Paint oak kitchen cabinets - what color to paint the kitchen walls?

[Anonymous]

We have dated oak cabinets that are still good but we just don't like anymore.We don't have the money for a total kitchen remodel so we was thinking of painting the cabinets "federal gray" from the rustoleum cabinet transformations.

What color would go well with the cabinets? Could I still pull off gray walls if the kitchen cabinets are also gray? Any other color recommendations besides federal gray? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Why not paint cabinets white and walls gray?

[Anonymous]

Maybe you should try the interior decorating board. much less snark and mean spiritedness over there.
However, PP idea of white cabinets and grey walls sounds very attractive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not paint cabinets white and walls gray?

OP here- I thought of that but DH is against it (maybe because my apt when I first met him had white cabinets). I don't know. But also, it seems everyone does the white cabinets so I wanted something a little different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you should try the interior decorating board. much less snark and mean spiritedness over there.
However, PP idea of white cabinets and grey walls sounds very attractive.

Thanks I will

[Anonymous]

What do your countertops look like?

[Anonymous]

I have a white kitchen - white cabinets with gray walls and quartz counters. Love it! I've also seen gray cabinets with off white walls that look really nice. Go to Pinterest or Houzz and search gray kitchen cabinets to get some visuals. I have a medium dark Gary bathroom cabinet paired with blue walls (darker than royal but lighter than navy). Also looks great but probably too dark for a kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do your countertops look like?

White countertops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a white kitchen - white cabinets with gray walls and quartz counters. Love it! I've also seen gray cabinets with off white walls that look really nice. Go to Pinterest or Houzz and search gray kitchen cabinets to get some visuals. I have a medium dark Gary bathroom cabinet paired with blue walls (darker than royal but lighter than navy). Also looks great but probably too dark for a kitchen.

Thanks! (op here)

[Anonymous]

Anyone?

[Anonymous]

I did a Google image search and all the kitchens with gray cabinets had off white walls.

I am wondering if gray and gray would be too gloomy.

Perhaps you could try a dark gray on the cabinets with a lighter gray on the walls. See this page from Farrow and Ball for Downpipie. The third picture shows it on the baseboard of a room with I believe Manor Gray above it. (Look further down on page for suggested color schemes.)

http://us.farrow-ball.com/down-pipe/colours/farrow-ball/fcp-product/100026

[Anonymous]

You didn't ask about this, but I am going to butt in and offer my $.02. You might want to think the Rustoleum kit and hire a professional. Or maybe if you have a spare door, try it on that first before you commit. I used the kit to refinish some bathroom cabinets. They went from the original light "pickled" oak to one of the darker Rustoleum shades. I followed the directions to a T, took my time, sanded between coats, and when I put everything back together, it just looked like I had slapped some cheap brown paint on it. We will remodel the bathroom eventually, but I wish I had left well enough alone.

[Anonymous]

This may sound weird - but a really light buttery yellow might be very pretty.

[Anonymous]

Oak cabinets (I have them) are very hard to paint well b/c the grain from the oak shows through. There are people who will sand or fill the grain before they paint them (professional kitchen cabinet painters, I'm talking about here).

Most likely, you will not be happy with just painting them yourself. And it's a lot of work to do all the details (inside, watching for the hinges, etc.).

You might want to look at re-facing. I'm looking into that now myself. Hate to replace the entire kitchen... but also considering that.

Refacing will run you around $9K for a typical full size kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oak cabinets (I have them) are very hard to paint well b/c the grain from the oak shows through. There are people who will sand or fill the grain before they paint them (professional kitchen cabinet painters, I'm talking about here).

Most likely, you will not be happy with just painting them yourself. And it's a lot of work to do all the details (inside, watching for the hinges, etc.).

You might want to look at re-facing. I'm looking into that now myself. Hate to replace the entire kitchen... but also considering that.

Refacing will run you around $9K for a typical full size kitchen.

If you are going to pay $9k for new doors, make sure you are not throwing good money after bad. You might be better off saving that money for a full remodel down the road.