Navy kitchen cabinets: the light, counters and hardware that make them work

What navy does in a kitchen

Navy reads as a neutral. It sits happily beside white, wood, brass, stone and most wall colors, which is why it's so easy to build a kitchen around. In daylight it looks like a true deep blue, and at night under warm bulbs it can read nearly black. If true black is what you're after, our post on painting kitchen cabinets black covers what changes.

It also reflects very little light. Paint chips often print a light reflectance value, or LRV, which describes how much light a surface bounces back, and a navy sits near the low end of that scale. That's why navy cabinets can make a kitchen feel cozy in good light and closed in when the light is poor.

Not every navy is the same navy. Some lean gray, some lean toward purple, and some carry a little green. Those undertones show up most beside a counter or backsplash, which is why a sample held against your actual surfaces tells you more than the color name on the can.

Light decides whether navy works

Look at your windows first. A kitchen with a big south or west window can carry navy on every cabinet. A kitchen with one small window and a dark floor is a better candidate for navy on the lower cabinets only, with something lighter above.

Then look at your bulbs. 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. Cooler bulbs can make a navy look colder and flatter, while warm to neutral bulbs keep it rich. Winter days are short in Wisconsin, so the bulb matters more than you'd think.

Counters, backsplash and floors

Navy is forgiving, but some partners are better than others. This is how the common counter choices play out:

The navy kitchen in the photo on this page shows deep navy cabinets with glass upper doors, white stone counters and warm oak floors. Notice what's doing the work: the white stone gives the navy something to stand against, and the oak keeps the whole room from feeling cold.

Floors follow the same rule. Warm wood floors balance navy nicely, and a light floor keeps a dark cabinet from feeling heavy. A dark floor under dark cabinets needs more light from somewhere else.

Hardware that suits navy

Hardware is where navy kitchens get their personality:

• Brass and warm gold are the popular match, and they warm up the cool color.
• Brushed nickel is softer and quieter, and it suits a calm, traditional kitchen.
• Black gives navy a tailored, modern edge, though black on navy has less contrast than on a lighter cabinet.
• Mixing metals works if you repeat each one, so a brass pull on the cabinets shows up again in a light fixture.

Our post on cabinet hardware ideas goes through finishes, sizes and filling the old holes before the paint goes on.

All navy, or navy on part of the kitchen

You don't need navy on every cabinet. Navy lowers with lighter uppers keep the weight at the bottom of the room, where it grounds the space, and glass-front uppers let light and color through. A navy island in a kitchen of white cabinets is one of the easiest ways to try the color.

Our post on two tone kitchen cabinets covers the ways to split colors, and our ideas for kitchen island paint colors cover the island on its own. If your kitchen is small, read our post on the best cabinet colors for small kitchens before you go dark.

Walls, trim and the rest of the room

A navy kitchen needs lighter surroundings so it doesn't turn into a cave. Warm white, soft gray or a pale greige on the walls lets the cabinets be the deep note in the room, and white trim around the windows and doorways keeps the edges crisp.

Avoid a wall color that sits close to the cabinet navy. Two similar dark blues side by side look like a near miss rather than a match. If you love the idea of a darker room, keep the ceiling light so there's still a reflecting surface overhead.

What a deep color asks of the finish

Dark colors are harder on a finish than light ones, for two reasons. First, they show dust, fingerprints and scuffs more than mid-tones do. The sheen you choose changes how much shows, so ask about it when you pick the color, and see our post on the best paint finish for kitchen cabinets.

Second, they cure slowly. Dunn-Edwards says dark colors that carry a lot of pigment typically take longer to dry and cure than light ones, that higher gloss levels also take longer, and that the full cure of latex coatings runs 14 to 30 days. Go easy on a new navy finish for the first few weeks.

A sprayed finish helps here. Doors and drawer fronts are sprayed for a smooth, even coat, with no brush marks in the flat panels, and dark colors show every brush mark. Our guide to spray painted kitchen cabinets shows what that looks like.

Going to navy from what you have

Going dark is usually the easier direction. A move from dark stain to white takes the most coverage, and a move to a deep color generally takes less. The preparation is the same either way: every surface is cleaned, degreased, sanded and primed before the color goes on.

The material still matters. Oak's open grain shows through navy as texture, as our guide to painting oak cabinets explains, and laminate needs the right primer, which our guide to painting laminate cabinets covers.

Before you commit to navy

1. Look at big samples next to your counter, floor and backsplash.
2. Check them in daylight and again at night under your own bulbs.
3. Decide on pulls and knobs at the same time.
4. Decide how much of the kitchen goes navy: all of it, the lowers, or the island.
5. Ask for an estimate once you're down to one or two shades.

When you're ready, ask for a free estimate. George will talk through your kitchen, visit if he needs to see it, and send a written quote with a start date. Most kitchens take one to two weeks.