North-facing kitchen colours

[iwantabreakfastpantry]

We have a north-facing kitchen, which even on a bright sunny day, can be dark. We really like dark blue/grey kitchen cabinetry (or even a pale grey on the top half and darker bottom) and wood accents to add warmth but it seems that is not a good choice for north-facing rooms. Not keen on yellows.
Any suggestions of a colour scheme? Photos of lovely north facing kitchens are welcome!
TIA

Here is an example of what we like (not bothered about trends)

My last house's kitchen was north facing. We had very pale grey cabinetry (much like your picture), with a pale grey granite worktop. Floors were pale tumbled limestone, and walls were painted in Timeless. It was gorgeous, and reflected all the light excellently.

I have a grey tiled floor and grey work tops and accessories. The rest of the kitchen is in different shades of white. The walls are white, the tiles are a little bit darker and the units are another shade darker. It just gives enough contrast to make it more interesting. I have a number of more colourful things on the walls, but the overall effect is bright and airy. It is an old house, so we don't have huge windows, so to many dark colours would be gloomy.

We had cream coloured Shaker cabinets, creamish large floor tiles (this helped it look bigger), wood effect laminate worktops and walls painted in Dulux Just Walnut.

There wasn't a huge amount of wall space TBH as two doors, window and we chose tall units. Splash backs were tiled in pale beige tones.

very dark blue kitchen units for base units plus three tall units for fridge/freezer/oven and microwave combi etc

Additional tall storage 2 * 60 units plus two bookcases/shelving units in off white/cream shade.

oak effect lvt. off white walls to match the pale units.

north facing. love it. don't care it is north facing. what makes a difference is the right lighting. we have pendants over the kitchen table, up and down wall lights around the round plus ceiling spotlights. So getting the lighting right is key to getting the mood of the kitchen as you want it. - pendants and wall lights are dimmable and that helps

I have a south facing kitchen but a brick shed helpfully built just outside the back door that blocks any light.. I have pale grey units with white ‘cloudy’ marble worktops and wood effect floor. I’m pleased with it, the previous kitchen was wood/cream/terracotta colours and it felt a lot dingier.

I love the navy/dark grey units but had the same concerns as you. In hindsight I think it would have been absolutely fine dark on the bottom and light on the top.

Thank you all - really helpful comments.

Good point re: lights @SallyLockheart but what do you mean by “up and down wall lights around the round”? thanks

Just re read that 😯 typos. Have three up/down lighters placed to give a bit of gentle overall light. We have these. Initially I thought they were a bit blocky but they give good light and I painted them the same colour as the walls

www.johnlewis.com/astro-aria-300-wall-light-white/p2949166

My current plan for mine when we get around to doing it is white walls, seaglass green back splash tiles, white unit fronts, wooden worktop and floor

Dark kitchen. Went for F&B shaded white units, white tiles, oak tops and did the dark blue on the walls. Easy to change 'look' that was as main kitchen etc is very neutral

What light you have is best reflected by a white (or very pale) worktop. If lifts the whole kitchen. Or nearly white like marble or flecked quartz. Having had two north facing kitchens, the other big difference is having a large roof lantern. It takes light from above. Windows don’t let in the same amount of light. I have glass walls on 2 sides. The units on my island are off white and mid grey on the wall units and larder unit etc. Floor is limestone. So it’s all pretty neutral. It’s fantastic even in the darkest day.

I agree about worktops. Also think about your upper cabinets. If you MUST have them, hang them as flush to the ceiling as you can - add trim if ceiling is uneven.

British kitchens have this weird gap between the top of the wall unit and the ceiling where people put absolute crap. Get rid of the gap and you kitchen will look brighter, you will have space to undercount lights and your ceilings will look higher.

tile between the worktop and the start of the wall cabinets to reflect even more light. It can break up the lines in a bad way to have worktop, upstand, tile, paint, cabinet, weird british crap gap. Try just worktop, upstand, tile, cabinet.

also look at the type of bulb you put in. The blog young house love has an extensive blog post on lightbulbs and colours for different rooms and elevations. It’s really helpful and has changed how we light our home.

North facing kitchen extension. Love blue but can look very cold so we opted for LG Olive and LG olive oil on the island.

We've got light grey cabinets, white speckled worktops and terracotta floor tiles. Wimborne white on the walls.

@incognitodorrito love that green. we got green samples when we were looking at our kitchen but opted for dark blue in the end. However, bathroom refurb coming up and I'm going green!

@AgathaMystery
Wd didn’t tile between the upstand and cupboards. Yes I do have them. We have a big mirrored area behind the sink and a soft sheen paint on the walls. F&B do one. It’s brilliant. Tiles can look very messy where they join an upstand. The mirror is a lot slimmer and reflects far more light. Obviously don’t use behind a hob!

I agree- totally down to the skill of the tiler!!

I have pretty much the exact picture in your post OP, but mine is south facing. Funnily enough I remarked to DH earlier that even though it is mostly lighter colours (navy in island only) that you still need the light on basically all day at this time of year - so I'd say regardless you might find that it's still a bit of an issue!

If you pick a warm grey (with yellow tones) rather than a cool grey (with blue tones) it can be fine. I would also be prepared to have a lot of lighting that can be used at different times of the day.

I have used De Nimes in a north facing kitchen with Hardwick white and it looks fab . Similar to your photograph.

in our N facing kitchen have Howdens Tewksbury in Antique White, wood counter tops, beige stone tiles and Bubble Gum pink walls. But we also have a wall of windows/ French doors and a Velux. So there’s lots of light.

North-east facing kitchen here. We have maple cabinetry and an island painted a darkish greenish grey. Countertop on the island is a cream-coloured quartz (not real stone but looks like it). Floor is pale grey tiles. Walls are a warm cream. I agree about lighting. We have under-cabinet lights plus two built into the window trim over the sink, plus a pendant light over the island and one over the table (eat-in kitchen) plus recessed ceiling lights. Dimmer switches on the ceiling and pendant lights. All this means we can have a wide range of lighting.

We have a north -facing bedroom and went with the cool colours. Ours is blues, greys. It looks very light and fresh and not cold at all.

We have the same problem and have inherited white units and grey worktops and floor tiles.
I have had a colour consultation and our plan is to paint the walls setting plaster pink. It’s a subtle warm hue.

We've got air force blue with copper handles and a smokey white/grey worktop.