My Home Design

Kitchen is too cold..White kitchen cabinets--White Corian countertop--Light Oak floors?

I have a light Kitchen with White kitchen cabinets--White Corian countertops--Light Oak floors, and I want to warm it up.. I am resurfacing the hardwood floor and cannot figure out what shade of stain to go with..the light oak is too cold with the white countertops and white cabinets. I could paitn tne walls and cabonets but the white corina is staying for now. Ideas on what to do to warm this up?

Public Comments

1. Any answer you receive here is strictly a matter of personal taste, but all that being said what I would do is: stain the floors to honey/amber color (stay away from dark stains because its a kitchen and subject to scratches more than other areas of the home) then paint the walls a sunny yellow, or other warm tone as you desire
2. just use accent pieces on the counter tops and if you have room use colorful pieces on top of the cabinets also. just pick one color that you love that is bright. get pics or small ones and put on your walls under your cabinets with the bright color that you choose. accents can always brighten up a neutral color room. get some throw rugs of the same color and curtains of the same color.
3. I believe if you painted your walls yellow first-you might be surprised about your light oak floors-You could then accent with terracotta or crimson in your curtains and chair cushions But if you just want to change your floor I would go with Mahogany finish floors.
4. Our kitchen was all white except for the granite on the island. We have bone colored corian counter tops and tan ceramic tile floors. If you look at a lot of the cooking shows on TV now, there are several that have painted cabinets in many colors. My wife picked up on that and recently had our white cabinets painted a light green with a darker green glaze applied over that. She then followed up with furniture style antiqued brass pulls and added cut glass inserts in four door panels. It looks quite nice. As a little extra, she had a mural style painting put on the ends of the central island to add some other color.
5. Try something with red in it. And use red, green, and brown accents. Good luck!
6. You're right, that's a lot on the light side. If the Corian stays (and it's mighty expensive to replace, so I understand completely) then start with the walls and cabinets. The cabinets are already white, so they're obviously not a high grade wood. Find a color in your life that you really love and take it to the paint store to find something in that family. It helps to go about 2 shades lighter than you think you want when you're done and get a quart of that in a satin enamel. Prime a section of cabinet and then paint it. See how you like it by living with it for a week. Need a little darker? Maybe a little lighter? Play with it. It's only a quart. When your mind starts understanding the kitchen without all the white, you'll figure out what it needs by actually seeing it. I also wouldn't rush to redo the floors. No, it's not a horrible project and you can be done in a day. But it's a lot of work and you have to save floors for AFTER all the painting anyway. So work from the top down and see if the cabinets and walls don't change your perspective on the room after they're done.