I'm assuming you're doing a contemporary style home if you're doing concrete flooring?

Are you doing slab cabinets? If so, what colors do YOU love personally?

I personally don't care for gray, but apparently it is still "in". I find grey depressing.

Do what you like, color-wise. You really only need to appeal to yourself and your family.

I'd think about bringing in some color for the cabinets instead. If you're worried about "trendiness", stick with colors from the historic color palettes of the major paint manufacturers. Sticking with gray-greens and gray-blues are a beautiful way to work in color and still coordinate with your concrete floors. Some color suggestions:

Benjamin Moore Jamestown Blue HC-148

BM Wedgewood Gray HC-146

BM Saybrook Sage HC-114

I do think that the gray cabinets are going to be too dreary with the concrete floor unless you’re going for an industrial feel. Gray cabinets could also work if you’re staining the floors some other color. I love the idea of going with a blue gray or sage green - really, your options are limitless in terms of color. Unless you just REALLY LOVE gray, I think that I’d skip doing the cabinets that color.

(There’s probably a really nice warm gray that would work, but not sure how a warm tone would go against the floor.)

I think that's too much gray. I'd look for a modern light colored wood to go with the floors.

I think it would be too much gray too. What about something like navy? Navy would pair nicely with gray floors, light (white) tops, and wood.

I’d also stay away from trendy gray. If you don’t want natural wood cabinets, how about having them painted white?

A color, white, or wood stain would all be better than grey with a concrete floor.

concrete can have a wide variation in color. With the concrete floors - you'll have to be VERY VERY careful with grey cabinets as you can easily trend too cool or too warm depending on your concrete. Oh - and then it will change color as it ages.

Doing grey with concrete floors isn't a good idea. With that basic of a palette - try something uplifting like a robins egg blue or the "haint blue" of the South. I saw this combination in a house and it was GORGEOUS. They had stainless counters, and also butcher block. VERY soothing.

IMO I would need to have some more info I agree that gray cabinets are probably not a good choice but where is your kitchen deisgner in this . I certainly would not do blue or green in a contemporaary kitchen I would do something like this or walnut

Concrete floors are when designed as concrete floors. They are not less expensive when done properly as you don't turn your slab into finish flooring with out considerable work and expense.

What about a dark blue for cabinets? Either a navy or a deeper blue would compliment both cement floors and butcher block counter tops!

I would do a beautiful quartersawn oak with the concrete..

Yes gray cabinets are too much..

Do a search for rockybird's posts and her kitchen. She has a beautiful MCM with concrete floors. Her cabinets are natural wood and very pretty. Just one more example in case it helps. And since she's here on Houzz you could ask her questions if you have any.

Thank you everyone! Very helpful! Okay I'm scratching grey off the list.

We're actually going for a farmhouse/southwest look, but are opting to seal the concrete floors for now to save money right now. It's actually going to be a barndominium type house so I'm not wanting something modern because that wouldn't go with the overall look.

We also have 4 small children which is why white makes me super nervous. I love the look of black cabinets with butcher block counters, but I've heard black can nick easily :/ Any recommendations of a middle ground? I like the cabinet stain Debbi Washburnposted in the second picture.

I love the look of black cabinets with butcher block counters, but I've heard black can nick easily :/

I don't have black; I have dark espresso brown (stained). I also have a lot of young children. Touch-up markers are a Godsend. :-D

I'll ask again.

What are your favorite colors? Doesn't have to be your favorite house colors. Just what colors are you drawn to?

Maybe do a 2 color kitchen - wood stained on the bottom and painted on top... I find it easier to deal with life's dents and dings on stained cabinets more easily then painted ones. There are many companies that do a black or dark espresso stain that would be nice...here's some ideas

Everyone is giving you suggestions for what they like or they have seen online. I'm asking what YOU LIKE.

CP, she said she loved black cabs with butcher block counters. ;-)

I'm assuming "black" counts as a color, for most people. It doesn't for me, personally, lol, but neither does white or gray. For me, "color" has to come from the rainbow. :-D

[Dang, this discussion just reminded me, yet again, how darn awful it is for me to find purple stuff. Sigh....]

