Straw poll on my paint please...

[thenewaveragebear1983]

We're doing our kitchen- cream, gloss, handleless units (magnet) base units only. Reclaimed wood shelves with black brackets, at eye level and above. Black brushed Matt extractor. We're keeping our cream tiles and range cooker. Shiny black speckled worktop. (This is something of a makeover rather than a complete new kitchen). We have two big windows and a half glass door.

I have lots of lovely bright coloured and brassy/metallic retro 'bits' to accessorise, and a solid wood 1950s table and chairs, so I want a really dark colour on the walls. I get on well with valspar paints so I'm thinking of having one mixed in their K&B paint. But having (minor) doubts-

What about this? It's called 'under the eaves' and it's a really dark greeny /inky/bluey colour. But is it too dark? It would be for all 4 walls although none of them are whole walls (ie. window, door, etc all take up space on each wall). I estimate 50% of the wall space is to be painted.

Thanks mother! I have heard that about it making the room feel bigger. What colour did you do yours?

I think it depends on how much light you have, and with two windows and a glass door presumably it's a fairly well light room?

I agree with Charlie, go for it!

I really like it! Go for it, if you do really hate it then you can always paint over it but I think with cream units and some copper or bright metals it’ll be fine.

I love it. Go for it!

I am a fan of dark dramatic looks and had a fabulous berry/plum type dining room for years. Very sad to let that go

Clap it's fairly bright but not what you'd describe as 'flooded with light' or 'airy'. There are a few factors which impede the light too, such as it's East facing, plus we have a stippled ceiling (which currently we can't afford to skim), leaded panes in the windows etc. So it's a genuine concern that it may be dark.

You're totally right though, it can be painted over. Plus, if i don't try it, I will forever be wondering what it would have been like!

Could you paint the top part of the wall white with the ceiling to look like a picture rail effect? Maybe in line with the top of your larder cupboard. Then it would look like your link.

Little Greene's Marine Blue would look nice if you're looking for a teal.

Dulux and Crown have apps where you can use a photo and colour the walls. You wont get exact match of F&B colours but i find it incredibly useful to get a feel /visualise colours that do/ don't work on a pic of my own room with existing flooring, furniture etc

Sorry, that should have been to peanut

Spa this is valspar but if I recall, they do have an app as well....

I think it's the black worktops with near-black walls that worry me. The pic you posted is lovely (note the shedload of white at the top though) but have you got any pics of similar with black worktops too?

Also why not ask Magnet to change the colour of the walls in your mock up? I wanted navy cupboards (because I am a sheep) but as soon as I saw them in the mock up I went off that idea! We have navy walls instead.

I like the one above in your photo

The worktops will be that black shiny surface with grey sort of smudgy prints on it

Like this :
www.worktop-express.co.uk/laminate-worktops/black-granite-laminate-worktops-nimbus

I wonder if the photo isn't particularly clear re: the colour. It's really not as dark as nearly black! (Although it's listed as a black on valspar website, on the wall it is most definitely a dark green/blue)

Go for it.
In my experience going light and playing safe is nice, and is certainly right for some people, and will give you a nice room. But when ever I see a room where someone has been really brave with colour, with a proper vision of the whole colour look/scheme, it is amazing.

Someone posted a bathroom pic recently, dark grey, almost black walls with a white suite etc. It looked stunning.

In the end, it is the cost of a large tin of paint to recover it. So it is not like getting the wrong kitchen cupboards etc

I like dark colours. If you are going to use them you have to be brave and go for it. It’s only paint!

What direction does your kitchen face? It does need to be bright to take dark colours otherwise.

I can’t see any of your RL photos, only the magnet ones.

However I don’t think black walls will work , your black worktop, black walls and black brackets will all merge into one. Also not all blacks work with each other.

In your Pinterest photo, that wasn’t black . And it didn’t go up to the ceiling. I suspect it’s only on one wall AND half the wall is covered pictures.

I’d go for another mid tone strong colour, like F&B Pigeon ( if you like grey green ) or Inchyra Blue. Even mid tones can look suprisingly dark in an easy or north facing room. My kitchen is north facing and has F&B Light Blue wall and they look mid grey blue. DD has Oval Room Blue in her west facing living room and it’s quite strong .

Remember that the dark rooms you see on insta and Pinterest have been photographed with extra lighting or adjusted digitally. The rooms don’t actually look like that in RL.

The paint isn't black, it's a dark bluey green colour. It definitely 'shows up' black things when they are next to it, so the brackets etc won't blend in.

I'm tempted to try a dark teal with just that slightest bit more yellow tone to it, for brightness I suppose, although to me that's a bit safe, as in, conventional. I like the fact that a lot of people wouldn't choose the colour (if that makes sense?!)

Here's a picture in real life, please excuse the mess. We are east facing so get daytime sun until the afternoon but aren't overlooked so it's still bright until mid pm.

The kitchen itself is 5m x 4m. The tiles are staying.

Oh and also. Thank you for all your inputs, I really do appreciate it- it's really helpful to consolidate what I feel and giving me things to think about. I have no one IRL who will really thrash this out with me so I'm very grateful

I've painted one wall in my kitchen little greene lamp black and it looks great. My partner would also paint the whole house in magnolia but has been happy enough to go with all my out there choices, and admits he likes them afterwards. I assume he's telling the truth...

Thanks 79, yes my Dh always seems to like my wild decor ideas, just doesn't want to be involved in the decision making process.

Today I did reach the conclusion that it's too dark- it was a gloomy day here and I painted a 1x1 m square on the wall, looked at it periodically during the day. I think i need to go back to the drawing board, and potentially use an unusual colour but one that's overall lighter. Not hugely so, but a bit lighter nevertheless.

I don't mind dark colours in a kitchen but I don't like the dark worktop with the dark walls with the cream tile in between. I think that's going to suck the light out of the room and make the tiles look really prominent.

I love the colour but am also unsure about cream unit, dark top, cream tiles, dark paint. Something lighter?

Fwiw, I love unusual paint colours. We painted our old kitchen grey 20 years ago. Can still remember the comments. 'Why would you want grey?' And 'looks like concrete' etc. So take other people's opinion with a pinch of salt and choose what you like.

🧐 at the grey kitchen walls. My DH thought my chosen colour was the undercoat.

Random other question OP - what kind of light bulbs do you have in your ceiling light ? If they are halogen you need new LED ones, you might need new Fittings but they are not expensive and will make a huge difference to the room .

I’d also run LED strips along the bottom and top of your wall cabinets. Cheap as chips, stick them up with a glue gun or sticky pads. Hard wire if you can or plug in if you can’t.

More light in the room will allow you to get away with a darker wall colour.

We just did our new kitchen and used LED strips, as the room is north facing and very dark, the window is big but it looks onto the adjacent building.

There’s another pendant light out of shot to the right and wall lights on the left hand wall, which has no wall units.

The lights will have proper bulbs, I hate the shadows you get with those halogen spots. (We currently have 2 x 4 bulb light fittings) They are all over our house as the previous owner put them everywhere, we're systematically removing them! We will have two separate, 5 bulb light fittings. I'm sorry but I also really don't like those led strips.

I'm never going to paint it grey, it's so overdone now, plus i don't actually like it!

Funny, different strokes and all that, the combination of the green next to the black and the cream tiles is the hit I'm most excited about. I love bold patterns and the stark differences between the colours. I^^ am going back to b&q today and I might grab a few colours I'd previously dismissed and see what they're like in real life. I may be erring towards a brighter, more vivid green than the dark 'forest' green that I originally wanted. I'll post some updated pictures later maybe...

Thanks all