Green and White Kitchen Cabinets with Dark Green Bottom Cabinets

In 2010 on white paint cabinets were all the rage, I hopped right on board. It was such a welcome change from the dark kitchen we had for years. Recently, I felt like I was a little bit tired of an all white kitchen and wanted to paint green and white kitchen cabinets. they are such a great complement to each other and everything from sage green cabinets, mint greens to deep,dark green are really trending in kitchen design. They go well with not only a modern kitchen, but a vintage one too. The white was nice, but I wanted something a little more striking and dramatic, and it have been on my mind for a while to do something different with our cabinets, but I wasn’t sure what. At first I considered a sage green or even an emerald, or pewter green, because there are lots of green paint colors and green shades, but in the end I knew I wanted dark green cabinets.

After painting the dark, green moody wall in our eating area and then the black wall in our living room, I decided I wanted to go with dark, green cabinets by painting bottom kitchen cabinets a dark shade of green.  I picked the green paint color because it’s so calming and changes through he day. The green hue shifts to being very green and with a moss undertone in daylight, and at night, the bold green becomes mellow and moody. It’s really a next level green paint.

Repeating the wall color from our accent wall eating area (Benjamin Moore Deep River) on the lower cabinets was a great way to carry the color across and the unify the spaces and create a focal point.

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It’s been so long, I’ve almost forgotten what our original kitchen cabinetry looked like, and how much paint can change things. When we had hopped on the white cabinets trend, and added brass hardware too and it made such a difference. We also took out old cabinets on the other wall and added a free standing piece of furniture and open shelving. The buffet was also painted dark green to bring the kitchen together and looks amazing with the wooden shelves above to feel more like an open kitchen even though it’s vert cozy.

Green Kitchen Cabinets Bring in a Natural and Organic Feel

To me the biggest thing about our bottom painting cabinets a dark color is that we had come from that place of a dark and heavy kitchen 10 years ago with all old oak cabinets, and I didn’t want the cabinets to be light sucking again and have an entirely dark green kitchen. I still like a light and bright kitchen. I love the crisp whites and subway tile on our backsplash. I would love marble or white countertops, but we aren’t ready to change that yet from our butcherblock countertops. The nice thing about green cabinets is that stone countertops aren’t needed. They go well with lots of different materials. Find the hand-painted wallpaper above the doorway here.

The perfect solution was to only paint the bottom cabinets for the dark contrast and keep the top cabinets white. It would also contrast well with the natural wood of our kitchen island which acts like a neutral. I always get a ton of compliments on the towel bar under my sink that holds my dish towels. Here is the link if you want to grab one for yourself!

On painting day, I took the day to clean the cabinets with a magic eraser and  soap to get all the grease and things that you don’t realized are on your cabinets until you start cleaning them. I then gave them is light sanding to rough up the surface so the paint would adhere better to the already painted surface, after a quick tinted primer coat, It took me about two hours to paint over the bottom cabinets.

Green Cabinetry May Take A Little More Effort

When painting cabinets a dark color, they may need to be given up to 4 coats for complete coverage.

The hardest part about painting over light cabinets with dark cabinets is having to do multiple coats and keep them smooth. Because dark paint always needs more than one coat, I ended up with up to three to four coats of paint in some areas but the pop of color was so worth it!

 We absolutely love the way it looks and how much the dark green paint updates our kitchen and how it looks against our hardwood floors. The dark forest green goes well with our butcherblock counter (still hope to get a marble countertop one day!), and I adore the Target runner even more. 

Pick Warm Fixtures Such As Gold Cabinet Hardware or Gold Accents with Warm Green Cabinets

With the upper cabinets remaining white, and painting just the lower kitchen cabinets a dark green color,  we still get a brightness at the top of the kitchen…not light sucking. It really makes an inexpensive, but updated statement. The gold hardware also warms up the space immensely. That being said, stainless steel appliances are always timeless and wood accents look really good with green.

I’m actually still debating on the tall pantry whether or not I leave it white, or paint it to match the rest. What do you think? The buffet also received a faux marble countertop paint treatment. You can see how to paint your own faux marble countertop here.

Paint is just one of the many ways to update a kitchen on a budget. This homeowner painted over her granite countertops to look like marble. It made such a huge difference in making her ktichen feel fresh and new for a few hundred dollars and some time. So if you bought a home with ugly stone counters, there is hope for that weird colored granite yet! If You’re feeling really brave you can accent with green subway tile backsplash or green walls.

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