One of the few rooms in our house that had been renovated in recent years is the kitchen. Clearly, 4 or 5 years ago, a previous owner put in new cabinets, counters, appliances and floors. It appears to be a quicky, inexpensive reno, probably necessary to sell the house, so while I would not have made the same cabinet or tile choices, I have to admit that having a kitchen made in the 21st century is nice. I especially love the huge stove and stainless steel vent hood.
These photos were taken right before we moved in. So far, we’ve painted the ceiling (Sherwin Williams “Alabaster”), hung blinds in the windows and generally moved our stuff in. But the kitchen still feels very dark, so we have some ch-ch-changes to make!
After much deliberation, I settled on a green subway tile backsplash, which you can read all about here, and decided to leave the cabinets alone – as in, not paint them. Since then, I’ve fleshed out my inspiration a bit more and come up with this:
1. Repaint the walls. The current sage green is unoffensive, but feels dark. Due to the layout and windows in the kitchen, we need all the help we can get lightening things up in there. Recently, I was on a photo shoot for work in a condo that was painted Sherwin Williams’ Natural Choice. It was a soft, pleasant not-quite-white that, as it turns out, is just a couple shades darker than Alabaster, which is what my ceilings and trim are painted.
2. Tile the backsplash with light green subway tiles. I plan to do this myself, and if HGTV is telling the truth, ANYONE EVEN YOU can tile your own backsplash in a quick and easy weekend project. We shall see.
3. Replace the bisque refrigerator that came with the house with a stainless steel one that is taller and less bulky.
4. Replace the black panel on the dishwasher with a stainless steel one. Apparently you can do this without replacing the whole thing.
5. The back door, like the other doors in our house, is unpainted wood with a metal fixture over the window. We will replace it with a new steel door with a glass window to let in extra light. Something like this, perhaps.
6. The other corner of the kitchen houses my IKEA Docksta table and two benches that form a breakfast nook. Bright cushions and pillows will be needed and I’m toying with the idea of replacing the benches with more permanent-looking built-ins like this or this. I haven’t thought that one all the way through yet.
7. Finally, I’ll add bright yellow, white and light green accessories and art throughout.
I would eventually like to replace the tile floors with a laminate wood that matches the floors in the rest of the house, but that will have to wait until we refinish all the floors and see what color we end up with.
So what do you think? I’m feeling much better about the whole thing since I decided against painting the cabinets. Thanks so much for all your feedback!
