Help! Painting kitchen cabinets....

[Sarah8914]

Okay so we are planning to paint our oh so lovely honey oak cabinets white! I'm SO excited. We painted the walls last summer, and since then, the cabinets have been driving me nuts. And I'd really like to lighten things up. So here's what it looks like now (there is another wall with the sink and dishwasher and a few more cabinets)


Here's my problem... I want white, but if you can't tell, the countertops are NOT white. They are an off-white ish color... the same color as all of our doors, trim, ceilings, walls we haven't painted, etc, etc... I don't know what color it is, but it's not a bright white. We do intend to change our countertops (though cheaply, either a faux method of some sort or getting the cheap pieces from home depot that are cut to nice sizes already). Anyway... since I'm due to have a baby in 2 months and summer is miserably hot, I can't imagine that happening until the fall.

So... here's my dilemma... do I paint it white white and live with the contrasting (maybe clashing?) countertops? Or, do we match the countertops (thus matching the trim, doors, etc...) Any thoughts?

[Darcy Baldwin]

If it were me, I'd get your countertops first, then match the cabinets to your countertops.

I don't mean matchy matchy - but so you know exactly what color to paint the cabinets once you see what the countertops look like in the kitchen in all lights.

[heathergw]

as someone who painted my off-white cabinets espresso brown... I'll tell you that off-white looks dingy even if it's super clean, it still looks dingy. I'm with Darcy and say get the countertops first before painting.

[Sarah8914]

heather, that's how I feel about the rest of my house, that it's just dingy, so thanks.

It is a good idea to do the countertops first, but we kind of have some ideas for it and know it would work with white. The good thing about white, is that I can just use white spray paint for some shelves we have and other things, which would be easier than painting them. Plus, we can get the cabinets done much faster and easier than the countertops.

[HeatherKS]

I'd go with white white. It sounds like that's what you really want them to be and I'm afraid you'd be disappointed if you went with the off white, kwim? It's a big job so you'd better do it the way you want it in the beginning.

[WalkersMommy]

I'd go with white white also. When we moved in to our house, for some reason, the top cabinets were off white and the bottom ones were white white lol. The tops ones alllllways looked dirty, just like you and Heather mentioned. We painted them all white white and it looks SO much cleaner and brighter!

[aggiefamily]

I voted white but don't go just plain white. Get some sample cards of varying shades of white. Not off white but not pure white. Make sense? See what works with the light in your kitchen. You don't want to end up with a white that is too yellow. KWIM?

We are moving and the house already has white cabinets but they desperately need a touch up. We are considering MSL Tailor's Chalk (http://www.homedepot.com/Paint/h_d1/...=10053)instead of bright white. The room has tons of natural light and half of the walls are board and batten. I think that a bright white (for me) along with the white b&b would be too much. The painted portion of the walls will most likely be Rainwater (http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053)

So get some samples and tape them up and look at them throughout the day. I love the samples from MSL and Behr. They are huge so you get a good idea of what it would be like.

[Kara]

I really, really want to paint my cabinets! The previous owners painted them GREEN, like sea foam green. I hate it. We want to get new ones, these are 50 years old, but I can't see that happening financially anytime soon.

[Sarah8914]

Oh, good idea Amanda! I also know if it's too much of a "bright" white it could look blue. So yeah... maybe I'll make a trip to home depot tomorrow! I'll definitely get some paint cards!