Could you please post pictures of your color choices.

Visuals

SW Nsval

SW Charcoal Blue (I like this one better than Naval)

SW Pure White

SW Alabaster

SW Alabaster with SW Charcoal Blue island

Closer pics

SW Naval

SW Charcoal Blue

SW Alabaster and Charcoal Blue island

kitchen has some nice details. painting the cabs white shows the arched doors. I'd want new doors without the arches. get a quote for new doors......pick a different style.....arches on uppers only? shouldnt be that difficult. Full overlay style would be tons better too. note the cleaner beautiful transitional look these cabinets allow w the brick .

Bright and Cheery Kitchen · More Info

Forget the too dark paint in a dark room. Fix the elephant that cannot be disguised with upholstery or weird fake beams. That brick thing and the beams have to go, and you need twice the lighting.

The wood cabinets are the nicest part of the room. That quartz that the previous owner used is a big giant mistake on multiple fronts. I ’n surprised it has not yet scorched behind the cooktop. It is not heat resistant and is easily burned by heat.

i like wood cabinets. However with the new counters, splash, the brick and the detail at ceiling I dont think these older style cider maple cabs do anything here...why would the trouble of removing the brick be so important? its not that much area .

I'd start by neutralizing some of the other colours in the room. The dark ceiling paint where the beams are, I'd paint that ceiling white. Leave the beams as the dark wood.

The brick arch - do you like the colour of the brick? The darker paint colours in the mockups that were so kindly provided above, the colours don't blend well at all with the brick arch. Even the white doesn't look really great with the brick.

If you are open to changing the colour on the brick I think it could bring a whole new look to the space. Romabio whitewash is an option you could look at to remove some of the red and brown tones from the brick that don't seem to be working well with the paint colours you have in mind.

Whitewash Your Brick Fireplace with Limewash Paint | Romabio · More Info

Those dark blue paint colours look nice but I'd hesitate to paint the entire space so dark. What if you painted the smaller island and the seating area (peninsula or island) in the dark blue and the perimeter in white?

Your counters and backsplash are really lovely so if you like the grey in the veining you could also consider grey as a paint colour but to do that for sure you'll need to take some action on the brick as I don't see cooler colours like grey playing well with the brick the way it is.

This picture below incorporates brick but it is a different tone than yours. I think it looks lovely with the light grey and they've used brass handles on the cabinet and the lights.

Kitchen With Gray Cabinets: Why To Choose This Trend | Decoholic · More Info

Here is a grey that is leaning heavily toward blue which might be a nice choice for you.

14 Grey Kitchen Ideas - Best Gray Kitchen Designs and Inspiration · More Info

Here is a more medium grey colour also leaning towards blue.

14 Grey Kitchen Ideas - Best Gray Kitchen Designs and Inspiration · More Info

I think you may also want to consider boosting your lighting. The space looks a little dark and adding more dark paint won't help that.

The pot lights in the dark ceiling....you can easily update those to a more modern looking pot and get a few more lights installed as well. Have a look at the lightbulbs you are using and maybe move up to something in the 4000 range for a brighter, whiter light in the space.

And finally, I'd change out the hardware. If you are painting then now is the time to have the current holes filled and choose updated hardware.

And you could consider replacing some of the solid doors with glass panels. A cabinet store could replace the solid panel with glass quite easily and it could change the look of your kitchen so much.

Having your cabinets painted can be an expensive venture. I can't tell for sure but I don't think those are oak. Oak is especially difficult to paint if you don't want to see the wood grain through the paint. A great deal of sanding and prep needs to go into the job to get a good finish. It is a big job and one best left to professionals. Do your due diligence and ask them to walk you through the steps they will be taking to prep, sand, prime etc. There are lots of articles here on Houzz that detail the steps you should be expecting documented by your cabinet painters.

One last thing....if you are painting the cupboards, I'd also paint the counter chairs or get new ones. I'm guessing the fact that you've got pillows on the seats means that they aren't comfortable. Choose some new ones that are more comfortable and will work with the new colours in the room.

just painting the ceiling part

None of the colors work with the brick, that is true. And painting or whitewashing the brick would not work, either, imo.

The existing wood cabinets, including the older/classic styling on them - are the only things that really make sense with this particular brick design work. Also, wood for cabinetry is back en vogue now, and is a classic.

