The 4 Best Paint Colors for Kitchen Islands or Lower Cabinets

The Best Blue, Gray, Teal & Black Cabinet Colors

I’ve talked a lot about oak cabinets, white cabinets, appliances, and wine – all in the same sentence, but I’ve YET to touch down on the best paint colors for a kitchen island or lower cabinets. And while this idea isn’t for EVERYONE, there are some brave souls out there who want to add some personality to their kitchen but don’t necessarily want it on a LARGE-scale (ie: ALL of their cabinets).

Now, if you go onto Pinterest or Houzz, you’ll find no shortage of ideas for what color to paint your island or cabinets, and we’ll touch on a few of my faves below, but…

just because you CAN paint your island a different color, doesn’t mean you SHOULD.

This is why today, we’re not just chatting about some of the best paint colors for your island/cabinets, we’re also going to look at some pros and cons.

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The Pros to Painting Your Kitchen Island or Lower Cabinets a Different Color 

1. A PAINTED ISLAND CAN CREATE A FOCAL POINT & A FOUNDATION FOR A ROOM

Painting your island a different color from the main cabinets can be a great way to ground your space and create a striking focal point, especially if you have light colored tile/vinyl and white cabinets.

2. A PAINTED ISLAND OR LOWER CABINETS CAN BREAK UP A WOOD-ON-WOOD LOOK

While some kitchens can pull off the wood-on-wood look, it can be a bit much if the floor and cabinets are EXACTLY the same OR have different undertones. Breaking things up with a colored island/lower cabinets can add a nice shift while giving the countertop/backsplash an opportunity to be pulled into the palette.

In the above kitchen, there was a HECK of a lot of wood grain going on. Painting the HUGE island a dark, grounding color (Sherwin Williams Cyberspace) was a great way to slow things down and give the space a solid foundation for the remaining wood to really dance (and you all know how I love to make wood dance)!

3. YOU CAN NOD TOWARD THE CURRENT TREND WITHOUT HAVING TO PAINT ALL OF THE CABINETS

Painting ALL of your kitchen cabinets a trendy paint color can be a risky choice. However, nodding towards the trend by painting ONLY the island is a great happy medium without a 100% commitment to color on a large scale.

This is also an important consideration if you want to sell in the next 5-10 years. Chances are, whatever trend you commit to will be gone, or on its way out and could affect your resale value.

4. IT’S MORE AFFORDABLE TO CHANGE IF YOU GET BORED OR TRENDS CHANGE

Painting kitchen cabinets is an expensive project and not every budget can accommodate this kind of investment. Painting the ISLAND is not only more affordable to do NOW, but it’s also affordable to change down the road if you get bored (or on a monthly basis like me).

It’s not just about paint colors either! Painting the MAIN cabinets white (for example) and partnering them up with an island or lower cabinets in a wood stain is a popular idea, as shown in these next photos. Both of these kitchens were created from scratch, so doing the island a different color/stain was easier to incorporate vs doing a remodel using existing products.

The Cons to Painting Your Kitchen Island or Lower Cabinets a Different Color

1. A PAINTED ISLAND/LOWER CABINETS CAN MAKE A KITCHEN LOOK TOO BUSY

If you have two different countertops, painting your island a different color from the main cabinets can add to the busy-ness, unless things are very carefully coordinated. It’s a bit easier to do if your island has a butcher-block countertop and wood flooring, as that would eliminate a few products that need to be cross-coordinated, but if you have tile/vinyl flooring and two different countertops, things can look really cluttered really fast.

Even though the above kitchen had some great bones in place, painting the island a different color wouldn’t have ADDED to the look, it would’ve cluttered it up.

2. IT CAN OVERWHELM A KITCHEN THAT ALREADY HAS ENOUGH GOING ON

Wait, didn’t I just cover this, just in different words? Anyway, it’s a good point to make…again.

Multiple cabinet colors can be too much of a good thing if you already have some interesting features happening in your kitchen. In this photo below, painting the island a different color would have cluttered things up and taken away from what is already a gorgeous space!

3. IF YOU DON’T PICK THE RIGHT PAINT COLOR, IT WILL BE A HOT MESS

Picking the best paint color for your kitchen island isn’t just about picking the color you WANT to paint your island, it’s about picking a color that ties into your existing finishes – including the floor, countertop, backsplash and main kitchen cabinets.

4. IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT BLEND AND BALANCE OF DEPTHS, YOU COULD SET THE ROOM OFF-BALANCE

Not every kitchen was designed to have an island in a different color. Some spaces need the consistency of ONE cabinet color due to the depth of the walls, backsplash, countertop and main cabinets.

For example, in this next space, while a darker island would’ve looked ‘okay’, the balance down the center of the room, considering the stately stone fireplace and dark sectional, would’ve been pretty strong, whereas the white island added balance.

Read more: The Best Sherwin Williams White Paint Colors

5. IT’S TRENDY

It’s as simple as that. Right now, painted islands are popular…but so are crop tops and shorts that show off your bum cheeks (hey, I would if I could). Like any trend, it’s only a matter of time before painted islands or lower cabinets aren’t as popular and when it comes time to sell, your choice could devalue your home.

