Help me with kitchen colours

[MamaPizza]

We are currently re-doing the whole house. Most of it is already done, but due to finances (we are saving up for a wedding + holiday in Lapland this Christmas) we are going to do the bare minimum to the kitchen for now. It will be fully done in 2015 or 2016, but until then I want to revamp it and make it look much nicer than it is now. Budget about £200.

Status quo is:
All cupboards are still in good condition, nothing is falling apart. But the doors are not the nicest looking wood, I wouldn't have chosen it (You can guess that we inherited the kitchen from previous owner).

Wall tiles around the sink and hob are white. Again, they look cheap and rubbish, but in great condition.

Lovely different shades of brown marble-look-alike tile flooring which is staying.

Black marble-style worktop which is also staying.

Washing machine, dryer and fridge/freezer are black and are staying.

Cream / black aga oven which is staying.

So (sorry for the long ramble), brown floor is staying, black worktop is staying, cream aga is staying and black appliances are staying.

The plan is to get high quality cupboard paint and tile paint to spruce up the kitchen. I reckon it would make a huge difference as the rest is fine.

The problem I have is - which colours?

Do I go for high gloss black or high gloss cream cupboard paint? Experience with any? I have also seen a colour called 'lovely olive' which looked, well lovely. Would that work?

Which colour would you paint the tiles? Black or cream? Or something else?

Colour for walls?

Any ideas, experience with cupboard and tile paint appreciated.

As I said, it is going to be a temporary solution for 1-2 years, but I want to do something to it as it looks a bit 'tired' and needs a good sprucing up.

Will add pics to my profile in a moment, so you can get ideas.

Thank you

Ok, talking to myself now. Anyone here?

Thoughts on these?

Cupboard paint

Tile paint

Would this work with the brown tile flooring as seen on profile pics?

Oh, and changing the aga to a fully black one, might aswell treat myself even though I never cook

Or should I go for red instead of the green?

If it were me I'd choose lovely olive painted doors with cream tiles, or I might not even bother to paint the tiles if they're in good condition and get a blind for the window in white, olive and black to tie the colourscheme together.
Don't know if that helps at all.

I'd go for pretty olive color too, as, why not? We looked at a house with a kitchen that had tall angled wall, maybe a cathedral ceiling, and the wall was painted olive. It was stunning.

I think the white tiles might be harsh with the olive. I like cream. I looked at your pictures. You might love it and keep it longer. Much less fuss. You could have your doors professionally painted. A pro would take the doors elsewhere to paint.

I didn't look at the photos until after I posted

I was thinking mainly of the tiles being in good condition and that you could maybe regrout them with a coloured grout to tart them up a bit with less work and expense.

The worktop is less black in the photo than I'd imagined, so a glossy black door would work. Could you spray them rather than painting? would that be easier. I've never painted tiles or cupboard doors to be honest.
Or, if the worktop has as much grey in it as it looks on my screen, you could do a dark grey door and grout the white tiles with grey, then just put some cream accessories around.
Depends on how deep the worktop colour really is (and if you even like dark grey)

Cream tiles would work with either olive or black doors.

I think the most important thing is to be realistic about the end result and what's achievable and cost effective for the short term. I'm all for the least effort myself, as you can tell.

Personally I'd steer clear of red but only because I like it in photos, yet find it hard to live with all the time.

Does the paint (cupboard) have a gloss finish? The link doesn't say that (or didn't I look properly?!). I think black (without a gloss finish to bounce the light back etc) would be dark and depressing. Also, from personal experience, don't go with F&B paint on the cupboards, it chips / marks far too easily, you need an oil based eggshell paint I think (which F&B used to be but isn't any more).

Also (sorry if I'm coming over as unduly negative - don't mean to be) I've only ever seen painted tiles once and they looked dreadful. Obviously depends of how professional a job you're doing / if you're re-grouting etc.

Good luck!

Thanks all for the input.

First of all, here is the lovely olive paint, I think it's getting the thumbs up, right? And it's so nice and cheap, would do the job for all of the cupboards. I like doing things myself, so happy to give it a go.

I've found something else these here, but wouldn't be able to use them over the cooker.

So, the options are (with my thoughts in brackets):

1. cream tiles, black glossy cupboards
   (would probably work best with the brown floor and blackish worktop, but a bit too 'safe' - I like adventure and colours)

2. cream tiles, olive cupboards
   (sounds great, but would it work with the black worktop and the black appliances)

3. IKEA fastbo splashback instead of tiles and then maybe cream cupboards
   (might be another option that could work)

The problem I have is - I like all combinations, but not sure what would work best. The floor is brown the worktop is black with yes there is some grey/white in it, so I think those two colours already clash or am I thinking too much into it? I don't really want to keep the tiles white, it looks boring and harsh.

I've been looking at black cookers and it would be an option to change it.

Which option would you go for? I'm actually pleased I narrowed it down to 3, trust me I had so many ideas in my head.

Hang on, just a thought. What about the walls? If for example I went for option 1, could I have olive coloured walls to add a bit of vavavoom?

FWIW Mama I like to go fairly neutral on the big things and then splash out on the accents, whether that's splashing on cash or on ideas. That's because if you decide you hate red/lime green/olive/orange/purple after all, then it's no big deal to change it around.
Actually I quite like the idea of olive units with cream tiles and then accent with orange. It's all colours of nature so it works. You might hate orange though.

The best place I saw for sale when we were flat hunting was a teeny one bed, but they'd kept to three colours only through the whole place.
The walls were a cream colour, the floors and furniture were dark grey and the accent colour was Barbie pink. They had cushions on the bed and the sofa, the washing up bowl and storage jars on the worktop, towels and a few bits in the bathroom. It tied everything together, looked really smart and made the place look bigger. I'm not keen on that pink, but it was the whole coordination thing that made the flat work as a whole.

That's why I don't think it needs to be boring if you go with 'safe' colours on tiles and units. You could just pick any colour and put it in a window blind and some bits around the kitchen and really make a difference.

Ignore the floor and change the things you really hate that you see more of.
Don't change a working cooker now if it's doing its job, save your money until you start the kitchen from scratch and use the money to get what suits the new scheme at the same time. Seriously if it's a temporary fix, don't spend any more than you need to and get the units and tiles right and the wall colour can be picked to suit them.

Good thoughts enrique, thanks.

You are right, I'm planning on treating ourselves to new kettle toaster, knife set after the revamp anyway, so could go with one bright accent colour. We need new 'little appliances' anyway as ours are still from the day we moved in over 5 years ago... So sticking to safe colours would make sense.

I LOVE orange, but we have it in the hall already (with brown and cream) and I'm trying to do different colour schemes in every room iyswim. But then again, a bit of orange in the kitchen would actually look fab. Orange kettle anyone?

If you've got a local car paint resprayer, it might be worth contacting them to see if they would also do cupboard doors.

I knew someone who did this once - the finish was amazing and really hard wearing, it cost the same as buying decent paint and doing it themselves so saved lots of effort and they were very happy so win-win all around. I can't remember if they used actual car paint (which means you can have pretty metallic colours if you fancied them) or what her cupboard doors were made of.

But it might be worth a quick google and phone call!