I continue to paint kitchen cabinets for customers, and thought I would share a kitchen I just finished, since the cabinets aren’t white. I’ve said it before – I love a white kitchen, but when you do them all the time, it’s fun to do something different. The homeowners bought this house and hadn’t moved in yet, which is always easier for me. They’re doing a bunch of work to the house ahead of moving in, and I’m hoping to do a full home tour at some point in the future. It’s coming together nicely already! My hand in it was the Anew Gray kitchen cabinets (a Sherwin Williams color, tinted for PPG Breakthrough paint).
If you want details on how to paint your own kitchen cabinets, click here for a tutorial on How to Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets Like a Pro. Do you have oak cabinets? Click here for tips and tricks for painting oak cabinets.
Before
This kitchen had a lot of existing finishes that weren’t changing – beige and browns that so many of us have in our own homes. You want to update the look, but you can’t start from scratch. Anew Gray fit the bill beautifully for this kitchen. Let’s take a look at where it all began.
Now I know some of you will consider it a travesty to paint dark cherry cabinets like these, but if you saw them in the context of the rest of the house, and the look that the homeowner wanted, you would understand why she wanted to paint them. They were just a bit too modern.
After
You can see that the floor, counters and backsplash were all some shade of beige and brown, so we kept that in mind as we considered the color. Anew Gray by Sherwin Williams was the perfect shade for this space, and it played well with the existing finishes. It still gives the kitchen a light and bright feel, without being white. I think it’s the perfect choice for this kitchen.
They also added a rustic island to the kitchen so there is a place to sit and eat in here and it also provides additional prep space.
I had a lot of fun working on this kitchen, and love the finished result. The cabinet doors were in great shape and sprayed beautifully.
So once again, if you’re looking to paint your kitchen cabinets, give some non-white colors a look. I really think that’s the direction things are moving toward when it comes to painted cabinets. Anew Gray is a perfect example of how it translates well for a cabinet refresh when you have to work with existing finishes.
What do you think? Can you get on board with this trend?
Jenny
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23 Comments
Lauren@SiimplyLKJ
October 16, 2018 at 9:10 amIt is gorgeous. The lighter color really brightened up the entire space. Another great job.Now you just need to come to Atlanta 😉
Peggy
October 16, 2018 at 11:03 amI used a similar color, HGTV/SW Loggia, for the cabinets in our cabin. It’s just the right shade of greige. I painted the island Salty Dog, a bright navy blue.
White cabinets can be nice, but a little color never hurts!
Jenny
October 16, 2018 at 1:17 pmI totally agree Peggy! And I’m super jealous of your navy blue island! I would so have one if I could pull it off!
Christine
October 16, 2018 at 11:50 amI love this! It blends beautifully with the floors.
Patricia
October 16, 2018 at 1:29 pmWow ! Really beautiful transformation ! I have to admit – when I first saw the cabinets I thought “Oh no – those are really beautiful wood cabinets” (although I have a white kitchen and don’t usually like dark wood cabinets.)…but when I saw the ‘after’ pictures – all I could say is WOW ! It looks fantastic ! I really love it – the color goes so well with the counter tops and floors. Looks amazing !
Jenny
October 16, 2018 at 10:22 pmI know – the cabinets were in great shape and very pretty. But in the context of the house, the look of them now really works with the flow of the house and the changes that they’ve made. I absolutely love the new look! Brown/beige finishes can be so tricky when you’re looking to make an update to current trends, so this was a really fun project.
Jennifer H Canipe
October 16, 2018 at 1:39 pmHow I wish you were in coastal NC….
Jenny
October 16, 2018 at 10:23 pmMany days, I wish I was in coastal NC too, Jennifer! 🙂
Debbie
October 16, 2018 at 5:45 pmVery nice color.
Julie
October 17, 2018 at 8:20 amLooks terrific! While people say it’s a shame to paint wood cabinets, if the owner doesn’t love them, then why keep them? As a real estate agent I see too many perfectly good kitchens thrown out because people don’t like the colour. This is a great way to make the owners happy and keep perfectly good cabinets out of a landfill. Great work!
Colleen McCormick
October 17, 2018 at 9:06 amJust beautiful Jenny. Love the transformation. You should be proud of this one.
Megan
December 26, 2018 at 2:16 pmAre the top and bottom the same color?
Jenny
December 27, 2018 at 3:31 pmYes – the lighting probably makes it look otherwise, but they’re the same color.
Ellen
January 28, 2019 at 11:48 amI love Anew Gray, I painted the paneling in my now dining room (used to be a family room with fireplace , we use the Florida room as our family room) this color. It goes beautifully with gray or beige tones. I have a horrible old kitchen with 80’s oak cabinets that need a refresh until we can gut renovate. I never considered Anew Gray for the cabinets until I saw this post. My warm weather project is now set. Thanks for this inspiration! I can hardly wait to start the odious task of prepping and filling the oak grain, after reading your oak cabinet prep post, in order to end up with something like this.
Susan
February 5, 2019 at 10:01 pmHi Jenny.This transformation is absolutely fab! Did you paint the inside section on the front of the doors a dark color, or is that a shadow? Because that dark edge around the inside of the door front really helps the color pop insead of the color being so ” blinding”.-Thank you-
Susan
Jenny
February 9, 2019 at 11:27 amJust a shadow – definitely gives the cabinets some depth, doesn’t it?
Kendra
February 14, 2019 at 6:54 pmThis is beautiful! I’m looking to paint my bathroom vanity the same color. What kind of paint do you use for these? Sherwin Williams has so many to choose from with the Duration, Emerald, etc. I originally looked at milk paint but the colors are so limited.
Jenny
February 15, 2019 at 5:50 pmI use PPG Breakthrough (VOC250) to paint cabinets, but have also used Benjamin Moore Advance and Sherwin Williams Pro Classic on occasion.
Kate
May 23, 2019 at 8:58 pmThis is beautiful! What color paint is on the surrounding walls?
Jenny
June 3, 2019 at 9:49 pmI believe it’s Revere Pewter on the walls.
Stacy Preisler
March 5, 2020 at 10:42 amAnew Gray is one of the options I am looking at to work with my current kitchen floor and counters. When I googled ‘Anew Gray’ and saw with similar floor (clayish undertone?), it helped to visualize it all together. My counters are, I think, Santa Cecilia so just try to find a cabinet color that can tie it all together and not make floor look more red. Aren’t colors fun?! 😉
Shun Niles
March 31, 2020 at 8:45 pmWhat is a good wall color for Anew Gray cabinets
Jenny
April 1, 2020 at 9:46 amIt depends on the other finishes that you have in place. You can always go with a color that is lighter or darker on the color card as a starting point. This homeowner did Revere Pewter on the walls I believe.