Picking cabinet colors is a lot more fun when you know what synergizes best with your kitchen. The problem is, the color you fall in love with on a paint chip can look completely different once it’s sitting next to your actual countertops, appliances, and floors. The good news is that your kitchen already has the answer built in. You just need to know what to look for before you commit to a color.
Here’s our guide on choosing cabinet painting colors, the simple way. That way when you get a cabinet refinishing, you know exactly what you want (and will love forever).
Table of Contents:
- Start By Observing Your Countertops
- Next, Factor In Your Appliances
- Then, Look at Your Backsplash
- Don’t Forget Your Flooring!
- Popular Cabinet Cabinet Color Combinations Right Now
- Test Before You Commit
- Do This When You’re Getting A Cabinet Refinish
Start By Observing Your Countertops
Your countertops usually take up the second-most visual space in your kitchen, right after the cabinets themselves, which makes them the natural starting point for choosing a color.
If your countertops have warm tones, think beige granite, warm-toned quartz, or butcher block, cabinet colors in the cream, soft white, or warm greige family tend to feel cohesive rather than competing for attention. If your countertops lean cool, gray-veined quartz or marble-look surfaces, cooler cabinet tones like true white, soft gray, or navy tend to feel more intentional.
Busy, heavily veined countertops usually pair best with a simpler, more solid cabinet color, since two bold patterns fighting for attention in the same room rarely reads as put-together. Save the boldness for one or the other, not both.
Next, Factor In Your Appliances
Appliance finish matters more than most homeowners expect when picking a cabinet color. Stainless steel appliances are fairly flexible and pair well with almost any cabinet color, from crisp white to deep charcoal. Black stainless or matte black appliances tend to look sharpest against lighter cabinet colors, since the contrast lets the appliances stand out as an intentional design choice rather than just visually disappearing into a similarly dark palette.
If you have colorful or vintage-style appliances, like a retro-look range in a bold color, it’s usually best to let that piece be the star and choose a more neutral cabinet color that supports it rather than competes with it.
Then, Look at Your Backsplash
Your backsplash is often the piece with the most pattern, color, or texture in the whole kitchen, which makes it a great reference point. If your backsplash already has movement or multiple colors in it, like a patterned tile, pull one of the quieter tones from that pattern for your cabinets rather than introducing an entirely new color to the mix.
A plain subway tile or simple backsplash gives you more freedom to choose a cabinet color based on your other elements, since it won’t compete with a bolder cabinet choice the way a busier pattern would.
Don’t Forget Your Flooring!
Flooring sets the overall warmth or coolness of a room, and it’s easy to overlook when focusing on cabinets and countertops. Warm-toned wood or wood-look flooring generally pairs best with cabinet colors that share some warmth, like creams, warm whites, or soft sage greens. Cooler-toned flooring, like gray-washed wood or cool-toned tile, tends to pair better with true whites, cool grays, or navy cabinets.
If your flooring is a bold or dark color, lighter cabinets usually help balance the room rather than making the space feel heavier overall.
Popular Cabinet Painting Color Combinations Right Now
A few combinations consistently work well for Spartanburg kitchens:
Warm white cabinets with warm-toned countertops and wood flooring. A timeless, resale-friendly combination that works in almost any kitchen layout.
Two-tone kitchens with a navy or forest green island against white perimeter cabinets. This adds personality without repainting every cabinet in the kitchen, and it works especially well with neutral countertops and backsplash.
Soft greige cabinets with gray-veined quartz and brass hardware. A popular, slightly warmer alternative to the all-white kitchen that still feels current.
Deep charcoal lower cabinets with white uppers. This grounds the room visually while keeping the space from feeling too dark overall, especially effective in kitchens with good natural light.
Test Before You Commit
Just like exterior paint, cabinet paint colors shift depending on your kitchen’s lighting. A color that looks perfect on a small sample can read differently once it’s covering an entire wall of cabinets under your kitchen’s specific lighting, whether that’s warm under-cabinet lighting or cool overhead fixtures.
Before finalizing anything, look at sample boards in your actual kitchen, at different times of day, next to your real countertops and backsplash rather than relying on a photo online. You can even try using ChatGPT to create an image of what your kitchen would look like with different cabinet colors.
Do This When You’re Getting A Cabinet Refinish
Choosing the right color is the fun part. Getting a flawless, lasting finish is where experience matters, and that’s exactly what a consultation with our team is for. We’ll look at your countertops, appliances, backsplash, and flooring in person, help you land on a color that actually works with what you have, and map out a realistic timeline and estimate for your project.
When you’re ready to spice things up in your kitchen…