WWYD - custom cabinets wrong color

[Anonymous]

Wow. Just wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they look good and cohesive with the rest of the kitchen?

OP, hoping I can respond before the internet blinks out again as work continues in the kitchen!

The color isn’t the problem per se. But the uppers and lowers are two different colors (I know not everyone likes two-tone cabinets, but would be great not to debate that right now). To pull the two-tone thing off, the lowers should be darker than the uppers by a certain amount, and now they’re not. The colors are independently great, but there’s just not quite enough contrast between them. So when I look at them together I get an “off” feeling.
It’s only 25%, but it definitely would have looked sharper with more contrast.

Maybe I’ll mind less when counters are in. Maybe I’ll just paint it myself someday, I feel ridiculous, but I don’t know how to shake that feeling that it’s off.

If the counters aren't in, this is the time for your contractor to remove them and try again

OP failed a low-effort task and your solution is the contractor and his subs eat a high-dollar fix? Laughable.

[Anonymous]

I think the responses here are because we didn’t get the issue.

Specifying “25% lighter” was a mistake, because that’s not a color code. If OP had received a whole kitchen in the standard color, this might be a tough call.

But later in the thread OP says these are replacement cabinets to match existing ones. Now, you have to fix it. Whose fault it is is a little fuzzy. I lean contractor, but OP should take this as a lesson to use a color code and get a sample, always. Or they should have just matched an existing cabinet door.

Since the new cabinets don’t match the cabinets already there, contractor takes them back and fixes. For sure.

[Anonymous]

OP again. FWIW, in writing I gave the color name and number, followed by "MIXED 25% LIGHTER" (all caps/bold). Then I explained that the goal of this lighter formula was to "create greater contrast between uppers and lowers." I also said I had both a paint can/label with code and a sample painted on wood. I re-sent this information, phrased the same way, three separate times. Maybe I "failed a low-effort task" as PP said, I don't know. I've never done anything like this before, but I also think he just didn't read closely, and didn't read the later communications.

All that said, I like the guy, he's a solo craftsman, he worked hard, asking him to eat the cost would materially impact his business, and also it's not an enormous difference in LRV -- like 3-4 points. So, I'm going to live with it and try to decorate/light around it, and treat this as a lesson learned.

I welcome thoughts about exactly what I should do "next time" (ha - I'll be dead before I can afford to do this again) -- or what I should recommend to someone else just starting out with a similar project.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. FWIW, in writing I gave the color name and number, followed by "MIXED 25% LIGHTER" (all caps/bold). Then I explained that the goal of this lighter formula was to "create greater contrast between uppers and lowers." I also said I had both a paint can/label with code and a sample painted on wood. I re-sent this information, phrased the same way, three separate times. Maybe I "failed a low-effort task" as PP said, I don't know. I've never done anything like this before, but I also think he just didn't read closely, and didn't read the later communications.

All that said, I like the guy, he's a solo craftsman, he worked hard, asking him to eat the cost would materially impact his business, and also it's not an enormous difference in LRV -- like 3-4 points. So, I'm going to live with it and try to decorate/light around it, and treat this as a lesson learned.

I welcome thoughts about exactly what I should do "next time" (ha - I'll be dead before I can afford to do this again) -- or what I should recommend to someone else just starting out with a similar project.

I don’t place the blame on you. It sounds like you communicated and it was a genuine mistake. I commented up thread about actually noticing the difference in 2 to 3 months, but I had missed that you already had cabinets that were 25% lighter. Now that I read your update, are you saying that the existing lower cabinets are 25% lighter but that the new upper ones are going to be full strength color? And you don’t want the contrast? Or you did want the contrast (sorry I’m confused) I’m trying to picture it in your kitchen.

[Anonymous]

OP again.

I have been looking at a lot of kitchens online. These are NOT my colors, but fyi the LRV contrast is probably similar to to the contrast in this image: https://www.decorpad.com/photo.htm?photoId=88035

It's not bad, I just think it would look sharper if the uppers were a bit brighter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again.

I have been looking at a lot of kitchens online. These are NOT my colors, but fyi the LRV contrast is probably similar to to the contrast in this image: https://www.decorpad.com/photo.htm?photoId=88035

It's not bad, I just think it would look sharper if the uppers were a bit brighter.

Wait. What? So is it supposed to match the other cabinets or not?

[Anonymous]

OP. We picked an off-white color for the (new) uppers, and a sage-type color for the (new) lowers. BUT we worried that the contrast between the off-the-shelf colors might not be quite strong enough. So after testing a ton of different samples (on our old cabinets -- which had white), we requested that the upper (off white) color be mixed at 75% formula -- so it would be 25% lighter than the off-the-shelf off-white. Just to be sure, we painted all our old cabinets our "new" colors and lived with them for a while.

The contractor made beautiful cabinets, and he painted them off-white (uppers) and sage (lowers). The disconnect is simply that he somehow didn't see or remember that we'd requested a 75% (25% lighter than standard) formula. So the contrast is softer, more subtle than I'd hoped.

The cabinets I linked to (which should show off-white uppers and gray-blue lowers) are not my colors! I only put them in to show what a "soft-contrast" two-tone looks like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. We picked an off-white color for the (new) uppers, and a sage-type color for the (new) lowers. BUT we worried that the contrast between the off-the-shelf colors might not be quite strong enough. So after testing a ton of different samples (on our old cabinets -- which had white), we requested that the upper (off white) color be mixed at 75% formula -- so it would be 25% lighter than the off-the-shelf off-white. Just to be sure, we painted all our old cabinets our "new" colors and lived with them for a while.

The contractor made beautiful cabinets, and he painted them off-white (uppers) and sage (lowers). The disconnect is simply that he somehow didn't see or remember that we'd requested a 75% (25% lighter than standard) formula. So the contrast is softer, more subtle than I'd hoped.

The cabinets I linked to (which should show off-white uppers and gray-blue lowers) are not my colors! I only put them in to show what a "soft-contrast" two-tone looks like.

Now I understand. From what your description it sounds like there is a contrast but not as much as you want. I'm sorry and I'm sure it's frustrating because you worked on getting the colors just so. When I painted my house I also toyed with 25% lighter for my gray walls. I painted a few shades to see which one I liked. NOBODY except for me and my husband could actually tell the difference between the full color and 25% less. So at the end of the day, it didn't matter. I'm sure your kitchen will look lovely.

[Anonymous]

If they are not correct you get them replaced. It's simple.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, this feels like something only you would notice. As for what to do "next time," ask to go over to the shop and see one cabinet door, etc. before all the rest are painted. Also, you cannot wait until after the install...why not stop the workers prior to install?

[Anonymous]

In the coatings industry you should have specified a pms # to tint to or paint formula to produce and also provided a swatch of the color so the production manager could double check the paint against the swatch of the color that you provided to make sure he made the right formula.

Specifying 25% lighter is kind of Loosey goosy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ideally you would have signed off on the paint after seeing one test cabinet

This. Where was your voice when the boxes were first opened? If they're all installed now, and the project is finished... I think it's too late.

[Anonymous]

I think this is a downside of solo guys. They're doing a lot, pulled in many directions, and this kind of stuff falls through the cracks. A GC who manages other guys who do the work, and who spends his time on the management and project details is more likely to be on top of this kind of thing. Not guaranteed, but more likely.

[Anonymous]

op, not sure it's a consolation but I think the subtle low-contrast look is less trendy and will look good longer. I love the subtle contrast in your link--I prefer it to any two-tone cabinet kitchens I've seen.