4/14- Shades of Modern: If You Can't Stand The Heat...

Dear Bill,
In my kitchen I have black granite counter tops, honey maple shaker cabinets, red oak hardwood floors, and a brick fireplace. What Benjamin Moore color would you recommend? The foyer leading into the kitchen has marble tile, and the foyer walls have a raspberry Shumacher large traditional paper on them. The adjacent dining room is a very neutral beige.

I'm leaning towards natural wicker, but afraid it will turn green. The kitchen is not dark, but it's not a sun catcher either. The trim color is mayonnaise.
Thank you!
Joan

You must be a very warm person because you sure do like warm colors! With all the honey maple, red oak, brick fireplace and raspberry paper you need to cool down a bit. Oh and by the way ... what's wrong with green? The perfect lozenge to those warm colors would be cool shades of blues, grays and greens. You never want to have a room that is all warm or all cool colors and you never want a 50/50 mix either. With this balance, colors will fight with each other rather than compliment each other. Try and shoot for a 75/25 mix to have a pleasing effect. So, back to you Joan, you seem to have the 75%... now chill a bit on the walls. Pick cool neutral shades like Healing Aloe (1562), Gentle Gray (1624), Windy Sky (1629) or Mountain Mist (868). Although I would need to be in your space and light, I can assure you that these soothing shades will compliment your warm tones and go with your neutral trim and dining room .... "if you can't stand the heat then get out of the kitchen" will not apply!