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jenn_kennedy69

So much yellow! Working with dated cabinets & counters...

5 years ago

Help! I'm searching for a paint color and tile backsplash to make my kitchen a bit more tolerable. Working with antique/beige-cream-yellow/brown glazed/ cabinets and a heavy/busy venetian gold granite counter - so cliche 2000 French country kitchen🤦‍♀️.
I've been googling for months staying up until the middle of the night and still undecided, and our contractor starts in two weeks. I tried Edgecomb gray and it looked purple. Trying to move away from 'warm' because this black mist slab is the new granite we picked out for our island😔 The cabinet colors for our new island will be a medium brown stain with mild gray undertone.
Would greatly appreciate any ideas for backsplash or paint.

Comments (9)

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    best to show pics including floor / color of paint for island/ a better view of what you are working with. I might skip the backsplash and find more money and replace the perimeter counters but it depends whether the cabs look appropriate to do this . you want some good life left in the cabs. Must say .....they look pretty good from the one wall cab you show. A play on neutrals: lights and creams in a new counter would bring to life the cabs and island top, along with neutral walls... I would focus on the possibilities, rather than accepting the older counters as being there long term.... think this out before you "lock in" a new backsplash

  • 5 years ago

    Without seeing the kitchen in its entirety it is very hard to give advice. You have received some good ideas here already. In my experience, usually when someone arrives here complaining about an aspect of the space the way you have about the cabinets, it is pointless to try to change their mind - and so I would say you are proceeding without the best foundation. The cabinet situation needs to be addressed. You can look into refacing. You might as well do that first, before proceeding with other design choices.

  • PRO
    5 years ago

    IMO first make sure all the lighting is LED in 4000K and as for the rest I need more expalnation as to what you are already stuck with and what you want to change. BTW those 2 granites do not work together and I think 2 different counters is not the answer in this space .The cabinets are the issue and you need to post pics of the whole kitchen please.

  • 5 years ago

    Are you looking for wall paint or cabinet paint?

  • 5 years ago

    I cannot envision how your current cabinets and current counters will work with a black and white island top with medium brown/gray undertone cabinets and new backsplash will ever work, no matter what the paint color is...far too many elements. If you are keeping the current cabinets, then work WITH them, not against them. Putting a new island in that doesn't relate in any way to the current elements of the kitchen will not work. Getting away from "warm" is not really possible with what you have now. I know you wanted ideas on backsplash and paint, but I seriously doubt there is anything that will help to tie the new island into the old cabinets and counters. I hope someone can help you.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I too cannot tell if you are asking about paint for the walls or paint for the cabinets. In any case, if you are going to have the island cabinets be a different color, then you need just one counter. It is too much going on to have 2 cabinet colors and 2 counters. I also do not like that black counter. Why so dark? Leave the cabinets as is, and get a new counter everywhere, but not black. Perhaps a white Quartz with very subtle veining.

    Backsplash choice has to wait until everything else is installed. If your contractor is pressuring you to choose a backsplash tile, tell him just to remove the tile that’s there and that’s it. Then after everything is installed, pick your backsplash tile and hire a tiler on your own. You can also find interior designers who will work by the hour to go with you to a tile store and help you pick your backsplash. Totally worth it - choosing a backsplash is the hardest thing in a kitchen.

  • 5 years ago

    Thank you for all the responses. You are all saying what I knew deep down, but was trying to make it work because my partner is not too patient and just thinks we should be able to go into home depot and voila 🙄 Upon more searching I think my granite is Santa Cecilia, half of the suggestions are to stick with it even for the new island, and the other half say you will never be able to find a close enough match and to go contrast with simple white or black. I thought I was going the simple black route, but now second guessing that big stripe in the slab.

  • 5 years ago

    Are you adding a new island where there wasn't one before? Or are you replacing an existing one? Your perimeter cabinets look to be high quality and in good condition. If you are doing a stained island (what are the door styles? are they the same as perimeters?), then you should replace all countertops with the same material so that the kitchen is cohesive. Your plan, as stated in the original post, creates two distinct kitchens, and not in a good way. By changing the countertops to something with some cool color but with a touch of warmth (light beige, greige), you can tie it all together and get rid of the yellow that you don't like. Your current cabinets, while not stark white, are still neutral. I don't know what colors you like, but we used BM Wickham Gray, which is a light blue-green-gray: it works as a cool color that is warmed up by the green tone, very subtle. Of course, paint color and backsplash come AFTER finding the counters, but it might be a direction to go in. The trick is finding a stone or quartz that can tie your cabinets with the stained island and bring in some "cool" in place of the Santa Cecilia and the orange backsplash. A beautiful warm white quartzite with greige or beige tones would be pretty, and would coordinate with your cabinets and stained island.