At some point yes, the walls in the adjoining rooms are painted Agreeable Grey.

I'm going to be blunt: your cabinets aren't worth expending a lot of time and money to change the look - you will still be left with cabinets too small or inaccessible, big stiles between the doors, and very little prep space.

I agree that a different wall color would help tie things together.

Totally disagree with AnnKH. Paint is a great way to change the look. It’s a bit labor intensive but an inexpensive way to transform your entire kitchen. Add some knobs and pulls and you’re grand.

I would paint those cabs jn a heartbeat - the color needs to go with the floor and the counter so it’s going to take some work to get it right, but i think it will be worth it

I wonder about a soft black? how much light does the room get?

Not fond of black for the cabinet color. There is a sky light, but the kitchen is in the middle of the house. I hope to change the lighting as well. Someone suggested greige. We can't afford new cabinets we are on a fixed income. Just looking for a refresh. Thank you for your suggestion.

Unless you have painted many stand alone cabinets DIY kitchen cabinet painting is not advisable , I have never seen a really good DIY cabinet paint job unless you have a space with no dust and no air movement to spray the doors and the drawer fronts. Before choosing anything else change the lighting I suggest all LED 4000K and you need a few pot lights for sure. IMO the wall color needs to go it does not work with the floor or the counter . I would choose a color from the counter for the walls get the new lighting then see if the cabinets need painting. I have to agree that those cabinets are not woth the time or the money for paint.

Your cabinets are perfect for painting. You can find warm whites that lean grey to match your countertops and flooring.and then maybe a blue or green for the walls.

I think a darkish green would look great w floor and counters. get some hardware that you like too. i am not liking yellow walls. the arch in the wall is nice ….light walls w green cabinets is what you need. Go onto a blog about DI Y cab painting and be aware of the time and steps. there are tough coatings avail so dont skimp ….all the time to prep / a bit more for the best cab paint and it might really give new life. best of course would be new cabs. not always possible.

Pay no mind to the professionals who advise not painting. Obviously a diy paint job will not have the same quality as a professional spray job which may be noticeable to the hypercritical eye, but what these professionals aren’t considering is that you ought to transform your space for YOUR satisfaction, not necessarily anyone else’s. DIY cabinet painting is not hard, it’s time consuming but worth it. Don’t skip steps. Remove the doors and drawers, wash well, sand, prime and paint. Use quality materials. You won’t regret it

If you don't like black, would you consider a dark gray? With white uppers?

Or a dark green.

UPDATE: Someone with experience will be doing the painting.

Who is the someone? a professional cabinet painter?

These wood cabs are in poor condition from what I can tell from the pic. (I've spent years perfecting my wood finishing AND painting all sorts of wood furniture as well as cabinets)

They need a very, very good sanding, starting w/a 120, 150, 220 and finishing up w/a 320 grit. Next, a really good oil base primer. When dry, another fine sanding. remove all dust and grit. Now you paint. A spray on lacquer would be best, otherwise a really good cabinet paint.

What kind of lighting in here? Is that a florescent light fixture? if yes, it needs to go. Everything is very yellow toned

If it's not florescent, something is giving you garish lighting. find out what that is and redo it.

The wall color is the wrong tone for your flooring.

Here, let me block out all of the yellow to show you:

This one too

See the difference from all of that yellow?

here's the cab colors mentioned above. instead of antique white, the Shoji may be nicer. Iron ore would be a nice accent color for doors or even trim if you do shoji on the walls.

So, before you start ANYTHING, upgrade your lighting to some recessed cans (if you can) with LED bulbs in the 3500-4000K temp (no higher, no lower)

Then paint out those yellow walls to something in the color range I've shown, or a nice neutral white.

What are your countertops ?

do you plan on doing a backsplash tile? If yes, remove the 4" piece up the back by gently prying it away from the wall.

