Update Outdated Oak Cabinets With A Splash Of Paint (And The Best Colors To Choose)

The mention of oak kitchen cabinets often brings to mind the orangish hues of the '90s that dominated kitchen design. If you're living with outdated wood tones for your kitchen cabinets, whether it's honey oak or something else, painting the walls around the cabinets can tone down the shade. However, the color you choose impacts how well this strategy works. Some paint colors emphasize the orange wood tones in older oak cabinets, while others mute it and make it less noticeable. Lighter wall colors tend to downplay the heaviness of the wood tones, for example.

Painting cabinets is typically more difficult and time-consuming than painting walls. You usually have to clean and sand all of the wood before you can even start painting. It's also common to remove cabinet doors and hardware, which takes extra time. To paint cabinets with professional-quality results, it could take two hours per cabinet door plus time for the base cabinets. There are several mistakes to avoid when painting your kitchen cabinets that you also need to keep in mind. Plus, the paint can chip or scratch in a busy kitchen, which means you'll need to handle ongoing maintenance on painted cabinets.

Meanwhile, you can usually paint a room in three to four hours, including your prep time. You'll typically have less wall area to paint, since your cabinets and appliances cover a large portion of the kitchen's perimeter. However, you may need extra prep time in the kitchen to make sure all of the food particles and grease are cleaned off of the wall. Overall, painting kitchen walls is a faster and easier task than painting the oak cabinets.

You have several options for updating oak cabinets, including painting the cabinets, refacing them, and installing new cabinets. However, all of those cabinet upgrade options are time-consuming and potentially challenging if you do them yourself. Hiring a professional makes these cabinet renovation projects pricey. Painting the walls is a good option when you want to refresh the look of your kitchen with minimal effort and cost.

Painting the walls to update oak cabinets works well when the cabinets are surrounded by lots of wall sections. If the cabinets take up most of the space and don't have many adjoining areas of blank wall space, the paint may not have as much effect on how the oak looks. This could be the case if you have a small, open kitchen with very little wall space. A fresh coat of paint renews the look of the space either way, but it has more impact when the new paint color is next to the oak cabinets.

You might also choose to paint the walls if they're starting to look faded or drab. Interior paint often needs to refreshed after about seven to eight years, but the lifespan depends on the quality of the paint and how well you maintain your walls. It's not just the cabinets that benefit from a refresh. A new coat of paint makes your entire kitchen feel clean, fresh, and bright. It can also help change the overall look and can make your kitchen feel more inviting. 

Light, neutral colors tone down outdated oak better than bright, vivid colors, which might compete with oak tones. Primary colors, including red and yellow, highlight the yellowish or orangish hues in the wood that you're trying to downplay. Orange is another paint color that brings out the worst in oak cabinetry. Cool hues, including some blues and grays, can also amplify orange in the oak, making them colors to avoid pairing with oak cabinets.

Warm paint colors complement oak tones well and make the space look richer and cozier. White paint with warm undertones improves the look of oak while creating a clean, fresh look. Cream and beige are also options if you're not a fan of white but still want to keep the room light. Greige pulls in grey hues with warm undertones to amplify the warmth of the oak cabinets in a positive way. For a darker color, consider a deep green or sage, as these tones naturally lean warm and will flow well with the existing palette.

The light reflective value, which is usually listed on paint chips, also matters. Colors that have a higher LRV reflect more light to improve the look of your kitchen. Pairing bright paint colors with shiny appliance finishes in the kitchen could elevate the look overall. Natural light helps to lighten and brighten the look of colors in a space, so maximizing sunlight in your kitchen could help neutralize the unattractive appearance of oak cabinets. If you rely extensively on artificial light, you'll likely notice more of the yellowish tones in the wood.