Grey Kitchen Cabinets - Design Ideas to Make This Trend Work in Any Space

Grey kitchen cabinets are having a major moment, offering an attractive and versatile neutral update for far less than a full remodel. By painting tired oak or dated laminate boxes grey, you can give your kitchen a modern yet timeless look for just a fraction of the cost of new cabinetry. Whether you're looking to brighten up a small galley or give your expansive open concept a more transitional vibe, different shades of grey cabinets can work with any style.

Why Choose Grey Kitchen Cabinets?

Grey is currently very on-trend for kitchen cabinets, but it's versatility as a neutral with both warm and cool undertones makes it a palette with true staying power rather than just another passing fad. It warms up stark white kitchens prone to feeling too clinical, but also works beautifully with more traditional decor. While black cabinets make a dramatic statement best suited to modern spaces, grey provides a similar moody effect that's easier to incorporate into a variety of styles.

Compared to natural wood cabinetry, grey paint creates a more uniform, integrated look since the eye no longer separates upper and lower boxes. For kitchens with a mix of existing finishes, grey is a unifying solution to tie everything together seamlessly.

The Many Shades of Grey for Cabinets

One of the biggest advantages of grey is just how many different directions it can go. Light, silvery greys have an airier feel perfect for making small spaces feel more open, while charcoal greys ground an all-white kitchen with darker contrast. Blue-grey tones with subtle navy undertones complement both traditional and contemporary spaces beautifully.

Light Greys

The lightest end of the grey spectrum includes silvery greys that beautifully brighten up any kitchen. These airy tones are especially well suited to small spaces you want to visually open up. Colors like Farrow & Ball's hazy blue-tinged Ammonite or Benjamin Moore's ethereal Crystalline evoke a relaxed, coastal vibe.

Mid-Tone Greys

In the middle range, you'll find classic, versatile greys that beautifully straddle traditional and modern aesthetics. Mid-tone greys like Revere Pewter, Edgecomb Gray, and Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore are greige colors that skew slightly warm to tie in effortlessly with wood floors and antique-inspired lighting and hardware.

On the cooler end, shades like Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy or Sherwin Williams' Rainwashed have blue-grey undertones that give cabinets a more contemporary look. These colors are ideal if you want grey with a hint of color that references the sea.

Dark Charcoal Cabinets

For a bold, dramatic choice that makes a strong style statement, you can opt for a dark charcoal grey. Deep greys provide moody contrast in an all-white kitchen, or pair with black accents for an ultra-modern vibe. Some sophisticated options include Benjamin Moore's Chelsea Grey, Sherwin Williams' Peppercorn, and Farrow & Ball's Down Pipe.

Cabinet Style Considerations

While grey paint can update any cabinet style, certain designs lend themselves particularly well to enhancing these on-trend neutrals. The choices you make around door style, finish and interior color impact the overall aesthetic you can achieve with grey.

Shaker Cabinets

Grey paint beautifully flatters timeless shaker cabinetry, modernizing the pared-back styling in a subtle way that still works with traditional kitchen elements. For a classic look, use grey on the exterior while allowing wood grain to peek through on the unpainted insides.

Slab Cabinet Styles

Slab, flat panel designs with handle-less doors create a streamlined, contemporary look easily enhanced by grey. Opting for a lacquered finish rather than brushed satin maximizes the color depth and dimension on such minimalist styles.

Distressed Finishes

For a more textured, timeworn look, consider treating your grey cabinets to finishes like liming wax or glazing. A distressed grey finish helps downplay the formality, allowing the trendy color to feel more at home in cozy cottage spaces.

Paint Techniques for Grey Cabinets

While grey cabinets can provide a high-end built-in look, refacing your existing cabinet boxes rather than replacing them outright is an affordable update. But careful preparation and application is key to avoiding a messy, amateurish finish.

Hiring a Professional

If you want a flawless, smooth lacquered finish that looks seamlessly custom, bringing in a professional painter experienced with cabinets is worth the investment. They'll have specialized spray equipment that prevents brushstrokes on flat areas, and techniques for elegantly hand-painting inside corners and edges.

DIY Painting

That said, grey kitchen cabinets can absolutely be a DIY project for the prepared and patient. Carefully sanding doors, priming, applying multiple coats, and avoiding drips, brushstrokes and bleed-through will yield stunning results. Practice ahead of time! Many pros now offer compromised services, like just spraying the doors and drawers.

Choosing Complementary Colors

Grey is endlessly versatile, pairing beautifully with both light and dark accent shades. But some coordinated color choices will enhance your grey cabinets better than others. Here are ideas for finishes that allow grey to really sing.

Countertops

For countertops, classic whites like marble, quartzite and quartz accentuate the cool undertones of grey in a light and airy way. But don't be afraid to go bold with dramatic black countertops like granite, soapstone or even eco-friendly PaperStone.

Materials like Caesarstone offer solid surface options in shades like cosmic concrete (grey), raven (black) and splash (blue) that pick up on the subtle hints of color in many blue-grey paints. Concrete in natural grey is another on-trend pairing.

Backsplashes

Backsplashes frame grey cabinetry beautifully, so use materials that enhance your specific grey hue. Light greys sing with white marble or subway tiles, while darker navy cabinets pop against bold geometric blue and white tiles. For a contemporary look, sleek grey glass or metallic mesh backsplashes project depth.

Warm brass, copper and travertine tile provide an earthy, grounded contrast. Or echo your cabinets with grey slate or ceramic tile in soft, blurred variations of your cabinet color for subtle coordination.

Floors

To keep things airy, use light-toned floors like weathered oak or bleached wood with smooth grey cabinets, which will appear to float above the planks. Or opt for continuity with tones like grey-veined white marble or porcelain.

But for modern spaces, few flooring choices make a bolder statement than reflective black granite or even stained concrete. The dark contrast grounds the moody grey cabinets beautifully.

Modernizing with New Hardware

Changing out dated brass or bronze hardware for knobs and pulls in brushed brass, matte black, nickel or even leather can instantly modernize grey painted cabinets. But you can also retain ornate crystal or antique brass hardware for a glam yet fitting contrast.

The key is tailoring the finish to the specific grey tone - lighter silvery hues suit chrome and glass, while charcoal cabinets demand a striking aged brass or graphite. Pulls in vertical runs rather than single knobs feel clean and contemporary.

Still struggling to envision how your specific kitchen might look with a dose of grey paint? There are endless sources of inspiration available online that allow you to visualize grey cabinets in different configurations.

Browse sites like Houzz and Pinterest for grey kitchen images filtered by color palette and style terms like modern, traditional, transitional, contemporary, coastal, farmhouse etc. Architectural Digest and design magazines offer peeks into celebrity kitchens rocking stylish grey cabinetry.

Once you have a vision, a trip to the paint store armed with photos of your space, cabinet type and dream grey shades will help you nail down the perfect hue to make grey cabinets work flawlessly in your home.