4 PART SERIES: How to Create a Timeless Home

And now, let’s get this party started…

Colors are just example blobs, not direct references to actual colors

1. The Best NAVY BLUE Paint Colors for Kitchen Cabinets (or Island)

• Sherwin Williams Cyberspace
• Benjamin Moore Hale Navy
• Benjamin Moore Ocean Floor

When it comes to my Online Color Consulting, navy blue is definitely the top choice when it comes to painted islands and lower cabinets. However, there are MANY kitchens that can’t visually support ANY type of blue, so make sure it makes sense for YOUR space and its finishes!

See more of this project HERE

Shown above, Sherwin Williams Cyberspace

Shown above, BM Ocean Floor is wicked gorgeous with Cloud White main cabinets

While there are ALWAYS exceptions, in order to paint your island or cabinets blue, your kitchen would ideally have:

• white or wood cabinets
• a countertop that has blue in it or is white/gray
• it’s flexible towards many tiles/linoleum products, it DOES love wood floor too!

Read more…

The Best Blue-Gray Paint Colors

How to Choose the Best Blue Paint Color

2. The Best GRAY Paint Colors for Kitchen Cabinets (or island)

• Sherwin Williams Gauntlet Gray
• Sherwin Williams Dovetail
• Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray
• Benjamin Moore Amherst Gray
• Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal

Coming in a hot second to navy blue would be gray. Choosing a neutral is almost ALWAYS a better choice than a color if you’re worried about resale value, as you’re more likely to appeal to a wider range of buyers. And gray is HANDS-DOWN the most popular neutral choice for a kitchen island/lower cabinets, but that’s not to say it’s the easiest…

Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace and Amherst Gray

BTW, because I rely 100% on my Online Paint Color Consulting photos, I don’t always have a good shot of the color suggested, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great contender! 

Every gray has undertones. It’s important to make sure the undertones in your countertop, flooring and backsplash (if they have gray in them) jibe with the undertones of the gray of your cabinets. Some of the more POPULAR quartz and marble countertops lean towards a soft purple or blue-purple undertone, so you’d want to pick a gray with those same undertones. If you choose the wrong undertones, you’ll have a HOT mess on your hands that can only be fixed by repainting.

Shown above, Sherwin Williams Dovetail

When it comes to painting your island or lower cabinets gray, there is a LOT of room to move, but there are a few limitations…

• if you have warm-toned countertops, there aren’t many gray paint colors that are going to look good
• if you have beige tiled flooring, again, there are few grays that will work
• gray cabinets look good with MANY of the most popular white paint colors, but NOT always as good with overly warm or creamy ones

The Best Paint Colors for a Bathroom Vanity (or any cabinets)

3. The Best TEAL or BLUE-GREEN Paint Colors for Kitchen Cabinets (or island)

• Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue
• Sherwin Williams Gulfstream
• Sherwin Williams Riverway (mad love)
• Sherwin Williams Peacock Plume
• Sherwin Williams Grizzle Gray (FULL REVIEW HERE)

I LOVE TEAL or blue-green kitchen islands…but there sure aren’t many kitchens that can visually support these colors, unless you’re starting things from scratch and can include them from the get-go (and I’m eagerly awaiting some of my client’s after photos to show you how pretty they can be!).

And while a LEGIT GREEN isn’t popular for kitchen cabinets, neutrals with green-inspired undertones sure are!

Let’s look at this cutie-patootie little before and after…

By pulling into the colors in the backsplash tile and the flooring, we were able to give this lovely little home some great personality for a FRACTION of the cost of a new kitchen.

This next kitchen had the standard granite and backsplash tile from the early 2000s and a fresh coat of paint gave the kitchen a whole new lease on life!

Shown above, Sherwin Williams Grizzle Gray

While there are ALWAYS exceptions, in order to paint your island or cabinets green or teal, your kitchen would ideally have:

• white or wood main cabinets
• white, black or gray countertops OR butcher block countertops, although there are a few exceptions
• there are also a few granites from the ’90s and early 2000s that can work well (update ideas for that era HERE)
• white subway tile or a tile with green/teal in it that is the same type of green/teal as your island color

The Best Blue-Green Blend Paint Colors

In this next example, the yellow stain of the maple cabinets clashed with the orange-red tone of the wood flooring, but after, it’s a whole new kitchen!

4. The Best BLACK Paint Colors for a Kitchen Cabinets (or Island)

• Benjamin Moore Black 2132-10
• Benjamin Moore Jet Black
• Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black
• Sherwin Williams Iron Ore
• Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron (which is more of a navy-black blend)

Ooooo, I do love a black island and it can be a great way to tie in black appliances if you aren’t ready to shift to white or stainless steel.

Here’s another gorgeous kitchen with painted cabinets and a striking darker island…

And one more, just because it’s so fun…

Shown above, Sherwin Williams Iron Ore

While there are ALWAYS exceptions, in order to paint your island or cabinets black, your kitchen would ideally have:

• black or gray in it
• a butcher block countertop
• white or wood cabinets
• wood flooring or tile/lino that can easily accommodate a sharp color like black

And of course, I HAVE to mention Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze. Not only is this awesome color the “Color of the Year for 2021”, but it’s also the color on my own kitchen island!

See the whole space HERE

READ MORE

The 3 Whites I Would Never Paint My Kitchen Cabinets

Should You Paint Your Wood Kitchen Cabinets? A Questionnaire

Painting Kitchen Cabinets: How to Pick the Best Paint Color

Not sure what the best paint color for your island or cabinets is?

Check out my Online Paint Color Consulting packages, I’d love to help!

Chat soon,

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 2020, UPDATED IN 2021