Be careful on going too dark all over. Dark grey or charcoal fascias look lovely and modern but I’d be cautious of also having a dark worktop with them.

If you’re having the walls re-plastered personally I wouldn’t spoil new plaster putting tiles on it. Just opt for an upstand a splashback behind the hob and the splashback could be clear glass (no need for a colour as you’ll see the colour of the wall through it). By not having tiles this will also save you money if you’re working on a budget.

Thanks Daisy - yeah the cupboard paint was another concern I had as we have a dark grey floor and its already fairly small and dark as it is so that might need a rethink. Thanks for your help!

It might look quite dark because you have a lot of cupboards, you could lighten it up a bit by just painting the bottom cupboards dark and the wall cupboards lighter to match the tiles?

If you can't stretch to changing the worktop though then I think I would go light on the units and add some colour in the tiles, something like this one:

Also I would change the handles, so easy to do but makes such a difference!

Thanks - there are more cupboards also that I didn't get in the photo! I think we need to look into changing the worktop as it restricts us a fair bit.

I would look and see if you actually need all those wall cupboards - are the all full?

If you could get rid of some of the wall units, not the tall ones, then it could work with your dark units.

We are having dark charcoal units, but we have no wall units at all, only tall oven, f/fr and larder at the ends of the runs.

It’s rather a nice kitchen, and i feel it’s the cupboard above the toaster that just looks a bit too heavy. How would you feel about removing that cupboard? It will really open the space and modernise it a bit. I love jones’s idea of painting the wall cupboards a pale colour. I would leave the base cupboards as they are. Painting a kitchen is pretty hard work! Unless of course you are employing a decorator. Then have white hexagonal tiles to fill the gap. Very trendy! Here’s some examples:

Kitchen paint is your friend! Anywhere you don't want tiles, use kitchen paint. You could even take in one of your tiles to B&Q and have the paint colour matched so you'll be delightfully coordinated.

Cupboards: Repainting isn't difficult but make sure you do it properly, you will regret it if you don't:

Take them off completely and remove all hardware. If you're reusing the handles, great, put them to one side and give them a good scrub and dry in the sun while you're waiting for the paint to dry.

Sand the doors down well (do this outside, if you can), wipe clean with a slightly damp cloth and allow to dry for 20 minutes or so. Then, crack open the paint. it's tempting to go thick, but thin layers, and lots of them, will give you a more durable finish. So thin that the old colour should still show through the first coat at least!

Paint the kickboards the same colour as either the cabinets to tie it together

Finally, choose your colour, and then buy one two to three shades lighter than the swatch you fell in love with. Trust me.

Thanks Lisa!

The pelmet across the extractor dates the kitchen too, if you could remove that it would help open things up. I think your kitchen doors look like they will paint well, will make a huge difference.

Removing the pelmet would mean more diagonal wall (towards the ceiling), so perhaps look into a ceiling extractor unit you could build into the pelmet? Maybe even move the cooktop towards the left and close off the soffit. Could pick a flush sink too.

Also get new handles and/or knobs (I prefer handles). Brushed nickel, steel.

Be careful with dark shades of grey with that floor. A light to medium warm grey with white/pale countertops perhaps? White upper cabinets? (though with white uppers what to do with the pelmet..)

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I also really like the images Sonia posted, where the cabinets under the countertop remained natural wood.

Do you have the budget to add cabinets up to the ceiling (like in photo from jones1987 and others)? That would give you valuable storage space for the rarely used stuff, and wouldn’t chop the space so much (like that pelment (?) around the vent hood.

If you don’t add cabinets, you could just paint the upper units and the wall the same colour to declutter the eye. Splashes of colour from a few accessories or adding warm colour to the bottom (even keeping the wood tone as suggested), will keep it from being too dull grey.

If the counters are in good shape, and if you like them, why change them? A little paint— mid range colour on bottom presses and pale on top — could be enough. Handles, yes, changing those will polish the overall change. So many choices!

I’m eager to see how you choose to progress! I’ll be doing my kitchen soon!

On the pelmet discussion, we have one above the sink / window and think we modernised it quite nicely . Slightly different I know but with similar colour units and walls it isn’t noticeable

Hi Emma,

On first sight the kitchen seems to be dark and in need for more storage. Depending on what budget you have put aside for the makeover there are different things you can do. Of course, it all depends on your current ideas and the propriety itself and how old is the kitchen. If it is a temporary solution until you do the whole kitchen.

The top priority is increasing light and storage would help with the final look and functionality.

Changing the splash back and the door colour will help deal with light and how the kitchen looks like. But if you have defined a budget that can go beyond the paint and tiles than there are options like an integrated extractor that would give a bit more storage, as well as wall units up to the wall. Obviously, just the built in extractor unit would be more economical than changing all wall units.

In terms of ideas for the paint, the dark grey with the dark worktop will make the kitchen dark, a good option is to use both colours, the light colour on the wall units and the dark colour on the base units. This will draw your eyes to the wall units and makes the kitchen look brighter. To be honest the white metro tiles won't go very well with the worktop. The worktop will look off balanced.

White for the walls is definitely good idea since it'll bring more light to the kitchen. But Schmidt laminate worktops are very accessible and there are a wide range of finishes. And since your worktop is already very busy itself, it is worth going for a simple splashback. Painting the walls and the ceiling with a light colour will make the kitchen brighter and look bigger. You can also opt to pain the splashback with kitchen pain, it can be cleaned very easily and you cut on the cost of tiling, and some people paint tiles as well. This would allow you to cut costs on the splashback and invest on a laminate worktop for example.

Another thing, is that changing the handles will give the kitchen a final touch, as well as new and modern ceiling light as spotlights. See some pictures below for ideas:

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Some 'color impressions'

Hi

Just did this kitchen for a customer F&B Pavilion Grey - I also agree with the comment of always go 1 shade darker than sample -

I would put a door on the open unit - will create a bigger feeling kitchen ( sorry this isn't a try to make a sale - but we do have a workshop that does copy wooden doors! if you haven't got any spare - as its narrow either 1 frame or we can reduce the staves (frame) so 2 will fit - I would go 1 .

If you got any budget you can add T&G end panels flush with the doors to create that bespoke look

Hope this helps!

Or have 2 colours F&B Elephant Breath and Hauge blue !

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