Yes she did say that, but that wasn't my question. I didn't ask what color cabinets she liked but what her favorite colors were.

@One Devoted Dame I am planning on green stained cabinets in my kitchen. Last week I jokingly asked my husband what he would think of purple kitchen walls. He said "it would depend on the shade or purple". He has no IDEA what he may have unleashed, lol.

To the OP, I agree with cpartist, what are you favorite colors? Mine is purple. Then green and blue and then orange. But if you like black, I don't see why you don't run with that.

@One Devoted Dame
I am planning on green stained cabinets in my kitchen. Last week I jokingly asked my husband what he would think of purple kitchen walls. He said "it would depend on the shade or purple". He has no IDEA what he may have unleashed, lol.

*happy dance*

Yay!!!

Green stain, huh? Hmmmm... *off to search*

Mine is purple. Then green and blue and then orange.

We were separated at birth. :-D

My absolute favorite color is purple. My favorite neutral is green. Blue is a distant third, and copper is my favorite metal/accent color.

I have only very recently accepted that if I want purple, it's basically paint. Sadly, my husband won't let me paint the house purple (lol), but I should be able to do beige/sand in the common areas and purple, green, and blue in baths, beds, and laundry rooms. And I'm not talkin' lavender, mint, and sky... I'm talking plum, dark sage, and navy. <3

OP, you wouldn't happen to like purple, would you? lol

@One Devoted Dame Starmark Cabinetry Moss Green and Villa Green, they look like paint on some woods but on oak and quarter sawn oak you can see the wood grain. In person or in a brochure you can see the green but my monitor is showing the colors as blue/gray. Kitchen Maid used to have a green stain but the fiends discontinued it!

One Devoted Dame if your husband won’t let you paint the house purple, what about ‘aubergine’? That’s what my sister did. She told her husband she was painting the house ‘dusty sage with muted aubergine trim’. It’s lovely.

Buzz my kitchen is also green, deeper and darker than yours but with and it has apple green and orange too!

And it has polished concrete floors like the OP

Okay in my neck of the woods a finished concrete floor is expensive and in no way says farmhouse or SW so not sure now. As for black cabinets neither do they say your style .

Thank you all for your input!! Sorry I'm slow to reply. Having 4 young children doesn't allow much free time lately.

@cpartistMy favorite colors are in the blue & green family. Anything from robins egg to turqouise to olive green (wide range :D ) But I also really like mustard yellow.

Patricia Colwell ConsultingI'm not sure I have a specific style (I like aspects of farmhouse & SW but my whole house won't be one thing), but I know whatever the style is concrete floors have to be part of it due to our budget. In our area for us to seal the concrete ourselves it's going to be roughly .30/sf. For now, we'll seal them then save to upgrade down the road.

As far as cabinets go, after so much pinteresting and looking at tons of kitchens I'm set on black cabinets with butcher block tops. I like the warmth the wood brings in. And I think black is far more interesting than white. In our area white is "the thing" and I'm just not a fan. This thread has been super helpful in pointing me in a better direction!!

Here are my inspiration pics and the look I'm going for.

Instead of herringbone backsplash I'm wanting to do a hexagon white tile to tie in with the knobs below:

These are the knobs I want to use to bring in some color: Are these too bright? Should I go with a different color?

One Devoted Dame if your husband won’t let you paint the house purple,
what about ‘aubergine’? That’s what my sister did. She told her husband
she was painting the house ‘dusty sage with muted aubergine trim’. It’s
lovely.

ODD: Honey, I'd love to paint the house a muted aubergine!

Mr. ODD: What's "aubergine" and why would it need to be muted?

lol

I tried to convince him to do a sage color throughout. I even got him to paint an entire wall with it. Nope. I gotta do beige with white trim. :-/ The sage *can* be on the rotunda in the foyer, though. :-D

So far, he's agreed to (but can always change his mind later, once he sees a single wall with it) letting me do the kids' bath in navy, with large bright artwork on the walls, and the laundry room in plum.

I'm actually pretty happy that (1) he's not entirely opposed to me painting the ceilings to match the walls, and (2) I've eliminated talk of "accent walls." lol

Baby steps!

Are these too bright? Should I go with a different color?

No. Although, the hexes and black/yellow combo put me in a honeybee frame of mind.

