and they also match the trim in your doorway. Once you paint cabinets, there is no going back.

If you wanted to paint something to get an idea of color, pick up a few cheap pieces of wood (similar to the type of your cabinets) and try different colors. Prop them up on your counters to see which colors look good in the space. Leave them up for a while until you find a color that you love.

If you do paint, I would start with the island first. Make sure you like the color, and then go to cabinets. Painting cabinets and doors is a pain in the neck! lol

@cpartist tell me about it. If I had munchies way that island would be out of there tomorrow!

@Stephanie we’ll be painting the trim as well too. I do like your idea of trying the paint on the island first though. I’ve seen islands that are different colors than the cabinets and we’ll be removing the island either way.

@ellen, there you go! You can paint it, and if you don't like it, get rid of it! lol

Yes grey cabinets would be too much grey

Grey won't work, but as others have said you shouldn't have ordered new doors yet since the layout is a mess. Doing a kitchen redo piece meal usually ends up bad. If it's not too late consider canceling the door order and taking the time to come up with a complete plan.

@Sina Sadeddin I'm asking for suggestions on paint colors.

I understand that. What I'm trying to say (and others) is that investing in painting these cabinets is a waste because of the inadequate and poor layout.

But dark green would work well so that's my color suggestion.

@Sina Sadeddin I completely agree, but the decision is not mine alone to make and it's happening either way so getting suggestions of other things is not really helpful. Thank you for the color suggestion. I do like dark green ones a lot.

I would either select a color from your counter or a dark grey. Like this.

If you are going to work with greys then I would do a contrast.

White would be perfect but not for everyone.

Let us know what you decide.

@Filipe Custom Woodwork I love that color! Do you happen to know the name?

Gotta love it when everyone comes in and instead of giving ideas, they just trash everything. Not everyone has tens of thousands of dollars to remodel. Or the layout doesn't bother them enough to justify completely gutting a space.

If you like green, what about a gray-green?

The above color is a stain. You can see the beauty of the warm wood show underneath.

I assume you are buying stain able/paint-able door and drawer fronts right?

It's harder to stain the cabinets properly though. I would speak to your professional painter/finisher for quotes on either one to see if it is within your budget. Also have him provide you with sample stains so you can see what that result will be.

Other than that you can find this color in paint was well.

The below will give you this type of look.

@suedonim75 Yes! I mean I'm fully aware of the functionality issues - it makes my little chef's heart hurt to cook in there, but we just want to improve what we can right now.

I hadn't thought about a gray-green. I'll have to look at those. Thank you!

Taupe green? This would look nice with your floors...

@Bri Bosh I like that a lot!! I think that would also go well with our countertops. Thank you!

I love the color Bri posted and I've used that pic myself in recommending a cabinet color. I wold not do gray because there is a lot of gray already and it could be depressing. The black and white photo look may be stylish, but hard to live in. Colors exist for a reason:)

Aw yay! Keep us updated with what you decide!

We painted our cabinets white in 2002 and replaced the orange (!) Formica with a more neutral Formica. (Yes, Formica, really. And people still liked us.)

EDIT: Ugh, wait, maybe we got rid of the orange Formica a few years before that. I'm old and my memory sucks. The cabinet painting was in 2002, though. And new hardware.

People here at Houzz would've gasped that we wasted our money making those changes because our kitchen was certainly less than ideal. Guess what? Many great meals were turned out in that dysfunctional kitchen. We couldn't afford to remodel it into our dream kitchen until 2015. No regrets. Money well spent in 2002, because at least the kitchen was a cheery improvement.

Good luck with your changes, Ellen!

@Patti That makes me feel better about painting the cabinets! Thank you so much for your input. I also got the green light to take out the island which I’m so excited about! We also can’t make it our dream kitchen yet, but I’m ready to make small improvements along the way.

What shade of green were you originally thinking?

Just a word of caution about taking out the island. Do you know if the current flooring extends under it? I understand your current limitations and I want you to have whatever color makes you happy. I just don’t want you to face unanticipated problems.