This one is similar to yours w/the flooring and countertop. this is how a white would look w/a wall color chosen from one of those griege colors I posted above. (and a white backsplash tile)

SW Alabaster (which I think is too yellow based for your flooring)

another similar top.

BM Soft Chamois

This was the before shot. you can see how getting rid of the yellow completely updates the look

Evolution of STyle has some beautiful cabinet makeovers. head over to her page or blog.

This one is highlighting the upgraded island trim work, but you can see these cabs are very similar to yours, as are the countertops. also notice the hardware placement. you could use some too (pulls not knobs though)

You could build some boxes on top to close the gap

Or, at the very least, bring in a filler piece w/a larger crown to get you a little higher

But, I can't really tell what your countertop is like? is that staying for good?

Lets see the entire room so we can see what else surrounds this kitchen

Actually, if someone is DIYing this, you could benefit from getting the doors refaced. (do you have drawers? I don't see any. drawers are actually better for storage, so if possible, modify the lower door areas to add drawers)

If you go w/a pro kitchen place like I did, it's not that expensive to order all new, raw doors. the rails/stiles are solid maple, the middle panel is MDF (better for painting)

here's mine

After. all new shaker doors/drawer fronts. (you don't need that many. less than 1K would do it for you)

wow I think Beth gave some great ideas. It is hard to see the countertops and backsplash but I think the example she posted with the Revere Pewter looks so nice to me, and I dont usually care for grey. Also some of the offwhites look quite nice.

I think having them professionally painted will make a world of difference.

Your instincts are all on track. Your cabinetry style lends itself to a refresh paint project. The style is simple enough after it's done it won't scream "tried update but fail" like some of the more ornate cabinetry. White is the color that won't bite you in the end. White is timeless and so much more universally chosen. As an earlier thread showed kitchen re-do's are not something the average homeowner undertakes at regular intervals so going with white will serve you the longest. It also will go with your counters. I too have seen some TOO STARK and cold whites used lately. A warm can be found!! Find one that most closely matches the lightest fleck in your counter top. One of the larger issues with advise on this platform is the diversity of incomes and budgets. Don't let the over the top good wishes of some deter you from doing what you can afford!!

Now that you have an idea of what's necessary to get the cabinet painting done correctly, get some quotes before proceeding. They're going to be thousands from a painter with experience. Not a wall painter. This figure will allow you to compare your options.

It is possible to do the work yourself if you want to same money. I've stripped, sanded and refinished cabinets. It is labor intensive and won't be done overnight but I'm pretty please with the results.

Beth- The countertops are granite. They cost quite a bit back when we bought them. The yellow paint was there long before the countertops and floors. I agree the yellow needs to go and lighting need to be done first. I never knew how to go about it. This is the light fixture in the ceiling. I never really liked it. It looks like it should be in a garage. The other lighting is a dome light over the sink and a hang down pendant light on a chain over the kitchen table. Thank you for your detailed response. Arcy- I was getting that way:( Thank you

You’re doing the right thing by professionally painting the cabinets. But removing the big center light and changing that out FIRST is critical. You need the right lighting so your colors are seen in THAT light.

Beth gave you some great combinations that will work. Include the walls and ceiling in your paint quote.

*MG, you still haven't posted a pic showing the overview of the entire room**

yes, florescent light. ghastly greenish yellow tones. nothing will look right. do the lighting first. take that out, fill in the hole w/drywall and have someone do some canned lights (if you can)

If not, do one maybe two ceiling light fixtures and get multiple light semi flush mount fixtures with the 4000K LED bulbs. do that before deciding on any color in that room

Your granite will be fine once the lighting the cabinets and the wall paint are addressed.

If doing the cabs yourself, try this link. make sure to number where each door goes!

https://evolutionofstyleblog.com/tips-tricks-for-painting-oak-cabinets/

NOOOOOOO GRAY PLASTIC FLOORS! Or gray anything else. They are horridly datedly awfully fake.

