Did they just paint the cabinets at site to attempt to match the other cabinets?

Were the other cabinets also painted at site?

No, they sent it back to the cabinet maker.... they weren't painted on site.

Paint colors can change with lighting, as you know. Top picture the island looks the same color as lower left cabinet. Bottom picture island look the same as all the bottom cabinets. Perhaps color looks different because of overhang on counter and light doesn't hit it? It's a beautiful kitchen and I love the colors - even if island isn't exact same color it blends well with cabinet color.

Thank you, Carolyn! I'm just worried the small difference will make me crazy after awhile! I think I would have just assumed that it was the counter overhang if I hadn't known the wrong color was beneath it. Just agonizing whether it is worth causing a fuss with the builders over!

I think it looks great. Paint changes with lighting, so much so that one can have the same paint color in two adjoining rooms and they can look different. Once you get stools and accessories in you kitchen you won't notice a thing. It's beautiful.

You could always remove a door and move it next to the other cabinetry and compare...looks fab!

As @lucky998877 suggested, take a door/drawer off the rear cabinets and island, and take them outside to compare. In my experience, only natural light -- on adjacent surfaces held at the same angle -- will make apparent the differences in paint colors.

-- amateur

@wdccruise thank you! does that mean you think they probably are different?

@lucky998877 thank you! that is a good idea!

thanks, @Design Girl. My friend told me the same thing, and I hope it is true!

I think that wdccruise is saying that there's no way to tell as shown, since they aren't in natural light, on adjacent surfaces and at the same angle--to get that you'll have to do the door thing.

Based only on the second photo, it would never have occurred to me they might be different colors. I would chalk up any slight differences to the differences in the light falling on the cabinets. In the first photo, there's more apparent color difference, but I would still have attributed it to the island being more in shadow. Your question primed me to look for color differences, and I see what you're seeing, but I don't think it is anything but the light. Honestly, even if there is a minor color difference, fixing it won't change your perception that there is a difference, because of the differences in the light.

It’s probably the lighting and I do think once you get everything in and start using your kitchen you won’t give it another thought. The colors are beautiful! I love the lights, too.

"thank you! does that mean you think they probably are different?"

No, it's the lighting. The low color-temperature (warm) recessed lights above the rear cabinets make those cabinets appear olive. The tall cabinet near the door receives natural light; it appears green and close in color to that of the island.

Since the upper cabinets look lighter than the island cabinets in the first picture, and darker than the island cabinets in the second picture, I think it's the light. I've noticed this in my own house as well. It's easy to focus on differences like this when the kitchen is completely bare. After you quit scrutinizing it, you're going to forget the difference in appearance...which is a good thing, because the lighting situation in your kitchen will continue to sometimes cause this modest difference depending on the time of day and the type of light (natural, artificial, filtered, sunny, etc.). And even if they were actually different tones, I kind of would like that subtle difference. I guarantee that you will have this same issue no matter how many times you repaint them, so quit worrying while you're ahead.

@Lori A. Sawaya wow, I had no idea about that! that's a great idea, thank you!

@cawaps thank you for your answer! that makes me feel better :)

@traci_from_seattle thank you so much! I am happy with it besides for the concern about the color differences! Now I am wishing I had done a completely different colored island!

@wdccruise thank you, that makes a lot of sense!

@kudzu9 yeah, I am hoping that the barstools will make any apparent differences less noticable! thank you!

My guess is it's the lighting, but @Lori A. Sawaya offered great advice, as usual.

Love the color and LOVE your lights! Great job!

@megs1030 thank you so much! I've been looking at the Color Muse on Amazon! @Lori A. Sawaya are there any other uses of the Color Muse for design? Would the app help with picking complimentary colors for decor/ design?

@Heather S

Short answer is yes.

The results of measuring color will give you hue, value, chroma and LRV values. They're called color attributes.

You can use each one of those attributes to craft a level of color harmony.

For example, once you know the hue family you can plot the paint color on The Color Strategist Color Wheel. From there, you can map out familiar, classic harmonies like complementary, triadic, analogous, monochromatic, etc.

Also, colors that have the same hue family, same value, and same chroma will technically harmonize as well.

Of course, you can't color by the numbers alone. How it looks, do you like how it looks, is the bottom line. Color measurements simply help you get to that step of making color decisions faster, more accurately and more efficiently.

In other words the measurements, the hue, value, chroma and LRV values are a framework that you use to describe, define and organize color.

No visual gymnastics required like with the theory that colors have "undertones". No shuffling paint chips trying to ferret out someone else's subjective undertone opinion.

Nothing is hidden or under anything. Color is much more simple than that.

The Color Muse, and like devices, all use the exact same color science that is used to make paint colors in the first place.

We can use the same framework that's used to make paint colors to choose paint colors.

Color experts who understand the science and the color systems that are used to produce paint colors in volume have been using the framework for decades. There are well-known and documented areas of uncertainty in the framework. But, again, they're well-known and not a big deal in terms of application to color for the built environment.

Do the outdoors/door test and if the difference is real, then go back to the source of the mistake. If they do look the same, just remember if you put stools in front of it you'll see it change again. Not worth troubling yourself with if the doors read the same outdoors.