Painting a kitchen island a different color from your cabinets

Why the island is the easy place to use color

An island stands apart from the cabinets on the walls, so a different color reads as a choice rather than a mismatch. It's also a single piece you see from every side of the room, which is why it works as the accent in a kitchen that's otherwise quiet.

That's the idea behind most two-color kitchens: keep the perimeter calm and let the island do the talking. We cover the other ways to split colors in our post on two tone kitchen cabinets.

The one rule is that a second color has to look planned. Make the island clearly darker or clearly lighter than the cabinets around it. Two colors that are almost the same look like an accident.

Island colors to pair with your cabinets

Start from what's on the walls. This table is a starting point, not a rulebook, but these pairings come up again and again because they work.

If you're leaning toward green, our post on green kitchen cabinets goes through the shades. Navy has its own post too, with notes on navy blue kitchen cabinets. Painting only the island is one way to update a cherry kitchen, as our post on updating cherry cabinets with paint explains.

A dark island, a light one or something in between

Before you pick a color name, decide how dark the island should be. The depth does more to the look of the room than the hue.

• A dark island grounds a large, bright kitchen and makes light counters stand out. It needs good light around it, or it turns into a heavy block in the middle of the floor.
• A light island keeps a small or dim kitchen open, and it's the better choice when the perimeter cabinets are already dark. Our post on the best cabinet colors for small kitchens goes further on this.
• A mid-tone island, like a gray-green, a warm gray or a muted blue, is the forgiving middle. It shows less dust than black and feels less stark than white.

Whichever you choose, check it against the island countertop. A white stone top looks sharp on nearly anything dark, and a dark top asks for a lighter or mid-tone base.

Check the counters, floor and backsplash first

The island usually has its own countertop, and that's the surface your paint sits right next to. Hold samples against the island counter, the floor and the backsplash, not against the old cabinet door. A color that looks right on a white card can turn muddy beside a warm granite or a gray quartz.

Floors help you decide. Warm oak and maple floors go well with deep greens and blues, and a cool gray floor goes well with navy and charcoal. If the floor and the island counter are both busy, choose a plain island color and let them do the work.

Bring the backsplash into it too. A busy tile backsplash and a bold island compete for the same attention, while a plain backsplash lets the island be the star. If the backsplash has a color in it, that color is a safe place to look for your island shade.

Light changes every island color

Paint chips often print a light reflectance value, or LRV, which is a measure of how much light a surface bounces back, from none of it to all of it. Architects and designers use it to compare colors. A deep navy or charcoal reflects very little light, and a soft white reflects a lot.

In a bright kitchen, a dark island is a plus. In a dim one, it can make the middle of the room feel heavy.

Your bulbs matter as much as your windows. ENERGY STAR's bulb guide explains that lower Kelvin numbers mean warmer, yellowish light and higher numbers mean cooler, bluer light, and it points to neutral and cool white for kitchens and work spaces. Winter days are short in Wisconsin, so you'll see the island under bulbs more than you'd guess. Look at samples at night as well as in the morning.

What a painted island has to put up with

An island takes more abuse than a wall cabinet. Stools bump the base, shoes scuff the sides, and everyone leans on the ends. Dark colors also show dust, scuffs and fingerprints more than mid-tones, so a very dark island needs more wiping than a gray one. Our post on black kitchen cabinets covers the sheen and touch-ups a black island needs.

The finish has to harden before it can take that. Dunn-Edwards puts the full cure of latex coatings at 14 to 30 days, and says dark colors and higher gloss levels take longer to cure than light colors and lower sheens. Go easy on a freshly painted island for the first few weeks, and ask about sheen when you choose the color. Our post on the best paint finish for kitchen cabinets covers the trade-offs.

Felt or clear bumpers on stool legs help, and so does a quick wipe when something splashes. Our post on cleaning painted kitchen cabinets has the routine.

Keep it to one new color, and plan the hardware

A white perimeter, a navy island and a third color on the upper cabinets starts to look busy. If you want a third color, make it the wall paint, not another set of cabinets.

Hardware ties the two colors together. Either match the metal on the island and the perimeter, or choose a second metal on purpose and repeat it somewhere else in the room, like a light fixture. Our post on cabinet hardware ideas covers finishes and sizes.

How we refinish an island

An island is cabinetry like the rest of the kitchen, and it gets the same process. On every cabinet refinishing job the surfaces are cleaned, degreased, sanded and primed. Doors and drawer fronts are sprayed, the frames are finished in your kitchen, and everything is reinstalled with the hinges adjusted.

Most kitchens take one to two weeks, and the quote is priced per cabinet with paint included. If you want the island in a different color from the rest, say so when you ask for a free estimate, and George can talk through color on the call.