Kitchen Cabinets - Do I want Black or Green?

Linda's nasty knotty kitchen

As I've previously mentioned, I live in townhouse/condo here in Duxbury, MA. This is a town with precious few condos and I was lucky to get into one. My building was built in the 1980's and I had to do a lot of work when I moved in bringing the place out of the 80's (ripping up carpet, installing hardwood floor, new lighting, etc). The one room I've not really touched so far is the kitchen. The only thing I've done is put is install the black and white checkerboard tile. I've been wanting to paint my nasty knotty pine cabinets for a long time and I've been girding my loins for the challenge. My kitchen is tiny, but it will still be a lot of work. And as this will be a total DIY on a budget project, I've been dragging my feet about the whole thing.

Of course, the decision about what color to paint the cabinets is the biggest one. I've been wavering back and forth between dramatic black or soothing grayish/green. The inspiration for the black came from my own powder room that is on the same floor as the kitchen. It too has the b&w checkerboard floor and had the same nasty knotty cabinets. I painted an undercoat of a soft unripe tomato red, and then covered with a high gloss black and rubbed off some edges for an antiqued look. I did this several years ago and still love it and it still looks great. No chips, etc. So, this was very easy to do - especially where I didn't bother to prime or had a need to treat the knot holes since they're not going to show through black. So, black it is, right? Well, as a few friends have pointed out - my kitchen hasn't got a lot of lighting. One window and only two overhead lights. I don't have the budget to add recessed lighting at the moment. I may try to add some under cabinet lighting, but the lip is very small, so that may not be an option. So, black is problematic on that level. Oh, and by the way, the walls will be painted in an off white.

Linda's powder room with painted cabinet

So, like any good blogger, I took to google and some of my favorite blogs and magazine websites to see if I could get some inspiration. So, here are some fantastic black kitchens.

Layla's famous DIY kitchen makeover - image courtesy of The Lettered Cottage

Kelly Wearstler black kitchen

Gwynneth Paltrow's Hamptons kitchen

Miles Redd kitchen

Chicago home - Country Living (photo credit:Keith Scott Morton)

Rosemary Beach House - Country Living Magazine (photo: Michael Weschler)

Jean-Louis Deniot - House Beautiful

"Deniot wanted black in the kitchen for its vintage feel."Plus I didn't want a traditional white kitchen," says the designer. "It's hard to make a white room look unique.""

Paloma at La Dolce Vita had put together a great collection of black kitchens a few months ago, which you can see here.

Okay - so lots of fabulousness on the black kitchen scene.

Meanwhile, I recalled that I was planning on stealing Gina at Willow Decor's Butlers Pantry lock, stock and barrel when she wasn't looking:
Which reminded me that I am also drawn to softer, more soothing colors.

Chad Eisner designer - House Beautiful

Which also reminded me that I've loved soft green since I was little and when given the choice, I am always drawn to it.

My antique desk that my father refinished for me many years ago.

Hampton Islands Kitchen - Southern Accents Magazine - one of top ten kitchens - design by Elaine Griffin. Totally swoon inducing.

Image source unknown

Howard Backen kitchen in Arch Digest, photo by Christopher Irion, via Flickr

Okay, so, hmm... now I'm veering towards green. Which is problematic because it will be harder to do and require more prep work so that the nasty knottys don't show through. I also have a lot of green in my house, and does this tip me into overload? And finally, how do either of these colors effect resale? Not that I'm planning on selling soon, but you never know what life will bring.

Anyway, here are two badly done photoshopped mockups of my kitchen in black cabinets and in green. Note that the black is way shinier and metallic looking than would actually be the case...

and the green is likelier a little stronger than I would end up doing:

So, which do you prefer?

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