To "White Kitchen," Or Not To "White Kitchen?"

Lets face it. Ever since Joanna Gaines hopped onto our TV screens everybody and their momma wants a white kitchen! I mean what is there NOT to like about a white kitchen. Everything looks so clean and crisp and if you're blogging and taking photos of or in your kitchen, it really is the perfect backdrop. So of course I've been saying to myself that once we moved into this house I was going to paint the cabinets white.

But then I got to thinking about what it meant to have a white kitchen. As a black girl who loves to wear make up and has the unfortunate habit of touching her face (my mom use to always ask me why I was holding my head up with my hand...it's just a bad habit!) I tend to get little blotches of makeup on any surface I touch. I'm always having to treat my poor husbands white undershirts if I choose to rest my cheek on his shoulder (thankfully he's use to it and knows it comes with the territory 😛). So basically I realized that a purely white kitchen would mean more cleaning, more often...at least for me. But this did not stop my desire for white cabinets, it only introduced a a bit of doubt.

"Ever since Joanna Gaines hopped onto our TV screens everybody and their momma wants a white kitchen!"

So I started looking into "light" kitchen options that still gave you the crisp, clean feel but weren't so purely white that dirt and brown makeup smudges would be so glaring! And I really liked a lot of the grey kitchens I saw on Pinterest! 

I feel that these grey kitchens are successful because though the cabinets are grey, the back splash and counter tops are white...so you still have that light feel. So any-who...for the past month or so I've been having this inward debate with myself on which to choose...the white kitchen or the grey kitchen. It turns out the decision would be made for me!

On my many trips to Home Depot or Lowe's I always stop at the paint section to pick up swatches and check the "oops" counter. That's a little shelf near the paint counter with paints that have been "rejected" or returned for numerous reasons..it could be a mis-tint, the wrong base was used giving the wrong finish, anything along those lines. And they're sold at really discounted prices which means you can save quite a bit on paint if you're lucky enough to find a color you like before is snatched up! That's the one issue with these "oops" counters...most of the time the colors are absolutely bizarre so the ones that are more neutral and "house appropriate" tend to get snapped up in an instant. The one sales associate at Lowe"s basically told me those go out almost as soon as they get in!

But thankfully I ALWAYS stop by to see what they may have and on my last visit I found a beautiful color that I thought would look amazing in the living room. It's a color called "Grayish" that's a warm grey and almost has a slight taupe-y look. When I tell you that I grabbed that gallon of paint so quick..and I only paid $9.00 for a gallon that normally costs $40. You really cannot beat it! Here is a swatch of the color "Grayish" by HGTV Home for Sherwin-Williams:

But what does this have to do with the kitchen? Well on the day that I was preparing to paint the living room with this amazing find...I finally read the label in full. In all my excitement of finding this gem I had missed one key description...that the finish of the paint was semi-gloss. Have you ever seen semi-gloss paint on walls?! The thought sends shivers down my spine. May it never be so! At least not in my house...especially not in the living room. I mean there's so much light in that room it would reflect off the walls and drive me nuts! So to say that I was disheartened would be an understatement...here I am with this amazing color that I cannot use to paint any of my walls. 

In the midst of my dismay I decided to do some research on semi-gloss finish paints and BEHOLD, they are excellent for use on cabinetry! That's when the light bulb went off and the debate inside me came to an end. I did not know how I was going to choose which style of kitchen to go with, but God made it so I did not have to choose! I unknowingly bought the paint that I would use for my kitchen cabinets at Lowe's that day. I'm so excited to get to work and see how it all turns out...keep your eyes peeled for a post when they're complete! Also, be sure to check out the "oops" counters at your hardware stores and be sure to check all the details on the labels before purchasing! Or you could be like me, take a walk on the wild side, and have the paint tell you where it needs to go! Happy Painting!

xo

Janine