what about soft Grey. Terpbb

The lighting on your picture is hard for me to see the true colors of your walls and back splash. To answer your question though I'm sure that whitewashed will be very pretty in your kitchen. I've always liked that look because it really does fit into almost any setting. Good luck with your project!

I would not paint your cabinets. They are much more versatile in the maple than in a faux distressed finish.

Thank you for your comments. Really appreciated. tepbb, did you mean to paint the cabinets a soft grey? We don't have any grey in the house. We are now thinking of just changing the granite on the island. We have black everywhere but there, maybe put an off white with black streaks? My walls are a chocolate brown and they are easy to change.

The kitchen and cabinets look great the way they are, but if you were to paint them.. I would go with white or soft grey. Here's a project we did last summer: http://www.houzz.com/projects/327747/Sammamish-2013

Let us know what you decide to do.

Good luck:)

Your cabinets are beautiful. However, the brown painted walls don't show them off. Try to lighten the wall up with a lively color, such as something in the apricot or terra-cotta color. Hard to tell what color the counter tops are. Also, it appears your floor trim is white and other trim in the room may be white. If you lighten your wall color, then you may want to paint the pantry door to match the rest of your trim, leaving the cabinets as the wood feature of the room.

Thank you, I have had them light, I have had them lively (terra-cotta) and a couple of years ago went brown. Maybe I will lighten them again! The counter tops are black granite. The island is a contrast brown/black. We might just change that up for now.

I'm definitely in agreement with the lifestyle design pro. The beautiful cabinets and backsplash get lost against the dark walls. A light color would add a ton of light and life to your kitchen.

Agree about brighter or lighter walls, but leave the pantry door as is!

I'd leave the cabinets as is, as paint on stained wood generally looks crappy within a couple years. Love the idea of new countertops. Stained concrete would look fabulous or a lighter granite

We have decided to change the island. We will keep the black granite countertops and the new granite on the island will be a white with some black accents. I should repost a picture, the kitchen is actually very bright as we have floor to ceiling windows that let in plenty of light. That was one of the reasons that the dark paint color worked. I think I took the picture at the wrong time of day. Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions.

I would not paint the cabinets.