Instead of spending 10K on having those professionally painted, put that in a fund and add to it, and do a more intensive redo. With no dated gray anything anywhere. Ever.

dewayne, the floors are already installed. they aren't removing them.

And, it's not going to cost 10K to paint those cabs.

The original post said : What color works best with these granite countertops, vinyl flooring and stainless steel appliances?

Sp that would mean that the countertops, flooring, and appliances are staying.

MG I hope you can disregard some of the rude posts and focus on the majority which had some really good ideas and advice.

Start with painting out the lemon walls with white primer, removing the clutter, and removing the gray floors.

@MG I like your countertops! They coordinate very nicely with your stainless steel appliances. I like your plan to paint your walls SW Agreeable Gray and to get a new light fixture. You asked for color suggestions to go with your gray appliances, countertops, and flooring. I love evergreen with gray. Whenever I see it in nature, it is so beautiful to me. I wonder how you would feel about SW Jasper, at least for the base cabinets. If you want light upper cabinets, and you are painting the walls Agreeable Gray, why not paint the uppers that color too?

One inexpensive fun thing to do in a kitchen is to use an area rug that fills the room instead of the small ones we probably both grew up with. Ours is big enough to provide the cushioning when standing at the counter, but a lot prettier on the floor than the small rugs. And through Amazon you can get a great variety inexpensively. When they wear out, just get a new replacement. Mine have lasted 7 years though.

@MG Here is a picture of your kitchen walls in Agreeable Gray.

@MG I noticed Sherwin Williams posted a picture of kitchen cabinets painted Pewter Green. The room has a light greige wall color too.

@MG Sherwin Williams also provides advice on which paint type works best for painting cabinets. https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/project-center/paint/how-to-update-kitchen-cabinets#:~:text=Tip: Emerald® Urethane Trim,on cabinets, doors and trim.

@MG This picture is said to be Jasper cabinets.

Love the greens! Disclosure: I generally love green. White will brighten your kitchen, but it is a bit boring and predictable As long as you are painting, I say, Go Big!

MG, please ignore the negative comments. This is supposed to be a forum for constructive criticism. Painting kitchen cabinets and changing/adding hardware are the most cost effective way to update your space. Here are some ideas that you may consider:

A creamy white - a shade lighter than the light color in the floor is always a safe bet. I would suggest keeping the hardware brushed nickel and not brass or black.

A light taupe - again pick up the medium tone in the floor as you don't want to make the floor look like a second thought. Be careful picking paint colors as it seems the floor has a pink cast. You want to blend the floor with the cabinet color.

A smokey green grey - sophisticated

Blue would look good with your floor and stone counter:

A pale grey - Calm

A robin's egg blue - with cream walls and satin nickel hardware

A medium blue - with satin nickel hardware and interesting backsplash. Consider an aqua green which is a different take with undercounter lights.

Here are some better pictures. I'm just looking for the least expensive way to refresh the kitchen. I am in the process of cleaning the cabinets. I have completed the uppers. Please excuse the clutter. The floors and countertops will stay. We don't plan to move anytime in the next 5 years, but we may at that time so that is a consideration with any changes we make. Thank you for the positive responses.

Beth H-I like the before and after pic with BM Swiss Coffee.

The "least expensive way to refresh the kitchen" is to:

--Yes, do a massive decluttering and reorganizing so you don't have a big trash can in the kitchen but a pull-out below. Get paper towels off countertops and below. Take all stuff off fridge.

-- paint the walls, not the cabinets, with one of the paint colors Beth H. recommended for the cabinets so that the walls harmonize with the flooring and countertops. Try that first.

--Use the money saved for changing the overhead lighting and pendant per Patricial Colwell. This will make a big difference.

--Also with savings, get new dining table and chairs which, along with the pendant, will brighten the space. Add a lovely large food art work on the wall where you have a small one.

