Advice on kitchen paint colour please

[tillymint21]

I've just put this under Good Housekeeping but realised it might be more relevant here so apologies for repeating it again. Help! I need some advice from any of you out there who have confidence with colour and know what works. We've just had a lovely new kitchen installed - high gloss white units, dark wooden worktops and a composite white island, plus a beautiful dark wooden floor. The painter is booked but I'm rapidly running out of time and have no confidence in what colour to paint the walls. Its a big kitchen/diner with high ceilings and a nice big window, but it's a north facing room so doesn't get direct sunlight. Would a shade of white work? F & B or any other. I'd really welcome any advice going.

If it were me I would go with a deep bright colour, I think that would really set off the white gloss and compliment the dark features.

Perhaps a deep tourquoise, or shade of red. You would need a warm shade in a north facing room.

Also practical and won't need painting every week as often.

We bought a show house and every room was a 'shade' of white. Within a week every room was a 'shade' of filthy . So from a practical point of view a darker colour would be better IMHO.

With white units and wood surfaces I would go for white or a clean colour, rather than a murky/muddy colour. A "shade of white" could just look grubby next to your white units.

Little Greene has some good colours which are subtle but still clean rather than muddy. (Farrow & ball tend to be more muddy).

I always think green goes well with white and wood, because the green brings out the warm reddish/brownish tones in the wood. How about something like Pea Green from little greene?

If a strong colour all over would be overpowering, you could paint it just on one wall and the splashback area, and have the rest white?

I've just painted mine F&B French Grey - I have white gloss units and oak tops. Looks fab and everyone comments on it. I have got lots of light from roof lights and French windows but even the dining bit which is quite dark looks good. I plan to accessorise with white shelving and lots of bright pictures.

I think the strength of contrast you have already with dark wood and white allows for a strong, bright colour. I'd go for teal or something reddish or moss or slatey green. But, north facing without light makes a big difference.

I'd use a lighter colour for the ceiling and perhaps some walls but not white, it will just look dirty, quickly. Stronger colours will show up the brightness of your units and complement the wood.

So, looking at F+B I think Dix Blue is a classic for this sort of kitchen but might look dark (you need testers, painted on big bits of card you can move around the room, to tell), so Blue ground or Lulworth blue might be good.

I'd consider Calluna (I have a sample of this and brassica. Calluna looks off-white in a bright room but has definite colour in a darker one, good with dark wood and silvery / steel things).

The reddish shades are quite dark and I found Fowler Pink just looked like terracotta. Maybe calamine? Or you could go for a stronger feature wall, with a lighter shade elsewhere. Greens, greeny-grey could be good; green ground, Theresa's green, mizzle etc could look really good.

We went for the Dulux colour Timeless in our north facing kitchen/family room as an off white shade that didn't have a yellowish or pinkish tone to it. Seems to work well. Very neutral though so not the bolder statements that others are suggesting. Guess it depends how brave you are (we weren't).