A Dark Kitchen Got a Bright, Neutral Makeover — It’s Anything but Boring!
Even rooms with tall ceilings and large windows can feel dark if the color palette isn’t lending itself to an airy vibe. Pamela Stewart’s kitchen looked “dated, dark, and dreary” — despite the 9-foot ceilings and amazing views of the Arizona landscape.
While the walls were white, the floors, cabinets, and countertops were all shades of brown, which made the space feel darker than it actually was. Because the kitchen was open to the living room with just a peninsula bar separating the two spaces, the large windows exacerbated the dark features because they “created shadows and changed the light throughout the day,” Pamela explains.
One Challenge Was That the Flooring and Countertops Couldn’t Be Replaced
It was prohibited to replace the flooring and countertops in Pamela’s condo, so she was challenged to match those existing features with a new cabinet paint color and backsplash. But if that wasn’t hard enough, Pamela was also “on a tight budget.”
She Chose Neutral Colors to Create a Subtle Elegant Feel
Pamela wanted “to create a brighter, contemporary space, more high-end and elegant to match the feeling of the unit,” she shares. For her, this meant painting the cabinets and walls a new color.
Choosing a paint color to do the heavy lifting of blending the original chocolate brown flooring and old granite countertop was the hardest part of the transformation for Pamela.
Originally, Pamela selected Sherwin-Williams’ “Taupe of the Morning” for the cabinets that she thought was a great choice, but it “changed tremendously once painted, again due to the light reflecting from the large windows,” Pamela says.
This setback made her adjust how she approached the rest of the kitchen transformation.
A New Backsplash Blended the Cabinets and Countertops
Instead of repainting the cabinets in a new shade, because of Pamela’s small budget, she used other opportunities as a way to bring the room together.
There wasn’t any original backsplash, so Pamela added white high-gloss tiles for a subtle, elegant look. The new tiles also “seemed to blend the colors on the cabinets,” which helped with the previous setback.
But when Pamela painted the entire kitchen Sherwin-Williams’ “Alabaster,” it brought all of the neutral colors together — brightening the dark floors and countertops and truly blending the new cabinet color.
The Kitchen Is Now Relaxing and Calm
Even though choosing a paint color was the most difficult part of Pamela’s kitchen refresh, she now loves the space and enjoys being in the room. “It is very calming, and it blends beautifully with the living room,” she says.
While the new color palette helps Pamela feel relaxed and calm, the new backsplash adds an elegant and contemporary feel that she can’t get enough of.
Inspired? Submit your own project here.