5-star Green Bungalow · More Info

--Save up for new cabinets. I don't know what the quality of Ikea cabinets is these days, but I've stayed in airbnbs that had great looking, very functional Ikea cabinets.

So start with the wall paint and lighting. Your palette is gray (floor, countertops) and gold (cabinets) for art work, new kitchen rug, dishtowels (only one on stove). Your kitchen will look a million times better with serious decluttering, new wall paint, great new lighting, then see where you are.

housegal200 I have been looking for a table but it's kind of tight in that corner and I haven't found the right one. Also, as to not to be in the way of the door swing of the frig. Yes decluttering is necessary my space is limited. I will need to purge. The air fryer and keurig are used daily and I don't want to put them away and take back out everyday. Everything else I can probably move off the counter. Thank you for your suggestions.

To paint cabinets correctly will cost close to $5000 and up.

I agree with housegal200 about saving up for Ikea cabinets. They are probably much better quality and would definitely be more functional in that you'd get better storage with them. And you'd be able to most likely tweak the layout a little without doing anything major.

I see a dining table in the next room over. For the kitchen, get a round tulip table (Ikea, Wayfair have them) and a couple chairs. Round tables don't have angles, so take up less room.

Or have storage banquette made for your big cooking pieces. Wayfair also sells premade ones.

You actually have a decent-sized kitchen, but that honking trash can is the size of a chair! Visually clutter makes a room feel smaller and crowded. Yes, coffee maker and air fry, since used daily, get to live on the counter. But a paper towel holder attached to inside cabinet door and stick-on dishtowel bar inside cabinet don't need to be on counters or on display. Nothing should be on top of fridge. You have a double sink. Put a dish rack in one sink for air drying dishes. This will give you more counterspace. Put your folding stepstool inside pantry or hanging in garage--another item as large as a chair. Think about a great curtain for your pantry so everything is open just by sliding the curtain.

Do you have a nearby garage? Buy narrow steel shelves for near the kitchen entry and put appliances you don't use often along with oversized pots and pans not used often. Keep large boxes of detergents and cleaners out there. Decant products into small bottles /containers for under the sink. Pull-out Rev-a-Shelves at big box stores are good at doubling shelf space of lower cabinets. Be creative about storage AFTER you purge duplicates, get large stuff out from cabinets, and so forth.

housegal had some nice suggstions for tables.

This color table would be perfect w/your floors. darker chairs (try Iron Ore)

paint the walls w/one of these shades,and bring in the polished nickel hardware on top of white cabs

See how nice it looks when the yellow is gone!?

so much nicer.

Doing a built in bench in that corner will be great for seating, and you can push the table in when not in use.

I'd try something like this, w/a new pendant light

just showing you more bench ideas

if you can't DIY a simple bench (they aren't hard to build) you could purchase a settee of some type

This yellow color needs to go. does not work w/the floor at all.

I would first and foremost, update that lighting and get rid of the florescent. #1!!

Next, painting the cabs w/either a white like shown here, or a diff color(c-below)would be the next step

At the same time, change out this wall color to something that works w/your flooring.

I showed you some up top, here are a few more:

(along w/a pendant over the sink and new light over the table)

grab some samples. (I like to get a color match w/the Behr sample pots for $3. you can do a bunch of colors this way. if you like the color in the Behr paint, just use it instead of purchasing SW or BM paint. )

Some whites you mike like for the walls. These could also work for the cabinets (Simply White or white heron, or that Swiss Coffee would be a nice choice. ) Any of these could also be a wall color. perhaps you'd lik the griege/taupe shades for you cabinets?

These would prob work w/the flooring as well.

If you'd like to try white walls and an actual color for your cabinets, here are two examples w/a color

that would work w/your flooring. (don't forget to paint your bifold door too)

This one is Revere Pewter. get a sample.

Not sure what this lower color is, but showing you what a two-tone would look like. Either of these would work in your kitchen

Prime out the walls (and one of your cab doorrs) w/a white primer, then test out your samples.

