Its very.. terracotta. And the wall colour makes the units look even more orangey

I'd immediately be painting that colour which really ought to have stayed in 1992. I can't really see the door but it doesn't look like its doing the room any favours.

I think changing the tiles for white ones (not a big job) and painting over the terracotta walls in a simple pale grey or white will brighten things up no end. We decided to remove our kitchen door because it was just always in the way, whatever way it opened! Or you could paint it white. The floor looks great so that’s something! A couple of wooden shelves to the left of the window will jazz it up a bit and make it more modern.

It's the wall colour that is throwing it out, paint over it in a pure white to obliterate it, then choose a sympathetic colour. I would also remove the tiny cupboard in the corner, it's too small a space really to need one.

Thank you everyone, great ideas! We are thinking of painting the rest of the house to a neutral colour, one of the ones suggested on another thread was Natural Hessian by Dulux. Would that work here?

Thanks for the suggestion of white tiles. I wasn't too keen on white tiles as we do alot of cooking and I can imagine it would get very messy very quickly. Anyone have any other colour suggestions please?

I agree with the other posts, too much orange. Start by painting the walls as that’s the cheapest and quickest option and take it from there.

Also the main internal door needs to go. It‘s just not a nice feature door.

I echo all of of the above

Or, you can leave it. In a few years terracotta will be back in vogue again!

😊

Agree with all the above but would also consider staining/lightening or painting the units and have also recently seen some interesting tile stickers on Wayfair which might be worth a look

Terracotta is in vogue E D, it's all over insta! Peach and green is also very popular with the ones too young to remember it the first time round!

I’m sure that’s true, colourhappy. 😊

It’s just not quite something everyone does.

It may well be in a couple of years.

We’ve had Burgundy in our home for as long as I remember.

That’s making a comeback as well apparently.

Remove the door, the small cabinet and yes remove the tiles and considering painting your timber cabinets, a blue/grey like this duck egg colour, it goes well with the grey floor. For the walls I would go for a light grey like Little Greene French Grey rather than hessian as that taupe. If you are feeling bolder why not paint the cabinets a dark blue. Tiles needn't be expensive and can be a tone lighter than your cabinets. Changing your handles can make a massive difference.

Light Teal Skinny Shaker Kitchen · More Info

Oooh great ideas! Love the visual Carolina, makes it alot easier for me to imagine. Emma I like the idea of painting the cabinets but it looks like it'll be alot of work as everything needs removing and sanding etc.

I like Carolina's rug idea, it would break up the dark floor nicely.

Ikea do an outdoor rug called Morum which looks a bit like Caroline's visual. Definitely remove that lonely little single wall cupboard. If it is hiding the boiler, paint it to match the wall.

I think the red tiles could be made to look quite nice! They would go well with a grey/blue cabinet colour as suggested above, or cream/taupe colours. I believe you can paint with chalk paint without having to sand etc - or you may be able to skip the sanding if you use the right primer. Probably won’t be as perfect or long lasting but if you plan to rip out in a few years then it doesn’t need to be.

These are all fantastic ideas, thank you everyone! @cushioncover that rug looks great, thank you! @minipie I read online that painting the units doesn't last v long. I'm just wondering whether it is worth the effort and risk? I'm tempted to keep the red tiles for now as it would save on cost too and looking at @Caroline 's great visual, it doesn't look too bad?

I'm just adding in a picture now from another angle. Would you still recommend removing that single cupboard left of the window? thanks everyone!

I agree- the cupboard over the washing machine is not necessary, painting the walls a grey with a green quality and replacing the tiles with something neutral will make the biggest difference.
New lino is unlikely to break the bank either.

I know chalk paint etc can look great, but personally I wouldn't use it on a kitchen- doors are designed to be easy to clean and so paint can slide off . I reckon for a kitchen like this it would have to be sanding, a very good primer and then a couple of coats. If you're removing the small cupboard anyway, then you could test it. But i agree with others above - the walls and room door will transform and you might find that the kitchen cupboards look quite nice! Also how about a Roman blind to add some pattern -it might even enhance the terracotta tiles?

As a quick fix, i would paint the terracotta walls white and use tile paint to cover the tiles in a soft duck egg as a complementary colour to the orangey units. Painting the tiles would be a lot easier than doing the units

@ cushioncover That's a great idea and I suspect will be much easier to manage too, thank you!. My other half is not keen on pure white and we are thinking of an off-white neutral colour for the wall. I am terrible with colours, would soft duck egg go with that?

White walls, teal tiles, wood units

I would undercoat the terracotta with white to start off with - it's going to need several coats! Your other half might be surprised how nice pure white will look against all that wood.

@ cushioncover Thank you! The problem is the plans are for the rest of the house to be in one colour (an off-white) so will it look odd if the kitchen alone is white, especially if the door is removed too?

Try your chosen off white against your units. With such a strong wood tone, your wall paint will look fairly whitish anyway

Thanks @cushioncover, I'm feeling a lot more confident now with your advice :)

And that little bulkhead top right corner would look better all painted the wall colour. Having the horizontal surface painted ceiling colour just draws attention to it. Or all ceiling colour. Just don't have it 2 colours

Hi Umm, don’t use chalk paint, it just isn’t hardwearing enough for a kitchen. If you scrub it, the paint comes off! I used it on a wardrobe, never again, dreadful stuff. Don’t worry about having white walls in the kitchen but not elsewhere, few people have one colour throughout. Every room in my house is a different colour, but apart from a navy wall I’ve used soft pastel shades throughout. Look how amazing white looks with a wooden kitchen in my earlier pics above - very trendy! Wish you lots of luck 😊

@Sonia Thanks! I am tempted to go with white, and but white tiles don't work for me either, as I'd end up with too many oil and curry stains ...

@cushioncover good point! I think I'm tempted to just go all white, ceiling and all walls in same colour?

If this is a short term fix, I'd try to find a fabric to tie in those terracotta ties with the off white paint you're using elsewhere and just put a simple roman blind (it doesn't need to work) at the window. Something like this will tie in and has the grey of the floor. We moved last year and I'm sorting out building work - in the meantime I've added nice curtains and blinds and it's meant I don't mind living with it. And I think the open shelves alongside the window will make an enormous difference in taking the eye away from the tiles.

@ sarh123 That's a good idea. I think I'll have a look at and see if I can find a patterned one like that.

If you take the door off, don't throw it away until you are happy living without it! You might find that you prefer a kitchen you can close off. As a compromise, a glazed door like Caroline showed could increase the feeling of space.

It would look much more modern if you replaced the extractor cupboard with a stainless steel and glass extractor , and then replaced the tiles behind the hob with a stainless steel splash back. Then you could replace the other tiles with white or whatever colour without worrying much about cooking stains. Shaker is a timeless door style and yours look in good condition so painting may be worthwhile. It is a lot of work, but if you do it yourselves it can be a cost effective update. And definitely say bye bye to the terracotta walls.

If you don’t plan to change the cabinets doors and tiles, I think you could tap into the midcentury bold colours and use it for your advantage