Refitting a kitchen - what colour?

[Nikhedonia]

I'm going to redo my kitchen towards the end of this year, early next year.

It's sizeable, but backs onto my north facing garden, so can be quite dark.

I can't quite decide what colour cupboards to go with. Sage green? White? A very, very light grey? Navy?

Worktops, flooring and tiles still all to be decided...

It's the first time I've got to decide this all on my own (first time properly living alone as an adult) and I'm a bit spoilt for choice!

I'm a bit worried about the current grey trend going out of fashion. And I have to renovate sympathetically to my victorian house... any ideas/inspiration?

I went Navy too, well two-tone really and I have no regrets at all!! Flirted with sage green too (I know they're both 'trendy' colours) but my thinking was that I went for something that made me happy, rather then the status quo (white etc).

I think grey is out of date now, I like Sage green a lot (but suspect it will date too- and more quickly)

Hmm thanks all.

I'm really torn, I'd love a grey kitchen but I would be so annoyed if everyone walked in and immediately commented on it being outdated (). Would charcoal be possibly with light worktops and light flooring? Or in a north facing room would the charcoal just make everything look really dark?

Or shaker cupboards with grey tiles, grey flooring and oak worktops?

I really like this which is a "dove grey", but different flooring and tiles rather than splash back.

If anyone walks into your house and tells you something is outdated, please kick them out of your house! 😂

Dove grey is what we're going for. It's grey, but so pale it's not "grey grey" if that makes sense. Would look lovely with some patterned coloured tiles

@coldgraybrix sounds lovely. Could you share a pic?

@pralinelatte which style are your units? I can't decide if I prefer matt or gloss!

Of course if you really love grey, you should follow your heart. And of course people should pick what makes them happy.

It’s just installing something at the end of a trend is risky:
-it’s frustrating if you need to sell in the next 5 years
-as the new trendy neutral changes, stores end up with accessories in colours that no longer suit the old popular neutral (grey)
-you start seeing inspiration photos everywhere that are a sharp change from grey and look so fresh and appealing...you wonder if you really loved grey so much after all.

White is the safest choice for hard finishes that you can’t rip out easily. Cabinets can always be repainted.

I inherited a kitchen with travertine floors, creamy cabinets, travertine backsplash and gold and brown flecked granite countertops. Horribly dated and looks tired. I can get the cabinets re-sprayed for about £2k and the palaver of emptying the whole kitchen. White or grey would both look awful with all the gold and beige though. I wish I had a plain white backdrop. But the best I can do is to go for a colour that somehow doesn’t clash with the fixed elements. (The counter top looks golden with green undertones, while the travertine has pink undertones. The yellow of the cabinets is a third undertone andjust too much.) This story is to illustrate how frustrating fixed elements you grow tired of can be.

@Smallgoon

I went Navy too, well two-tone really and I have no regrets at all!! Flirted with sage green too (I know they're both 'trendy' colours) but my thinking was that I went for something that made me happy, rather then the status quo (white etc).

Do you mind me asking about your dining room chairs ? They look really nice ! Where did you get them? Thanks

@LivingoffCoffee

If anyone walks into your house and tells you something is outdated, please kick them out of your house! 😂

Dove grey is what we're going for. It's grey, but so pale it's not "grey grey" if that makes sense. Would look lovely with some patterned coloured tiles

I will definitely kick them out!

I think I'll feel really sad if I don't get the grey kitchen. But I do need to think about doing something a bit 'different' to make it feel more modern.

Every time I think about getting a white kitchen I just feel

We are going with white smooth painted very thin shaker style doors for our kitchen but with a flat slab style medium oak island. All with white quartz worktops and brass handles. Our kitchen is large but fairly dark so we wanted to brighten it up. It’s a fairly popular look in Canada/Aus it seems going by Instagram

We are going for black. Yes black!! With light work tops and floor. It looks amazing. We have a very light and bright and huge kitchen area. I was going to dark island and light main run but decided to be brave. We can always re-paint.

nikhedonia the pale grey units/white worktop photo you love is really similar to my new kitchen & I love it too.

I'd strongly suggest though that you try out different unit colours in your actual kitchen. I found that the cool north light in mine made some otherwise lovely colours look terrible.
In my case I ordered several sample unit doors from DIY kitchens and lived with them for a while. The cashmere finish I chose in the end wasn't my first choice but looked the best in the room because it"s a warm neutral colour. You could also paint bits of paper with sample pots in your favourite colours and see how they look in your kitchen; I was surprised at how washed out or harsh some colours looked.
Pure brilliant white, for instance, looked frankly harsh & horrible; a warm white (slight yellow undertones) looks neutral. Similarly, white cabinet doors looked flat & dull, whereas warm grey ones looked inviting, in my opinion.

@Pralinelatte yes, I think I've said upthread that I'll be getting a few different samples to view in the light.

I've refitted a north facing kitchen before and ended up getting a soft white colour as it really brightened the room and the greys just looked depressing.

nikhedonia I love that last pic you posted, it's beautiful

'If anyone walks into your house and tells you something is outdated, please kick them out of your house!'

Yes this^
I hate when people get things just because it's on trend. Everything dates eventually. I always just go for colours and styles I love and really couldnt give a hoot whether it is considered 'in.' If you like it that is all the matters as you're the one who will see it everyday!

@Yesterdayforgotten

'If anyone walks into your house and tells you something is outdated, please kick them out of your house!'

Yes this^
I hate when people get things just because it's on trend. Everything dates eventually. I always just go for colours and styles I love and really couldnt give a hoot whether it is considered 'in.' If you like it that is all the matters as you're the one who will see it everyday!

And this is why I really don't want to get a "safe" white or an off white kitchen. I just dream of a pale grey, a charcoal or even a navy and grey kitchen.

I wonder if a pale grey kitchen will ever really be unfashionable...

Go with the grey - sounds like you actually like it rather than just chasing the trends!
You can always brighten/warm it up with the correct lighting.

That dove grey looks ace.

I’m not a fan of the grey trend but that’s because often is a really flat, ugly tone and use indiscriminately making spaces look drab and naff. Very different from someone giving in a bit of thought and using it skilfully.

I wouldn’t think pale grey could ever be more unfashionable than cream is now. Cream isn’t what everyone wants and what you see everywhere, but it certainly isn’t objectionable.

If white makes you feel meh, don’t do it.

I'd go for green - this is nice

I’m having a slate grey kitchen with copper handles and pink tiles! White quartz worktops and white floor tiles. I love grey, always have. The doors are paintable so we can always respray in the future but this is our forever home so I figure I may as well have what I want!

I would also add that everything dates eventually because its not just colours that give something a look. 2 tone wasnt a thing until recently, when i was young some worktop types didnt exist so the shape and way things are moulded has changed. At the moment big full height cupboards are in. Handle shapes change. Tile shapes change too. It was all brass coloured fitting when i was young, then chrome was the thing and now its moving from chrome.
So i think if you have always loved grey then it will be fine. It goes with lots of different accessories and paints.

We are awaiting our DIY Dakar kitchen, in our house ( south facing) the sample looks a mushroom/ grey with a green undertones. I couldn't decide between this and sage for ages. In the end I decided that it was fairly neutral ( well more than sage) and would take better to me changing the feel of the room with paint accessories than sage which was always going to be green. I will know in a moth if I made the right call or not.

Month.