I have come to hate my grey kitchen in the winter.

[Allthethings]

New kitchen several years ago. Opted for dark grey units, white quartz worktop, light grey flooring. I didn't want the walls white so opted for a lovely pale blue.

It all makes me very happy in the spring and summer. Its south facing and gets beautiful light filtering in, 'rainbows' cast by the sparkle in the quartz, foliage shadows on the walls etc...

In the winter, it just makes me feel miserable and cold and I don't want to spend time in there. We have an oak table in the dining part, have added colourful art on the walls and even added some oak shelves to try and add warmth and make it cosy. Ultimately though, the grey makes the space dark and the blue walls make the space cold.

I'm open to suggestions, or even commiserations if you have experienced similar. I love country style kitchen diners and I'm not sure what I was thinking when we made the choices we did. It was part of an extension so perhaps we were deciosion-fatigued. Also, it was difficult to plan a kitchen for a space which didn't then exist.

What do you think would make the biggest difference? Change the floor colour? Lighting? Wall colour? If so, what colours? Would painting one wall deeper shade help or make it worse?

I've put purple in mine to brighten it up. And touches of pale soft sage green. The walls are a soft lavender. It helps.

I'm looking at some iridescent glass mosaic tiles for a small strip.

Plants may help- a palm type tree with fairy lights. If you had a rich fabric runner on the table, and matching seat pads/cushions that may help too. You can always save them for winter.

Lighting definitely

Mood and soft lighting- so dimmers and spotlights. This will make it feel much cosier in winter. Do some research and plan what lighting you need for the space. Go somewhere for free advice eg John Lewis.

Also consider a warming feature light, something like the copper ball from Tom Dixon

Oh and go for yellower light. If you have white light that will make it feel colder

Oh and a copper splash back or warm tiles

Change the wall colour. Changing from blue to green would make a huge difference.

Blue is a cold colour so I woke change the walls to a warmer colour, maybe soft green as a pp said. Also yellower lights.

Could you put a small Christmas tree in there over Christmas?

Thank you for the suggestions.

The lights aren't so bad now I think of it. All bulbs are yellow and warm in the dining area and I have various lights - a wall light, a pendant light, cupboard lights and I even added a Philips mood light to the dark corner, so I project a yellow or green up that corner. Im not sure what more I could do with lights.

I added some Cacti but known big foliage plants would help me feel better about the space. What are good plants to put in a kitchen and Best ways to display them? We're lacking window ledge space as I like to fully close the blinds when it's nighttime to block out the dark.

Paint colour. I'm resisting admitting that it's a problem but I know it is. I love it in summer, it's so fresh. It's Craig and Rose porcelain blue. But when I was looking for paint 4 years ago, I had in mind a vintage greeney blue colour and couldn't find it at the time.

Paint the walls definitely. I've used blue in one room is my house but it's a greeny grey blue and is in the hall so works well. My kitchen is painted Egyptian cotton which is a warm beige grey colour.

DH will not be impressed spending £80+ on paint. Ive done this before - I made the hallway depressingly dark with a greige and we had to redo it with a light reflective paint. Does anyone sell paint reasonably priced and Hardy enough for a kitchen in a colour I'm looking for?

Agree about plants. I have a snake plant, a spider plant, and a Swiss cheese plant and cycle them around. The green makes me smile all winter.

Although the thing that makes our kitchen feel warmest is the wooden flooring. It's a lovely dark oak colour.

We have wooden counters and a vinyl mat on the floor that looks like Moroccan tiles which also helps warm it up. (We also have a grey and blue kitchen but can't do anything permanent to it as it's a rental.)

www.grahamandgreen.co.uk/moroccan-tile-mats-and-runner

The Wilko kitchen paint is good and not madly expensive.

Xia - oh wow. I live those mats.

love

Well this is my solution to everything admittedly, but I'd paint it Dulux Timeless - a warm white that goes with everything and makes spaces bright, but still cosy. Then add accents. My kitchen has a grey floor, and timeless walls and then a lot of bright orange/yellow/aqua colour in the form of pictures, accessories, chair cushions, splashback and tiling.

It shouldn't cost much to paint and you can then see if you like it, or spend time looking for the perfect colour for fancier paint.

I would want to keep the wall colour and change the floor to something woody. But paint is massively cheaper.

Stupid question, but is literally cold? Does it just need more actual heat to make it cosier?

I like the Christmas tree idea.

Green is just as cold as blue and looks awful with dark grey. It won’t be any jmorivemrnt.

I would go for one of the Warner whites from F&B like Pointing. I have a pale grey kitchen and have red accessories. Yellow would be good for accessories too. I also buy flowers every other week. I’m lucky in that mine has a glass roof but when the sky is grey, it’s grey! Go for the paint and accessories that brighten your day.

Agree Dulux Timeless is a lovely warm but still fresh white. A pale sage green would look lovely too. If you find a posh colour you like you can always have it matched at a trade paint shop.

I'd avoid anything creamy coloured because of the white worktop and tiles. We have pointing in our hallway and whilst I live it there I think it would clash with the other white stuff.

What about a warm pinky neutral colour?

The floor could be sanded and changed without laying be floor.

If you are in Leeds or nearby this place is amazing. seagullsreuse.org.uk/
Very cheap paint, can get colours mixed or buy virtuallly full tins for about £5 instead of £40( f&B).

Any chance of a photo OP. Might get you different answers

I'd paint the walls a pale blush pink and add a rug of some sort.

The reason Timeless is is great is because it's not cream, it's definitely white and doesn't clash with my white cabinets/washing machine etc - but it's warming not chilly and adapts to what's around it. (Can you tell I LOVE it :o it was recommended to me on here and I've never looked back)

However I think a warm neutral /blush could really work too.

@Tanyaaah I'm getting all my paint from Seagulls- they just matched peaen black for my living room - they're amazing