So I would keep the wood as is, bring in some glass in a couple of the upper cabinets - particularly the upper that is located over the stove/at the center of the brick. I would remove the beams, and possibly install some type of light fixture there, instead - something dimmable.

pomegranate1- Your kitchen is an amalgam of several different idioms.

It looks like it was re-done in parts on a few different occasions at different times, with no effort placed on the overall unity of design.

Painting the cabinets will not improve the kitchen in any way.

I agree that painting the cabinets is not the solution. The primary problem is the juxtaposition of the quartz with the more rustic brick and cabinets. You have to figure out an overarching style before you do anything else.

I would either remove those uppers inside the brick and get a real hood or remove the brick, or do both. Do NOT put glass in the doors over the cooktop. It would be impossible to keep clean

Oh I just noticed the ceiling. I would also Sheetrock over that.

Thanks to everyone for the inciteful and very helpful comments (though some hurt a little, lols!) I put those Danby Marble counters in a few years ago. Probably best thing in there but as someone pointed out, overall look is not cohesive. Cabinets are terrible with the floors put in. i knew white cabinets would be bad (as we can see) and blue not great. Honestly dont know how to improve this without big remodel which I can’t do. All ideas appreciated. Going to post more pictures.

At night kitchen is very orange

Melissa R thank you so much for the color visualizations!

If the brick is so offensive and you cant change it try to quiet in down by whitewashing it, then do just do that celing behind the beams. Also what about just oainting the cabinets inside the brick area, matched to the marble, whatever white goes with it?

the floors with these cabinets 👎🏻

I agree with @Cate’s comment. Paint the recessed ceiling area to match the rest of the ceiling and do a white-washing treatment on the brick. That should help quiet a bit the fight your marble is having with the brick. I wouldn’t do anything else until you can work with a designer/design-build firm that can help you with a cohesive plan. Start saving for the bigger redo.

Excellent advice given on whitewash brick. I love the Danby marble on the counters and where you took it up the wall. Can you remove the side splash tile and that little bit of backsplash tile left of sink? That feels out of place. I don’t think the cabinets are horrible with the floor, there is just so many different finishes all over the kitchen. I just think you need to make the marble the star and minimize the things that detract from it (ceiling, brick, tile backsplash).

Installing cooler lights will help with the night orange glow

Oh good catch on the other snippets of time backsplash. I’d suggest removing all of that and just painting that area the color you have in the kitchen now. When you take on a larger renovation, you can include planning for a backsplash then. At least until then, you will have eliminated at least one of the disparate finishes

I agree with mxk3 z5b_MI. I would also white wash the bricks so they go better with the white and gray counter-tops.

Agree tile backsplash has to come down and orangy brick needs to go or be whitewashed

With some glass in the uppers over the stove, the marble backsplash would be fine as it is there.

And I would really change the wall color before I whitewashed the brick. The current grey wall color in the kitchen is not working with the cabinets, the brick, or the new floor.

The dark ceiling in the recessed area has to go - it just creates a black hole effect in an already dark area. A quick lick of primer and then white ceiling paint will make a difference there.

The living room side of the peninsula appears to be a soft grey and seems to work with the rest of the area and the counters.

Would you consider carrying that colour into the rest of the kitchen on the cabinets? Or, if you could find a slightly warmer version (more greige than grey), it might work really well with the floors and fight less with the brick.

It sounds like you're currently stuck with the brick. When you do a remodel definitely plan to remove that as it is really bossing everything else in the room into playing along with it.

I'd paint it or whitewash it and make it the same colour as whatever paint colour you choose for the cupboards. It won't disappear, but it might fade into the background a bit which would help. When you remodel I'd also find a different location for the frig. A frig door that opens into a doorway is such a pain - we had it for years at another house and I just detested it.

I know the counters aren't really working with the brick but I would never counsel getting rid of them because they really do look gorgeous and you clearly do like them.

If you can, it would likely be a great idea to find a local design consultant to come out and work with you for a few hours. Some definitely do hourly work, rather than a large job. They can help you pull a cohesive plan together on colours that would work best with the elements you have.

@pomegranate1, I realize this post is old, but just wondering where you are on this kitchen project now? I am contemplating painting an island navy blue right now too.