Kitchen & Family room paint?

Question

hi everybody

we are planning on painting our family room & kitchen. in kitchen we have cinnamon cherry cabinets, brown tiles & brownish back splash. corian counter top has black, brown, grey & white in it but black is the dominant color. we are thinking we may need a light color as everything else is dark. we'll appreciate if you can throw some ideas around. so far we're leaning a little toward light brown in kitchen & family room, dark brown or maroonish on family room niche and on arches that lead to master bed & 2nd bedroom. you can see the pictures at http://community.webshots.com/album/561422598QctESi
i was initially thinking about green as i like brown & green combination. our exterior is green and doors are dark brown. but i'm not sure if green will go with cinnamon cherry. appliances are stainless steel.

appreciate your help

guys, thank you so much for all your help. catherine, the colors you suggested are very similar to what we had in our mind. let me know what you all think about this:

option 1: kahlua & cream in kitchen, arizona tan in family room and earthly russett on the arch walls that lead to master bed & 2nd bed and on the family room niche.

option 2: dump kahlua & cream all together and paint family & kitchen with arizona tan

yowza, i like the first link to hgtv that you sent.

dawnb, if you get a chance, can you pls suggest me a shade of green from one of these color web sites ? we tried putting few swatches but didn't work.

Answer 1

Look into the sage colors of green. They are light enough to make what you have pop. I had my last house interior done in three different but coordinating colors of sage and it was fabulous. We have just built a new home with cherry cabinets, floors, black granite and stainless appliances and will do the same.

Answer 2

I think you're on the right track. That cinnamon cherry color is lovely, but I think it would fight with any brown paint color that had a greenish cast to it. You want very warm browns.

I found some examples of what I would like for you to take a look at: Benjamin Moore Kahlua and Cream 2161

http://www.materials-world.com/paint-colors/benjamin_moore/images/Benjamin-Moore-Color-33.gif

And for an accent color, maybe Earthly Russet 2173-10

http://www.materials-world.com/paint-colors/benjamin_moore/images/Benjamin-Moore-Color-35.gif

Good luck. Your home looks lovely!

Answer 3

I do think that a lighter color would be appropriate with all of the dark colors that you already have in the kitchen. Check out "shoji white" by sherwin williams:
http://sherlink.sherwin.com/swapp/color_visualizer/index.jsp

Here are some kitchen makeovers that HGTV's "Spice Up My Kitchen" did with a similar color palette:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_kitchen/article/0,1793,HGTV_3375_5717507_02,00.html
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_kitchen/article/0,1793,HGTV_3375_5709953_02,00.html
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_kitchen/article/0,1793,HGTV_3375_5641402_02,00.html