Please show me your lighter cherry cabinet kitchens! (slightly orange)

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

I'm yet another person struggling with 1990s cherry kitchen cabinets. Just bought a 1998 house that has a tiny kitchen with horrible laminate countertop. I've just spent way too much time looking for pictures of kitchens with these lighter sort of orange cabinets to figure out how to paint the walls and trim (and that obnoxious overhang over the top cabinets), and I now know far too many shades of green paint (only to then read a bunch of discussions on how that will likely make the orange more orange). I need help!

I really like bright yellows and greens in a kitchen, and I'm not a fan of blue (in a kitchen - mostly b/c most my bedrooms are/will be blue... although gray can look fantastic and I am leaning towards the bits of gray in the new countertop and backsplash). Bright yellow and green don't lend themselves to these orange-tint cabinets, though. I see lots of recommendations for very light mint or sage, and I agree those colors on the walls could look great. The powder room next to this kitchen will be dark teal, and the living room will likely have bold red accent chairs. In the dining room I will have bold colorful african fabrics stretched over canvas and arranged in a nice pattern. So,... I'm completely unsure a muted, country-looking sage or mint is going to fit in with the rest of the house? (I'm a bold color person). Or maybe the kitchen is separate enough I'm just overthinking...?

These cabinets are pretty, they're just outside my usual style and I'm struggling here. I'm thinking maybe just white quartz countertop with very minimal gray through it, white subway tile backsplash with gray grout, and a cooler (?) white on the walls and call it a day?

Any advice, or even better any "after" pictures of the folks who were on here with nearly identical questions (SO MANY discussions on here about cherry cabinets, but I'm struggling a LOT to find the before/after shots!) would be so appreciated!

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Comments (3)

Beth H. :
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
between the cabinets and the floors, you need to 'cool' things down a bit. (are you changing the floors? or refinishing? that alone would make a big diff)

similar colors to what you have, white quartz and a taupe cream wall color

You could always paint the wall a warmer white, bring in your colors w/accents. this granite is River White

another option. strip you cabinets. these are a natural cherry. beautiful w/the granite and light oak floors. Add some glass to a few of your uppers to break up that run of wood on top.

white quartz, black hardware, soft gray tile
tozmo1
4 years ago
What's the budget? I'd either refinish the floors to a lighter color or refinsh/reface/paint the cabinets and of course, new countertop and backsplash regardless of which you do.

It might work in your favor that you don't have a lot of cabinets. If you choose to change the cabinets in some way, there's not a lot of them. Or, stick with your original idea, live with it a while and then decide. "maybe just white quartz countertop with very minimal gray through it, white subway tile backsplash with gray grout, and a cooler (?) white on the walls and call it a day"
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Amy
Original Author
4 years ago
@tozmo1: Budget is around $10k (so much more I have to do in the house, that I have to go pretty minimal everywhere). I will be refinishing the floors (but have it budgeted outside of that $10k). I was told by the first contractor in the house that the floor refinish couldn't do anything to decrease the red, which did sound incorrect to me, but what do I know?

My initial thought was to paint all cabinets white with the white countertop and do an emerald green subway tile backsplash (we can DIY paint and backsplash tiling). Weirdly, after too many hours to admit of looking through inspiration photos, I started leaning away from the idea of all white cabinets and back to keeping the cherry cabinet colors.

@Beth H. : That last pic you posted is the first I've seen with cabinets, counter, and backsplash similar to what I was thinking! Other pics are amazing, too. You're my hero of the day.

Unfortunately, this is a vacation house and I will be in it only 6 weeks to spruce it all up. I live out of town, so can't live with it a while and then decide. I have to just go good-enough as best I can. It will be rented the rest of the time, so the main reason I'm struggling is that I'm a quite eclectic person in my tastes but really want whoever else rents this house to love it as much as I do. So looking for the intersection of broad appeal and something I also love. I think more neutral with colorful accents is the way to go. And I'm definitely going to look into glass cabinet fronts (if the quartz countertop and new dishwasher don't eat my entire budget... Floor refinishing is different budget..).