Color-Wise Tips for Painting Kitchen Cabinets
- Darker colors may hide more stains that the common white, lighter wood or pastels that many kitchens feature. Darker colored paints can also hide imperfections in the cabinet material's finish. While a coat of semi-gloss or high-gloss paint makes wiping the cabinets simple, the darker colors can help hide the messes between cleanings. Accent colors from the kitchen's color scheme can pull the room together while still achieving stain coverage.
- The wall color may also be the right color for the cabinets, especially if you want the cabinets to sort of disappear or blend into the rest of the room. This can make a smaller kitchen appear to be larger and create the illusion that the cabinets are built into the wall like the cabinetry work you see in homes from the early 1900s. Strips of quarter-round molding applied where the wall meets the cabinet frame can also help pull off this built-in look.
- Cabinets that have deep grooves and molding can handle two or more colors of paint that complement each other and the rest of the kitchen. By using two colors from your kitchen's current decor, you can create a cabinet finish that pulls the entire room together. Consider using the wall color for the outermost section of the cabinet doors and the frame, leaving an accent color for the grooves and center sections. Even flat-faced cabinets can be altered with strips of molding to paint with multiple colors.
- The many color choices and combinations can be overwhelming, no matter how much research you do. A sketch of your kitchen -- or better yet, a photocopied snapshot -- can help you see the finished result before you even begin. Use colored pencils to achieve close matches to colors you will find in paints. Test a out few colors to see which fit your kitchen best. Paint sample cards can help as well. Tape them to your cabinets and, after a few days, settle on the color that draws your eyes in a positive way.