Painting those will be 6-9K, depending on location, materials used, and the rest of the room that we cannot see. Could be more if they have had Pledge, orange oil, or oil soap used on them, and are contaminated. I would put that money into a floor replacement.

Quicklok Cabinets The multiple quotes I received for painting is less then you mentioned. I have not used and of the items mentioned on the cabinets so they are not contaminated. I'm not replacing the floor. The vinyl planks are only 4 years old.

Beth H Thank you Thank you. I love the pendant lighting. Where did you find them? Do you think the 2 pendants minus the florescent is enough lighting? Or would recessed lighting be needed as well? Might as well do it all at once:) You have been amazing with some wonderful ideas. Love it all!

housegal200 Yes there is a nearby garage. I will be utilizing that for my small appliances not used often. I never heard of a tulip table. I'll check it out. Thank you

M G - Something round will look great in the eating area. A “tulip table” doesn’t have legs that interfere with ours, so it’s a great design for a small space like yours.

Either white, grey or taupe will look fabulous in your kitchen. Although I like the darker greens and dramatic colors, your room is small and lighter choices will make it feel bigger. Hardware should be decided later but probably brushed nickel or chrome will complement the colors Beth suggested.

Ignore the comments about what the paint job will cost you. I’m sure you know from getting quotes where you live.

I have not read all of the comments, but your flooring has purple undertones and your countertop is a bit more blue gray.

The yellow walls don't work with the blue gray and violet grays. It brings out the purple in the floors and the blues in the gray, highlighting that they are two very different grays.

I would be looking for colors in the taupe range and whites that work well with them.

(Nothing that is a dingy or muted white, and nothing too stark.)

These are some taupes with the SW coordinating whites and colors.

@M G how do you feel about all-neutral surfaces in your kitchen? Some people love it. It's very common. If you want a little color, I don't see a problem with base cabinets having color and uppers having the Agreeable Grey you chose for the rest of your house. I also don't have a problem with a greyed green. But it would be better if you have green in neighboring rooms too.

In fact sticking with one color pallet for the whole house really supports the impression of space. That's another reason to keep your flooring that's only four years old. I see it extends to the dining room. You can't change the dimensions of any particular room, but you can enlarge your mental map with color coordination from one room to the entire home and even the views outside.

So, while I still say a cabinet color that would compliment all the existing neutrals you want to keep is a greyed green, I should have asked about what colors you use in the rest of the house. If you have green, then continue to your kitchen.

And I'll admit that when someone asks, "what color?" my mind doesn't even consider off-white, beige, grey, white, black. So I may have missed your point entirely. If you want all neutral, I say go with the Agreeable Grey that you chose for the rest of your house.

If you go that direction, please consider that large area rug as an option to add color. I love what it did for our kitchen even with all our ugly clutter. Notice how it is up against the sink area and the prep counter? It serves the purpose of the smaller rugs we used to have. Its low pile means our Roomba can clean it every day with the rest of the kitchen. And it was inexpensive through Amazon. So if I accidentally dump a pan of cake batter on it, I can replace it without too much pain. Area rugs serve the purpose of keeping crumbs and bits contained at the source so they don't spread to other rooms. And Roomba picks them up daily.

As for your table, if it's just you and hubby there, like it is for us, I like the tulip table idea, but here's what we did so we don't have a table in the way. We got a little bistro table and chairs. The lights aren't necessary but nice. ☺️ A single electric candle was nice before we tried this idea. We both like to wake up early but slowly.

@MG do you have under-cabinet lights? They are a fantastic source of extra lighting! If I had to choose between that and a ceiling fixture, I'd choose under-cabinet lights! But you don't have to choose. They can be hard wired or plug in to save on the electrician. But if you are having an electrician over, ask about the options.

