- The 12 Best White Paint Colors
- Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray
- Benjamin Moore Simply White
- Sherwin-Williams Pure White
- Sherwin-Williams Extra White
We finally painted the kitchen. After thinking about it for a while and getting help watching Clara from Nonna, we decided to dive in and make the change.
Renovating one room always creates a ripple of clutter in nearby spaces. While the kitchen got fresh paint and attention, the dining room ended up full of displaced furniture and accessories. It’s a familiar trade-off: one room gets love while another becomes a temporary storage zone. It’s a minor headache, but it’s worth it when the finished space feels right.
Photography played a role in our decision to repaint. Our previous yellow-green — affectionately called “grellow” — photographed unpredictably. In photos it sometimes read as lime or neon, even though in person it looked subtler. Beyond photography, the grellow reflected onto our white cabinets and counters, making them look slightly yellowed. At night especially, the cork flooring took on a warmer, orangey tone instead of its richer, mocha-like appearance.
We wanted a new wall color that would address several concerns, so we narrowed our criteria:
- Avoid more yellows or greens that might also reflect and alter the look of the white cabinets and countertops.
- Choose a tone deep enough to provide contrast so cabinets and counters would stand out, but not so dark as to overwhelm a mostly windowless kitchen.
- Avoid additional gray on the walls to prevent the space from feeling too gray, since we already have gray backsplash tile and some adjacent gray rooms.
- Bring an actual color to the walls to add personality while still working with existing neutral elements like brown floors, white cabinets, stainless appliances, and white counters.
- Pick a shade that ties the kitchen into the four adjoining spaces without being overly matchy.
After looking at the adjoining rooms, we took inspiration from the powdery blues in the dining room curtains and the blue pillows on the living room sofa, along with subtle blue undertones in the gray backsplash, the kitchen shade, and a few nearby pieces of art and accessories. That led us to choose a bold, mid-tone blue that’s deep enough to let the white elements pop without making the room feel dark.
We used Benjamin Moore’s Natura line in an eggshell finish, which gives a wipeable surface without too much sheen. The color is called Colorado Gray on the swatch, though it reads clearly blue in our space — so we jokingly call it Colorado Blue. We purchased about half a gallon from a local paint shop, which was plenty for the job and left us with extra for touch-ups.
We’ve had a blue kitchen in our previous home and only a little blue in this house so far (a deep teal in the guest room and the back of the dining room built-ins), so bringing a mid-tone blue into this kitchen felt like a good bridge between those spaces. The new color complements the warm tones in the room — the cork floor, wood stools, and rustic cutting boards — while making the white cabinets and counters look brighter and truer.
Painting took two coats. I freehand-cut most of the edges while John rolled the walls. We opted not to use a full drop cloth; sealed wood and cork floors are easy to wipe if a stray drip lands, and careful loading of brushes and rollers helps prevent messes.
We left the laundry room in the original grellow because it gets plenty of natural light from a glass door and window, which changes how yellow tones read. In a bright room, the grellow looks fresh and balanced by yellow accents like an urn and a patterned window treatment. In the kitchen, which lacks natural light, that same color affected how the whites and cork appeared, so changing the kitchen made sense while keeping the laundry room as-is.
Even with the new paint, the penny tile wall remains the star of the room. It’s the detail we love most and always find ourselves coming back to. The new blue walls simply set the tile off beautifully and let it take center stage.
Our Favorite Paint Colors
If you’re struggling to choose a color for your room, here are some in-depth posts about paint colors we recommend:
- The 12 Best White Paint Colors
- Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray
- Benjamin Moore Simply White
- Sherwin-Williams Pure White
- Sherwin-Williams Extra White