Black cabinets in a kitchen need a great deal of attention to a good lighting plan that produces extra lumens. Those different levels of light need to be controlled with dimmers. All of the professional photographs of black spaces bring in a lot of extra indirect lights to shoot those pictures. That is not what they look like in real life.

Here are some pictures I found of black kitchens that are not professionally photographed to use as a reference about proper light and layout...I would not do too many upper cabinets in a run - mix in floating shelves or windows to break it all up...

Good luck!

I tried to convince him to do a sage color throughout. I even got him to paint an entire wall with it. Nope. I gotta do beige with white trim. :-/ The sage *can* be on the rotunda in the foyer, though. :-D

The first floor of my last house had sage green walls, with hickory kitchen cabinets.

*sigh* that was a lovely kitchen and living room

OP: nice inspiration. Those are really bright knobs. Go with your gut. You can always change knobs later if you change your mind.

live_wire_oakGood point! We're planning 4 can lights in the kitchen (3000k LEDs) plus the island light.

Debbi WashburnThose are helpful! I'm def. not a huge fan of upper cabinets. Mainly because I'm short and they aren't very useful for me. But also in black I feel like they darken the room way more than the lower cabinets. I'm planning to only do uppers to the left and right of my stove then floating shelves to coordinate with the butcher block to the left and right of the sink. Our kitchen will be L shaped with an island in the middle and a walk in pantry in the corner. What color do you think I should go with on the door??

Here are some of the other things I'm considering. Input welcome! Nothing is set in stone yet, but I'm feeling the pressure to make all these decisions soon :/

Backsplash:

What about green for the knobs instead? These are slightly more muted. Or just stick with antique brass like the handles below?

I really love these...will they go with black cabinets??

Here are the two options I'm considering for the island light:

or 2 of these:

These are all things I like...but do they go together?? That's the hardest part for me.

Southwest look...ask your concrete Pro to show you photos. Saw a stunning concrete floor in Tucson, looked like an old sweat-stained leather saddle (sounds gross but it was gorgeous).

Only 4 can lights? Not nearly enough. You need double that for general lighting. Plus under cabinet lighting for task lighting. Plus accent lighting. Otherwise it’s going to be a cave.

Love your knob finds:) Tough to chose between the brass, which is not too bright, and the green!

A barndominium is my dream lol! With that being said, they are usually not super big living spaces. So, in addition to lighting you may want to take into account how big your kitchen will be, and if it is on the smaller side make sure the black cabs don’t close in the space too much!

I do like the green knobs alot... keep the space light hearted...the brass cup pulls are a bit much for me...and they are not the same as the light...

Do you have a floor plan of the kitchen? I love floating shelves as well. You could even do the base cabinets only in the black and any upper pieces do a different color.

I do have to agree that 4 recessed lights does not sound like enough at all. I dislike recessed lights and don't have any in my kitchen but its tiny and square so I have multibulb light in the center and then use undercabinet lighting...

Good luck!

I had to look up " barndominium. " Only to find that it's what my husband has always wanted to do up on our camping property in the Carolina mountains.
I hope you'll keep us updated on your progress.

Lucky for me (?), my husband would let me paint it any color, if I'd just agree to build it...

Think about resale value. Install flooring.

Love the knobs and pulls. Agree about the lights.

Black can be quite dramatic and beautiful. The white hex tile is beautiful but will be a bear to keep clean in the kitchen, or so my sister tells me.

BeverlyFLADezinerwe plan on doing floors eventually but we didn't want to roll that into a 30yr mortgage. We'd rather wait, save, and pay for it in cash versus financing it with the build. We would certainly do something prior to selling if down the road we decide to move.

Debbi WashburnI'm with you and would rather not add more can lights but use other lighting sources. I like the idea of under cabinet lights and definitely a multi-bulb in the center over the island. Thanks for the feedback.

zinniaWe're doing a metal home! I can't really call it a barndominium bc we won't have a shop attached. But we love the look and the durability of metal siding and roof :) Our's will be 2000sf and an open concept in the living/kitchen/dining. We have multiple windows on the front and back so I think we'll be okay on natural lighting. Hope you get to build a barndo one day!