Olive or dark red kitchen cabinets?

[IrisBearded]

I'm torn. I have a small kitchen with pine cabinets and a neutral stone colour worktops and tiles floor.

It's an old 1920's house.

I'm repainting the cabinets and I'm going for a dark cosy kitchen.

Which colour gets your vote?

Also would you consider painting bottom cupboards dark and top cupboards a lighter neutral? I'm thinking about it so it's not too dark.

The green is much nicer.

And yes olive and sage would
Be
Lovely

Olive 😊

Well I thought I was going to love the green more as I’m a massive fan of a green kitchen. Green is a more calming colour too. But, I love the red one with the pinky beige walls. You could do the top cupboards the same colour as the wall behind.

Neither. It's a small kitchen and it would make it too dark. Would you consider a lighter green - sage green?

I used little green paint for my kitchen. 4 years and there are a couple of bits that need touching up, namely the biscuit cupboard. It’s rubbed off a bit.

There are quite a few red/browns colours to try.

Does it look out onto a garden? If so I’d pick green.

I definitely would not paint upper cupboards in a dark colour, too overbearing, unless they are mostly glazed cupboards with very little frame iyswim.

Warning, dark painted kitchens show every single little chip. And it will chip no matter what it’s painted it with and how well.

Olive 😍I'm waiting to move house and would love a kitchen with olive coloured cabinets - it looks stunning!

This. Sage would be lovely and not too dark, but still quite dramatic, and cosy.

Deep olive, definitely.

Personally I don't agree at all with the idea that you can't use strong, deep colours in small or dark spaces. I think it is much more effective to lean into it rather than stay safe and bland. A friend has a small, dark cottage kitchen which is a very similar colour to your olive one and it looks fab.

I love green (we have painted two rooms in it here - F&B Olive and Little Greene Sage, plus have lots of green accents in other rooms), but I'm surprised to actually prefer the dark red and have been planning a similar coloured kitchen for when we move.

Our kitchen cabinets aren't red or green (they're F&B Oval Room Blue eggshell...and haven't chipped at all in five years), but we painted our upper cupboards cream - same colour as the surrounding walls.

However, I don't subscribe to the view that dark colours shouldn't be used in small rooms.

Oooh I thought I would vote green too but that red combined with the pink walls is gorgeous! You’d have to get the extract shade though as that could be a disaster if slightly too red or lighter.

Another vote for the dark red. It’s beautiful. I also agree you don’t need to go light in a small space and I have proven it in my own home.

I would also try to get that exact shade and the wall shade and I would go with the wall colour on the upper cabinets.

Olive, but I do like the red, just not with the beige walls the picture shows. My kitchen narrow and in charcoal, but lifted with very light walls and work top. I wouldn't do light wall units and dark base, in a small space I needed to be more uniform.

I think there is a move away from cool colours to warm colours. That’s what l keep reading anyway.

l love the green, but think it would date faster than the red.

Olive for me, although I do love the deep red too. You've given yourself a tough choice there, OP!

Olive 🫒

I love reading your replies and ideas , thank you everyone.

I was leaning towards red, but most people I've shown in real life look a bit taken aback at the colour 🤣. I wondered it was hideous. I love both though.

The green says 'cosy country kitchen' and the red says 'can't afford mahogany'.

The Olive is nice… but maybe just sage all over? I think two colours might be too much going on.

The red is too dark.

😁 a bit yeah.

The red one looks absolutely lovely. The olive is a bit too dark and depressing for my liking, I would go a bit more sagey. If you prefer the olive, I'd keep your top cupboards unpainted and see how that looks, and then maybe experiment with oils/wax for a rustic finish that works well with the olive. For the red, I'd go with a tonally lighter top of the same family, so a warm plaster pink.