What colour to paint my kitchen?

[AlwaysReadyForABlether]

I am getting my kitchen re-tiled in a couple of weeks but can't decide what colour to paint it.
The units are light oak and the worktop is mottled in cream, taupe, sage green, grey and black.
The wall tiles are going to be cream brick style and the flooring will be black. All my kitchen accessories are cream so I can really have any colour on the walls.
Any suggestions? I was thinking about red but not sure if that's a bit passe?

I'd probably just take the coward's way out and go for cream!

Hecate I'm kind of veering towards that but I don't want to be disappointed and wish later that I'd been braver.

You can always repaint though. And it's easier to go from cream to a brighter colour than to cover up a bright colour

Or get sample pots of a few colours and slap them on the walls and see what you think.

i just think you'll struggle to get a colour that would go well with cream, taupe, green, grey and black. So it'd have to be one of those colours. Grey and black (I hope!) would be out, so that would leave you cream, taupe and green.

I've probably made the worktop sound awful - it's actually okay and very neutral.

thank god for that. Yeah, it did sound, erm, difficult to match with! No way was i going to say though!

You can upload pictures in this section. how about a snap of it? Might be easier to get an idea what might work well with it?

This is the picture from the schedule when I bought the house. It doesn't look quite like this now but the units and worktop are the same.
So, the wall tiles will be cream and the floor will be black. I have a round table and two bar stools in there that are also black.
I wondered about red walls because everything else will be fairly neutral?

I don't think red will match those units.

What about getting those tester pots and doing some blocks on the walls to see what works?

I know - I really need to get testers. Am just trying to narrow it down a bit or else I'll end up spending a fortune on every colour under the sun!
On another thread about paint colours, someone mentioned this Farrow & Ball paint. I thought it might be somewhere to start as the reviews specifically mention it being somewhere between grey and sage green.

looks a bit gloomy to me. Although I suppose the grey would go with your washing machine etc.

I really think that those units are going to struggle to go with red or green or anything like that.

They look like they'd go better with terracotta than greenish.

I still think cream.

Nooooooooooooo, no cream. Boring boring boring.

Go for a more dramatic colour. At least on one wall.

I don't think red will go with the units. I would go with a blue tone, perhaps.

Green could be nice. We have just painted our kitchen this colour - www.craigandrose.com/eau-de-nil
It is a pistachio green, really fresh but not cold looking.

I think that paint looks quite grey and it would need to be a light room not to feel dark.
I'm currently leaning towards Dulux willow tree or crown bamboo leaf for our kitchen, cream units, wood floor and worktop, black appliances.

I'd be tempted to pick a colour in your mottled worktop (ie the sage green!) and use that for your walls

Yorky I have Dulux Willow Tree in my hall - it really is a lovely, restful colour. think that's also confusing me because I'm concerned if I use sage green in the kitchen either the hall or the kitchen will look "off" if you know what I mean.

What about a duck egg blue like this?

Do you have an iPhone or iPad? Just discovered the Dulux app where they explain warm, fresh colours etc.

I have been drawn to these colours, and have foudn that they are all 'warm' colours, from this chart so would go well in the living room cause it is so bright and light.

According to the video on the iPhone, I would now need 'fresh' colours in the kitchen, where it is darker ie. colours with no black in them.

Oh I like that Unrequited - do you know what that is?

(And if that's your house I'm very )

here is the Dulux site

Yes that is Completely Definitely my house.

I am a big fat liar, that is what my house could look like if I spent some time away from mumsnet

Farrow and Ball Cornforth White - a beautiful pale creamy grey

The French Grey is quite an intense colour - its an absolute must with F&B paints to get a tester and do a large patch test unless you want an expensive repaint

Thanks everyone - think I need to spend some time browsing the paint aisles at B&Q

We used F&B Clunch in a room with some green in it, and it has a definite greeny tinge to it. It's a gorgeously warm colour and I'd recommend it.

I like duck egg colour too as it looks 'clean'. Perhaps a light stone wash denim colour if the kitchen gets sun.

Dulux have got a special offer on their tester pots - 3 for £1. So I have just ordered 6 to try out in the kitchen - various shades of grey/green/cream to test out.

Red will be dramatic but if you want to be more neutral but not cream I highly recommend picking out one of the colours in your countertop - wither grey (which is a cold colour so no good if north facing) or a fawn type green/oatmeal colour. Farrow and ball do a colour called fawn which is LOVELY. Worth the money as you need less coats. Interesting I had exactly the same colour scheme with your tiles both floor and walls and I painted my walls a mushroom brown. It was neutral but looked lovely.