I would paint them a nice shade of pale blue or a nice shade of grey. Will look much nicer painted. Also, I would remove the area rug that you have in the kitchen or replace it with one that has the accent colors of the newly painted cabinets. Paint the table and chairs in the kitchen the same color as the newly painted cabinets.

If your quotes are in that range, you are not getting a cabinet finishing professional, with a professional and durable cabinet coating. There are lots of handymen and painting companies trying to get into the business that do not do the extensive prep, or use professional materials. It is a 7 day+ process, with lots of cleaning and sanding. The home should be zipwalled off, with air scrubbers, and the cabinets sprayed with a 2K poly material. Not Emerald trim paint.

I am sorry that I didn't read through all the comments last night. I was tired.

Since you have already selected Agreeable Gray (Which is a taupe - has slight purple undertones) and it works with your floors and countertops I would use that as a basis for the kitchen.

White Heron is a lighter version of Agreeable Gray.

My favorite colors with agreeable Gray and/or White Heron are the Comfort Gray, Oyster bay, Acacia Haze blue green grays.

If you like the combination of colors then you just need to decide if the cabinets or walls get painted with the taupe/neutral and how light or dark you want to go with the walls and cabinets.

It gets you down to 2 colors with several shades of each

Once that decision is made you can add an area rug and some art to the dining room that has the blue green grays and ties the kitchen to the dining room.

MG, You could put in a semi-flush mount single light in place of the florescent.

There are DIY's of how to remove one and put in the other

I'm not suggesting you use this light (it's all wrong w/the bulbs pointing upward!)

this kind of light would be better

I'm just showing you what can be done if you choose to go this route

If you wanted to go all out, you'd remove it, patch up the hole, refinish the ceiling and put in canned lights.

However, this could eat up a good part of the budget (dependin on how handy you guys are. if you could follow a lot of these tutorials, you'd save a healthy portion of cash)

some other ideas if you choose to 'keep' the hole left behind after removing that light.

(and it will prob have to be skim-coated, sanded, textured and painted)

here's one link on how to remove the light and finish up the box area

https://www.hometalk.com/diy/kitchen-dining/what-to-do-with-that-1980-s-style-kitchen-lighting-1150265

although, this is dumb. they never put in a light fixture, just left the 'box' in the ceiling. lol

If you do something like this, make sure you reuse the electrical connection to put in some canned lights, or one 'box' to hook up something like this

Wayfair has a slew of these types of lights. all diff sizes, colors, styles, that would work in the box

Yours would look something like this

If you got a fixture w/multiple bulbs (LED bulbs at 3500K, no lower),

installed some LED Under Cabinet light strips, Like shown here in this pic:

did a pendant over the sink (or even a recessed light over the sink, you'd have plenty of lighting.

You could even opt to do something like this if you keep the box/niche.

I like either of these combos.

tons of diff pendants you could use for the table and over the sink. wait and see what you're using for the ceiling light first. don't forget the LED strips for under the cabs! huge diff.

I like these colors too.

If you want to see what Light Pewter looks like, here's my kitchen walls with it. my trim is Simply White in semi-gloss. walls are eggshell.

BTW, I did a color match of Light Pewter w/Behr paint. I like behr paint and used the match.

If I were you, right now I'd prime out that yellow so you can test some colors.

Your flooring is a taupe/gray. do not get blue/ grays or yellow grays. The colors I posted for you lean in the taupe/pink gray to griege colors and should all work w/your LVP flooring.

As an example, here are the taupe/pink tones that should work. And the whites in these top two all lean toward the red (pink) side, same as your flooring.

Some of these would be pretty on the wall too. The Silver Fox and Abalone (from BenMoore) IN the one photoshop w/the cool table, rattan light and runner, is one of my top contenders. For sure get some color samples of those.

If you'd rather go for the griege side, try some of these

BUT, before you test out ANY colors in that room, you MUST get rid of that florescent light and those yellow walls. If you don't, the reflection and cast of those lights is going to throw off every single color you bring into that room.

Capiche?