Kitchens painted light suit me better.

I painted my kitchen black at my last apartment and my friends made fun of me. I totally loved it though, and now I'm thinking about doing it again at my present apartment.

For the mess and daily drudge, I'd sooner paint the bed and bath black over touching the kitchen! But a compromise of two-tone B&W, or striped look, is doable.

I painted my kitchen matte black (hopefully soon on the color cure) and I love it. I definitely makes my kitchen a bit unique. Not everyone likes it, but I'd do it again in a second.

I prefer the light and airy.

Love the backsplash in photo #4!

Personally, I can't go down that black road, although I do LOVE the first image, but to live with every day-don't think so. Some touches of it, definitely...large blocks, no. However, if I had 3 or 4 houses, I'd probably do it in one of them just for fun.

Light is so typical and banal - Dark rocks.

I DON'T like the black except when balanced with large amounts of light or white, HOWEVER, I'm finding it fascinating to try and figure out why! Habit and conditioning, or something inherent in black as a wall color? Like, from primal times, it would have been scary, probably life-threatening, to venture into an unlit cave, y'know?

Dark looks sick, but I'd stick to light for cleaning well and you can can see ants and kill them if they come into the kitchen (or any other bugs)!

Once you try black you never go back ?.....but maybe only in an *open* kitchen. Love #1, the rustic wood is such a great contrast, such an organic feel... plus plenty of light ! Bet it looks great as punctuation in that lofty space. And all of them have light floors and ceilings, if not cabinets and appliances. Hardly all black. I like it, and having had an all white kitchen, found that at first it was thrilling and immaculate, but later a pain, especially the white floor. I went to color.

I have black cabinets, grey granite counter tops and tuquoise walls in my kitchen. I have to say, it's stunning!! On the other hand, it is a major -- major -- pain to keep clean. If you're all about fashion, do it, but be willing to wash every cabinet door once a week.

The thing about black....I have found that it shows more dirt and streaks than white.

Just keep it off the floor. We have black slate tile in the kitchen and it stays clean for approximately 30 seconds - they look really swell for that brief period, however.

I once moved into an apartment in downtown Vegas that had a black kitchen. When we went to paint the cabinets we discovered they were covered in soot. We figured the kitchen had been used to cook meth.

Now when I see a black kitchen I assume the people are just trying to hide their crimes :)

I love the black kitchen, especially in picture #4. I think it'd be great to do it in an application where you'd want the kitchen to recede or disappear altogether...like a small apartment or loft with an open floor plan

No, I wouldn't paint it black - much prefer a white kitchen, it looks cleaner. Love photo #3 on second row.

We painted our fridge with chalkboard paint and I love it. It adds just the right amount of contrast in our kitchen. I don't think I could ever paint the whole kitchen black, but black with light wood (like the 1st picture) gives the kitchen such a rustic feel. I'm a fan.

I love white punctuated with black--very sharp and timeless. With an all black kitchen, I'd be concerned about light--not just the look of more light but being able to see everything well enough to prepare food!

My kitchen is cherry wood and brown speckled granite. I will be painting the walls a pale gray and putting in a black tile backsplash. I also want to refinish our maple floors in a walnut color... hard to convince the husband though. I

I painted all the walls(in a fairly small kitchen) in black chalkboard paint. Against white cabinets, grey granite countertops, wood floors and stainless steel accents it looks amazing!! Now friends and family can leave a quick note or drawing every time they visit. I always have something new, interesting and fun to look at. And as far as clean up goes, I can simply wipe down with a wet cloth.

For now, white/light still gets my vote.

But AT is slowly starting to sway me over the to dark side.

I would like to see pictures of mealove's chalkboard painted kitchen. Any chance of posting a few?

I once planned to paint a kitchen black and cream stripes (I had seen it in a dining room) - I ended up pinning black ribbon up over the cream to see how it looked. Beautiful but very dramatic and masculine. Too much for me. Ended up with tan and white stripes which I loved for many years. But now I feel ready to try te black again!!

I love black but when I compare the white kitchens to the black ones I seem to prefer the white ones.

We recently did dark gray on the kitchen walls and it looks great with the yellow-trimmed chalkboard-faced cabinets. Next project: paint a black and white checkerboard pattern on the hardwood kitchen floor! Countertops are black Corian w/small colored spatters. It's dramatic and actually quite cheerful.

Depends on the place, but yeah I'd do it.

Just got this awesome little cabinet second hand. It had a medium dark butcher block top and was painted matte sky blue. I painted it gloss black and put nickel hardware on it. To die for. Now I have a color scheme for my kitchen! Now to get the time and money!!

I like them both! It all depends on the accent colors you use with either the white or the black. Black works really well when it is balanced with a light color, like the white cabinets or light wood. If the accent color was darker the black would probably be too dark and depressing..more goth than rock. ;)

Both! Though right now white is winning in my kitchen. I am thinking of painting the ceiling black to darken things up a bit.

If I didn't have dark wood cabinets in my kitchen, black would be cool. The way it is now with the cabinets, counter tops and back splash...black walls would just look blah.

The house was built by my grandpa, so I feel like I can't make any drastic changes.

Black, but with liberal quantities of white, neutrals, and maybe some bright accent colour.

I love dark kitchens! It makes me want to cook in them because they feel so rustic and creative.

My kitchen had a chalkboard wall for about 24 hours recently. The lighting turned out to be way too inadequate for all that blackness - it just looked smudgy and awful. The wall is white again now.

We moved into a house with black tile on the kitchen walls. It is a small bungalow kitchen and the black sucks up the light. I would love it as an accent color or in an open loft space, but it is harsh in a small space.

I painted my dreary cabinets white, but it clashed with my old formica counter tops. I went though 1/2 dozen colors before trying black. The top cabinets are still white, but the base is black. I can't say I love it 100%, but I'm satisfied. The walls are white, and the back-splash area is....purple. My kitchen is black, white, and...purple.