Kitchen Make Over

Dark walls and cabinets with little natural light.

Our house is thirty plus years old and one of its best features is the very large kitchen with tons of cabinets and storage space. However, for as large as the kitchen is, it always gave me the feeling of confinement because of the dark drab cabinets and the dark wall color. So, finally after eight years I decided it was time to tackle this problem and give the kitchen a facelift.

There were a few things I needed to consider. First and foremost, was my virtually nonexistent budget and second, that fabulous late 70′s early 80′s swirl yellow countertop. Without a sizable budget replacing the countertop was out of the question, so I needed to consider it in the color scheme. With that in mind I made two trips to Lowes and to Joann Fabrics to pull together a pallet of color that would harmonize with the countertop and maintain enough flexibility to work with the two rooms that are directly off the Kitchen/Dining area.

I am a huge fan of color so there are literally no white walls in my home so I had to look to the two flanking rooms which are neutral earth tones, to ensure I was considering the visual harmony. I chose a pale yellow for the wall and a stark white for the wainscot below. I didn’t initially consider the cabinet color until I had the walls painted. Once I finished the walls I knew I was going to have to tone down the dark cupboards but did not want to use the Stark white I used on the walls so, I chosen a butter cream color which has a warm glow versus the cool tone of the white on the walls.

A week of hard work later here is the result! Looks completely different! We still have some finishing work as the budget allows in the way of crown molding, chair railing and base board but overall I am so happy with the result. The kitchen is so bright now even with the minimal light from the windows. The space actually looks and feels as big as it is now, no more kitchen claustrophobia for me!