Kitchen color question - Cabinets and counter - opinions please

Antoe2007 · April 2012

In my new kitchen (new construction) I am between either white cabinets with dark granite or Dark cabinets (similar to espresso) with a light beige colored granite. Ive had black granite and found it a little annoying bc you could see all of the fingerprints but am not sure if that is because of how my kitchen lighting was. Which do you prefer and any comments? This is going to be my forever house so i want to make the perfect decisions

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emjacobs13 · April 2012

Its not the best picture in the world but these are my cabinets and countertops. The cabinets are a medium-dark brown birch (forget the actual name of the color, Saddle maybe?) and the countertops are a Wilsonart HD laminate with a lot of natural blues, greys, blacks, and browns through out. You can see that I get a tone of natural light so it helps things not feel so dark.

I'm personally not on Team White Cabinets, looks great in some cases but just NMS.

TheBridesMom · April 2012

If I were you, I would look at as many photos of kitchens as possible, and see which ones you are drawn to. I'll bet a pattern will emerge and you will have a better idea of which color combination will make you happy.

FoxinFiji · April 2012

What do your inspiration pictures have? If you're building a forever home you must have a lot of those saved up right?

Of your two choices the white cabinets with dark countertops. You can upgrade the granite to a honed finish that won't show fingertips and waterspots as much but it's more expensive and little harder to clean.

Unless your kitchen gets a lot of natural light I wouldn't go with dark cabinets. Dark cabinets are heavy and make a space feel smaller. White cabinets are very "in" and many people consider them classic but they are a little more maintenance because they show dirt and grime more easily. They also need to be touched up with paint. Some interior designers are starting to move away from white cabinets because they are so overdone and because wood is a natural element that gives warmth and depth to a room...flat white is well flat white.

In our future forever kitchen we're going with lightly stained maple cabinets with a shaker style door, flush insert style, fully paneled ends, and furniture feet with a toe kick behind for easy cleaning. The countertop will be a white quartz or possibly granite. Very light and bright with durable and forgiving wood cabinets (maple is great for cabinetry because it's hard yet flexible).

MaddysMum · April 2012

TheBridesMom:
If I were you, I would look at as many photos of kitchens as possible, and see which ones you are drawn to. I'll bet a pattern will emerge and you will have a better idea of which color combination will make you happy.

That's what I did - I started pinning kitchen pictures on Pinterest whenever I found I liked one. Eventually, I had quite a few and it was sort of interesting to see the same looks over and over. It turns out I have a fairly defined kitchen style that maybe I wouldn't have gotten to without a collection of images like that, you know?

sratsey · April 2012

Having done a dark granite in my last home and now a light countertop in ,y current home, I would pick a light countertop hands down. The maintenance is so much easier because the lighter granite shows none of the streaks and marks that had to be meticulously maintained on the dark counters. Now I just wipe them down with a wet sponge and I'm good to go.

As everyone else has mentioned though, the first place to start is to collect kitchens that you're drawn to. You'll probably find that you tend to gravitate towards a certain look over and over again. I had cherry cabinets in my last home, so I was certain I was going to go with white. I pinned A LOT of white kitchens and then at the last second, completely swung the other way...which I suppose is really more my style. I did the same thing with paint. Swore I'd go opposite and paint everything "bright and airy"...only to pop open the Sealskin Black and slap it up in the family room.

You do need a lot of natural light for darker cabinets, so take that into consideration with how dark you go, if that's the road you take. Good luck!!

boomer88 · April 2012

Here is a pic of our new construction house (not yet finished). Sorry this picture is upside down and not very good, but you can see the colors next to each other. I love it, but I also like the cream cabinets and dark granite. They just didn't have a cream color that looked as high quality (antiqued) as I would want it to.

boomer88 · April 2012

Here's another picture...sorry the quality of the pic is not that great.

brianabrad · April 2012

Antoe2007:
In my new kitchen (new construction) I am between either white cabinets with dark granite or Dark cabinets (similar to espresso) with a light beige colored granite. Ive had black granite and found it a little annoying bc you could see all of the fingerprints but am not sure if that is because of how my kitchen lighting was. Which do you prefer and any comments? This is going to be my forever house so i want to make the perfect decisions )

Same situation here! We are building a new home and actually going to pick out the kitchen tomorrow. I've done a lot of looking at photos online. I knew I wanted darker cabinets but couldn't decide if it was best to go with a dark or light granite. It was personal taste that keeps me away from white or light colored cabinets.

As I've been doing my research I've heard it all. MIL said dark granite was better for not showing stuff, other people said its the worst, some warned again light color granite staining. I'm so confused I have no idea! lol

meglew · April 2012

We have darker cabinets and light granite counter tops (New Venetian Gold). I love the combination. We always get a lot of compliments on it.

boomer88 · April 2012

If you are going to do dark (espresso cabinets), I would go with a lighter granite so as to not make your kitchen SO dark...at least that's what I did (picture above). I have seen some people in my neighborhood though that have medium brown cabinets and dark (like baltic brown) counters and it looks great (not too dark). Just make sure your backsplash (if you are choosing that or installing it yourself later) ties it all together.

boomer88 · April 2012

PS, I did Giallo Ornamental for the tan granite, but also LOVE venetian gold like the PP said. In my guest bathroom, I did autumn leaf which is also a tan colored granite.

jacksjerseygirl · April 2012

I have white cabs with a brown/bronze color glaze and cashmere white granite - it is perfect and not too light.

Kitchen color question - Cabinets and counter - opinions please

Re: Kitchen color question - Cabinets and counter - opinions please

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